smallvoice

Hellooooooo, vetiver. It's really earthy and strongly... dirty, I guess, when I first put it on. I wish the cinnamon would manifest, but I do like what it's morphed into, actually. There's a breath of something floral on top of the vetiver, which seems to have calmed down somewhat. It's really woodsy and smoky now, and seems to be quite masculine. I don't think this is something I'd wear often enough to merit a bottle, but I do like the blend. Excellent name, and I love that the oil is a vibrant red, too.

RAGE -- Black amber erupting with a dark volcanic surge of fiery dragon's blood and a burst of melati, rose geranium, mandarin and black currant. Huh. Count me in with those who say this one isn't striking me as particularly red or angry or whatnot. I'm not getting any of the spice, and it's mostly just a soft floral... very generic on my skin, and it's almost faded away after less than an hour. Interesting, I think, but not for me.

Isn't there a point where you're just physically unable to cry anymore?

I'm feeling the weight of depression settling in on me this weekend, and I'm sort of afraid of falling back into that pit of awfulness. But! I got an awesome card from my switch witch, I'm preparing my switchee's package, and I've been trying Penance's tarts (and others) over the past couple of days. I love my tart burner. So! Goodness in my life: -I'm very, very much in love with someone who is everything I want and need, all in one person, and I'm able to recognize how rare that is to find, and be awed. -I'm NOT incapacitated by depression/anxiety. I'm in school, I'm doing things on my own- even things I don't particularly want to do, and I'm learning how to live life. I'm making mistakes, but who doesn't? -There are these bunnies on my campus, which fill me with utter joy to see, and I tend to see them most every day. They are ADORABLE. I'm not in the midst of a huge metropolis or anything, but it's not exactly rural, either, so they're particularly exciting. -I finally got a tart warmer thingy! And a ton of tea lights, because who knew they burnt out so quickly? But, yeah. So far I've tried a skindazzles Island Paradise one I got from Hawke last SW round (which was subtle and really, really pretty), Creme Brulee from 4 Fat Cats Wax Works (which I really like but the SO hates, sadly.), Peppercorn from 4FCWW which is amazing and lingers like you wouldn't believe, and I'm melting a Jack Frost from Yankee Candles that Hawke also sent me, and I haven't been out to sniff at the room yet, but I will. It smelled grand in the solid, though! -I'm trying to teach myself to draw. I actually like some of the images I've sketched so far, which is... unusual. I would never describe myself as artistically talented by ANY stretch of the imagination. I started on the drawing kick as almost a joke, sort of inspired by my switchee (I'll explain once the round is over, in case she somehow stumbles across this), and found out that it was really soothing and I liked doing it overall. The SO has been really supportive. -I'm changing my name! What's more is that I know what I want it to be, finally. I thought I knew, but when it came time to sign paperwork, it felt really awful. I've been trying to settle on something that's agreeable to both myself and the SO and sounds good with his last name, and I FINALLY found the right one. He brought it up, and it had been one I'd been too uncertain about to voice. I'm really excited about the namechange, anyway. -Earlier this week, when I came home from school and got out of the car, I looked up at the sky and a thousand bits of cotton from cottonwood trees in the area were floating gently in the wind, and with the sun shining through them against the backdrop of a blue sky, they all looked like fairies, and it was breathtaking and I can't do it justice. -I did really well on my last english essay. I'm getting more comfortable with the format of the class and with the people in the class. It's really more of a political science class, but as long as he is consistent with his course outline, I'll do well in the class. -I got to hear the father of Fractals speak. (Which is all I'll say on the matter, because that's the most positive thing I can say about the experience, heh.) -Despite the agony of giving up on Archaeology, I'm really enjoying the break between my classes. I've never done that before. I'm planning on doing it again in the fall. -My wedding invitations are done! (They're not sent off yet, and they're not what I wanted them to be, but they're done.) This is cause for much rejoicing. -I've found stuff for the bridesmaids, flower girls, and other people to wear, and my mother found a dress she loves. I'm excited. -I've made it through half the quarter. -I got a postcard from my switch witch today! -Paris was eliminated from American Idol, and while it's sad for her, she's really the only one I felt deserved to go at this stage. ...Yeah, I'm done. Heh.

I love Alice! The rose is ever so soft, the honey is ever so sweet, and the milk makes it all creamy and lovely... Plus the bergamot is divine. It has just the right dash of spice to make this interesting, but still very understated. I love this. It is absolutely comforting and gorgeous. It lasts fairly long, but it doesn't seem to have good throw. I may need to apply more generously.

In the imp: Unpleasant. Seriously. My first thought was: "This smells like ass! Aargh!" But then I thought: "Hm. Sometimes the ones I hate the most in the imp are the ones I end up liking the most on me. I must try it... as soon as I've forgotten how much I hate this smell." On: Poisonous is right! I think I'm allergic to something in this. Now that I've had a chance to look over the notes, I'm starting to get a lemony smell, but it's sort of like lemons soaked in soap, and it's cloying. It all gathers in the back of my throat, and I sort of hate it still. As time passes, it softens. I actually sort of like how it smells now that it's past the awfulness, but if I sniff my wrist, I get that throat-closing allergic reaction kind of response that makes me think I ought to wash it off now. Aww. I wanted to love Lolita, to match my favourite; Jailbait. Alas! The good news? The drydown is gorgeous enough that, were I not having the allergic response, it'd be worth going through the gross beginnings. It's really quite lovely.

I am trying desperately to smell something other than cat pee masked (poorly) with vanilla-berry-something air freshener and... sweat? Ew. My skin chemistry has mis-translated this scent, for sure. It's just not working. I'll have to try it again just to be sure, but I'm thinking I may have to swap this one out.

Thankfully, this one does not remind me of Gingerbread Poppet, which was nearly retch-worthy on my skin. Shub was generously gifted to me by my Spring Switch Witch, and I was so excited to try it. To be honest, when I opened it up, I was sort of... underwhelmed? I had really high expectations for it, I guess, and it sort of smelled like... well, incense. Lots of resiny smells- don't get me wrong; I'm fond of resins, but again, I had really high expectations. So I dabbed some on my skin, as I've learned I must always do, and found myself in the warm embrace of Shub Niggurath. It's spicy and warm and not terribly foody on me. There's even a clear note that sort of surfaces elusively now and then. It's really quite remarkable, and the ginger is mingling and it smells very... natural on me. It's subtle (fades rather quickly, though I only dabbed), so it's almost an afterthought on me. I will savor this imp, for sure. I can see what all the hype is about now!

Here's the rundown of everything that's been going wrong in my life of late. I'll do a more positive one soon. -I got violently ill during finals week last quarter. -I was violently ill the first week of spring break. -I was PMS'ing, too. -Surprise visit from my beloved cousin left little time for rest during the second week of spring break. -Ugliness and misfortune from friend in previous entry. -School starts. Yoga-ow. Math-ow. Archaeology-YAY. English-.... -Things resolve with friend, who gets kicked out of his apartment due to not paying rent. (This is a long story.) Instead of doing homework, I help him get moved. -S.O. gets sick. -Mom may have whooping cough. If she does, I will have to be tested for it as well. -If mom has whooping cough, she will go straight to the hospital. Scariness. -I get sick. I miss 3 of the first 8 days of classes. Catching up in math is going to be a bitch. -Friend gets moved in here. -English instructor is extremely condescending to me. It makes me sad. -At the urging of my S.O., I realize that I can't take archaeology. This is heartbreaking news. -A favourite uncle who has been really sick for a while now goes into renal failure and is on his deathbed. -Favourite uncle consequently dies. -I miss the funeral because it is out of town, and I've already missed too much school. -The death brings up a lot of past issues. -I'm still sick but attending school. My voice is mostly gone and I feel like shit, but I'm probably not contagious. -I tell my archaeology instructor in person that I'm dropping his class, and when he gets concerned, I damn near cry, because his class is the only one I enjoy. This causes more concern from him. Luckily (for me) he has a class and can't stay, but reassures me that I'm not giving up and I have to do what's best for me and all the nice things people say. -I cry. (In my car) -I cry some more. (At home) -For whatever reason, math just isn't sticking with me. I suck. I fail the first quiz. -My first english essay is late. -I cry some more. (In my car and at home) -I don't have wedding invitations yet. This is not good. -.... to be continued.

I'm drawing a blank on sandalwood that isn't Velvet, for some reason. Huh. For just woody, I'd suggest Yggdrasil (smells really clean and sort of herbal to me) or Hamadryad- which seems to be a craps' shoot. A lot of people get a really wintergreen scent out of it. To me, it was more of a cinnamon with a grounding wood note, and it's one of my all time favourites. Clean: Embalming Fluid is a smooth, citrusy clean to me, and Whitechapel is another fresh citrus. Whitechapel is probably on my top 5, and EF is among my top 10 favourites. I'll have to go through my imps and see if I can find any others.

I've never tried that one, but the smoky wet fruits thing made me think of Eris. Though Eris doesn't remind me a bit of Dirty, so this may be a -very- long shot.

I was all excited about placing into the college level algebra... went in today, and the instructor jumped into chapter 5. Chapter 5!!!@#$#$!!~@@#!!~!#$%&(#! Dude, I'm not that smart. Seriously. And it's the first day! I don't have my freaking books! I didn't get the financial aid check until saturday!! Then, she tried to play it off like it was school policy for us to have to get the customized book with the cd-tutorial thing so that we could all take our quizzes from it or some crazy shit, but when I went to the bookstore, the manager (not some student employee, but the actual manager) seemed flabbergasted that we'd be required to get that book. Also, a bunch of people in the class had already gotten the book, and hadn't gotten the one with the tutorial, which cost them an extra $40. And I knew it'd be hard, but I wasn't expecting it to sound like she was speaking a foreign tongue. So I looked over the homework, and none of it is making any sense to me. At all. And it makes me feel awful, because it's not even that advanced, I just don't have the foundation I need, apparently. And I'm starting to panic because I need this class... If I can't cut it, I'll have to spend 3 quarters on JUST math. Which means it'll be a whole year of waiting to accomplish the prereq's for the radiology program, so it'll be pushed back to the summer of '08 instead of next year, and that's if I'm lucky and all the stars align and.... Wow, I'm insane. And english is sounding like it may become a class I'll hate, sadly. But I'm going to stay with it because I think I may like the instructor... tentatively. I don't know. I'm pretty insane.

I like how it smells in the imp. I was looking for something really cheerful and uplifting today, because my mood has been out of whack, so I thought that ACJM would be ideal. As I'm applying it, though, it smells a lot like black licorice- did anyone else get that? Once on my skin, the licorice skulks away and brings up a sort of spiced strawberry shortcake doll scent, and I'm a bit puzzled. This is not what I was expecting, sadly, and I don't think I'm going to end up keeping it. Sad!

Fun times. So, somebody I've been friends with for coming on seven years now has sort of just proven himself to be a rather awful person. The sad part is that I should've seen it coming, and I just wanted to believe the best about him. The really sad part is that other people are paying for my mistake with him. It's a huge mess. I'm pretty angry all around. And sad. I've spent the better part of a year (or more) trying to help him find his way, and all he's been doing is taking advantage of me and anyone close to me who wants to help me... Grrrarrrgggghhhhhhhhhrrrrrrrrrrggggg.

I wore this one today and I am very pleased with the scent. I think I was looking for the pear to be a more sweet, slightly syrupy aroma, but I'm actually glad it didn't turn out to be that way for me. It's more of a pear blossom, with a lovely soft musk and the floral never turned soapy on me... just gorgeous, and it faded to a soft sort of powdery scent on me, and I don't mean that in a negative way, I just don't know how else to describe it. Very ethereal and romantic.

Lovely spices of holiday cheer! Warm gingerbread and... yeah. That's about it. I will say that it is incredibly true to the name. I don't detect a lot of difference from bottle to drydown. This is making me HUNGRY. Really hungry. It's a lovely scent, but I'm not sure if it's one I'll use a whole heck of a lot. EDIT: I wore this again today, and it was overwhelmingly ICK on me. It smelled a little boozy and a lot butterscotchy and less holiday cheery. Actually, it reminded me more of a candle, which makes me think it'd be a decent room scent. So... it's really not one I'll use a whole heck of a lot. I may need to start a swap listing, eh?

In the bottle it smells like Grog and Gluttony, and it's just SO buttery. I immediately feel sad, because it's not at all how I wanted it to smell... but I take a deep breath (away from the bottle) and dab some on my wrist. I'm confused by the bottles, because Smut smells how I wanted Red Lantern to smell, and Red Lantern smells somewhat the way I expected Smut to smell... but it turns out that I was just wrong about them. Heh. Once on my skin it sort of blossoms and becomes this heady, spicy scent. It's still sweet, but there's coconut and some spices and it's just lovely. I'm sad to say that it's not immediate love, but glad to say that I surely do like it enough to test it again. Also: Coconut! I've been needing a coconut fix! So I'm hoping it comes out and makes itself known. EDIT: So, I wore this out tonight, and as I'm walking out of the room, my fiancee sniffs at me and goes, "Is that Gluttony?" because he knows how obsessed I am with BPAL, and it earns him bonus points when he can identify what I'm wearing. It was a good call, though. Partial credit! However, this calms down a lot after a short while and the tobacco and spices come out... not so much with the coconut, sadly. I'm sort of torn about whether I like this enough to wear it very often.

I'm also getting that spiced cider over the holidays, and a bit of a cedary smell, plus the rich plum and berries... it's this explosion of good things that all come out and dance around together, and it's really quite remarkable. I'll have to use it with purpose and comment on that another day. It has, in the past, had the effect of calming me down and focusing my mind on important things when I've been really emotional and scattered. I do reach for this as a comforting scent, and it's just lovely. Spicy fruits. I love spices. Mmm.

I love the concept behind the fragrance, and I also wanted to love it. I got lucky, and I do love it. It smells like warm, spicy wine with a hint of roses floating nearby. I will agree that it does start out extremely sugary, but on my skin it calms down fairly rapidly to this lovely, rich scent. Possibly some incense burning along with it... very compelling. I like it, and.. whew!

I've had bad luck with rose. I think I'm even slightly allergic to it. But maybe not! Blood Rose is soft and sweet, and the roses aren't at war with the wine... it's another romantic day scent that is soft and merits more wear before I decide upon a bottle... however, the imp is most definitely a keeper.

This one should've been a no-brainer for me, so I don't know why I wasn't looking for this sooner. I got this by chance, and it was very fortunate. I mean, I love dragon's blood and I love lotus... I love sweet, smoky (but still light) scents, and I think this encompasses everything beautiful about all of the aforementioned qualities. I'll have to see how often I reach for this one before I decide on a 5ml, because I do really love it, but I have a lot of scents that are sweet or dragon's bloody that I might reach for before this one, and I don't want it to be underused.

This one has a sharp, medicinal quality that I just don't like. It's strange. I'm not getting any creamy orange out of this, but I'm getting a lot of smoke and dust and herbs of some sort. There's possibly a hint of sweetness under the smoke, but it's not enough to warrant keeping the imp. This is the first time I've come across the vapo-rub vibe, and it makes me sad. The concept is so very sound and fun that I was hoping to really enjoy it.

This is actually warm and soothing to me. I think I'm really going to enjoy using the imp. I do get the references to Shalimar, which is nice because that's all my mother would wear when I was a kid, up until her asthma wouldn't allow her to breathe it in anymore. The musk is keeping the amber from being overwhelming on my skin, and vice versa... so it's really well balanced for me. I like it.

In the imp it's very herbal and clean-smelling, and it reminds me of men's cologne in a sort of generic way. Hmm. On me I think I can identify the violet, or whatever it is, it's really strong in Numb and gives it that fresh n' clean smell. That's what it's doing to this one, only it's strange. It's like Numb sprinkled over a garden of some herbs. I don't know how to describe it, because it's complex but my chemistry is doing wacky things with it and I simply am not liking a single phase it's gone through. I am not enamoured of this one, I'm afraid.

This is so buttery, so boozy, and extremely sweet in the imp. It's sort of icky. Even on my skin, it has a layer of sugar and butter, and I almost don't want to smell it anymore... but then it begins to calm the heck down, and I've been looking for something sort of like this for a while now. I smell coconut! It's still a bit sugary, but it's also spicy and smooth and I'm really enjoying it. Must subject it to further scrutiny, but I'm thinking I may want a bottle eventually.