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  • Silvertree

    Mod post: No wishlist posts in blogs

    By Silvertree

    Please be aware that we do not permit swap-related content on profiles or in blogs. Please post this content only in the For Sale, Swaps, and Wanted forums, or in the Wishlists topic. ~from Swapping 101  Thanks!
    • 5 comments
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Invidia (Envy): My BPAL wishlist

ANY AND ALL UNDERPANTS!!   BOTTLES   Strawberry Moon The Lovers (Tarot, w/card)   LABYRINTH Fairy Bites Jareth   WARRIOR QUEENS Boadicea Hua Mulan Jingu Semiramis Tomoe Gozen Ysabel Zenobia   CARNAVAL DIABOLIQUE Melisande Mme Moriarty Thalassa, The Galapagos Mermaid Candy Butcher Illustrated Woman The Torture Queen Zarita

spiralmissy

spiralmissy

 

The Bow and Crown of Conquest

Imp #12: The Bow and Crown of Conquest   "And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.   Nobility and haughtiness befitting the Antichrist: sage, carnation and cedar with lavender, vanilla, white musk and leather."   Note: End of cycle. Imp straight from the Lab, but about eleven months old.   In the bottle: I get vanilla and somewhat peppery carnation, maybe sage.   On me: This pretty much disappeared on me/became a second skin with no distinguishable notes. I can tell that it's there, but it's only a tiny bit more vanilla and maybe musk on the right hand and carnation on the left hand than my actual skin.   1 hour+ later: Slightly sweeter & muskier second skin. Still there. For some reason it sticks around longer on my left hand than the right. Go figure.

Gaidig

Gaidig

 

Swank

Imp #11: Swank   "Simply cool, the essence of Lounge: the scent of a crisp pomegranate martini."   Note: Late in cycle. Imp straight from the Lab, but about eleven months old.   In the bottle: This smells much sugarier than pomegranate. I should know, it's my favorite fruit. This smells like SweeTarts to me.   On me: I'm getting some more of the booze now. As it dries, the sweetness is falling back. (Thank the Goddess!) It's still sugared, though. Not a lot of throw. And not sultry. Crisp, yes.   1 hour+ later: This doesn't scream "pomegranate" to me, . it's pretty sophisticated for a sweet scent, and it's kind of pomegranaty. It's very light, but it does last a long time.

Gaidig

Gaidig

 

sniffie overlooooaad............

I got so many decants today yesterday! Add that to the Lab order I got this week, and a couple other forum swaps this week also......I have a whole big bunch of new sniffies to try. I'm so glad tomorrow is Saturday, even though it's my weekend to work. I'll have time tomorrow to relax and try out all my new stuff. Well, I doubt I'll get to everything but I'll try a bunch.   I already tried A Countenance Forboding Evil, and didn't like it much. : ( I usually like patchouli but it disagreed with me in this blend, for some reason. Maybe the ylang-ylang contributed some weirdness, because honestly I couldn't smell that note, but there was something there that just wasn't sitting right for me. I will, of course, try it again......maybe in a few days, maybe sooner.   I also tried Monsterbait: Underpants and honestly......I wondered all day if I got a mis-labelled decant. It smells exactly like Morocco to me. I did some searching and found that some other people smelled the similarity, but really....I thought it really was Morocco and not Underpants. I told moonarcana I think she'll help me figure it out, she has a decant of Underpants.   I tried both Christmas Rose and Buena Noche, and I liked B.N. much better. It did remind me a little of Chrysanthemum Moon (which I was hoping for), and later some soapiness came out (from the lily, probably). Christmas Rose was sharper than I was expecting, and almost aquatic with the snow note. Not sure that one is going to work for me but I'll be trying it again.   Out of all the Yule LE blends this year, I know I want a bottle of Jolasveinar. Beyond that I don't know yet, I've got a lot of testing to do. I probably don't need a whole bottle of Buena Noche, but I might want one. I can't wait to compare Rose Red and Peacock Queen.

forspecial_plate

forspecial_plate

 

I"m so glad I gave SMUT another chance...

...I've worn it two days in a row, and it smells /amazing/. I can't think how I didn't like it the first time around.   I've been out of the comm for a while, so coming back and seeing how scents are valued differently than they were when I left is very strange. When I first got into BPAL, Mitzvah was the second-least-sought-after NN inquisition scent, and Snowblind imps were going for $20 apiece; I really don't think they would sell if you tried to do that now, because Snowblind Mania has passed. Spooky Mania also seems to have subsided, because nobody really pays it much mind anymore; Snake Charmer is still going pretty strong, Underpants went through an upswing, and Midway rose in value again and then fell (again!). Except for a few things like Storyville, Underpants and VQ (bottle prices for those are setting records) people seem less willing to pay a lot for their scent. $15 decants aren't really selling anymore, and $10 decants -- well, people have to think about it, they don't go like hot cakes. To my mind, that's a good thing.

myoubi

myoubi

 

Applications

In addition to writing proposals, reviewing proposals, developing assessments, creating presentations, drinking coffee and reading Perez Hilton, one of the most tedious, but relatively amusing tasks that I have is reviewing job applications. Now, the first vetting isn't something I do regularly, and would only usually do it if I were filling my own position; however, serving as Project Manager for the project I totally made up I feel like I need to have greater control on how this whole thing kicks off.   So, ladies and gentlemen, without further adieu, I give you excerpts from applications:   Makes what swell?   “I have done my second research paper had a title of ‘Hot romance movie and its impact on the swell of HIV/AIDS’”   &*#@! I hate ampersands.   “I have a Bachelor degree in STATISTICS as MAJOR and COMPUTER SCIENCE as a MINOR from ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY. Therefore, I have very interested and best hood in working in the vacant position, which I am applying for being competitive & successful in the position. Attached here with, I enclosed all my documents that witness about me.”   Alright—at least three applicants talked about “exerting [their] efforts” (not in my office you don't):   “I would be glad and most powerful if you give me a chance of employment so as to exert my effort with dedication & honesty.”   “…to exert my effort with dedication and honest.”     At least it is better than being a “steamed” organization: “I am writing this letter of application to request for an open position in your estimated organization…”   Fill in the blank, we aren’t picky:   “I am interested to work as (in pen) Monitoring Officer in your school/college /organization…”   Finally, the respect I deserve:   “Dear: Sir/Madam I have the honour to inform your Excellency that I am very interested to employ in the position of Monitoring Officer…”

Confection

Confection

 

Perfectionism

Why the big gap between trying new imps?   It was my perfectionism taking over. I couldn't try a new imp in public -- what if it went putrid on my skin? I couldn't try it when I had put one on earlier -- what if the previous one impacted the scent? I had to not wear a scent all day and then do it at night, when I didn't have plans. As my schedule filled up, that plan failed. Plus, I had to remember to do it, and log all of my reactions. No new scents if I couldn't note it, etc. I'm not going to be so perfectionist about it from here on out, and get more scents tried and used!

Gaidig

Gaidig

 

Blood Kiss

Imp #10: Blood Kiss   "Lush, creamy vanilla and the honey of the sweetest kiss smeared with the vital throb of husky clove, swollen red cherries, but darkened with the vampiric sensuality of vetiver, soporific poppy and blood red wine, and a skin-light pulse of feral musk."   Note: Late in cycle. Imp straight from the Lab, but about eleven months old.   In the bottle: I am not sure what vetiver smells like, but I am getting something green, and musk, and poppy, I think. Cherries.   On me: There's the honey & vanilla. They're all I smell now. I didn't smell them in the bottle. At this point, it seems like it could become too sweet before long. I have yet to smell the clove, or the wine, really. As I type, the honey is already backing off. I am smelling a green sharpness, now. The cherries are gone, I think. It seems to be going light & crisp.   1 hour+ later: Now I've got the honey & vanilla, plus some green crispness, and a faint hint of musk. These last two keep it from being too cloying. It doesn't have a ton of throw -- or I've just gotten used to the throw -- and it isn't as dark as I expected. It's rather mild, and personally I like it, though it wasn't what I was expecting.   Edit: This has major staying power. I can still smell it after17 hours!

Gaidig

Gaidig

 

New favorites 071109

I had to create a new category so that I can rave about new (to me) fragrances that are in the "wow" category. It's getting so that I will only keep fragrances that make me say "wow" and the rest go right up for sale or swap. But some "wows" are more rave-worthy than others.   Top new love (and lust, since it has been discontinued): Sugar Dust fragrance by Sweet Melissa. I got this in a swap, in the form of Whipped Body Cream (the cream is whipped, not the body, so don't look at me like that). WOW! When I opened the jar and started to apply it, I almost had to physically restrain myself from licking it off the backs of my hands, it was THAT luscious. Oh, my...   So I've been keeping the jar at my desk, and putting it on as often as I can justify (yes, I'm going to have the smoothest hands and forearms in the county before long)... and wondering how I might get hold of some more. WANTSSS the precioussss... I would definitely like to find more of this cream, as well as other products in this same fragrance.   New love and semi-lust: Wylde Ivy's Sandcastles fragrance. I think it was a summer scent this year. Now, I like coconut notes anyway, but there's something special about this one that makes me say "wow!" and want more. Maybe it's the ginger? I'd like to find other products in this fragrance as well.   Renewed love: BPAL's Antique Lace. I had an imp earlier, liked it but traded it away in a tough swap (you know how it is when you really want something and start offering things you'd rather keep to get it? That's what happened there). Now I have it back in a partial bottle, thanks to a lovely recent swap. Niiice. I generally take a skeptical view of any scent with a floral-sounding description, but for me this scent is redeemed by its lovely vanilla notes.   Old love betrayed: BPAL's Shub-Niggurath. Love the fragrance, dislike the name. I had forgotten how wonderful this scent is on me, and put my bottle up for sale in a frenzy of de-stashing. Just as I had decided to re-test it from an imp and rediscovered its total wonderfulness, a forumite swooped down on the bottle and wanted to buy it. I couldn't say "no" without feeling like a jerk so... now I need more *cough* SN. Here's hoping I find some again soon.   As mentioned in the latest post under Quest for Chocolate, I just had the pleasure of testing a Dark Chocolate Cream soy wax tart by Wylde Ivy. Oh, my! I will be interested in trying more of their tarts fragrances, and I wonder if they have DCC in wearable form as well...   Uh-oh... I just made the mistake of checking out WI's site for possible fragrances... erm... I'll wrap this up for now because I've got... er... things to do (yes, that's the ticket). Bye for now!

Vanille

Vanille

 

Chocolate revisited

Overall, I am finding that HAEE's chocolate fragrances stay much more strong and true on me than BPAL's — the one exception being BPAL's Bliss. So when I want a chocolate fix, I turn to HAEE's Cuppa Cocoa, Chocolate Caramel Eggs or Whipped Chocolate Trio Mousse (the last two words are switched on the bottle I have, but this is the title on the site). Coming soon: HAEE's Hot Chocolate and Ghoulfriend! Hope to try soon: White Chocolate Latte.   On the home front: I have just discovered the joys of wax fragrance tarts. Wheee! This is thanks to an enabler who included one in a swap, thus starting me on the quest for home fragrances. And in a recent swap, I was delighted to receive a small but mighty square of Wylde Ivy's Dark Chocolate Cream in a soy wax tart. Heaven! It smells a lot like BPAL's The Candy Butcher should have smelled if it had stayed true on me. Nice!

Vanille

Vanille

 

im in love with QUINCEY!

im having a love affair with Mr. Quincey Morris!   i ordered my husband an imp of this scent,it just sounded so nice and oh my god it is better then what i expected! i cant wait to have him put it on this weekend,bet ill be staying close to him the whole time hes home.   i ordered my husband a large bottle of WesternDiamondback hoping it will be as wonderful as quincey (it was suggested by several ppl). man if it is ill be in heaven everytime hes around me!     So...if anyone has some of this Lust in a Bottle (QUINCEY MORRIS) for sale..PLEASE PLEASE LET ME KNOW. thanks

desertwaya

desertwaya

 

Product Love, Take Two

My hoarded, standards, best-beloved and kept-in-stock products   LUSH Snowcake soap *** Lip Lite lip balm Butterball bath bomb   Villainess Scintillating smooch! Scintillating whipped!   Tval Frosty Pop skin smoothie (custom blend) Frosty Pop bath treat

myoubi

myoubi

 

Libellus

Awesome. So it's about time i built a record of what i've tried, planned and tested. will insert more text tomorrow.   Just wanting to thank Resinality, fullcircleagain, mystery213 and chatrient for properly being the reason i've found this place properly.     Will have monies soon. :3

celestia

celestia

 

One Less Friend

I knew what had happened when I read the subject line of the email from Stas: “Chon”.   I had met Chon about four years ago when he and Stas began dating. Well-traveled, fluent in English, British educated, funny and sarcastic, we all liked Chon immediately. Witty and vulgar, he never really cared who he offended and we would spend long nights at Stas’s kitchen table or at the local Kazakhstani gay club drinking and stirring up drama. He worked at a law firm and was one of their top attorneys, even though he was only in his mid-twenties. Successful and determined, he moved from Almaty to Astana to further his career and then returned back to Almaty at the beginning of the year.   Upon returning to Almaty he bought an unfinished apartment and moved onto Stas’s couch in the interim. Two weeks turned into months, and when I visited Almaty in February the strain in their now platonic relationship was beginning to show. One night, after being out at the club until 4am, Stas and I dragged our vodka-soaked asses back to his apartment on Masanchi. Stas brought a guy home which clearly displeased Chon. At 8am Chon was up, coughing, singing and strutting around the apartment in his high-cut black bikini briefs and tight black tank top. Chon never was one to let someone else have a good time at his expense.   I didn’t realize it at the time, but Chon was really sick then. He was such a damn queen I thought it was an act. He died yesterday.   I will never meet another friend quite like him. I can just see Chon now, in his bikini briefs and tank top with a set of matching black angel wings.

Confection

Confection

 

Red Lantern - Heady, Smooth, Sticky

A tribute to the opium den cum bawdyhouses of Shanghai in the 1930's. Golden amber, blonde tobacco, Sudanese black coconut, rich caramel, black currant, white opium and delphinium laced with a sensual blend of Asian spice.

I have no idea whether this is the 06 or 07 version. I think it may be the 06 as the label isn't "shiny" and it looks a little weathered.

In the bottle, this is incredibly sweet - think along the lines of the overpowering caramel of Creepy.

First on my skin, it retains this caramel-sweet whoosh, but I can detect the coconut in there too.

Drying, I get a slight "burnt sugar" smell. I hope this doesn't last.

Drying after a few minutes, the sugar has faded to the background, leaving a smooth amber-coconut scent. Very strong, so use sparingly, but going well so far!

Dry (10 mins): I'm not getting any opium, spice or delphinium out of this. It's just a smooth, slightly "sticky"-smelling scent. Definitely pleasant!

Jenesis

Jenesis

 

custom scents

Today I was perusing the CB I Hate Perfume website, and thinking about custom scents. It's something I would love to do, but it almost seems like getting a tattoo.....I would want to make sure I had the perfect idea, and that it came out just right. I know that's kind of a stretch, but I think it's rather pricey to have him do it, and I would want to get my money's worth, definitely.   So, I was trying to think of a custom scent for myself. Lately I've been in the mood for snowy scents, floral, and woodsy with fir and/or pine sap. Jolasveinar is very, very good. And I'm real hopeful about Christmas Rose. That's almost the image I had in my head........the description of Christmas Rose, which is: "Bruise-tinted hellebore blossoms pushing through snowdrifts". I don't know what hellebore smells like.   The image I had is of a small bouquet of flowers on an icy/snowy mountaintop. The blossoms are perfect and covered with a delicate layer of frost. There are fir trees all around, and a light hint of woodsmoke in the air. And there's a teasing hint of pie and spice in the air, like someone is baking their Christmas desserts and opened their window for a little fresh air. So yeah, I guess that's pretty close to Jolasveinar. I'd like to smell a version of Jolasveinar that's more centered around the smushed buttercups, and with more flowers added, like rose. Maybe I'll try wearing Jolasveinar on one wrist and Rose Red or Peacock Queen on the other, when I get my decants.

forspecial_plate

forspecial_plate

 

Crypt Queen, test II

As sweet as death, as deep as the grave: pomegranate, raspberry, gardenia, plum, and rose with patchouli, black pepper, rose musk, and a hint of blood accord.   Originally reviewed 09/09/2007, revisited 11/02/2007   I tried this for the first time back in September, and got a strange Vicks Vap-o-rub scent from it. I decided to give it another try tonight, just to see if there was any reason for me to keep it sitting around in my BPAL box.   I'm still getting a strong Vicks scent from this. I can smell the berries swirling around under the surface, but whatever is going Vicks-ish on me is way too dominant. Unfortunately, it just does not fade away completely. With the exception of that one note, I love this blend...but that one note is so strong and lasting that I can't get past it.

Rovylern

Rovylern

 

Notes on notes

Current chemistry mystery   Actually, I'm not sure if it's my skin chemistry or my nose chemistry, but there's something horribly wrong with a number of blends -- Drink Me, the Hanging Gardens, Jack, White Rabbit, the Knave of Hearts, and Pumpkin III -- that makes them turn to sickening, burning butter on my skin (and sometimes even smell like it in the imp.) Two share pumpkin and two share pomegranate, but that's not quite enough to explain the butter of death.   Quantitative note analysis   I wrote a little Java program a while ago to analyze my BPAL spreadsheet. In my spreadsheet, I list the known notes of the blend, give it a 4-5 word review, and then give it a numerical rating; greater than 4 is good, less than 4 is bad. The program searches for a keyword, then averages the scores of blends that contain that keyword.   "verbena, mahogany, birch, oakmoss, leather, tonka, ozone, snow" are the highest scoring. "white musk, ambergris, lilac, lavender, cherry blossom, fir, cedar, grapefruit, linen, amber, sage, thyme, rosemary, mint" form the next highest set, and... "musk, patchouli, wood, rosewood, pine, juniper, lemon, bergamot, cherry, berry, vanilla, frankincense, resin, green tea, black tea" slightly correspond with positive scores.   "chrysanthemum, rose, ylang, plum, fig, pepper, sugar, milk" slightly correspond with low scores... "black musk, black patchouli, chamomile, violet, muguet, gardenia, pomegranate, apricot, cocoa, nutmeg, clove" score slightly worse, and... "olibanum, cream, pumpkin" have very low scores.   Qualitative note analysis   This number-crunching program isn't that intelligent, however; it counts "rosewood" as both "rosewood" and "rose," for example. So here are some subjective additions and clarifications:   I love fougeres and various "cologne" notes.   I also love a masculine tonka/vanilla base note so long as it doesn't get too sweet. I hate foody, cakey vanillas... and sweet and foody scents in general. Exception: coffee scents. I love Miskatonic University and El Dia de Reyes. Other sweet scents... generally no.   I absolutely hate rose and violet; they get really vile on my skin. I also just generally don't like florals, especially white florals. I do like lavender and lilac, but those are pretty much the only exceptions.   I also have a poor record with "sexy" blends like Snake Oil, O, etc. And I generally don't like things with heavy patchouli (the program was skewed by my love of Crowley) or other "New Age"-y incenses. I do love frankincense and myrrh, though.

kuroitsuki

kuroitsuki

 

The Ring!

I went up to Belden's. They had my ring, but Chris' wedding band is still out getting sized. I should have that over the next week, which is fine by me.   http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b377/poi...dding/ring1.jpg   http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b377/poi...dding/ring2.jpg   http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b377/poi...dding/ring3.jpg   http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b377/poi...dding/ring4.jpg   Sorry the third picture looks kind of funky. I had to run it through a few quick and dirty filters to deal with a bit of blur. It was taken mostly to give an idea of how high up the stone sits in the ring, which is part of why I'm having problems adjusting to having it on right now. I keep knocking it against stuff, and snagging it on shirts, ect.   Now the hard part. I have to get together with mom, as I have the ring on my finger, and tell her what's going on. X_X

heartbreakangel

heartbreakangel

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