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BPAL Madness!

filigree_shadow

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Everything posted by filigree_shadow

  1. filigree_shadow

    Blood Pearl

    This smells like that dry papery orris note that I remember from Dance of Death, plus a wonderful sexy musk. The coconut is stronger when it's dry than when it's wet, but it's not a whole lot of coconut, just enough to round out the scent. Something about it smells a little bit like wood to me, but that's probably just the dryness of the orris. I used to have a 10ml of Blood Pearl, but the coconut in it was much stronger than in this little imp I have. I sold the 10ml, and then I read in discussions about Perversion that as it ages the coconut scent in it isn't nearly as strong. I wonder if I had just let that 10ml of Blood Pearl sit in my BPAL box for another year or so it wouuld have been close to the scent in this imp. It's quite pretty.
  2. filigree_shadow

    Phantom Queen

    This smells like a meadow, but a pretty meadow. It smells like very gentle herbs over a background of very light florals. It's breezy and calming. I like this scent quite a lot, and I think it would make an excellent room scent or linen spray. It has a fresh, clean feel to it that kind of reminds me of sheets that have been hung on the line to dry.
  3. filigree_shadow

    Banshee

    Wow. Lemon and mint. When it's wet this is almost achingly sweet on me and smells a lot like candy. The lemon is very strong. This reminds me of cough drops -- it's kind of medicinal when it's dry. Also kind of soapy, for some reason. I'm not too sad this was discontinued because I wouldn't wear this.
  4. filigree_shadow

    Peitho

    When it's wet, I think: "Wow, that's pretty!" I love the musk and bourbon vanilla. It smells so sweet and creamy. But then as it dries the floral notes just get stronger and stronger. It ends up being mainly a lush floral with only a little bit of creaminess underneath. *pout* If it had stayed at that initial wet stage, it coulda been a contender. I like this more than I like many florals... but I also like a few other florals more than this one. It is quite pretty and soft after a couple of hours, so I'll probably keep the imp around to give it another whirl some other day.
  5. filigree_shadow

    Black Phoenix

    The almond scent it very strong at first, but it fades a bit as the oil dries. This burns my nose when I sniff it -- like getting too close to a fire. (Not sure what's causing that, but I don't think I'll be getting my nose that close to my wrist again.) It's much darker than most of the almond scents I've tried. If there are any fruit notes in it, they're dark fruits. It's quite sweet, but it's a bit smoky, too. When it's dry it seems kind of woody and spicy. I like it a lot more after the almond part fades out.
  6. filigree_shadow

    Nefertiti

    The sandalwood is really nice in this blend. It's not overly dry, it just seems calming and soft. Kind of perfumey. This is definitely a warm scent -- it seems kind of golden. The floral notes are not overbearing at all, in fact they add a lovely depth to the scent. It's just the barest bit hazy from the myrrh. All in all, quite a beautiful scent, but I feel like I'd have to really put on a lot in order for it to be strong enough for me to appreciate it. It would be good for those days when I just want something light and warm.
  7. filigree_shadow

    House of Night

    A sweet floral, soft and a bit sad. It's a little bit too green for me, but it's soft enough so that it doesn't bother me as much as it usually does. The sweetness of it balances out the green pretty well. It's just a tad too sweet for me when it's dry, but it doesn't knock me over or anything. I already have enough florals in my BPAL box, so I don't think I'll ever need a bottle of this one, but every time I wear this oil from the imp I do like it.
  8. filigree_shadow

    On dieting and ATC's

    Hey, the affirmations do work, according to my husband. He wrote a single sentence ten times on a piece of paper every day for a month. He ended up accomplishing his goal. (Of course, he is a SuperGenius, so there's also that to factor into it...) And I've already signed up for the ATCs. I've never done anything like that before, but I'm itching to make a trip to the hobby shop with a purpose. Usually I have no purpose and I wander a bit and end up buying crap I'll never use because I have some wild-assed idea in the store that only sounds good for about five minutes and by the time I get home I don't want to do it any more.
  9. filigree_shadow

    *poke*

    Angst, ahoy!
  10. filigree_shadow

    Politics.

    Yeah! That speech -- what a delivery. The man has a fire in him. Random does want to go down to Springfield to see the announcement, which doesn't really surprise me all that much. He's almost as interested in Obama as I am, for different reasons. He says Obama is a statesman, and we haven't had a real statesman in office for a long time. I don't think he has enough experience yet to be a true statesman, but I think it's pretty clear from his words and actions that he's not looking for power for himself (which I personally think is the case with another candidate, sadly) but is looking for the betterment of the entire nation and all its people. I think he clearly has the potential to be a statesman, and I totally agree with Random that we need someone like that in office. So it looks like we'll be among the thousands standing in the freezing cold on Saturday morning in Springfield. Yippee! I can't wait.
  11. filigree_shadow

    Bewitched

    What I'm mostly getting out of this is berries and tea. The berries are quite strong -- juicy and sweet. Tea smells really good in this, but it mostly gets overpowered by the berries. I'm not sure if I could wear this, but I do like the scent. I think it would be a good scent for a young girl. It reminds me of those flavored lip glosses that girls wear (and like). I think it would be a great room scent, too, especially in the summer.
  12. filigree_shadow

    Tiger Lily

    This smells extremely perfumey to me. Like that drugstore perfume that smells practically fizzy. Not gentle or soft at all. I wonder if maybe the oil in this imp has gone funky, because I tried this many months ago and thought it was pretty and smelled just like honey and lilies. It sure doesn't smell like that now. Damn, I wonder if I've run into my first instance of not using an imp up before it went "off." It's kind of a sour powdery smell. Maybe the imp cap wasn't on very tight. I think I'll try sending the imp to one of my friends with expert noses and see if she thinks this smells right. Wow, this is terribly disappointing. All my other oils have been holding up wonderfully -- many of them smell much better aged than they did fresh. Oh, wait... wait. I just rolled the oil around in the imp for a little while and tried again. Much better this time. This is what I remember it smelling like: pretty lilies, nice and soft, and not too much honey. That's odd. I think that imp's been sitting there for so long maybe the oil just needed to be blended up a little bit.
  13. filigree_shadow

    Scarecrow

    This doesn't smell as hot or scorched as I expected. In fact, it's kind of pretty. Definitely warm -- warmer than the usual meadowy scent. It smells like a dry, wispy field after everything has turned yellow. But nicer than that because I think there are some light florals in there too. It's sweet and smoky. I think this would be a great late summer or fall scent. I gave the imp to my husband to try, and we both agreed it smells better on him. So now he's the proud owner of an imp of Scarecrow.
  14. filigree_shadow

    Athens

    Wow, that's lotsa red wine. It smells nice with the honey and myrrh, though -- more perfumey and pretty than wine usually is. There's something about this scent that reminds me of the taste of the insides of the grapes my mom used to grow in our backyard. They were purple grapes, and they had white squishy middles that had a very distinctive taste. I used to peel off the grape skins just to get to the yummy middle part. That's what this scent reminds me of. It's more smoky because of the myrrh, but that's the underlying scent.
  15. filigree_shadow

    Serpent's Kiss

    This smells mainly of vetiver and either clove or cinnamon at first, mostly vetiver. But the oil is bright red, so I'm waiting for the dragon's blood to come in any minute now. Hmm, still no dragon's blood. And then the vetiver mostly goes away and I'm left with only spice. Kind of a sweet spice, but this is still too spicy for me.
  16. filigree_shadow

    Thaleia

    This smells mostly like gardenia on me, but I like it in this blend a lot more than I usually do. The apricot smells good with gardenia. Keeps it fruity and sweet and not as cloyingly floral as usual. I like the tonka with it as well. I think this might be my favorite gardenia BPAL blend. Pretty, sweet, and soft. Yep, I like this one.
  17. filigree_shadow

    Dance of Death

    Dance of Death was my favorite scent of the Funereal Oils category for the first several months that I was into BPAL. Then one day out of the blue I put some on after not wearing it in a while and had a reaction like: "Ugh! How did I like this?" I shoved it to the back of the imp box and was prepared to wash my hands of our whole relationship. I've just pulled out the imp to try it again, and I'm glad to find out that I do like it after all. It smells dry, sad, and dark. I like the orris in this that's making it seem a little papery -- kind of fragile. It's slightly powdery, but in this scent it smells right. It's nice with the dark musk, patchouli, and myrrh. It's surprisingly sweet for being such a lovely eerily deep scent, and it smells perfect on this cold winter's night.
  18. filigree_shadow

    Wicked

    Wicked smells like a doctor's office when it's wet. I have NO IDEA what is causing that, but I've tried it about three times now and I always have the same reaction. I don't even know how to describe what a doctor's office smells like, but I do know that it's not a particularly pleasant association. When it's dry, it's kind of sour, powdery, and strange. Jasmine really hates me, so I'm not surprised about this outcome. Myrrh, which I normally love, doesn't really seem to be doing jasmine any favors here. It's an unfortunate combination on my skin.
  19. filigree_shadow

    The Apothecary

    What a crisp scent! I kinda like the moss in this, but the sharp herbal aspect of it is turning it into a non-keeper for me. It smells very high-pitched -- almost piercingly so. The green part of it reminds me of Irish Spring soap. It does smell clean, but I like the soft "clean" of scents like Dirty rather than the harsh green kind of "clean." Also I have something along the lines of a confession that's relevant to this review: I have had several imps of The Apothecary for quite some time because I confused it with The Caterpillar from Mad Tea Party. Why? Beats me. But I've been sitting here with this small hoard of The Apothecary when the scent I actually like is The Caterpillar.
  20. filigree_shadow

    Arachne

    Hmmm. Slightly green but not too much. There's some floral in it but it smells a little bubblegummy so I wonder if it's lotus. For a couple of seconds it went WAY green all of a sudden, but then that disappeared. Then my skin went mental because for some reason I smelled cinnamon. Then it went back to that herby bubblegum scent partnered with something slightly aquatic. It ended up being dusty (not quite powdery, but almost), herby, and more than a little sharp. This all happened within ten minutes, and then the whole shebang faded out almost entirely. I have no idea what this oil is up to. Obviously it's trying to fool me with some mischievous trickery.
  21. filigree_shadow

    RIP

    I'm so sorry, Kitrona. You gave comfort and care to a tiny creature who needed you -- you did right by her while she was with you. I know it still hurts, though.
  22. filigree_shadow

    Bullet point mania!

    I organize thoughts with bullet points. I'm sorry. I spent 12 years writing technical manuals, and this is a habit I cannot break. Again, my apologies. On with the blog! - This is bordering on TMI, but: One of my dogs (or maybe both, I'm not sure) has been tooting all night. We had to evacuate the room twice. It's driving me crazy. As far as I know they've eaten nothing except kibble and their usual treats today, so I'm worried about what they've gotten into that I don't know about yet. - When we got our tax forms back I looked at my income from last year and started to wonder how much I'd be getting back. My husband said, "You mean WE'll be getting back." He reminded me that we split my income 50/50. I sputtered, "But, but... that was MY money, that I made, and I'm broke..." (I haven't worked since April.) He was right though, we did agree two years ago that my income was used as our discretionary money and it was split 50/50. I haven't worked in so long that I forgot. I was mad and stomped around and behaved like a jerk. I finally said I was REALLY looking forward to that extra $20 I'd be getting in the tax refund, in the most sarcastic voice I could muster. He said he expected my half of the refund would be much larger than that, considering that we split HIS income tax refund 50/50 as well. Whoops! I forgot about that agreement too. Here I was being all pissy that he was taking half of my paltry refund when he was also giving me half of his much larger one. I slinked off silently feeling like a toad. - I've been watching Father Ted on DVD for the past couple of days, and today I found this: www.doogle.org. This will make no sense to you unless you've seen Father Ted, but I think it's hilarious.
  23. filigree_shadow

    Olokun

    Very aquatic and a little bit salty, but not too gloomy, I think. It's kind of sweet and peaceful. The sweetness seems to be coming from something that smells a little fruity, but I'm not sure what it is. Maybe lotus, because that tends to smell like bubblegum on me. This is more of my husband's kind of scent, so I've given the imp to him. He likes R'Lyeh and Cthulhu, too -- this is the same sort of scent as those. I like this one, and I'll be happy if he wears this.
  24. filigree_shadow

    Xiuhtecuhtli

    This smells a lot like a commercial perfume that I'm sort of familiar with, but I don't remember which one it is. It's one I always liked, so this isn't a bad thing. I like the orange with the florals, and a little bit of smoke. Sweet and lovely. Kind of a unisex scent rather than being distinctly feminine, I think. It smells just slightly aquatic and very exotic. I meant to get a bottle of this a while back, but the imp disappeared in the back of my imp box and I kind of forgot about it. It's going back on my bottle list.
  25. filigree_shadow

    Shadow Witch Orchid

    I really like orchids -- I have some in my house. This doesn't smell like orchids to me for some reason. I guess maybe my skin is messing this up, but it smells more like a powdery gardenia to me. Still kind of tropical, but... I don't know, it doesn't smell right. It lasts for a long time, and the whole time I keep feeling uneasy because I keep thinking it ought to smell like orchids but it doesn't. I don't think this works on me.
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