valentina

When I first sniffed Lycaon, I got a lot of green smells -- the olive leaf and cypress, no doubt. And when I first applied it, the olive and cypress went into full bloom, but after 5 minutes or so, things settled down and started smelling green and powdery -- the powder was the myrrh kicking in, no doubt. This is such a complex blend that after a complete drydown it became difficult to articulate just what I was smelling -- there's certainly the frankincense and myrrh combo in the forefront, but the peppery black musk and hints of the green elements of the scent lurk in the background. It's a scent that's rather masculine, but certainly very nice as a dark and brooding scent for a woman. And I just can't stop smelling it!! It's so complex as to truly defy description, but I do have a rather overwhelming urge to pull out my Warren Zevon CD and sing along with "Werewolves of London..."

While Wolf Moon 2006 smells piney and a bit musky in the bottle, it turns quickly to a very bright, crisp forest smell. This is truly the smell of junipers and cedars on a really cold, clear winter night. There is a snap to the forest smell, for it's not a green sappy smell. It's like you walked through ice and snow-crusted junipers and cedars and as the snow and ice fell from the branches the smell of the trees wafted up through the icy air. I detect a little bit of the black musk, because it always seems a bit peppery to my nose, but it only enhances the sharpness of the forest smells. For me, this isn't a warm and cozy winter blend, but rather a wonderful evocation of a cold forest and high, lonely hills in the dead of winter.

Muse is a rather amazing little blend. I tested it not knowing what was in it, and I found it on initial application to be very floral, in a round, buttery sort of way. I really couldn't figure out what was in it and suspected ylang-ylang. It had a rather sweet-floral surge, but then it calmed down into a softer, vaguely powdery, slightly spicy scent with a bit of an edge. It's not really "me," but it's very wearable. Then I looked up the ingredients, and holy cats! This has three big monster ingredients for me -- normally tuberose, lotus and jasmine can all be a bit obnoxious on me; in fact, I might have considered this a "nightmare" scent if I'd read the ingredients and not tested it. The fact that I consider this scent wearable attests to how balanced the blend must be, for I get a hint of tuberose, the spice of the lotus, a little bit of a powdery jasmine, and the lime must be doing overtime work to hold them all in line. It was great fun testing this scent, and I think it's one that floral fans could love, and even people who don't love florals could enjoy!

OK, I'm not going to suggest a specific scent to you because I love patchouli so much that I like to wear pure patchouli, straight up. But I'll share my experience with jasmine, which is normally a nemesis of mine -- I can wear Siren because in addition to jasmine, it has both ginger and vanilla in it, notes that I really like. I'd suggest that you look at the BPAL patchouli blends and see if there's any with other components that you like. The patchouli may run over them like a Mack truck when you wear them, but I think it's worth a try... And for what it's worth, OK, I lied, here comes the name of a specific scent! I love Mme. Moriarty, and that's patchouli leaf in that blend. I think it's just a little brighter and fresher smelling, and there's some fruitiness in Mme. that you might enjoy.

Snarky! Great t-shirts! I would say that you could get a nice little side business going with t-shirt design, but then that would cut into time for gardening and cooking really good food, and nah... probably not worth it, except if you worked only by special-special commission. But I still visualize going onto "Go Fug Yourself" or one of the other cool fashion commentary blogs and seeing "Snarky Shirts" popping up in the advertising for fun, funky online shops that they always run on sites like that. And great news about the Mister prospects! All of the recent developments have to be giving him a real boost, and of course, boosting you right along with it.

Oh gracious. I'm going to say the same thing to you that I said to a friend who called me the other day and announced: "My life is in shambles!" He's so busy trying to hold things together for other people that he feels like he's being pulled in a million different directions. My friend, like you, is more than prepared to plow head first through the shambles, and like you, he will do it with great aplomb. But I suggested that he needed take care of himself in the midst of everything. So please be as gentle with yourself as you are with the Mister. You're probably doing a better job of that already, compared to my friend, because you're doing the fun and cool crafty shirt projects, which is creative and a great release. But give yourself a nice solstice gift and find some space to breathe and chill out. Both you and the Mister will benefit from it. I'm still pulling for you!

I was at the gym watching TV on Sunday when the live coverage of the mountain was showing the rescuers looking for what they thought would be three people in a snow cave. Being a flatlander, I am so awed by mountains. It's like they're another life form, like an above-water Cthulhu. When I finished working out, nothing had been discovered, so after I ran some post-workout errands and got home to hear no one was in the cave, and then they'd found someone not alive in another, it was really disheartening. My brother used to live in Jackson, Wyoming and the summer that I lived out there, I used to hang around a mountaineering store, just to look at the gear and peruse the books. (I am very, very fascinated by it, but it utterly scares the crap out of me.) I hoped that there was a certain peace to dying on a mountain, for climbers consider time on the mountaintop to be an ultimate experience of sorts. But I think the sense of powerlessness that it gives the living, to realize that the force of nature is so awesome, and to not even be able to find the others, is what's really sobering beyond words. Is Mister in fact quitting his job? Very soon? I'm sorry it's so horrible for him, and thus, for you.

I hope you are still hooked up to read this, and I hope you don't get unhooked, but in the event you do, we'll miss you and have a Merry Christmas!

Have I ever told you that I like how you change the name of your blog every now and then? It cracks me up, because the names are always so great. Anyway, I hope the stress in your life abates, and very soon. Holiday stress compounded by other stress... arrrggh! I hope the red tape is cut so your hubby can get disability. It is such a hassle -- I know someone else who went through that, but it does eventually work out. You're handling it much better than I would. And I think having family members, like your sister, just gives a sense of security and "okay-ness" to the world that help you believe that you will work through difficulties and problems in life. I think your comments about your sister are wonderful and really kind of awe-inspiring. My family wasn't as well put together, but I am always glad to hear about great sibiling relationships, because it's how it should work. And rare scents? Most of them don't work very well on me. Smut and Underpants are exceptions, but they aren't the very, very best. The Buddha said life is craving, and the LEs tend to bring out a lot of craving, and since the Buddha also said that craving leads to suffering, I tend to try to keep my cravings to a minimum, but I'm human and I crave plenty o' things. Rare LEs just happen to be one of the things where I can hold cravings in check, but then it's always easier to not crave something that you know you probably won't like once you have it! Arrrgh! I'm getting too philosophical! I hope you're curled up with your honey right now, enjoying the thought of your first Christmas together as a married couple!

Man oh man, my job is keeping me way too busy these days and I can't even keep up on the blogs, so I'm late to the party, but congratulations! Love that shopping list too... Stuff-O-Rama has such great things and Fred Soll incense rocks my world. It's the best. And what a great deal, getting to go back to where you used to work, so you know a lot of the people and it won't be a totally new thing to adjust to. I'm really happy for you, and I hope you and your hubby are off celebrating!!!

Woot! Good grades and a steak and salad! Great job!!!!

Wow. No job is worth it, really, truly. The Mister will probably find something sooner than ever imagined. I wondered what had happened, since I remembered that he was going to call it a day with the current employer some time this fall. I've been waxing philosophical with a friend the last couple of days about what's important in life, and truly, in the end, what you did to make money isn't one of them. Or it shouldn't be, in my option. It's who you connected with and that you got to enjoy them, and they got to enjoy you. If a hellish job has started to poison Mister's entire life, then it's high time he left that toxic situation. And often, it's hard to picture the future until you get out of such a quagmire. You two are a couple of smart, resourceful people, you'll make things work out. In the meantime, both congratulations and hugs!!! I'm pulling for you!

Yeah, well, hey... I haven't written here in a while. I had to really buckle down to work at my job and something had to go, so meandering around on the internet was one of them. In addition, my winter solstice mood has been coming on, and that's not really a bad thing. When the days get shorter, I start getting quieter and more contemplative. I think it's reasonable behavior for a North American mammal. I see so much really bad behavior this time of the year that reminds me a lot of how animals in captivity act if you jam them into too small a space and don't give them enough food. Seriously -- you can go to a mall and see that sort behavior being acted out all over. I haven't seen anyone chewing on another shopper's ear, literally, but I've seen figurative versions of it in the tiny little forays that I've made out into the retail realm. So no, I haven't been spending my time at the mall. I just completed some shopping online on Saturday. The internet is quite the blessing for the semi-hibernating North American shopping mammal. Except don't try eBay; you get into online captive behavior there. Have any of you experienced what could be called clairsentience? It's the perception of energy fields through physical sensations. Scientific-rational types consider it hooey, because it's not a regularly occurring measurable phenomenon, but since our nervous systems send out energetic impulses are measured all the time with machines, I can't really understand why they think the human body isn't able to detect external impulses on its own. Any everyone has this ability, it just depends on how open or closed off to it we happen to be. I'm just asking because it happens to me, and I think there's a lot of cool stories out there that most people won't talk about, lest they be considered "weird." And what I think is weird that that we can't acknowledge or talk about it without being seen as spooky. I was reading the New York Times yesterday, and being the incurable romantic that I am, I was looking at the weekly Sunday feature about a couple who had just gotten married. The woman in the couple featured yesterday said that during their second or third date, she felt a strong pang in her chest and she knew that something very special was happening between the two of them. How cool! There are so many people who would say she just had indigestion or an anxiety attack, and I get so tired of that "it's only..." blow-off to any mystical or emotional reading of a physical clue. I do know that there are people who get those responses and then cut and run from whatever made them feel that way, because they find it scary and it makes them feel insecure. There is nothing spooky about it to me, it's a part of being human and having fully-functioning senses. There's a lot of mystery to it, but that's what makes it so remarkable. And because you never know when it's going to happen, you can't sit around and watch for it, which makes it even better. So if you have stories, tell them... I'm listening!

I love it! I think you're describing a kundalini experience, when his energy and your energy met up, it spiked all the way up your spine and through your nervous system. I know someone like that -- a person who is almost luminescent to me, although I can tell when he's been around people and situations who drain him, because he loses the glow. It's the oddest thing, to watch it come and go. The people who keep theirs burning all the time are really forces of nature and you're correct -- it's not just charisma. There is something much more going on!

Wow, that story takes my incurable romanticism and interest in clairsentience and wraps them up into one beautiful package! It didn't need to happen again, because the message came through loud and clear, and you paid attention to it. Thanks so much for sharing that story, I just love it!!!!

In the bottle, Pumpkin Queen is that round, buttery pumpkin smell with spices. Very mellow and warm. When it hits my skin, the pumpkin is very predominate at first, but as it starts to dry down, all the elements of the scent become apparent. It's such a well-blended fragrance that it's really difficult for me to say that I'm pulling any one component in particular -- I detect pumpkin, but also a very elegant orange and deep, but not overpowering spice. I think the amber, cardamom and ginger give this blend a certain exotic quality that separates it from the more traditional pumpkin pie scents. For me, it's not the warm, cozy smell of mom cooking pumpkin pie in her country kitchen, but rather a more sublime, mature scent that would be worn by a queen. This is a beautiful scent that could move beautifully from autumn into winter, and I'm so pleased that I have a bottle!

I think you articulated your intuitive abilities perfectly -- you work in the thought/words vibe rather than the energy vibe. I love it that you could visualize your Mister by his words, where the others weren't that way. I think that's called "clairaudience," where your skills are more in the form of words and inner thoughts. I have the thought vibe every now and then, but it's usually when I finally have a realization about something in my life, because I am often amazingly dunderheaded about things that directly affect me. However, with other people, I can be amazingly right on, in all sorts of goofy little ways and sometimes in more significant ways. The number of times I've sent people little extras in BPAL sales or swaps, and then had them ask me if I was psychic, is absurd. I somehow have to figure out a way to make a living as a psychic personal shopper!!!

Way too cool, way too cool! I admire your crafty-ness!

I once had a somewhat, uh, I'd say odd interaction with Duck Mountain over a year ago. You know, I read that a lot when there is someone who does a big bout of swaplifting and a number of people are involved. Someone usually shows up in a discussion of the swaplifting and says they had an earlier transaction with the swaplifter where everything turned out OK, but there simply was something a little odd about it. I'm really sorry that this happened to you -- that just stinks. Fingers crossed that Beth might do a scent in Lupercalia update that is a similar to the Beaver Moon blend! It would make sense, since she hasn't done a cheesecakey scent since then, has she? And the Yule updates weren't all that foody, either. Add to that, cherry cheesecake and Valentine's Day goes together on so many levels. Who knows what Beth has up her sleeve, but we can always hope!

I purchased a bottle of Melisande for a friend who's a jasmine lover, but that did not stop me from putting a wee tip of a toothpick into the potion so I could do a wee test and write a review. In the bottle, Melisande is a softer, gentler jasmine than some of the other blends I've smelled. When it hits my skin, it's again a softer jasmine upon initial drydown. I've grown accustomed enough to jasmine that I don't recoil when I smell it, and I wait to see if it will let the rest of the blend do good things or bad things on my skin. After about 15 minutes, the jasmine in Melisande really explodes, and it's kind of skeevy with the musk and orange in the background. It gives me a powdery, sour jasmine for a while, but then the offending elements burn themselves off after perhaps 45 minutes to an hour. Then I'm left with a vanilla-jasmine smell with just a hint of violet that's very petite and nice, albeit almost too understated. But... I know my friend will adore it -- I think this is a lovely, feminine, almost delicate jasmine blend. All the Carnival scents are so uniquely blended, and Melisande is no exception.

Midnight Mass is exactly what the description states that it is -- it's a classic sacremental incense smell, with maybe a hint of pine or juniper. It evokes perfectly the scent of incense burning in a church on Christmas Eve, and the fragrance of the incense comingles with the scent of the greenery decorating the church. I love incense, and to me it's a classic dark, contemplative, quiet, calming scent. I am planning to put this scent on when I meditate, because the long, deep, dark nights of December are a time of deep contemplation and this scent alone helps take me to a quieter place. (I'm reviewing the 2006 release of this scent.)

In the imp, Bewitched smells very pretty and round, fruity and green, but not in a fake or candy-like sort of way -- it's very natural and really pretty. When it hits my skin, it very quickly explodes into a very strong green smell that is intensely herbal. I'd guess it to be both the green tea and the sage. Then the berry aroma kicks in, and that becomes very loud and fruity. My body chemistry has a tendency to amp up both green herbals and berries, and the musk in Bewitched is not enough to hold them down during the first hour or so of wear. As I've discovered in the time that I've been testing BPAL, if an aroma really amps up obnoxiously on me, that means my body is also burning it off in a hurry and it will go away. And sure enough -- the herbs and the berries settle down after about an hour to an hour and a half, and I'm left with the muskiness of the blend, which is a very gentle, dark musk. I think for anyone who loves green herbals/green tea and berry fragrances, but is a bit shy of musk, this might be a great scent to try, for the emphasis of the blend is not the musk, but it gives a lovely dark undertone to the brightness of the sage, green tea and berries.

I'd PM a mod and tell them just what you said in your blog -- that you don't want to be a bitch, but the situation is causing concern. I'm certain the mods know that you are hardly an unreasonable person and you're more than understanding, and if you complain, there's a good basis for it.

I tested this scent assuming that with a name like Black Ice, it would smell like vetiver and ice and tire rubber! So it was a bit of a surprise when I sniffed it and discovered an aquatic, icy-cool scent. Then I put it on my skin, and at first the aquatic note rose to the top, but it was rapidly followed by floral notes and then a bit of resin/smokiness. As time passed, it began to smell very similar to the way that Christian Dior Poison perfume smells on me. What on earth?? I used to wear Poison, but a similarity to that perfume is the last thing I expected from Black Ice. I have no idea what notes are similar in both scents, but I'm guessing some amber and possibly something berry-like. Vetiver is normally a no-no component for me, and my nose can't really catch a whiff of it in Black Ice. I don't find the scent masculine at all, but I do find it rather noir and a bit sinister, yet pretty. Of all the Yules, this one totally shocked the hell out of me, because it's so beautiful.

This is a review for the 2006 Jacob's Ladder, not having tried the 2005 version. In the imp, this scent smells ambery and not at all sweet. I can catch a bit of citrus around the edges. Once it's on my body, from first contact to eventual dry-down, it's rose. How does this happen? I sniff it on my skin and all I can get was rose with a bit of citrus! I checked the ingredient list and there it was, rockrose. Good grief, my body chemistry! All of the other reviews of this scent sound divine, and what I've said should only apply if there's someone else out there whose body turns rose into the major component of any blend, no matter how far down the list of ingredients it happens to be.