shriekingviolet

Welcome back everyone! The upgrade went fairly smoothly. No major problems encountered apart from lethargy on my part. There's still a little work I'll be doing in the next few days on this, so don't be alarmed if things seem to change a bit while you're surfing. As last upgrade (for those of you who were with us a year ago) for the next month, I'd prefer all questions/comments regarding the new software or possible bug reports to be submitted to me via pm and not on the forum at large. Just easier for me and I'd appreciate your cooperation. Now on to known bug listings, missing features, moved items and new features lists: Bugs: Previously read topics marked as unread. This is a temporary problem, the way cookies are handled by the board changed from 2.0 to 2.1, so things were reset. As you use the forum, that will fix itself over the next week or so. Using the "mark forum as read" option will help this! Rich-text editor doesn't always work properly for Mac user, especialy those who browse with safari. (see new features) Reward Points are now public as the new mod doesn't have an option to make them private. Also it will look like you have 2 points levels. I'm in the process of moving your old (higher) counts to the new system, but it'll take a few days. Once I'm done, we'll dump the old field. Missing Features (i.e. previously installed code mods that were here before, but aren't now): Topic View History Favorite Topic Sorting Option Go invisible/visible option on the member bar (you can still change your visibility status if you relog in) More feature-rich fast reply panel pre-set pm preferences as to whether you want the "Add a copy of this message to my sent items folder" and "Track this message?" boxes checked automatically. Those are just the ones I remember offhand, and as I said in the last announcement, I'll reinstall those as the code for them is rewritten to be made compatible for 2.1. Moved Features: Mark as Read and Subscribe to This Forum/Topic links are now apart of a drop down menu on at the top of the forum/topic that you can get to by clicking the link marked "options." New Features Drastically different posting screen. Especially if you decide to use the rich text editor option (which you can select under 'board settings' in your control panel) Rich text editor option for non-quick reply posting which acts as a WYSIWYG editor. I realize that description may not make much sense to non-geeks, but just play around with it and you'll get the idea. This feature seems to have shaky Mac support (though the forum software was written and tested on a Mac, so it must work somehow), and two of the mods have told me it doesn't work with Safari. I can't test or tweak that since I have no access to a MAC, so I'll take their word for it. The standard editor still works fine for you guys though! New poll and new topic screens merged. If you intend to start a poll, you'll click "new topic" and underneath the area where you input the title and subtitle, there's a link that reads: manage poll options. Click it and go from there. Multiple question polls Quicker editing options for posts. Re-designed my assistant that doesn't involve a separate pop-up window New method of new pm alerts! New reward point counter in the review area which I'm in the process of updating so that all of your points are in that counter rather than the older one. This spells out for MUCH less work for me and means you get points for each review as soon as you write them. New calendar system. It's isn't finished yet, but there will be 4 separate calendar views: the birthday/holiday calendar, the lab's calendar, the mod forum calendar (where we'll leave notes regarding downtime and mod vacations, etc.), and the member calendar where you all can add your own events! That's all I can think of off the top of my head. I'm sure I'll add to the list as I think of them or I'm reminded when people ask! I didn't bother listing all of the new features on the administration end as they're of no benefit to you, but there are many that will make it easier for us to run things. Thanks for your patience when things have been done and for your patience in learning the new software!

Ah! and there's now a spellcheck option for the quick reply form and the standard editor reply. We're working on getting it to work in the rich text editor!

After I get settled after to work tomorrow night (which will be about 8 Central, 6 Pacific, 7 Mountain, 9 Eastern, 2 am Tuesday in the UK, and Tuesday morning for our ladies in Australia), I'll shut down the forum and start the upgrade process which should take 12-24 hours (that figure does include meal and sleep breaks for me, btw), so hopefully the board should be up and running by mid Tuesday evening. If for whatever reason it takes longer, I'll leave a note on the index page explaining the delay. As I said, while I don't project that this should take larger than a day, please save any information you might need if the board is down for an extended period of time on your computer. The new forum won't have a few of the features this one does as they're ones I installed myself (e.g. the favorite topic filter, the topic view history) and there haven't been new releases of those code modifications and there are enough differences in the files and structure that I can't easily adapt them myself. I didn't want to wait until updates for these mods were released because there's no telling when that will happen, and a few of the new forum features will save me a LOT of time. Plus, I will be going on vacation in mid October and I'd like people to be pretty settled with the new features before I leave to minimize the confusion. But rest assured, those mods will be installed as soon as they're released as I liked them and used them a lot myself. That all said, if there's any reason you absolutely need to get a hold of me during the downtime, you can reach me at shriekingviolet [at] bpal [dot] org.

Yes ladies and gentlemen, it's that time of year again! A major update has been released for our forum software and I will be upgrading it sometime in the next few weeks. I expect there will be at least 12 hours of downtime, but I do want to stress that is on the low end of estimations. Since it is a major upgrade that involves a lot of changes to the database, there is a high possibility of hitting a snag along the way that would hold up the process. Gods know when we upgraded to 2.0 last October, what I was hoping would be a long evening of work turned out to be a two day nightmare. So I'm determined to not jinx things with too much optimism, but I am doing as much to prepare for the upgrade so that I can minimize the time to forum is closed. Hopefully it'll be enough to make sure that things are down for no longer than a day. I don't have a hard date yet as to when the upgrade will happen, but I'm aiming for the middle of next week (say, Tuesday?) or the week after that. When I'm sure that things are as ready as I can get them, I'll let you know and give you all at least a day's warning. In the meantime though, I'd like you all to gather up any information (for swaps, etc.) that you'd need if the forum was down for longer than planned so that way no one is caught unaware. Thanks!

It should also be noted that "Best Price" is essentially a silent auction, and we don't do forum auctions here anymore.

Just wanted to put this out there since I get at least one email every two weeks or so that was never intended to be sent to me: When you reply to email notifications, be they pm notifications or topic reply notifications, your message does not go to anyone but me. This email doesn't have any connection to the forum software once it's sent out so your replies go to the email connected to the forum software which is mine. Replying to a pm notification won't get a message to the person who pmed you and replying to a topic notification won't add a post to the topic it's sending you alerts about. They just go to me! Which isn't necessarily that big of a deal for a response to a topic, but I would imagine you may not want me to be the recipient to all of your pms! I try not to read them, but it's not always apparent until I'm halfway through the message that it wasn't intended for me! So please keep this in mind when you read emails sent to you by the board. There's no reason to ever reply to one.

A week huh? I'm planning I downing ballz and yellow jackets so I can finish it this weekend. But to reinterate how to use the spoiler tags it's: [sp] OMG Voldemort was bludgeoned to death very slowly with wiffle bats and Snape and Flitwick eloped. BEST BOOK EVER!!! [/sp] which will produce: Spoiler OMG Voldemort was bludgeoned to death very slowly with wiffle bats and Snape and Flitwick eloped. BEST BOOK EVER!!!

Initial Impression: A strong coffee note with a hint of hazelnut and whiskey. After Wearing It: Wet this smells like hazelnut coffee. Strong, black and freshly brewed. Pleasant, but not especially so as I don't like coffee much. Don't drink it, don't really like the smell of it in the air unless it's flavored/scented sufficiently so it's not so rough. The hazelnut note keeps this from being a little too much though so it's wearable. As it dries I can smell the dusty notes come in and it makes it smell better somehow. I wouldn't say Barnes and Noble as that evokes too clean and polished an image for me. This is a funky but slightly dirty coffee shop somewhere. The kind where the staff is questionable and you'd be afraid to see the report a health inspector would write up if he ever made a visit, but there's something about the place whether it's the ambience or its great pastries that makes it a popular spot for people to begin their day. This is the perfect scent of a crowded neighborhood coffee shop at 8 am, the scent of brewing coffee thick in the air, the smell of damp and musty newspaper, of well worn paperback books. After about an hour or so, Miskatonic University loses its coffee shop feel and it sweetens immensely. The coffee backs off quite a bit and the dust note all but disappears. The new scent? BAILEYS!! It's very creamy, with a slight coffee/chocolate/mint tang, very boozy but with little to no burn. Very smooth and lovely. The boozy note doesn't smell much like whiskey. It smells more like the rum note in Egg Nog, which works very well. I keep wanting to eat my arm! Final Thoughts: I was kind of iffy about ordering this one as I'm not wild about coffee scent, but I'm utterly enamored with M.U. The last few hours of the scent were completely perfect and I wish I had ordered more of it. It'd make a fab room scent!

Oh and since I forgot to say so before, I added a dozen or so more avatars for public comsumption. Here's hoping a few of you using the kitty/meow avatar will switch over and I'll quit thinking you're all the same gal.

I've finally finished fine-tweaking the third version of the forum guidelines and they are up and ready to go! I'm not requiring a 'ratification' this time as I've learned it's months of trouble to make sure that everyone has read them. So there's no need to pm me and let me know you've read them (unless you want to), but everyone will still be responsible for knowing and understanding the new content. Plenty of what's in there should be no news to anyone. With the exception for important changes that are being made to the swap area (of which we started discussing here last week), most of the new content is simply putting in writing policies we were already employing but weren't in the guidelines or things we had thought were intuitive/just common sense for most people, but found that we should probably have it down in the guidelines just to be clear. There's also some elaboration in sections that were already there, to make the guidelines even more clear than they previously were. I recommend that everyone read the whole guidelines all the way through again, just to refresh your mind over our policies as well as to read the new content. But as I do know they are pretty long, below is a list of new and edited sections. Sections that are completely new are in red. Moderators and How (and Who?) to Contact Them Posting Guidelines Warnings Member Abuse Swap Guidelines (part of which are on a separate, linked page btw) Rules and Guidelines for E-tailers Regarding Questionable Content Concerning Your Company on the Forums Rewards System Forum Descriptions If you have any comments or questions about the new guidelines, feel free to send them to quantum spice or me. Now go read!

Initial Impression: Slightly tangy/sour smell of warm milk. After Wearing It: Wet this smells a lot like yogurt. Thick, sour and slightly yeasty. Not very pleasant at all. Thankfully this doesn't last. The strong yogurt smell wanes and thins, starting the smell more like true warm milk. It's a very light scent which has almost no throw. It smells like baby formula or breast milk rather than cow's milk. It's very room temp and there's a powderiness about it that starts to morph into what I can only describe as that classic baby scent. A cross between what a baby straight from the bath smells like and what toy manufactures scent dolls with. Pleasant, but blends a little too well with a normal scent scent so that I can only smell the scent if I really concentrate and if I press my nose to the point of application. Occasionally the sour note comes back which makes Milk Moon smell really "off." It will only last a few minutes at a time and then the light mint note comes by and makes it smell fresher and sweeter. I never smell any honey though, which was disappointing. I was really hoping it'd take a strong stand here. Overall this scent does a good job conveying the feel of the symbolism of Milk Moon, it captures the kind of awe you feel after seeing a baby of a loved one (or your own) for the first time. It just seems so remarkably perfect, somehow. It's so tiny and vulnerable, but such a powerful statement about the cycle of life. Final Thoughts: Good scent overall though it has its share of its unpleasant moments. Even at its best though it's not really for me. Way too light and completely unobtrusive. It's a scent you can forget you ever put on, which is very contrary to why I love to wear fragrances. Will probably pass this one on.

Initial Impression: Clean fruity scent. Slightly tart. After Wearing It: This is the perfect spring/early summer scent! I don't often catagorize scents in terms of seasonal wear and usually as likely to wear a heavier "winter" scent in August as I am in January. But Mi-go just smacked me hard in the forehand with it's natural affinity for warming temperatures and obscene amounts of sunshine. It's a fresh and cheery scent that begs to be worn with sandals and tanktops. Its clean fruit notes would feel stifled by a sweater. A winter coat would cramp its style. It's funny, I wasn't sure how much I'd like Mi-go. I do really enjoy pomegranate scents, but I'm rather iffy about fruity scents in general. Particularly tropical ones. And the notes I was hoping would make the fragrance for me (the musks, the pink pepper and the ginger) never seemed to show up. But somehow Mi-go really worked anyway. The smell of pineapple can makes me nauseated, yet I rather enjoyed it mixed with the kiwi, pomegranate, and mango. It made mi-go smell like a sweet yet tangy fruit punch that was incredibly sensually refreshing. It felt satisfying the way a cool breeze on a hot day is satisfying, or the way ice water can taste as wonderful as wine after a long, sweaty afternoon. It's very energizing and delightful, and I find myself reaching for it a lot as the days get hotter even though I still have lots of new things to try. What a great surprise! Final Thoughts: If I didn't think I'd stop reaching for it much after September ends, I'd try to hunt myself down another bottle. But as I think I'll only be in the mood to wear this when it's warm, sticky and sunny, one will do. Very glad I took a chance with this.

Initial Impression: Bright red and round. Slightly syrupy. After Wearing It: Wet, the pomegranate and red currant notes really jump out of this one. Very sweet, strong and juicy. After it dries on my skin, notes of fresh turned soil pop up as well, and oddly enough they smell quite good meshed with the red fruit notes. There's a bit of booziness to it too which I think might be the myrrh but I'm not sure. Overall though it doesn't smell as smooky as I would have thought from the description. Just a very odd yet pleasing mix of juicy/earthy. As time goes on, this Queen keeps confusing me. After an hour and a half and for the rest of the fragrance I keep smelling chocolate. Not cheapy chocolate, or even the nice chocolate notes I've experienced in other lab blends before. It smells like gourmet chocolate filled with cherry cordial. It's very sweet, yet dark and dense. I keep thinking I smell a bit of german chocolate cake thrown in there too, or at least that what it feels like as the last of the soil notes from the opening stage of the fragrance leave their last impression. There's just a texture I associate with cake crumbs, that I smell here. It's very strange, in that it was completely not what I was expecting from the description or the reviews. And I've worn it three times just to make sure I wasn't just having a weird day, but I had the same experience each time. But it's yummy, so I wont complain. There are worse things to smell of, especially since I do like foody scents! And I can't smell a drop of rose during any stage of Queen of Clubs so that makes me even more grateful for how things turned out. Final Thoughts: Very nice! Completely not what I was expecting, but what does that matter? It's a nice rich red scent that would be perfect for fall. I'm keeping my bottle of QoC!

Initial Impression: A slightly sweet, but very pale floral. After Wearing It: I'm kinda iffy about florals. There are a lot of floral notes I can't stand, some I can tolerate, and very few that I truly love. So needless to say I was a bit uncertain about how much I'd like Ace of Hearts when I ordered it. I do happen to like the Lab's lotus and white rose notes, so I kept my fingers crossed and took a chance.... Wet and for the first half hour of wear for this Ace, I was utterly disappointed. Rather than tons of lotus goodness, I was smelling a lot of freesia (which reminds me of laundry detergent) and Bulgarian Rose, two notes I'm not fond of at all. I could smell a little lotus sweetening the background and a bit of gardenia, but mostly this was a very stiff floral scent. Prim and insufferably proper, reminding me much of my very unpopular grandmother. I was crushed! Fortunately, after the freesia had screamed itself hoarse and the bulgarian rose had bored itself to death, the lotus finally came out in full strength. Ace of Hearts was suddenly a very sweet, fluid floral, all smiles and songs. The white rose and the orchid kept the lotus from smelling too sweet/bubblegum-esque. Ace of Hearts became a very cheerful and emotional blend, and a portrait of femininity that's utterly lovely. And thankfully this stage lasted until the fragrance completely faded from my skin. Made the purchase worthwhile! Final Thoughts: Totally girly floral, which SO isn't my taste, but I find it extremely charming anyway. Very apt for the Hearts suit and it totally vibrates with water energy. I think it may find a way to work itself around my normal scent prejudices and into my regular rotation.

Initial Impression: Mmmm coconut rum After Wearing It: Wet, Elegba smelled exactly like Grog did on me while it was wet: sweet, creamy butterscotch. Boozy yes, but more candylike than anything else and very, very yummy. After the strong wave of butterscotch crashed upon my senses, it quickly receded revealing the coconut underneath which popped up and dominated the fragrance. It was a gorgeously sweet coconut, falling somewhere between a dessert-type coconut smell and the coconut smell we know from suntan oil, rather than the milder, almost waxy coconut note I remember from The Star and from the opening stages of Spooky. This coconut blends with the rum and a hint of spice (clove maybe?) and becomes pure coconut rum, straight up. It makes Elegba smell like an island vacation concentrated in liquid form, and it's utterly intoxicating. As the hours wear on a the sweet booziness of Elegba backs off a bit, and a smoky/woody note that could only be the tobacco emerges and starts to gain strength. In some ways in this stage, Elegba smells like air heavy with incense. Not incense blended and burned for ritual purposes, but used for ambiance. A cheap, but pleasant stick incense in a very sweet fragrance burning in a dorm room somewhere. The smell could also be compared to the smoke of scented pipe tobacco, but lighter. It's just sweet, dark and foggy. Very pleasant, hazy and muddled. Just divine! Final Thoughts: I love this. It's so delicious and fun! Great staying power too. I think this may have made it into my top ten.

I'm fairly sure that the association come from the fact that resins have been primarily used for incense since ancient times, and incense smoke has air association in magic, etc. And smoke, apart from wind, is the form of air that is easiest for us to see and identify, even if it is a product of fire. And Byrdie, I've usually read that the ascendent reflects the public self and the first impressions we give, the sun represents our identity, and the moon is our emotional needs and our subconscious.

Initial Impression: Smells like cinnamon gum, but in a good way. Spicy, but sweet too. After Wearing It: When I put this on, it definitely tingled. On my neck, it was insistant, on my wrist it was almost an itch. I'm not especially sensitive to cinnamon (which I'm pretty sure is the culprit), but occasionally I feel it as much as I smell it, though fortunately the effect always fades after a few minutes and never leaves a welt. And on the sting meter, Malkuth's not nearly as harsh as Mercury. I adore the smell of this though so I don't mind a little sting! Wet this smelled of spice and syrup. Rich, thick and sweet, but not in a foody way. I don't smell the berries other have mentioned (though I suppose I could believe there might be a bit of pomegranate), it's more of a round resiny sweetness to me. Yet it's ever so slightly fresh smelling too. Maybe there's a touch of pine? Whatever it is, it adds a real complexity to the scent that's droolworthy and in a way, reminds of the oil for The World tarot card. Appropriate of course, as Malkuth is the sphere associated with the kingdom. As much as I adore this scent though, I was almost equally disappointed to as it doesn't have much throw. I know the Sephiroth are more than perfumes, but I adore the scent and would love to wear it, but I don't like wearing scents that I have to make an effort to smell on me. It defeats the purpose of wearing scent for me. But! as I said, I adore this smell, I'd so make the effort to work with it and find a way to make its presence more powerful on me. But as the vial I'm testing came from the sephirith circle, I'll have to wait. Final Thoughts: I will be buying a bigger bottle of this. Even if I don't find a way to give it more throw, I'd adore it in the burner both from ambiance and as a meditation aid.

Initial Impression: Very darkly fig with a bit of date. Bittersweet but smooth. After Wearing It: Huh. I don't know what it is about Gomorrah, but I can barely smell it on me. I've worn it three times, the last two times I all but dowsed myself in it, but I could barely smell it on. There was no throw at all, and when I pressed my nose against my wrist what I *could* detect, smelled like an exaggeration or amplification of what my skin normally smells like without perfume when I'm not freshly scrubbed. And when I say that, I don't mean it smells dirty. When you hop out of the shower, you've soaped away your natural oils and the scent of clean sweat, and you smell more of your soap (even if it's just Ivory) than you do of the essence of you. And it's not like my skin naturally smells of figs or dates, it just like my skin sucked up all of the oil I applied and what was left was a very light glaze of slightly warmer, muskier skin scent. Disappointing, but in a way, it makes sense to me. Gomorrah was a city supposedly demolished because of its citizenships overindulgence in pleasures of the flesh. The essence of bare, heated flesh seems equally as appropriate as something more flamboyant and decadent. Final Thoughts: Nice in the bottle, and I suppose if I wanted a "my skin but better" scent, this would be great. But as I like bold perfume that I don't have to make an effort to smell as I wear it, Gomorrah doesn't do much for me. A real pity, because I liked the description so much I ordered a bottle unsniffed!

Initial Impression: A mixture of white florals and inky blackness. After Wearing It: Wet and in this first hour or so of this blend, Hades is aggressively floral on me. The narcissus and stephanotis are particularly dominant, making me think of early spring. I don't much like white floral notes (yes, it's black narcissus here, butit still smells white to me), as they smell almost astringent on me and that was really apparent here. There was a darkeness lingering in the background, making Hades less about the deity than the place. At this point, Hades smelled like an illusion of Spring in the dark, depths of the underworld. It's the smell of crisp, too perfect florals, swaying in the gloom of the meticulously cared for gardens around the palace of the king of the dead. It's feminine, in an older woman kind of way. Prim and unyielding. I didn't like it much. Quite fortunately, the floral phase of Hades didn't last. The darkness consumed the garden and the scent become a lovely, deep resinous blend. I could smell the slightly sticky-sweet smokiness of labdanum and the earthiness of ambergris. A bit of cypress too but it didn't carry much weight. I'm not sure what onycha, smells like so I couldn't pick it out. Overall though, Hades became very warm, dark and mysterious. Still maybe not how I would have pictured a blend inspired by the god Hades as it's very inviting. I think I still associate it more with the place in later stage than I do the god. To classical peoples, Hades was the destination of all dead, not just to the damned, and not all areas were terrible. I wouldn't equate Hades nicer phase with Elysium, but it make me think about the more comfortable aspects of an afterlife. Final Thoughts: I manage to spill half of the bottle while putting this on, which is something I've never done. It got on my clothes, it got in my bottle basket, it got on my desk. *Everywhere.* And since I wasn't at all fond of the initial phase, I didn't mourn the loss, but after getting to know it better I'm kicking myself for my clumsiness. Makes my desk smell great though!

There was one for both violet and lilac.

Second the dark elements suggestions, and though more expensive, the tarot aces would be a good gift (or purchase if she ends up buying for herself) as well. The ace carries the purest energy of their suit, and traditionally, each suit corresponds with an element. I've tried two of them (Pentacles and Cups) and both were beautiful translations of the elements they correspond with's energy into scent.

Initial Impression: Honeyed patchouli, evergreen trees (sap and all!) and earth. After Wearing It: Wow, I'm not sure what I was expecting but this wasn't it! From the description I wasn't quite sure if I'd like it or not. Piney/Foresty scents don't always work out well for me, neither do herbs. But having worn this I'm very sad that I didn't order a second bottle! I agree with what's been said, this is very reminiscent of Samhain. The patchouli note (at least, I'm fairly certain it's patchouli) I loved in Samhain is very prevalent here. But rather than the scent of autumn leaves, you have a very beautiful green tree scent that I've smelled in Dublin in Skadi. Very green and slightly sweet, with an unusually lovely juicy quality to it that has made me a bit more openminded about green scents. Wet the ripe, humid patchouli note dominates the blend. I can smell sharp suggestions of pine (or fir) lancing through the blend, carrying the smoke of burned timber with it. As it dried, I wanted to say I could smell apples or something similar to the berry note in Skadi, but I can't be sure. It added a sweetness to the arousing sweatiness of patchouli and a softness to counterbalance the jagged edge of pine. It's the scent of rampant hedonism as well as the worshipful awe of the glory of nature. As Hexennacht wears on, the patchouli calms down and powders up at a bit. The fever of the oil has passed and the ritual dies down. I can smell traces of charred logs, smoke and crushed leaves underfoot. The blend stays this way until it finally fades away: an odd blend of sweet powderiness and the freshness of the great outdoors. It's an act of surrender to the power of the natural world, a celebration of being its child. Final Thoughts: I loved this. Great scent with decent throw and good staying power. It's mysterious yet delightfully open, displaying the sort of innocence you find in people who are completely uninhibited because no one has tried to teach them that they shouldn't be. I think I even like this one enough to stick it in my top 10!

It's come to my attention that someone is spreading rumors that members of the mod team are digging through people's PMs. Seeing as how I am one of only two people who have the access to even attempt to do this, I take this as a personal accusation and I cannot tell you how offended I am that anyone would either assume this or make this up. If it's an assumption and not a vicious lie, I can't believe you'd repeat to multiple people without coming to me to inquire about it first. Because it's total bullshit and completely slanderous, and to speak it as truth without investigating is completely irresponsible and a real slap in the face for what I do for you all here. And if you can't offer enough respect for that to assume I'm not doing something completely unethical without any proof in return, really just get out. I do not consider you welcome here. I do not read any one's PMs and Kate doesn't read anyone's PMs. It'd be wrong of us to do so and we'd feel slimy doing so. But since it appears that there's no trust of our honor, here, let me give you further reason to accept that we're not poking around in your correspondences: to do so would not be easy to do! The board doesn't store you pms in an easy log somewhere. I can't open up a page somewhere and read your pms in the same manner that you can your own. PM information is stored in two separate tables, and your names aren't even in the same table the text of your message is. The title of the message is stored in a separate place than the actual message. I've moved literally, thousands of these table rows both times we've moved, and I can tell you, there's not much to see and it's highly unlikely you'd fall upon something "interesting" (whatever that would mean) just by browsing a table at random. You'd have to be looking for something specific in mind just to find anything, but even then it'd be a pain in the ass. I know this from when I was trying to fix the missing PM problems we had while the board was done. Ask anyone who has a lot of experience with an invision board, it's not built well for spying. So even if we were so inclined to do read your private messages (and again, we're not), it'd take more effort than it would be worth. That said, I think I (or whoever else it was you were spreading unfound rumors about) am owed an apology because this claim was completely baseless and extremely offensive. And if you want to play that way, have the balls to say it to me, or don't do it here. Don't waste my server's memory with this crap.

Initial Impression: Dusty leather, straight up. After Wearing It: Wow this scent is dead on. This scents reminds me *so* much of the smell of the leather saddles and bridles I dealt with when I took horse back riding lessons as a kid. My instructor was a family aquaintance and taught me to clean and care for the everything after we had brushed down and groomed our hourse after a ride. This smells so strongly of well worn leather, saddle soap, the oil we used to keep it supple and the strong smell of Oklahoma red dirt that was beaten into the floor of the barn and was worn deep into the grooves on the saddle. It's very different from the leather scent I remember from Loviatar and De Sade. Those scents were strong, sharp and almost astrigent. That was sleep, black leather, put on for show. *This* is broken in and well used brown leather that has soaked in all of the smells it's been exposed to in its travels. It definitely is a very western scent in that sense, it comes from the days were horses were the practical choice for transportation and people had to choose their clothes well because they had to last and last even after much abuse. It's a very masculine smell, unapologetically dirty with the smell of animals lanced through. Final Thoughts: This scent is marvelous in the way it captures an idea, truly masterful. Not sure if I'll keep it though as it's waaay too masculine for me and I don't think I'd use it as a room scent. Glad I got to try it though. Dead Man's Hand is something you have to experience to truly appreciate how well Beth does what she does!

... This is the scent of pure graveyard dust, spattered with grave loam and dusted lightly with tombstone moss. Initial Impression: Dry dusty dirt. Light, fine stuff that scatters itself across pavement. After Wearing It: While this was very dry in the bottle, Graveyard Dirt bloomed into something really moist on my skin. This is the smell of potting soil, of flower beds after a spring shower. I smell something like pine too, though it's not too prominent, which makes me thinking of walking through a wooded area of a part in the damper period of spring. It's oddly clean in it's body, though it very much smells like dirt. This isn't the grime the pastes itself onto your deck or that covers your legs after rolling around outdoors. This is earth in its prime habitat. It's well tilled earth, full of minerals, moist and ready to sustain life. There's a suggestion of the beautiful potential that rich earth has, stuff that could nurture any seed to sprout and blossom. It's really just lovely in the way it carries the balance of clean and dirty, infused with an undeniable freshness. Sort of ironic (to me at least) that the name of the oil is graveyard dirt, because this scent screams pure life to me. Final Thoughts: I didn't expect to like this, but I really, really do. I'm not sure if I'll wear it much, but I'm so glad I got to try it. It's truly a treasure.