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BPAL Madness!
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perfume-related ramblings that can't go anywhere else because I'd bore the pants off anyone reading

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Monster Bait: Closet -- a love affair

Monster Bait: Closet was one of the first three BPAL scents I ever tried. The other two were Monster Bait: Underbed, which got jettisoned pretty quickly, and Freak Show, which is a dear favourite. I have a stockpile of MB: Closet -- at one point I had three bottles, which since I have never used up an imp of anything seems a tad excessive. So today, I gave up on my usual policy of using BPAL sparingly, and just slathered. OM NOM NOM.   I need to reiterate my love for this scent. It's blackberry booze on me, at least at first; underneath is this heavy sorta-chocolatey sweetness that I guess is the Red Velvet cake. It stays true the whole time I'm wearing it, and envelops me in this heavy, creamy, sweet-berry warmth which nonetheless isn't too tart. It is one of the first scents I ever fell hard for, and remains firmly on the "Can't Live Without" list. If you have never tried it, do so. It's a stunner.
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Monster Bait: biggerCritters... and nightmares

I'm excited about MB: biggerCritters, and I'm contemplating purchasing a critter just to get the bottle with the Speshul label. I'm doing this mostly because I had horrible nightmares last night. I can't remember most of them but what I can remember was horrible -- my worst fears, oozing out of my subconscious to get me. Not monsters or the supernatural... being abandoned by the people I care about, and knowing I deserved it.   I'm so glad I'm awake. It wasn't a good night.     [small]I dreamed, among other things, that Hannah didn't care about me any more... that was horrible. Some of the taint of that is still sitting in my mind.[/small]
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Monies

decants of the Ladies and a half of 13 (shipped to Canada) -- $10.55 decant of Fee -- $22 shipping for H&EE -- $11.45 ___ $44.00   And I have $97 --> $52 remaining for the rest of the month. To be used to buy rave tickets only!
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Maybe I'm just using them wrong...

today RO and Hymn to Pan did zilch. Oh well, that's life, you win some you lose some, etc. It just means I'll start decanting from my bottles when I see ISO's for these guys.   I've swapped or sold most of the rare stuff I was wanting to cull from my collection. I feel better now that I have less stuff I don't use, but it's weird having the feeling of /not/ being able to swap for virtually anything I want anymore. I amassed a collection of rares and semi-rares such that when I wanted stuff stood a fairly good chance of finding someone to swap with; now I don't have that, and even though I'm happy to get stuff out of my way, it's a bit odd.   My bottle collection is also too big, but every time I try to cull it further I just can't choose. I love the scents I have so much and there aren't any that I want to get rid of; and I have a lot of new ones coming to me, as well -- 29 new scents, that I've never even sniffed before. I'm optimistic about at least half of them, but my tried-to-kept ratio tells me that I probably won't even consider keeping more than four or five. The rest will get swapped or sold.   I love BPAL fandom, it's so much fun -- and it's a product so worthy of notice as well, which makes me very happy -- but my initial wallet-busting enthusiasm has waned to the more sedate desire of wanting to have merely what I will use and love. I really like the idea of a signature scent, but unfortunately my changeable personality won't permit any such thing -- the closest I have is La Fee Verte, which I actually don't use that often in an effort to never run out. As I've written many times before, I want bottles of Brisingamen, Boomslang, Blue Moon and Tarot: The Hermit -- and then I think I'll make an effort to cut back my collection even further.   --   phooey... I have to go to bed early tonight (as in before 3, like last night/this morning) to be up and presentable for lunch with Richard at Lakes tomorrow. Not that I'm doing much at the moment any way... I'm indulging in the McDonald's French Fries of literature at the moment [Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter novels -- so bad, and yet so greasily delicious]. I have started rereading Pamela, oh God, and I want to get through the two collections of essays on British colonialism in the 18th and 19th century (respectively). I also want to start losing weight again, since I'm currently dissatisfied with the state of my figure, and I could definately stand to do some sit-ups -- my dancer abs have all but dissolved since I stopped Ballroom.   Still thinking about my SG application. While it would be awesome to do some sets, I'm not sure I'm quite the sort of girl they're looking for. Perhaps because I'm shy, somewhat retiring, not given to excess or presenting myself in a manner that causes people to make assumptions about me -- I just happen to be a budding nudist who's vain enough and mischievious enough to want to get her picture taken naked. I think, given a couple of shots of tequila to blank out my worry function, doing a set would be a lot of fun, and it'd put me in the same (broad, broad, broad) ballpark as some ladies I admire (and think are ridiculously attractive and I'd do them in a second). But the fact is that I still have self-confidence issues, lingering but inconsistent body-image issues, and a somewhat raised-eyebrow approach to my unfortunately high sex drive. We'll think on this.
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LUSH: Hey Blondie

Trying to figure out a haircare regime that will coddle and lighten my fine, ash-blonde hair. I'm now using The Blonde shampoo and Marilyn hair mask, which I think will become staples as they both lighten nicely; but I'm finding that the blonde colour they deposit is more yellow than I would like, so I'm thinking about following up with Daddy-O shampoo. I'm also considering investing in a pot of Jasmine Henna Fluff-Eaze hair mask, not that my hair needs deep-conditioning but just to make it a little silkier and shinier. Still experimenting on finding a good conditioner. I think Veganese is going to be it for my regular conditioner, but I'd also like to invest in some Jungle for when I shampoo with Daddy-O and Big (both of which are much more drying than The Blonde).   I have: Marilyn x 4 Big x 2 The Blonde x 2 SAMPLE Veganese SAMPLE Jungle   I want: Jasmine-Henna x 1 Daddy-O x 1 (250mL) >> these two will fall under the Clean Slate promotion Veganese -- whenever they have it back in stock Jungle -- sometime next month, I'll splurge on a piece of this
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Just checked my reads count...

Entries: 33 Reads: 282       those can't /all/ be me and h_f. I guess it never seriously occurred to me that anyone would ever flip through this.   ah well. I'll continue as I used to, treating it as a dumping-pit for my vapidity.
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Isle of Eden: Enthusiasms and Reservations

So I placed my first order with Isle of Eden today. I've been wanting to try their stuff for some time, particularly their shampoo/conditioner since theirs get really good reviews. I signed onto the forum and had a good look through some of the review threads and the photos, and while I'm certainly excited about a lot, I'm not sure their stuff will become a staple for me.   Little things are important. I appreciate when people pay attention to detail; it shows pride in one's own work, and respect for one's clients. IoE's scrubs are coloured, and in the photos on the website the colour is always bright and pretty and appealing. After a peek through peoples' photos, a lot of scrubs seem to have colour that's really poorly-blended, marbled, or just not very true at all. Also, the same item will be packaged several different ways -- sometimes even in the same order! Three 8oz bottles of shampoo will come in three different containers.   But it's the content that counts, right? Well, as far as the colour is concerned, if you're not bothered enough about it to do it right and the content is all that matters anyway, why add colour in the first place? Either blend it well, so that it looks appealing (that's the only purpose the stuff serves after all) or don't put any in at all. And as for the different containers, I just don't get why you wouldn't buy one sort of container and stick to it. If you're changing how you package your product, tell your customers -- it affects how your products are used, especially for slippery hands in the shower. Stuff like this does matter.   Compare this to the way the Lab does business -- or even to Villainess soaps. If there's a packaging change, or the thing-to-be-shipped doesn't look like the thing-in-the-picture, Brooke lets us know. If a formula is experimental and subject to change, Brooke lets us know. Everything in your order looks and feels like what you were expecting it to look and feel like.   IoE's stuff may work just as well as I'd like it to. But the care that goes into BPAL or Villainess isn't apparent, at least from what I've seen. So I'll enjoy what's coming in the mail, but that's about it.
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Interview with the Vampire

The acting: so bad! So universally awful!   The dialogue: so melodramatic! - but predictably so, I wasn't expecting anything less, and I'm even relishing its blue-cheese-like deliciousness. But honestly guys, stop poncing about speaking in low, mysterious, dramatic voices and start talking like normal people, mmkay? I mean, there's a point.   Verdict on the film: Whoever did the music for that film fails at life on an epic scale. Music should enhance mood, not distract from the film itself. Brad Pitt, as attractive a man as I'm willing to admit he is, should not have long hair -- it is really not a good look for him. Equally, long hair looks truly heinous on Antonio Banderas. I appreciate androgyny much, much more than the next girl, but putting square-jawed Masculine Men in poncy outfits and then trying to make them look vaguely girly just doesn't work.   Brad Pitt's scenes with the interviewer were Not Good. His voice-over narrations were likewise poorly done, and although Tom Cruise really had his moments as crazy egotistical Lestat (typecasting?) he too often descended into the Low Mysterious Voice that forces me to restrain a giggle. Also, all of the men, particularly Armand, seemed to have this problem with their necks wherein they had to look at the world up through their eyebrows. It was most disconcerting.   And yet... and yet. Claudia was the high point of the film for me, and I love the relationship between her and Louis -- in the book she's a lot more scary and abhorrent, which I sort of missed, but as a character she makes me happy and Kirsten Dunst wasn't half-bad. (the Hellsing animated series, which is heavily derivative, offers a version of Claudia who's less bloodthirsty and creeptacular. sanitised, in other words.) And while I certainly wouldn't want to own the film, I can see watching it again -- and enjoying it for all its cheesy deliciousness. Anne Rice, like McDonald's french fries, has a special place in my heart.
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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.
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I was in a Snake Charmer mood today

They don't come often, when I feel like SC. It's a powerful blend, and I don't wear it much at all -- it's not my usual sort of smell, so I have to be in the mood. Although SC is a very ladylike, /very/ sexy scent, because it's also a dark and a heady scent it also seems a bit rebellious to me -- for wear on days when I feel like not being my usual blonde self, when I feel like schlumping around in dark jeans and my rhinestone tiger hoodie, burying myself in a book, and generally absenting myself from the normal interacting world. If Shub is my comfort scent -- like a soft cashmere blanket on a cold day -- Snake Charmer is my push-off scent, something that means I've decided to step outside the world of normal human interaction, whether by being vampy or aggressive or sulky or bookish.   today was definately a Snake Charmer day.
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I want to dress like a girl!

In Michigan I found this beautiful frilly pink dress. It's foofy and lacy and has puffed sleeves, and looks like it was made for a five-year-old and then scaled up with room for a bosom. I love it. I pranced around the store for a good fifteen minutes, trying on shoes and wasting time because I didn't want to get out of the pretty dress. I love looking like a girl.   But I wear jeans all the time. I don't mind jeans, there's nothing wrong with them. But I have lots of gorgeous skirts and dresses. I wear jeans all the time because to dress like a girl is to attract notice, and I don't want to attract notice.   Tomorrow I am going to dress like a girl. I will be uncomfortable, because even if people aren't looking at me, I'll feel like people are looking at me. I will feel weird. And I will make myself do this every day until either I get acclimated or I don't secretly want to do it anymore, as uncomfortable as it sometimes makes me.   I am also going to learn to do my hair! Because given the price of my dye jobs, putting it in a ponytail just doesn't cut it!
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I tend to go a little overboard

with scents I like. Or, uhm, *think* I'll like. Or just get a weird hankering after, and decide for no logical reason that I'll adore.   This is how it tends to go: I get curious about a scent, whether I just see a decant of it pop up or for some reason I like the name that day. I skim the reviews. I read the reviews. I re-read the reviews. I snap up the first decant of it I see. I re-read the reviews, decide I love it, and hunt down as much as I can find. I get the first decant, and try it on. It's oooo-kay. I have five more coming. Great.   This is how I got so much Snowblind. Everyone was all "oooh! Snowblind!" and I tried it and it was... meh.   I just really, reallly hope I like Havisham. Because I swapped 2 decant sof Passion and 2mL of Snow Angel for the bottle I have a-coming in the mail...
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I love Snake Oil

Dotted my wrists with my nine-month-old Snake Oil this morning, and it's glorious. I can't believe I wasn't a huge fan in the beginning... it goes a little play-doh on me after a few hours and I have to reapply, but after it ages it's the most gorgeous sophisticated warm spice scent. On my skin the amber is prominent, and I love amber... so glad I have a bottle.   Also, next time I order from the lab I need to buy a bottle of Vixen to put away. I sniffed an imp of Vixen that someone had aged for over a year, and it was heavenly.   Things I'd like to try: Boomslang -- I'm not sure I'd want a whole bottle of this one, but I'd like to try it. Also, I'm pretty sure Sophia would like it. For her birthday, she's getting a bottle of Boomslang and a bottle of Velvet (she likes cocoa-y scents). Hope -- I want a bottle of this beauty. Faith, unfortunately, goes instant play-doh on me, and I don't think it's salvageable. Scent locket? I have a brimstone locket coming...   Other than that, I'm prettymuch out of wants! I have almost a full bottle of Ice Queen, ditto Havisham, I have an imp of Voodoo Queen which is all I'll ever need (it's too heavy for my complexion... but it's oh-so-beautiful), I've got a bottle of Snow Angel and much as I love it I'll never need more, I've got more MB: Closet than I'll ever use (but it's soooo goood), I've got a bottle of Snake Charmer and seriously, I could decant from it, I like aged Snake Oil better anyway; I wouldn't mind trying Storyville, Formula 54 and Blue Moon but I'm not rabid for any of them, and I have an imp of Intergalactic coming and if I need another one I've got stuff to swap. The only thing I really want more of is Ingenue. I'd like to build up a collection of 7-9 imps, ideally, which would be enough for me to be comfortably sure that I wouldn't run out. I have stuff I can swap for this, too -- I can decant from my bottle of Passion if I have to, or dangle my Trick 2 out there as an enticement. I have two single notes coming that can be swapped away without breaking my heart, although I want to keep my Blood Orange SN no matter how it smells on me (I love the scent of blood oranges). I have bottles of Pink Moon 2007 and Ostara coming; I'm very much looking forward to Ostara, very much. In some ways, my lack of wants right now is good; through careful swapping, I've tried most of the rares out there that interested me at all, and I've kept the ones I wanted and let the others go, but now I get to look to scents that have just come out and decide right away, based on what's in them, whether I want them -- there's no reputation or legend attached to the new stuff yet. That's kind of exciting.   I'm also looking forward to Blue Moon 2007, and the Cancer astrological blend, although if it's chamomile and lavender I'll load the bottle into a gun and shoot myself. I'll be purchasing any/all blends available for July because it's my birth month, and probably two bottles of 07 Blue Moon (just because I'm pretty sure it's going to be up my alley -- cool and soft and somewhat crisp and airy, gently sweet). So glad I got $1100 back from my taxes -- probably around $250 of that will go to BPAL...     Another $250 will go to paying for my rave habit [$500] leaving about $600 to sustain the rest of my expensive lifestyle for three months. That's $200 a month, or $50 a week. I should be okay, although I'll have to stop buying so many books. :/
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I love my boots

I am meeting Care for dinner today and I'm excited because I'm getting dressed up. On with my pink foofy dress which makes me look like I am five! On with my gorgeous six-inch-high PVC platform boots! And the best part is, my entire outfit cost me less than $40. Which is pretty awesome considering the boots alone are $85 regular price.   it is almost 2 in the afternoon and I am listening to "Ashes to Ashes" (David Bowie) and contemplating whether or not glitter eyeshadow would be too much, or so much too much it's just right. And I smell like Monster Bait: Closet. I am a happy kitty.     --- I am also trying out a combination of Road Opener and Hymn to Pan -- Road Opener on my palms, with a very small 'opening ritual' and a plea to bring new opportunities and clear my path, and Hymn to Pan on the back of the neck. Hymn to Pan doesn't get pulled out often -- the first time I wore this particular combination, it was /very/ effective, although the last two times I wore it it has been pale... and usually I use Hymn to Pan more for its element of 'rock star debauch' than specifically its sporadic fits of creativity and inspiration. I've never had much luck getting inspired, but I have had fun connecting to the part of me that I'm often too shy and self-conscious to allow out. Pan being as unpredictable as He is, however, I never quite know what I'm in for.   It'll be interesting either way!
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I just said something Imunna get smacked around for

Generally I refrain from commenting on BPAL-related issues because the community is kind of touchy, and if you get a bad name from your opinions that'll likely be reflectected in who will buy, sell, or swap with you. To two community members, I've done the same thing myself; and I've gotten caught up in the fandom's crazy-sensitivity before, and it took a reality check for me to get my head out of my butt.   Against my better judgment I weighed in on the issue of pricing/who to sell to and how. I've gotten really good deals on some bottles I wanted to try, and I've made money when I re-sold those bottles after careful thought and found that they totally failed on me, no matter how much I wanted to like them. I have Snow White 2004 in mind here. I've also lost a lot of money in my obsession, by eating shipping costs, reselling bottles at significantly lower prices than I bought for, and in some cases selling underpriced bottles because I wanted to. On balance, I'm still hugely in the red as far as my obsession goes. The concept of 'profit' is utterly alien. For me, the cost is worth it for the delight of sniffing so many scents -- but that doesn't change the fact that it's money I'll never recoup. I don't think I (or anyone else) should be criticised for trying to decrease our losses as much as we can. There are people who try to squeeze every last dime that they can out of their BPAL -- I'm not one of them, nor I believe are most people who sell at higher than they bought. There are other ways to give back to the community, like offering special discounts for n00bs, or selling them things that you'd otherwise only swap away. I've done the latter, and I've seen and applauded people doing the former. You're also not obliged to sell to just whoever comes your way -- if someone pings you and says "I really really really want this bottle" you can take them at their word and offer it to them, even for a discount if it's what you think is fair.   On the subject of ebay, stop bellyaching about letting the market decide what to pay for things. If you don't want to pay $100 for a bottle of perfume, then don't! It's just perfume! If it matters that much more to someone else, then let them have it and keep quiet. Either shell out the money and lose the exact same amount of options they do*, or realise that if you lose the auction, you'll live.   In my own swapping, I tend to favour first people I've dealt with before. There are a couple of people (Chrisann comes to mind) who are just a joy to deal with, and a few more that I've dealt with so many times that I give them preference because of how good they've always been to me. After that, I tend to deal with people who have a good reputation in the community and n00bs. If I find someone who /really/ wants a scent, I like to give it to them if I reasonably can -- I sold an imp of Beaver Moon that I wanted to save for swaps, because the gal was a newbie and I know how hard it is to break into the market and what you usually have to shell out to do so. But the BPAL community /isn't/ a free market -- it's a heavily controlled market, both by price caps in most selling venues and the politics of the fandom. That's good and bad. The good part is, it limits pure profiteering, and ensures that by and large the emphasis is on enjoying scented art instead of narrowly reducing each purchase to a risk/benefit analysis. The bad part is, the politics of opinion are fierce and a little paranoid, and if you're a rare collector building strong relationships is much more important than it should be. The field of people who hold real rares is small, and the people willing to swap those rares is even smaller. It's a microcosm of the world, impacted more intensely. I'm out of rare-collecting, mostly; I sold off most of my rares a while ago, and those that I've kept are for the purposes of briefly testing, then dangling out as bait for the few scents I collect heavily.   --- *I tend to think of money in terms of how many options you give up when you lose it or give it away. Money is worth different things to different people, some people have more or less, and some people have to work much harder than others to scrape together much less. But it's much easier to compare how much freedom or what kind of options a sum of money gives you, since those are much closer between different groups of people.
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I just made monies for the update :D

and bought some partial (very, very partial) bottles at better-than-reasonable prices, but those cost $10 which is what I made off of one decant of Spooky so that's no big deal So far I've made $56, and I hope to make a little more. All of it is going towards the update on the 13th.   I'll probably ship it to Amy's address, and as such I might even combine orders with her -- she wants a 5mL of Kyoto and an imp pack! Yessss, another enablee, although I suspect this is more out of indulgence for me than true obsession. Either way, it spreads the love. You can't get much for $56, especially considering shipping... but Mom will be wiring some money into my account to buy Sheila a scent locket [she saw mine and was /instantly/ taken with it] and so I'll just ask her for a couple of dollars extra to round out my shipping costs -- shouldn't be too hard. The update is probably going to be full of shinies, at least that's what's buzzing and bumbling on the fora... and given Beth's hints, the slow boil seems warranted There's not much I'm craving right now, other than 5mL's of The Hermit and Brisingamen, but those can be laid aside if the 13th offers up some particularly tasty morsels.   Oh, and I'm on Zoloft again! Yaaay! And Amy might (/might/) be coming down for the 28th of April :(
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I just bought more stuff :/

Yeah, so I just bought a partial of Mabon and a 10mL of Lex Talionis on ebay. In my defence, the prices were all right given the content (Mabon was a little expensive, I probably should've actually read the auction info...) Lex is a gift for Ian, because I feel a little guilty about realising that I'm keeping "his" bottle of Schwarzer. (He'd better like Lex, because he's got a damn huge bottle coming.) Mabon I just wanted to try, but not enough to actively hunt down an imp.. then this half-full bottle appeared in front of me, and I leapt.   I'll wait until all the bottles I have coming are here, sniff through them all, live with them for a bit, then do a massive destashing. I think I'll email Jocosa about Ice Queen... I'm thrilled to have gotten to try as much as I have, and there are one or two bottles I still have my eye on (most notably some Havisham up on Ebay) but once all this has been gone through I think I'll stick to a small stash of fragrances. Still want to try Black Moon, but other than that... eh.
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I have a tea set!

I am very pleased with myself. I managed to find a tea set that I like and that didn't toally break the bank. Between Mom (for my birthday present) and I, I have a teapot, two teacups, three mugs (which don't quite match but whatever), a cream and sugar set, and a tea caddy. Yaaay materialism!
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I feel horrible

Couldn't sleep until 2AM last night, worrying and feeling crappy. Woke up at 6:30 instead of 5:30 because of it. Woke up feeling horrible.   Worst weekend, aside from the weekend my Uncle Jim died, in my memory. I'm just clinging to the hope that somehow this will all be over soon.
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I feel gross

and so you know what I did? I went upstairs, put my wrist to my bottle of Shub, and upended the thing. Then I proceeded to smear the resulting puddle of lemonginger goodness all over my forearms, my neck, my temples and the extra got rubbed onto my hips.   That is the first time I have /ever/ upended a bottle onto my skin -- I almost alllways take from the cap, and not more than one little droplet. I smell like ginger. The whole HOUSE smells like ginger. and you know what? I totally do not care.   It is just /that bad/ of a day.   Now I'm going to drink some tea and watch House MD until I run out of episodes. House's snarkitude will make everything better (if that man wore BPAL, he would wear Shub. I know it).
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hah! another enablee!

The Girlfriend placed an order! All by herself!   two 5mL's and an imp pack. I'm so proud...     I am evil itself.
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Christmas Presents

Wheeee! I have Christmas presents for seven people on my list already! Next year's roommates' gifts are already wrapped, as are the gifts for my four older-than-me Toronto friends. I have a good idea what I'm getting my mother and my Godmother, and I have a present for Janet, my Spiritual Advisor (in heavy quotation marks). I also know what I'm getting one of my grandmothers, and I have half of the gift for my beloved girlfriend in the hand and the other half planned out. The following are the gifts I still need to organise:   DONE: Allison(vanilla), Kirsten(jasmine), Care(orange), Tory(pink sugar), Janet(gardenia), Haiwen(honeysuckle), Lisa(mint and black tea), Eleanor(vanilla sugar), Mom(sugar pear and earrings), Nanny Greene(apricot freesia), my Godmother(cocoa sandalwood), Amy (she reads this journal so she doesn't get to know yet!) TO FIND: Hannah -- this has to be special Jenny -- ditto Daddy -- will probably be a CD Nanny Rowe -- looking for something in Rome Caitlin -- something small but appropriate and shiny. must be shiny. Isaac W -- almost certainly a book Ian -- not sure if I'm getting him anything. Only if I see something. TO FIND FOR MY MOTHER TO GIVE TO PEOPLE: Brenda, Joan, Mary -- I have gifts in mind for these three, from Tval! Gary -- he's a challenge to buy for, and I'm better at gifts than mother. Jane and Stewart -- if Mom won't find them anything nice I will take it upon myself to correct her rudeness.   Luffluffluff buying presents for people I have 100 Euros for my 10 days in Rome (not nearly enough, but Mom will probably be willing to lend me another 25 or so). I'm looking for a gift for Nanny, with a budget of 35; something small for Caitlin, with a budget of 12; something for Jenny, with a tentative budget of 13 (if I find something she'll love, though, I won't pay any attention to that); and something for Amy, but I've no idea what it will be so I suppose we'll have to see. Ah well.
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can't sleep, time to ramble

It's funny: Ice Queen, the scent that spawned my love affair with BPAL's snowy/icy blends, is actually the one of them I like least now.   I still enjoy it, don't get me wrong. It's beautiful, but it's just a little too sharp/hard for me: the white musks are just slightly too prominent, it's just -- well, "too hard" is the only way I can describe it. I have low hopes for Skadi, because it seems that Skadi is Ice Queen but slightly /harder/. Guh.   I'm avoiding Frost Moon (eucalyptus smells like armpit funk on me) and Cold Moon/Snow Moon just don't seem worth hunting down. I've tried Ice Queen, Snow White, Snow Bunny, Snow Angel, and Havisham, and I have a bottle of Skadi coming my way. Of those, Snow White I have realised must go -- while she's lovely, she's just too sweet for me, and there's something slightly too aquatic about the scent for me to be comfortable. Part of it is the coconut, but there's this strange milky non-sugar sweetness to it that (while it's nice) I find ultimatel off-putting. and there's no sense in sitting on two bottles of something so sought-after if I'm not gonna love them. Weirdly, I like Snow Bunny much better than I like Snow White -- the Bunny has all of the good things about Snow White, combined with some of the powdersugar perk of Snow Angel. Honestly, while I like Snow Angel (especially on the drydown) I think I might like Snow Bunny better! But Shhh, don't speak loudly of my sacrilege.   Havisham is, of course, achingly beautiful: a strange-yet-classic frosty aquatic rose, not a scent to wear every day but a scent to cherish. I'm almost glad I have so little of it -- peversely, it'll stop me taking it for granted, something I feel like I do with my GC loves Perversion and Brisingamen. (Incidentally, I need to learn to stop reviewing scents the first time I wear them: I'm usually too enraptured by their loveliness to step back and see how they /compare/ to things I already like/dislike. Thus my reviews all tend to be gushy, even though I only like some of what I've got.)
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myoubi

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At the End of the day

I don't like having a lot of bottles sitting around not getting any affection. I also don't like not having bottles of stuff I know I /do/ love -- like tarot: The Hermit, and Brisingamen, and Perversion. I do like being identifiable by scent, so here's the short list of what's staying, what needs to come in and what I know eventually has to go:   STAYING Havisham La Fee Verte [signature... when it's not that time of the month] Snow Bunny [dance/saturdays/special-but-not-Going-Out stuff] Shub-Niggurath [winter comfort scent] Perversion --> NEED BOTTLE [Jon] Brisingamen --> NEED BOTTLE [work/professional scent] Tarot: The Hermit --> NEED BOTTLE [studying/focus/divination/introspection scent] Monster Bait: Closet [come-smex-me scent -- could use another bottle] Dark Delicacies   GOING The Ecstasy of Passion The Ecstasy of True Love Spooky Snow White Skadi Ice Queen Trick #2 Devil's Night 05 [ach! How I wish I wore this more! it's beautiful... I just don't reach for it much :/] Bitter Moon Pink Moon 2005 Buck Moon Milk Moon Beaver Moon Stardust 05 Spanked Snowblind Cinnamon SN Siberian Musk SN   EMOTIONALLY ATTACHED Vieux Carre Bruja Ingenue Brides of Dracula Gypsy Queen   MUST TRY Black Moon -- even though it's the same niche as Dark Delicacies, which I looove too much to ever give up Storyville -- I have a weird feeling I'd like it. Yes, even though I've tried it. don't ask me why, I just go with my little hunches... Boomslang -- what can I say, i'm hopeful!   MUST BUY Tarot: The Hermit/Brisingamen/Perversion Blue Moon Cancer astrological blend April Fool's blend, whatever it is
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myoubi

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