sunshinedaisybliss

I'm only guessing, but I'd say orders placed before the PayPal change should be OK - the sender's email details should still be on the notification that the seller receives. I'm not sure exactly when they changed things, but I received a payment on Jan 26th and it was in the new style (ie no email info in the notification from PayPal) so it must have been some time around then. They actually posted a page of policy changes on Jan 21st (available on the PP site and worth reading since seller/buyer protection rules have changed, as have some fees) and although the change to email format wasn't mentioned in those, I'm thinking maybe it happened at the same time. Edited to update: just after I'd written this, I received a CnS for my Lab order placed via PayPal on Jan 20th so it's safe to say that PP orders up to at least that date will still be OK. How's that for timing!!

Well poop! I think you're right.. this forum is very picky about its images.. the lack of .jpg is probably the issue. Never mind - they're only a click away! Thanks for sharing them

Thanks for sharing, fairnymph! I like the U one, that's very stylish. As for putting the code in your actual posting, you need to go to the webpage where your photo is - copy the URL and then come back here, click the little button that looks like it has a picture in it (is everyone's layout the same? for me it's the 7th button from the left above the text space, to the right of the emoticon button - see below) - that will open up a little box where you can paste in the URL (image location) - click OK and you're done! If you want to go back and edit your post to do that, you'll need to choose 'Full edit' from the drop-down options so that you get the toolbar with the buttons you need

Hmm.. interesting! When it first goes on the sweet pea is the most dominant note and the grape, pomegranate and plum are very close behind it. 15 minutes in and it switches around - now the pomegranate is dominant, with the grape and plum next and the sweet pea in the background - the fruits all together provide a sweetness that's not sickly or cloying but deep and sultry, but the mix is definitely fruity rather than floral and it's a deep, rich kind of fruit - very purple. The bourbon vanilla is just playing at the edges - it's in there, but the sweet pea and fruits are all over it. I really can't detect the white honey yet, right now there's a fruit festival going on. A little later on, I'm now picking up just a hint of the carnation, but the cognac is harder to find, it's not jumping out at me but perhaps it's the boozy velvet of the cognac that's grounding the fruits and holding them back from being too sweet. Oh.. and is that the sandalwood? Hello, sandalwood - come on out, don't be scared! Still no sign of the white honey. OK.. one hour in.. I like it better now that it's softened up, the sandalwood and vanilla are much more apparent now and YES! the cognac has even come out to play. Ah.. this is good, those pesky fruits have faded away nicely - they're still there, but there's no longer a fruity purple party on my skin... much better. This one reminds me very much of Crypt Queen - it's that same kind of rich pomegranate & plum base, but where the fruitiness of CQ is darkened down by the patchouli and black pepper, in Black Heart it's sweetened up by the vanilla and sweet pea. Personally, I would be happier with it if the fruits weren't as dominant.. I'd have preferred for the bourbon vanilla, sandalwood and cognac to be bigger players, but it's still a nice blend although perhaps a bit too heavy on the fruits for me at first. I just need to decide whether I can make it through that initial stage of fruity madness to get to the lovely dried-down stage, and then consider whether this is 'different' enough from other similarly fruity BPALs to make it to the 'keeper' pile. ETA: I had to come back and update this, because after almost 3 hours it's completely changed - the fruits have all vanished, and now I have a beautiful mix of sandalwood with light vanilla and a lovely rich cognac. Unfortunately by this stage it's very faint, so I have to really lean in close to smell it, but it's drop dead gorgeous. I'm still undecided about it overall, because I really can't be waiting 3 hours to get to this point, but I wanted to add to my previous review and make a note of this

It's summer time in this part of the world, and it's hot and sweltering and sticky outside I like wearing That! The Terror From Over There in summer, it's just nice and fresh and cool, and I've also been enjoying The Girl and Vasilissa because they're nice 'pretty' blends. But my all-time favourite summer BPAL is Snake Oil. The hotter it gets, the better it smells.

Thanks for posting that info, jayne. The way I'm seeing this is that Beth & co use components that are 'natural' whenever possible and/or when that component meets their ethical, safety and quality requirements. After nothing but good experiences with them for many years, I don't think I'm being naive in trusting that they will always make the best choices for their customers. Personally, I don't have any skin allergies or other concerns, so I don't need to worry about whether something is 100% natural. What's more important to me is that a product is made with care and expertise and I am more than confident that is the case with all BPAL and BPTP. But my number 1 priority issue with anything I buy is that it absolutely must not be tested on animals - and again, this is something I don't have to worry about with BPAL and BPTP. Everything I know about Beth and her team tells me that they take their work very seriously, and I respect their ethics as much as I do their incredible talent for making beautiful smells.

I'm wondering if you should give Wulric The Wolfman a try.. Friendly, charming, and cuddly, but possessing one hell of a mean streak: cocoa absolute, French vanilla, birch tar, lavender, bourbon vetiver, wild musk, clary sage, and cistus. You can read through several pages of reviews here - I know it doesn't quite match with the description of Gris Clair but Wulric is really a very 'smouldering' scent with a soft side - although the cocoa is a definite feature in the blend, it's not a sweet/sickly type of chocolate note and it's beautifully blended with the darker notes. However the lavender in Wulric is the standout, it has a lovely smokey feel. Wulric is part of the Carnaval Diabolique (CD) collection, which you can see here - he appears in Act III, about half-way down the page. You can't order imps of the CD blends, but you should be able to find a decant on the forum if you search through the sales posts. Wulric may not be quite what you're looking for, but I just have a feeling you might like him

Oh gosh.. this is magnificent! The leather is warm and soft, it absolutely smells like a well-worn saddle. The blood is very subtle, but combined with the woodsmoke it's giving the leather a warm and soft sweetness rather than a harsh hardness. The sage does give it a slight cologne-like edge, but nothing that's really noticeable (not like, say, Severin.. which was very cologne-y on me). This is very evocative of the whole cowboy image, it's dry and dusty but not powdery, and warm and comforting with an edge. Absolutely top class, and it stays on my skin for ages. Overall.. just beautiful, and I'd say an absolute must-have for any leather lovers!

Well poo, poo and poop-e-dy-doo! I added that in with my Lupercalia order.. I hope the back-order situation doesn't cause too much of a delay. I think it suddenly became popular when all the rave reviews started pouring in! Well.. that, and the cute label is hard to resist

Yep, it's black! Very, very black!! Behold the blackness: That's two coats, straight over my natural nails - I didn't have any base coat stuff so this is just straight over the nail. Also no top coat - this photo actually makes it look a little grainy, but that's just camera badness - it's perfectly smooth and even. The polish is thick but not gluggy, and it goes on very easily. Drying time is pretty quick - it was touch dry within about 10 minutes and completely dry within 20. The results are pretty stunning - although it's an opaque/solid colour, it's quite glossy but not in a 'shiny' way - just the right amount of gloss to stop it being a dull black. It wears well too - two days in, and there's no colour loss from the tips and no chipping. And the thing that was worrying me the most, since these are real nails and real nails tend to absorb colour - the polish came off very easily, no problems at all, and didn't leave any staining or discolouration. Pretty outstanding all round really! Finally, the obligatory shot with the bottle.. although it's very hard to see the BPAL branding due to the darkness of the polish.

I was gifted a bar of Snow White soap by a lovely forumite! So this bar has been aging since around December 2007 I guess, since it was a Yule release from that year. Although the soap was still wrapped in its plastic cover inside the beautiful outer paper, I could smell the Snow White fragrance straight away - it's *exactly* the same as the oil. My first thought was to keep this and never use it, because the wrapping is so pretty, but then I thought I should get over that and just use it. So I did! I'm surprised earlier reviewers mentioned a thin lather - I actually got loads of lather from mine, way more than I expected.. which is a good thing, a little of this goes a long way. It's beautifully soft and creamy, and washes off the skin easily. And the fragrance.. well, if you love Snow White then you're going to love this! The smell from the soap stayed on my skin post-shower.. the only potential problem with this could be that it would be kinda wrong to then wear any BPAL other than Snow White.. but that's not a problem as far as I'm concerned A truly beautiful soap, creamy and silky soft, and a beautiful fragrance. I hope this one makes a reappearance with the new BPTP soaps this year!!

I took a risk on this one - cucumber and purple sage didn't really appeal to me but the tonka bean, black coconut, redwood and teak combo did! So I just had to give it a try What a strange little blend.. it is a rickety concoction indeed! The cucumber's actually quite nice here.. it's fresh and light, and gives the whole thing a very clean and crisp feel, and the sage is adding a hint of peppery mint. The redwood and teak are definitely present, and definitely true to form - this isn't a 'brown' wood base like you might get with oak or a darker wood - it's totally a red. I can't really distinguish the coconut and tonka bean separately - I know they're in there, because there's a sweet tone to everything - but on my skin the cucumber and woods are more dominant. The longer it stays on my skin, the nicer it gets - the tonka bean comes out much better after a while and it sweetens up beautifully - even goes a little creamy - very pretty. This is really quite unique, I would never have thought that cucumber and sage would work with the tonka, coconut and woods, but it really does. A very clever blend and quite lovely.

Well this is strange.. not at all what I was expecting! As previous reviews have said, it smells quite strong in the bottle - sweet and creamy and a big waft of ginger. However when it first went on my skin, I could swear it smelt like fizzy orange - not a sweet citrus kind of orange but a deep rich blood orange. Ginger doesn't usually smell like orange, so as I said.. strange! Half an hour in, I'm still getting that blood orange thing but now I can tell that there's ginger involved - a very slight peppery spiciness is coming through the sweetness. It's still quite creamy, which I guess is the musk, but I can't say there's much of a 'scorched' aspect to it though.. maybe a teensy hint of smoke, but I might just be imagining that. This would have been right at home with the Atomic Luau Lounge range of BPALs from a while back. Overall, a very interesting blend - not an instant love but I have a feeling it might age beautifully so I'll hang on to it and see what happens

Annnnnnd.. many thanks to milo for passing it along to me! When I saw the name "Night Parade of 100 Demons" I thought hmm.. what's this going to smell like?!? and I have to say I was expecting something.. well.. demon-like. Instead, this is actually quite pretty! As milo said, it definitely has a vetiver-like, almost dirt-like zing in the vial and when it first hits my skin. But that fades quickly once it starts drying, and then a fresh floral appears. I'm going with a lily-type floral, or perhaps narcissus, I don't think it's jasmine cos I can usually pick that from a mile away, but it could possibly be a jasmine variant that's lighter than 'plain' jasmine, or it could be the mysterious 'night blooming flowers' that appear in other BPAL blends. It definitely has a fresh, green edge to it. Further into the dry-down, the green ripens and sweetens a bit and there is something slightly fruity in there - a citrus kind of fruit, maybe a dash of lime? Perhaps some ginger? I dunno.. this is a tough one to decipher! Half an hour in, the floral has mellowed and that smoky vetiver-ish thing has come back, but now everything's balanced beautifully and it's a lovely warm scent. I can't wait to see what the notes actually are, when this one gets released!

Lolita is the lemoniest lemon pie-ish lemon GC BPAL that I can think of. Is lemoniest even a word?

That's so disappointing! I've been putting off getting a bottle of Black Phoenix and I, too am (was?) expecting the different label. I'm interested to know the answer to this one too.. my bottle has the orange label with black phoenix, if I remember correctly it was purchased early 2008.

First up, big love goes to the very special person who sent me this as a surprise in a swap package! Thank you, Sue Alright.. so this is, as expected, completely decadent. It's a true dark chocolate - rich and creamy. The cocoa is very much like Candy Butcher, and (as mentioned in a previous review) Boomslang, but where both of those blends have other notes this seems to be 99% chocolate - I do detect a hint of vanilla and spices in there, which gives it a slightly liqueur-like feel. Deep, rich and ridiculously delicious. I wish I still had my decant of Orange now, so that I could layer the two together as originally intended, but alas I do not. So I shall enjoy this all on its own.. which is not a bad thing!

I have a few favourites in this line, and already have a 5ml of Shango which on me is absolutely delicious - not overly sweet or fruity, it's lightly spicy with a 'deep red' feel, almost like a red musk kinda vibe. My imps of Ogun and Osun are well used, so maybe a bottle of either (or both) of those will find their way into my next order Oh.. and Obatala - really very lovely, creamy and soft - for me it's all about the milk but the coconut is very present as well. Re the question of proceeds from imp pack purchases - I think yes, they would be included.. the announcement said "Proceeds from all of January's sales of the #BPAL's Orisha oils.." so I reckon imps would count.

Berries! Black ones, I think. Where blackcurrant usually turns to cat pee on me, this one isn't quite doing that.. however there seems to be a definite brown sugar/syrup or caramel in here, because it's all going horribly wrong right under my nose. After about 10 minutes, I'm left with faint berries and a buttery cake smell. There's also something slightly nose-tickly in here.. cassia or cardamon or nutmeg, maybe? Not at all like crumpets - I'm a big fan of crumpets, so I know what they smell like This is definitely a crumpet rebellion on my skin.. the crumpet's fighting valiantly to be found amongst the berries and butter and spices but alas.. it's not to be.

When I first put this one, the lily was very strong and rich.. just like a fully bloomed lily or freesia, slightly sweet but very strong. As it dried, the green comes out in full force with a very 'fresh' tone to it - kind of like the blast of green cleanness that I get from something like Squirting Cucumber. Gradually, the two merge back together so that the lily has softened and the green has mellowed out. The wood doesn't really make an appearance until about 15 minutes in, and I can't say that I ever got the 'varnished' aspect of it - just a nice soft oak that provides a nice background to the fresh floral of the lily and greens. It does fade fairly quickly, but it fades in a way that keeps the nice smells - it doesn't just disappear. I'm glad I got to try this, but it isn't something I'd wear - just way too floral for me - but any lily lovers should definitely try it. I think it's more for wearing with a flouncy floral dress and strappy sandals, on a sunny spring day then for laying broken at the bottom of the stairs though

On my skin, this is quite herbal when wet but that softens up a bit once it dries. I'm left with a somewhat sharp chamomile, a slight hint of vanilla and a wispy smoke - I was expecting this to be rich and heady with its bourbon vanilla and smoky vanilla bean, so I'm disappointed - those are usually two of my favourite things. Everything here is very very soft but the chamomile is too dominant for my liking.

On my skin, the leather in this is so dusty that it's hardly discernible at all. If it wasn't a listed note, I most likely wouldn't have recognised it. The musk is very soft and slightly sweet, as are the sandalwoods. Overall, this is like putting a dab of baby shampoo on my arm.

Well.. this is interesting, and not like the O we all know so well - what a nice surprise! I can't really add much to what's already been said.. this is very creamy, warm and languid. When it first hits my skin, I'm guessing there's a touch of amber, light honey, and something pink-ish - is it carnation? I'm not getting any of the pepperiness that carnation sometimes has, and this feels more 'pink' than carnation usually does, but I'll defer to the judgement of those with a far better nose than me on that one! When completely dry, the honey comes up stronger but it never goes over the edge into sweet honey - it stays dry and soft, and I'm pretty sure that there's amber in here because I'm now getting a slight hint of baby powder. Actually, it's gone quite girly frills on me - the pink factor has amped up. This actually reminds me a little of my lovely old Hod, it doesn't really smell like Hod, but it has a similar feel - very creamy. Overall, a very nice and smooth blend that I think would be lovely for a summer's day when you want to smell soft, clean and sweet.

Unfortunately.. no banana bread for me. When this hits my skin, it's a blast of butterscotch-caramel. Then I notice the strong pastry/cake behind that, and there it is - sticky toffee pudding. You know those little muffin-shaped pudding cakes, the ones you turn upside down and all the hot caramel sauce oozes all over it? One of those. This is very strong - I only put a teensy drop on, but it has massive throw. And it stayed on my skin For Ever, I actually had to wipe it down a bit because I kinda don't like it... brown sugar smells are not my friend. But if this ever gets released, everyone who enjoys caramel/cake combo type blends is going to love it!!

This really is a very snuggly scent, definitely representative of its name! On my skin, it's all about the honey. It's a dusky, powdery honey - sweet but not overly so, and the musk aspect is quite sultry. The rose never really made an appearance - which is unusual since anything involving rose usually turns out to be all ROSE for me - but I can smell the plum.. very faint, but it's there, although it really only came out after about 30 minutes once the honey had softened up a bit. After 1 hour, I can hardly find where it is on my arm.. it's faded away to almost nothing. This one reminds me a little of Mead Moon, but it's not as strong or sweet as that was - Plush Companion has a more 'cakey' feel. If your skin handles honey well, then I'd say go for it - this is one of the nicest BPAL honey blends that I've tried.