heysunshine

13 is significant, whether you consider it lucky, unlucky or just plain odd. Many believe it to be unfortunate... ... because there were 13 present at the Last Supper. ... Loki crashed a party of 12 at Valhalla, which ended in Baldur's death. ... Oinomaos killed 13 of Hippodamia's suitors before Pelops finally, in his own shady way, defeated the jealous king. ... In ancient Rome, Hecate's witches gathered in groups of 12, the Goddess herself being the 13th in the coven. Concern over the number thirteen echoes back beyond the Christian era. Line 13 was omitted form the Code of Hammurabi. The shivers over Friday the 13th also have some interesting origins: ... Christ was allegedly crucified on Friday the 13th. ... On Friday, October 13, 1307, King Philip IV of France ordered the arrests of Jaques de Molay, Grand Master of the Knights Templar, and sixty of his senior knights. ... In British custom, hangings were held on Fridays, and there were 13 steps on the gallows leading to the noose. To combat the superstition, Robert Ingersoll and the Thirteen Club held thirteen-men dinners during the 19th Century. Successful? Hardly. The number still invokes trepidation to this day. A recent whimsical little serial killer study showed that the following murderers all have names that total thirteen letters: Theodore Bundy Jeffrey Dahmer Albert De Salvo John Wayne Gacy And, with a little stretch of the imagination, you can also fit ”˜Jack the Ripper' and ”˜Charles Manson' into that equation. More current-era paranoia: modern schoolchildren stop their memorization of the multiplication tables at 12. There were 13 Plutonium slugs in the atomic bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki. Apollo 13 wasn't exactly the most successful space mission. All of these are things that modern triskaidekaphobes point to when justifying their fears. For some, 13 is an extremely fortuitous and auspicious number... ... In Jewish tradition, God has 13 Attributes of Mercy. Also, there were 13 tribes of Israel, 13 principles of Jewish faith, and 13 is considered the age of maturity. ... The ancient Egyptians believed that there were 12 stages of spiritual achievement in this lifetime, and a 13th beyond death. ... The word for thirteen, in Chinese, sounds much like the word which means “must be alive”. Thirteen, whether you love it or loathe it, is a pretty cool number all around. ... In some theories of relativity, there are 13 dimensions. ... It is a prime number, lucky number, star number, Wilson Prime, and Fibonacci number. ... There are 13 Archimedean solids. AND... ... There were 13 original colonies when the United States were founded. Says a lot about the US, doesn't it? A base of cocoa absolute and white chocolate with thirteen baneful and beneficial bits including vanilla bean, white ginger, orchid, golden peach, massoia bark, clove, honey, and starfruit. I know people wanted a cursory review of this, here's mine. A little information about massoia bark those who like me had no idea what it was. I've also read it has a nutty scent. Wet this is the most gorgeous pure cocoa scent that makes me want to eat my arm. I get a hint of vanilla very quickly before it fades to cocoa and ginger. Next clove is added to the mix and I get a very faint fruity smell under everything. No honey yet but it is the BPAL note with the most staying power on me so I'm sure it will poke its head out eventually. I'm really not getting much right now but a cocoa/ginger mix on my left arm and a cocoa, ginger and clove mix on my right. The words I can think of to describe this scent is pleasant fire-y chocolate. I'll update in a week or so when I'm off my monthly 'cause I'm not so sure about it yet and my chemistry might be messing with things. I'd also like to try this again tomorrow when I'm not half asleep from standing outside in the sun all day I think it will be a good scent for curling up with a copy of Harry Potter and some yummy ice cream. ETA: half hour later and I can smell the honey not on my skin but in the throw. A beautiful scent. Not something I would normally go for but I'm glad I bought a bottle. July 22: Put this on again today and it is much more chocolate/fruity. No clove or ginger in sight (or would that be sniff?)

Winter Holiday 2007 Stress Relief Elixir given out with purchase at the Sea of Tranquility Will Call events, Saturday December 22, 2007. In the bottle this has a vaguely minty smell, like wintergreen gum, my nose feels chilly after sniffing it; geranium is a strong note as well. On the skin the mint fades (thankfully!) away to leave a distinctively herbal smell with a medicinal quality. Very soothing close to the skin scent; you could douse yourself in this for after holiday shopping and float around in your own stress free bubble. I definitely had nothing like it in my BPAL collection before.

On my flight yesterday they were offering Hello Kitty perfume in the duty free catalog for 12 pounds so I had to get it. The company that created it, Koto Parfums, blends perfume for kids which makes it super gentle to my alcohol sensitive nose. Description and notes: The english translation is a little funny but you get the idea. And... it smells like Snow White! As soon as I spritzed today I knew it smelled familiar and it's definitely Snow White-ish. My mom loved it which is good cause I bought her a bottle of SW for xmas.

Tarted imp I've never thought this before but I would buy the Yules for the label art alone. It looks like the ones I ordered/asked for xmas are the ones with my favorite labels. I love the matte look, too. So glad I'm getting some this year! Yeah in my four years of bpal I've never ever made an order from the big holiday releases, with the exception of decant sets of the Shungas.

I just got my last BPAL order from my mom today (I had it sent to the states cause I wasn't sure about the turnaround time & my new address) and I've got a wrong bottle. I ordered Lawn Gnome and got Pinwheel instead. I searched through this thread...is the address to email this issue to still answers@blackphoenixalchemylab.com?

Shoutout to marsmomma who picked up a bottle for me at the event. My bottles are currently too far across the ocean to compare, but I'm fairly certain that this is the same vanilla from Love's Philosophy, and one of the vanillas from BiggerCritters. It is very very light - I get little to no throw on my skin or even in my hair. To me this is not vanilla ice cream, it's vanilla frosting. A big plastic tub of frosting waiting to smother some cupcakes. My mom, the baker, however says to her it's cream cheese frosting, which I can see as well. Basically it's just frosting. I was hoping for a more Snake Oil type vanilla; snake oil after many many hours on me, when the spices have subsided and all that is left is delicious vanilla, is actually pretty close to what melty ice cream smells like to me. LP without the cream. Not really my kind of vanilla but I'm going to hold on to it and see how it ages.

Loves Lies Bleeding - Pink Phoenix

This scent is certainly velvet and lush. It smells like flower petals feel. It is first strongly reminiscent of old fashioned candy sticks. Slight hint of bubblegum for a second. Syrupy, sugary sweet. In my mind I see flowers made of sugar glass. But they are soft, velvet to the touch. Red but not in the traditional red smelling sense. More like the deepest pink. After a couple hours it settles to something musky and sweet. It feels like flowers but it is not floral. It smells exactly like Pink Phoenix does on me in its first stages but whispering, not screaming. You have to put your nose to your skin to smell it. This is a floral for foody lovers.

Giallo is definitely a perfume-y scent on my skin. For one because it is ridiculously complex; it has that feel of a high end perfume. Second there is something in it that hurts my nose the way alcohol in commercial perfumes does. A very floral blend, though a few times I caught some amazing wafts of something darker and more sinister coming off my wrists. Hours later if I really pressed my nose to my arm I smelled the red musk+patch+vanilla. Scent lasted all day + a shower and all there is now is still a complex flowery blend. Not my kind of scent but I appreciate the artistry.

Applies in a whoosh! of florals but that goes away shortly to leave all of the notes to mingle together. I am in love with this vanilla tea note and want to see it in more blends -- there is something about it that evokes a scent memory from my childhood; nothing specific but I remember this scent fondly. This smells like a commercial perfume scent to me, but it does stay very close to the skin, I have to stick my nose to my wrist to smell it unless I slather it. [i've just got and reapplied it as I was not intending to review it when I put it on earlier, just test to see if I liked it enough for a bottle - unfortunately I don't but it's still a lovely smell, just not something I need]. The vanilla tea sticks out for me as well as a hint of cool coconut and the lilac, which is a pleasant floral scent and not overwhelming. After it dries this scent smells exactly like a Lush bath bomb to me. I just dug through my stash and cannot pinpoint exactly but something small and sparkly definitely.

# DCCCVIII: 808 aka the "Snow Fairy Chaos Theory" origin: herkissofshame This is strong! when sniffed straight from the bottle. Yes, it is Snow Fairy, all banana cream berry vanilla bubblegum-ness. Wet it is still strong but there is not much throw detected, just bubblegum berry goodness. Think Bubbleicious, not Bazooka Joe. Past the initial wet stage it becomes a close to the skin scent. It is dry and faint. A dusty vanilla mixes in. It's not baby powdery but it smells dry and powdery. After burying my nose in my wrist my nose smells like vanilla soft serve ice cream. Vanilla with milk, not cream. herkissofshame mentioned that it is like the vanilla in Love's Philosophy and sniffing that I agree. This is a shortlived scent. After only an our or two it resembles the final, spicy drydown of Beaver Moon 07. Sniffing later, 808's final drydown is still spicy, but it's changed. I keep thinking it is carnation and upon further smelling, it definitely is; it has the same final drydown as Zarita the Doll Girl.

This smelled great in the bottle. Unfortunately as I have sprayed it, left my room for a while and come back, it is not agreeing with me. There is some spiced orange rind thing going on, and my sheets do have a warm amber glow beneath the rest of the scent, but there is this overwhelming cloud in my room that smells a little too much like marijuana. My mom really fell in love with the L'Autonno room spray at will call, crossing my fingers I can swap this for her or something. We'll see how I like this after I test the perfume oil.

Shub again proves that my skin amps the cinnamon. This is the scent of a badass sexy gingerbread man.

This is the tropical version of Midnight on the Midway. Lightest incense makes it dusky and lots of florals are on the forefront. On me this is mainly gardenia scent. The vanilla orchid is peeking out from under everything else and if I bury my nose deep enough in my arm I can smell it. Not a keeper bottle for me, but I may try to acquire an imp down the road just in case I ever need anther flowers+incense blend and it is a very pretty scent. eta: and once the gardenia faded the drydown was a pleasant, tiare, vanilla and incense-y scent. But still a drydown I can accomplish with other oils.

I am an addict. I will mention that I cracked open my first bottle (shocking, I know, that I had never tried it before) less than two weeks ago (I estimate the date to be Sunday June 15) as soon as I got back to New York. It was around two months aged; I ordered it with my Tikis when I was on a vanilla kick. I now have only half a bottle left. I kept in mind the rule that if you don't like Snake Oil on your first try, try it again (if at first you don't succeed, try try again). I got a lot of powder on the first wear. Second was still powdery but improving. I will mention that I was testing these times during my monthly so my chemistry was definitely different. I next put it in my hair and that is when Snake Oil Changed My Life. I was out in the garden, sweating in the hot sun and the most magnificent scents were wafting around me. How can it be? I put this on hours ago! It just gets better by the minute. So yes, Snake Oil smells absolutely fantastic in my hair, which is where I usually wear oils. Since I was starting to love it and wear it obsessively I began applying it to my skin. But that wasn't enough! I put some in an imp roller bottle (which is sadly MIA at the moment) and rolled it all over my skin. This scent is beyond slatherable. I now get how, as she tells it, Shelldoo uses up a whole bottle a week and applies her SO in a deodorant roll on bottle. Because I didn't have any pipettes on me I made a little funnel out of card to get the oil into the roller bottle. Covered in excess oil, the card made a perfect cone shape that fit right over the top of my bedroom lamp to give off scent for the room. It still wasn't enough. I got out a mini spray bottle and added some droplets to water and sprayed my bed linens. Finally I am followed everywhere I go by this scent and I couldn't be happier. Snake Oil proves that it is possible to crave scent, like pizza, ice cream, sex, water. I am positively thirsty for it. x Oh yeah, I invariably get scents of patchouli, which for once I can stand, dragon's blood and naturally, "exotic oils". And the creamiest, smokiest vanilla on the planet.

quickslvr posted photos of Steampunk bottles on flickr from will call

A bright, glowing white scent; definitely of the stars and "glittery, cool, vast." The embodiment of Urania. White flowers with a slight of musk. The ozone makes it extra cool and space sky-like. Slightly soapy when wet but fades on the drydown.

2006: A golden fragrance (and a golden oil). Has the feel of a high end perfume. Amber without turning to powder; a smoky/dusty scent.

The moment before the ruin, frozen. The scent of captured glory, of glowing pearls and rubies, of golden sunlit joy and regal grandeur: red rose, Tunisian amber, blood orange, toasted vanilla, heliotrope, gardenia and red musk. This review is for the Dark Delicacies re-release of The Haunted Palace For me this is Red Moon with a crush of roses and vanilla tossed in. Rosy coloured scent.

A very bright, stormy aquatic. The white flowers hide in the background to try and tone it down but it is super sharp on my skin. It's not agreeing with my chemistry, though, and gives off a sharp dish soap/laundry detergent smell.

At first whiff this is vibrant wild berries - purple and blue - although I get the slightest hint of strawberry for just a second. As it dries I get the dreaded powder but that fades back into all berry. Finally the spicy carnation comes through and it's a carnation very similar to Lush's Potion. If I breathe in deep there is a general musky scent but not overpowering and not amping in the least like musk is wont to do on my skin. As much as I love berries they are almost too candyish at first, but the drydown of Lush Potion+berries is lovely.

When applied Crossroads is strong dirty earth; it smells ritualistic. The earth scent is extremely evocative of digging up a dirt road. Shortly after becomes a strangely sweet floral, rose and something else that I think is a jasmine note, a little diaper-y. The wet stage is not my kind of scent but definitely amazing re: evocativeness, but once it dries down I'm reaching for something to cover up the rotten flowers.

Applied, this has the initial throw of Dragon's Blood on my skin: flowery resin. Instantly the musks come out to play and surprisingly none are amping over the others -- the variety of musks tones down my skin's usual reaction to it and I cannot smell any over another. However it is overall a very musky scent. Smells like aftershave.

Pasionate Shepherd to His Love is all florist shop to me.

In the bottle and on application I smell cream soda. Sniffing around after drydown I get buttercream frosting as well as a vanilla and hay (that'd be the saffron) scent. It's not quite a resemblance but has the same character as Dragon's Milk -- the honeyed vanilla maybe -- I wear Milk to bed and I can see Love's Philosophy as being its daytime counterpart. Thankfully no mint/wintergreen is present in this. I've picked up a habit of slathering lately but this is a scent best suited for dainty dabbing.