mazaru

This smells 100% exactly like an actual lump of coal - posh charcoal, to be specific - and I absolutely love it.

I LOVE THIS. Initially there's this massive, wafty cloud of banana, which then dies down into a sweet backdrop for smoky tobaccoey vetiver darkness. It's like a goth gourmand; it absolutely loves my skin, too, with strong throw (in layers - a touch of banana at the edge and a darker smokiness close up, my partner says) and long wear length.

Updated 7th November! is your BPAL wishlist updated? If not: please do! It's mostly updated, but I'm currently going through the long list of scents that were released while I was out of the hobby - mostly between mid-2012 and earlier this year - and making the mega-long list of things I'd love to sniff. I really enjoy trying many things, rather than hunting down specific ones to wear forever, so there are certainly plenty of things off the list that I'd enjoy a chance to test. Are you currently ISO any BPAL new or otherwise? What are your top 10 scents? Ummmmm ... Top 10 (not really in order): Blackberry Jam & Scones MVJBA Pancake Breakfast Butter Rum Cookie Blood Kiss Perversion #7wordstory: Sloth Anne Beany Monster Bait: Bloody Mary Sugar Skull Anthesteria but... I wear a lot of different scents, and if you asked me in a few days time I imagine half of that list might be totally different! I'm particularly ISO a bottle of Le Pere Fouettard, and really keen to try Mother Shub's Squamous Sea Salt Caramel Cookies, Streets of Detroit, Gáttaþefur, Pottaskefill in particular, as well as Rum-Soaked French Tonka, French Vanilla & Madagascan Vanilla Rum SNs. Those are the ones I'd be most interested in blind bottles of, right now! Black Friday will be a thing during this swap, anything you might want that will be on awesome sale? I dunno enough about Black Friday to answer that question, I'm afraid! I think it's different here... What's your shoesize? Would you like to receive socks? Size UK 6, most of the time. Socks are great if they're cotton Do you have any interest in Shakespearean swag (insult mugs, play themed lip balms, oodles of other possibilities) or general performing arts related goodies? Yeah, though I prefer plays to read than play-associated stuff, I think. What is your favorite Christmas story - be it book, movie, cartoon - and if there are various versions, which is your favorite? Muppets Christmas Carol. 100%. All the way. Do you have a preference for numbered packages or random selection? Either is good! Do you have any external wishlists, Goodreads, or anything else that you might not have listed in your survey? Nothing that's particularly up to date, I'm afraid. I want to read all the books on this year's Man Booker shortlist, though, if that's helpful. For books that are part of a series, do you have a strong preference for whether you receive them in order, assuming that any overarching plot is reasonably easy to pick up on and the main story is self contained? I would definitely prefer to read things in order where possible Would you be interested in: - Dried honeycrisp apples - sure! - Applesauce (with red hots for sweetness and cinnamon) - yes please - Rose petal liqueur - I'd love to try some - Blackberry, Strawberry Rhubarb, or Peach Jam - definitely - Baked or homemade goods - sure, if you can avoid my allergies, which are many and varied, but particularly nuts & wheat... - handsewn project bags or makeup bags? - honestly not really - I have a handmade dice bag from a dear friend and not much need for any others - yarn, roving, batts, fiber? - nice cotton yarn would be amazing, especially chunky stuff or variegated stuff, as I can't find any anywhere! - any cross stitch items like a small wall hanging or bookmark? - inappropriate wall hangings please. Bonus points if suitable for a work office where swearing is fine but naked people are definitely not... - if you said you'd want a knitted item, are there any particular favorite patterns you'd like - I guess a shawl or some gloves, but I don't have any ideas for patterns I'm afraid! If you said you liked candles/incense/etc., what are your favorite scents for such things Not a huge incense burner, but I like warm spicy scents in candles. How do you feel about sweeteners? Do you prefer sugar, stevia, sucralose, etc.? Anything in particular to avoid? I think I have no particular feelings about sweeteners! Do you like office supplies like pens, pencils, highlighters, sticky notes, etc? YES. Good pens are everything. How do you feel about spicy, cheesy, or sour snacks? Hungry spice depends on how spicy, cheesy is almost always good, sours less so. Would you like any cook-able mixes like for soup or baked goods, cooking ingredients like spices, sugars, salts, oils, or cooking gadgets? Cooking ingredients interest me, but cookable mixes often have stuff in that I can't eat, sadly. Good, weird salt is something I would love. Would you prefer bar soaps or bath gel? Neither, I'm afraid, due to my temperamental skin. Candles, wax melts, or incense - yea or nay? Candles for preference, but I'm not massive on them. Jewelry - any preference about length of necklaces, earrings, etc? Not really - I wear all sorts, it just depends on the outfit! Any Lush showergel (or other product) you'd like to try? I sort of collect their showergels, mostly from The Kitchen. So if there's anything you'd like to try, now's the time to tell! I'm interested in their massage bars and hair stuff! Bath & shower things no, because of the skin, but the massage bars seem like I'd be able to use them and I'd love to try one. Do you like licorice or would you like to try it? Would you prefer salt or sweet? Nah thank you, I have tried it and naaaaaah I live in The Netherlands but I will visit England soon and might pay a visit to Germany. Anything special from here that you'd like to try? I live in England so I'm good for British stuff, but stollen is a Thing I Like Even Though I Shouldn't Eat It... Do you have a spreadsheet? https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1tPrDdW-fgyq8C-hBA7_uumBL9_p2BC5EV2ixzWd-vs0/edit?usp=sharing&authkey=CKDvxJIM It's a bit... intense. I love crocheting, it's my favorite hobby. Can I make you a scarf/cowl/sweater/lap blanket to keep you wintery-warm!? I love soft feely things, but it depends on the yarn you're using. Cotton yarn is always a safe option but lots of other things can set off my eczema. How do you feel about amigurumi (i.e. little crochet toys), either characters from a fandom, wee animals, or as decorations? <3 them, but again the yarn is sometimes an issue. How do you feel about knit socks? (Plain stockinette, lacework, cables, etc). Are there any other hand knit items you'd especially like? (Mittens, fingerless gloves, hats, etc). I would love a pair of cotton yarn fingerless gloves! I also like socks but have never had a hand knit pair that didn't make my feet itch What kind of snacks do you like? Does dried fruit or crunchy dried vegetables sound appealing? Do you like (raw) honey? Jerky? Jam? What sort of local products do you like to receive as gifts? If you're familiar with products in the Pacific Northwest, is there anything specific you'd like to try? I like salty things! No nuts, but I really love all sorts of other salty snacks - I was once given a packet of home made pork scratchings and they were the tastiest thing. Dried fruit sounds good - I have a secret love for the dried cranberries & raspberries coated in thick yogurt you get in Pret over here... Honey and jam are occasional treats too. Jerky I don't have enough experience with to know whether or not I love it! If there's one place you could go in the world, where and why? I'd go back to Australia for a while. I loved living there, and I miss my friends over there. What sort of dollar store items do you always get a kick out of? For example, I always love those silly expandable sponges. See, I've not been to enough dollar stores to know the answer. If they're generally like pound shops over here, then garden stuff is often a good bet - I love getting seeds & bulbs to grow, bonus points if they're a bit of a mystery - or stationery, pens & pencils, daft cards to send on to people. Do you like to receive plants or gardening stuff? Do you grow plants? What's your favourite flower, if you have one? I have a small back garden for the first time in my life, this year, and I grew tomatoes and raspberries and wildflowers. Now I'm hunting for interesting herbs I can plant in the middle to make a gorgeous herb garden. I think my favourite flower is probably forget-me-nots or irises, and I love the way honeysuckle and jasmine smell - though I'm not so keen on floral scents. Christmas decor? I am decorating for Christmas but I'm hoping it will be all reusable things except for the candles. It will be a secular Christmas, and probably silver and red, but since I've been out of the country so much recently I barely own any decorations... When it comes to makeup, what is your coloring? Fair, dark? Sensitive skin? Eye color? Hair color? Style....funky, natural? Any additional makeup info? I don't wear makeup because of my skin conditions - it just completely dries me out. Very occasionally I wear bright eyeliner and a touch of mascara, but only once or twice a year. Is there any craft or hobby that you are interested in trying? I'm just starting to try oil pastels, but I am rubbish at drawing... I want to try glass blowing, making silver jewellery, and falconry. Those are hard things to put in a flat rate shipping box, I realise. If you had a custom perfume/beauty/bath product made for you, what would it be and what would the scent description look like? (everything from prose to the specific selection of notes) Oooooh. Smoky, foody, with a little bit of fruit. I guess vanilla, vetiver and jam would probably feature in some form... It would probably have a description related to journalism or mental health. Or both. I love drawing! Either fanart chibis on the tablet or portrait work in graphite pencil... but it's been a while..so I'd love to use this as an excuse to draw something for you! If you could commission an art piece, would you choose traditional or digital artwork- and what would it be of? Traditional artwork, I think, and probably a drawing of a group of friends and I. Or our tabletop game characters!

This is really special on me. It changes as the day goes by. To begin with, wet, it smells of red grapes, perhaps fermenting into wine; as the day goes on the initial wet fruitiness dies down and reveals a soft honey-and-thyme scent. Over the day it goes from being a heady, thick smell to a soft, breezy one: like a day outdoors in Italy followed by a large glass of wine, but in reverse. It reminds me of walking through the ruins near the Coloseum in Rome, and the lethargic cats that lounge amid the ancient stone.

Random question but... is it normal not to get an order confirmation by email from the Lab? I've got confirmation from PayPal, but not the Lab itself.

oh my god. Oh my god. It smells of licorice and lemon and wormwood and being 17.

This is very golden, mellow, bright floral, sophisticated, adult. It doesn't feel very me at all. It sort of reminds me of Steamworks because of the golden sheen to it.

I found it impossible to pick out individual notes for this one. In the bottle and when wet, it smelled very fresh, wet, and oddly salty - almost aquatic. On the dry down it softened a little, and became a more rounded VERY BRIGHT NEON GREEN smell, a little ozony, a little fruity, very sharp and glistening. Dry, though, it turned into a sort of generic cologne smell – quite manly and nice to smell, but not something I'd wear.

This is very sharp on me, acrid almost, high and in the back of my throat. It's too spicy for me - too much high earthy spice, without the sweetness I like to round it out. The patchouli/cardamon combination is just too much for my skin chemistry, too, and it's constantly threatening baby powder.

I'm getting all dust and no coffee. Which is a shame but not the end of the world, because when I put it on my boyfriend he smells impressively like caramel vanilla coffee beans, and the throw is strong enough that I can effectively use him as a room scent. It's good stuff, but not wearable for me.

Soap. Curse you, skin chemistry!

This is fruity and leafy at the same time, a pleasant wet autumn garden after the rain. Not much blood for me, but a pretty scent without being girly.

Cocoa, rum, red wine, coffee, in that order. This is one of the few 'dark' BPAL scents that feels like I could wear it all day - it's biting and bitter without being harsh or so woodsy that it makes me sneeze, and I absolutely adore it. Gorgeously thick and complex.

I think it's the black musk that comes out first for me in this - very dark, earthy, with light figgy/redwood edges. When it dries down, it's a very earthy scent still, with barely a hint of the fig. The spices come in around the edges. Overall it is a little soapy, and much more masculine than I was expecting - which as far as I'm concerned is a good thing. It's sassy. I like that in a smell. ADDED 10/5/09: I think it's the black musk that comes out first for me in this - very dark, earthy, with light figgy/redwood edges. When it dries down, it's a very earthy scent still, with barely a hint of the fig. The spices come in around the edges. Overall it is a little soapy, and much more masculine than I was expecting - which as far as I'm concerned is a good thing. It's sassy. I like that in a smell.

This goes pure neroli very quickly on me. Slowly the peach emerges, and eventually the cocoa comes out to make a soft, sweet, pretty/foody smell. The cocoa isn't too plasticky on my skin for once, and it's a lovely scent overall. Sadly, it only lasts for about half an hour before reverting to pure neroli again. I'm keeping hold of this to test again, to see if my skin chemistry is more forgiving next time.

Wet: dark, rich, narcotic and slightly evil. Dry: smooth, rounded, red and black, interesting and deep. A keeper.

Initially, it's high, sparkling and boyish, almost too boyish for me to get away with. The smoky note - black musk, I guess? - starts coming out quite quickly, grounding it and making it much smoother and more rounded. Dries to a nice cologney scent, but I've lost the darker sides of the scent somewhere in the dry-down, and it's cologne with little else by the end.

Wet: Now, I know I just put perfume on. My wrist is wet. So where the hell is it? *check notes* Ah. Tea. One of those infamous disappearing notes that my skin just eats. Oh, hang on. Flowers. That'll be the gardenia. Oh dear. I smell like my granny. This is not precisely what I had in mind when I read the name 'Torture Queen'. Dry: It's gone. Just disappeared, almost entirely. There's a tiny hint of vanilla and a tiny hint of generic floral when you get right up close, but otherwise, nothing. Chalk up another victim of the ichthyosis, and move on.

Wet: Grapefruit! I think it's the mix of orange and pepper. Very tart, very sudden. Delicious. Dry: Sugared orange. Just like candied peel. Mmm. Yes please.

This scent is unexpectedly light and airy - I was expecting something much thicker and headier. Initially I found it too light - it almost disappeared on me, fading into the lightest touch of musk and resin, and very little else. Dry, the vanilla and honey started to come through, and I found it much nicer; still very close to the skin, with little throw, but rich and complex and mmm foody. Later on the pine came through, cutting the sweetness nicely and cooling the scent right down. It's an interesting scent, and one I will definitely wear on hot summer days.

Wet, this is really deep, dark red, a lovely blended redcurrant and patchouli/bergamot. Dry, on me, sadly, the red musk goes a little soapy, and the flowers come out a little too much for my liking. It's an almost-but-not-quite for me; I think I'll wear it occasionally, when I'm out for a posh-ish evening and wearing a skirt and want to feel womanly in a way that doesn't happen very often, but I wouldn't use a bottle.

I have an odd love-hate relationship with this scent, and it's the first thing that's made me realise quite how changeable my skin chemistry is. Three out of four times when I put this on, it's not a good smell. The musks amp up on my skin and become powerfully acrid and powdery at the same time - so much so that it gives me a headache and I generally end up washing it off. The fourth time, though, usually on a day when I've drunk a lot of coffee, the musks behave themselves, the cinnamon becomes dominant and the smoke washes in behind it beautifully. It's beautiful when that happens; golden, soft and warm, exactly what I want. I just wish it was like that all the time

On me, this was just too much rose and not enough spice, and it faded out to baby powder within minutes. On the gentleman friend it fares much better, going richer and darker rather than the baby-soft floral it ended up as on me. Not a keeper for either of us, but an interesting smell all the same.

Wet: Apples! Green apples, everywhere! I didn't know that was possible without, well, being in a room with a lot of freshly sliced apples. Wow. Dry: Smokier, darker, a much more rounded and full-bodied scent. The apples are still there, and I think I'm getting the amber but not much of the herbs. It's definitely a black and green smell, but I'm finding it hard to pin down or define. I think it'd be a lovely smell for a house, but I'm not sure that it's a good thing on me.

Initially, this is all about the grapes. It fast loses the foody/fruity quality it has in the bottle, and goes through a sweet, subdued phase, with notes that my nose isn't trained well enough to identify yet (I'm guessing frankincense...). And then out comes the myrrh to make my nose tickle and turn the whole thing into baby powder.