**inhales wrists deeply** aaaaaah.
My gorgeous bottle is now about 10 months old. It smells duh-vine. I cannot wait until it is 3 years old... daaamn.
I'm done now
---
My perennial worry that my collection is too large has reached its zenith, I think. After the July moon, which is going to be preceded by big purchases for me -- the July Moon, the Cancer astrological blend, Blue Moon (two bottles), Brisingamen, and Tarot: The Hermit -- I'm going to start seriously culling, and swapping for the things I want. The rares I want to collect right nwo are:
Ingenue
Unseelie
Storyville
and that's about it. Almost anything for those three, but once I'm satisfied that I have enough of those, collecting is going to take a back seat.
Here lies another possible-keepsies list:
La Fee Verte
Havisham
Snake Oil
Shub
Snow Bunny
Ingenue (duh)
Dark Delicacies
MB: Closet
Hope
Snow Angel
Bruja
Vieux Carre
June Gloom (if I can collect enough... if not, she gets jettisoned)
Unseelie (duh)
Storyville (if I can collect enough)
although this one was more strange than bad.
This one was a bit hard to wake up from. I thought it was real for at least ten seconds after awakening, which is unlike me. I was me, and I still had a single mother -- but she wasn't like my mother at all. She was more like Isaac Meister's mother if Isaac's Mom was kind of vampy. My mother was five-foot-nine-and-a-half, had gorgeous feathery long brown hair, wore lipstick every day, always looked put-together, and hit on my boyfriend. SHe still had the same control issues though. In my dream, I was still dating Amy, and she still lived in MIchigan; but I was kind of seeing this fellow Dave (who doesn't seem to have a real-life analogue) who liked me but was also obviously attracted to my mother, who encouraged his attentions. I was worried that Dave was going to get the wrong idea, that he'd think we could date and have a relationship and all those things when according to Amy-rules, all I'm allowed to do is kiss him when she's not in the province (groping or clothing-removal counting as cheating -- these are the actual rules, by the way. so far I haven't exercised the privilege). In my dream, Dave and I had dinner plans for tonight, but because of Amy-stuff I was thinking about cancelling so Dave didn't get the wrong idea... and I coudl tell that my Mother was thinking of replacing me at hte dinner table...
it was /very/ strange. :/
I just nabbed 4 50-slot ammo boxes off a hunting store online. The total with shipping to Canada was $13.74, which I feel is acceptable (even though the cost for the boxes themselves was $3.49 0.o) -- that's about $4.50 per box, which isn't insane, although it's a bit more than I'd like. Perhaps I'll swap two of them away for some imps -- I only have 50-some-odd imp/decants anyway, and some of those are going in bottles.
Havisham (1 imp) and Ice Queen (4 imps) are going into the bottles I've found for them -- that's 5 of my 57 decants taken care of. I'll likely swap away some of my GC's, and I already know I hate Tarot: The Star (unfortunately). There'll be a whole row of 5 slots for my precious Ingenue, likewise for my Dark Delicacies decants. I can probably just save time and keep my swapping imps in one box. Or maybe I'll use one box for my intent blends -- like my voodoo blends and TALs...
I'm so excited! I love getting new stuff, especially new ways to arrange my scents. Now I just need an adequate box for my bottles... as in, one that can fit 10mL's as well :/ I have four (and they're alllll La Fee Verte.)
Now I'm feeling that lovely gloating that goes along with possessing things one loves.
My ammo boxes came today. I have four 50-count green ammo boxes and I'm trying to decide how to sort my imps into them... one box is reserved for intent blends (voodoo, celestials, tarot, sephiroth [if I ever get any], panacea, and of course TAL) and one box is reserved for favourites/multiple imps, but I'm not sure what to do with the rest of them. Oh well... I'll figure it out
Also, the imp-to-bottle ratio sucks. five imps (admittedly, 2 were partially empty so really about 4.5 imps) make up about 3/4 of a bottle. 4.5 imps = 0.75 bottles, so we're looking at 6 imps to the bottle. Some decanters say they get 7 imps to the bottle. ((glum)) Oh well... at least I have the equivalent of two bottles of DD. Orchid-scented deliciousness, apply here.
...over the last few days I have scored four decants of Dark Delicacies, a bottle of Hope (shipped!) for the price of a GC, imps of King and Queen of Diamonds, and an imp of Chaste Moon which through the magic of swapping I hope to turn into an imp of Ingenue.
___
ON BUYING THINGS TO SWAP 'EM: This is not a black-and-white issue. Buying stuff for the purpose of swapping it away for rare decants is frowned upon by many in the BPAL community, and I can sort of understand why: we're all here because we have a strong and sentimental attachment to our smellies, so if you don't actually want it for what it is, let someone who truly loves it have the scent. I can understand that perspective, and I guess if I was giving up something I loved 'cause I needed the $$, at the end of the day I'd rather it go to someone who would appreciate it rather than just want it for its value. But also, a couple of things:
-once you sell something, it's out ofyour hands. Your attachment to that item has ended, and with it your right to make moral judgments about how it's used. Whatever-it-is is no longer yours. let it go.
-As a n00b, it's really hard to see people raving about all these great rare scents, and then not being able to try them because they're only up for swap for things of "equally rare value". You _have_ to start with purchasing, and the easiest way to break into the rares market is to buy something to trade. Sometimes what comes up for sale isn't what you want at the end of the day; but then again, sometimes you bring home an imp you intended to just swap away, and find a new love.
-buying things to swap is actually pretty utilitarian. Picture this: you have four people, A; B; C; and D (shut up, it's late I'm not imaginative). A has a decant of Voodoo Queen that she is selling. B has a decant of Storyville that she will only swap for Voodoo Queen or Lugh. C has wanted to try Storyville for ages, but she doesn't have Voodoo QUeen (and she def. doesn't have lugh). D really loves Voodoo Queen (but in order to know that, s/he would need to have enough to test --> probably has a decant already).
If D buys the decant of Voodoo Queen, two people are happy: A and D. A has gotten $ for it, and D has more of what she already tested and knows she likes. This has no effect on B, but C still can't even access storyville.
If C buys the decant of Voodoo Queen, three people are happy: A, B and C. A has gotten the $ that she would've gotten anyway. C now has access to something she really wants (Storyville; and in the process got to test Voodoo Queen) and B has something she really wants. D isn't happy, but you can't make all of the people happy all of the time. Purchasing decants to swap is, from a utilitarian perspective, a pretty good idea. More people get what they want out of the market -- where's the harm in that?
it's like the idea of "too much profit". No such thing. If Beth wants to spend her $$ on a Lamborghini, I don't care, although since oil prices will have increased I'll probably be able to buy less perfoom. Which, in the end, might actually be a good thing for my pocketbook. How do you like fast Italian cars, Beth?
Squeeee! Thanks to the ass-saving generosity of my dear beloved father whom I love and adore, I have a Thunder Moon order!
Thunder Moon
Cancer (I've been looking forward to this for SO. LONG.)
Selkie (yaaaay! my therianthropic is /awesome/!)
Other outstanding order:
Blue Moon 2007
Brisingamen
Oh, hearts and flowers, hearts and flowers I'm sooo excited for the Cancer blend. I was expecting it to be a rose/chamomile scent because those are the plants most often associated with Cancer, and I wouldn't have been at all unhappy with that -- but wild lettuce? that sounds yummy, gentle, cool and vaguely sweet. I promised myself that no matter what (unless it was, like, black musk and ambergris and red wine or something) I'd order my birth-month moon and therianthropic. I'm hopeful for Selkie, although I'm shaky on Thunder Moon -- it sounds lovely but a little too masculine/aquatic for me. I'll try it, and persevere, and persevere, and God Dammit my force of will shall prevail.
squeeeee!
Cash: $15 Cdn
CIBC Debit: $25-35 Cdn (?)
Citizens' Debit: $90 USD
PayPal: $47.75 USD
OWING
-$40.75 USD -- Ebay seller
-$10.55 USD -- decants
-$22 USD -- Fee
-$17 USD -- Hunter Moon etc.
=Citizens' Debit: ~$50
-$40 Cdn -- April rave tickets (Daniel)
CIBC Debit: $0-$10
I can do this. Not easily, but I can do this
____
MAY
Citizens' Debit: $50 USD
CIBC Debit: $80 Cdn
Rave Tickets
-$5 Cdn -- Cheap and Fun
-$20 Cdn -- We're Old Skool
-$20 (?) Cdn -- Funky Fresh
-$20 (?) Cdn -- The Massacre
=CIBC Debit: $15 Cdn
...and I'll still need to sell off some stuff in time for June/July :S
So far I have made $120 from sales Unfortunately I did sell a half-bottle of my beloved La Fee Verte... but considering I have the equivalent of 6 5mL's (between partials and decants) and considering that I have never even gone through an imp, I think it's okay.
I wore LFV today and was reminded of why I love it the way I do I keep getting whiffs of this glorious sweet lightly-herbal creaminess before realising that it's coming from my cleavage
Unless something comes up, the $$ from my sales will be saved for updates.. the coming update, and then the Blue Moon update. I'm going to need at least two bottles of Blue Moon if it's anything like hte last formulation, which sounds /right/ up my alley
h_f is gallivanting around London, going to parties and getting drunk on cheap whisky (shame! go for the expensive stuff.) I am jealous, abit, but mostly I wish she was back here because I miss her!
Oh yeah, and I found some Unseelie. One decant, but that should be fine. No matter how lovely it is, I'm sure it won't be enough to displace my favourites and so I won't need more.