Today I was totally going to wear Green Tree Viper to work, but then I got distracted by food and forgot. When I got home I tried R'lyeh, "A hellishly dark aquatic scent, evocative of fathomless oceanic deeps, the mysteries of madness buried under crushing black waters, and the brooding eternal evil that lies beneath the waves." It smelled brown and green to me, like spicy incense and something vegetable in nature. If celery had a sexy, wicked older sister, that might be the second smell. After reading some reviews, I think the "green" part was actually grapefruit rind. Interesting. It could possibly grow on me, but I got it for a friend, so I don't really have to decide whether I want to wear it or not.
Written 4/23/07.
Last night before I went to bed, I dabbed a little Saint-Germain on my left wrist and a little Theodosius the Legerdemain on my right. I thought it would be interesting to compare the two most masculine scents in my possession, especially because they're both named after magicians. As it turned out, I had insomnia (too much caffeine and popcorn!), and so I had plenty of time to consider both.
Saint-Germain has a really strong personality. He's used to getting his way, and doesn't much care how that affects other people. He's outspoken and impossible to ignore. This is the smell of a powerful man, probably physically and definitely intellectually. He's arrogant, though admittedly not without good reason. I admire but don't really like him.
Theodosius is quieter and more introverted. Where Saint-Germain has power, Theo has subtlety. He's got a flair for the dramatic, because legerdemain (sleight of hand) relies on misdirection and distraction, but you never know what he's really up to until it's too late. He's much smoother than S-G, more polite and pleasant to be around. But you can't trust him.
As for the scents themselves: I actually like S-G at first, but as it dries down, the lavender note just gets louder and louder and LOUDER. Theo is much easier to live with; his scent may have a little lavender in it too (I'm still not clear on this whole "fougere" thing), but the most prominent notes on me are vanilla and white musk, which combine to smell a bit like sweet pipe smoke. I like that, but there is something about Theo that I just don't like, something I can't put my finger on. It's probably just my chemistry clashing with his... anyway, I won't be keeping company with either of these gentlemen in the future. I'd still like to test both scents on a guy, if I can get one to hold still long enough. I. seems like he'd be a good guinea pig, aside from his total lack of a sense of smell.
Aaand today, in the mail, I received another package of imps... from Finland! Amazingly, it got here in less than a week. I tried one of them (Yew Trees) this morning, but my shirt smells like the random imps that I left sitting on it, and my jacket smells like Green Tree Viper, so I can't actually tell what it smells like.
Written 5/21/07.
I liked Hungry Ghost Moon only when I first put it on and when it was almost gone. It was another one that lasted overnight.
Yesterday I went to a conference. So I didn't want to wear anything weird. Jabberwocky was a safe bet -- zingy but friendly. I love pine so much.
Today I'm in my hometown and my sister's birthday party is tonight! I brought some imps that I already know and love. I'm not sure if I'll put anything on until I'm out of the house though. Mom's sniffer is so sensitive.
Written 4/21/07.
Today I tried to wear Sea of Glass (an older order) again. I mean I succeeded in wearing it... but not in liking it. It's not a heavy floral, but it's still too floral for me. The funny thing is that on me it starts out smelling like a clean white floral, but ends up smelling a little bit cologne-y (i.e. masculine) -- spanning the gender gap. Wish I knew enough to say what both smells are. The description only says, "A scent of inimitable purity, crystalline grace, and limitless light." WHAT EVER Anyway it's nice, just not me.
And tonight I put on a dab of "Theodosius, the Legerdemain" from a sniffy vial. It's definitely masculine, but in elegant ways. I smelled two main notes when I put it on, a sweet note and a cologney note. The first smell reminded me of something I smelled at a meet-and-sniff, and I was guessing it as tobacco. The second note, a little aftershave-y, I thought might be musk or patchouli but I had temporarily forgotten what either smelled like, exactly.
So it turned out that the sweet note was vanilla (duh!) and the harsher one was musk. Also possibly something called fougere, though I haven't yet found out quite what that means. Anyway, nice, though not a scent I desire to own and wear.
Written 4/22/07.
So I tried Saint-Germain last night. It's sharp lavender backed with mellow amber (and carnation and moss, which I can't really pick out). It's a really good blend, but I think I'd like it much better on someone else. Specifically, someone male. It's kind of edgy for me, kind of aggressive, and I just can't get comfortable with it on myself. Too intense and attention-demanding. I wonder how much of that is me associating it with other scents I've smelled on guys, and how much of it is the scent really not being a good fit for me.
That reminds me, a cute guy sat down next to me on the bus the other morning, and I caught just the faintest whiff of his aftershave, and it was so yummy. I kept trying to inhale more of it without being conspicuous, and trying to pick out notes, and wondering if I would have liked it as well if it had been on someone I wasn't attracted to. I might not even have noticed it before I started this whole nose self-education program. I've been a lot more tuned in to smells lately.
Yesterday I tested Monster Bait: Tokyo Stomp. It smells like butterscotch in the vial, but on my skin it's a warm minty vanilla, like a pipe shop minus the tobacco. I kept sniffing for the tobacco. This one probably won't be a fave -- too sweet for everyday -- but it's funky and fun.
And I just tried out the other LE I got from that order: Milk Moon. It's really grape-y at first, almost like fruit candy. But then it calms down and gets more figgy. Mm, I love me some fig. And just a hint of pomegranate. I can detect the honey, but the milk never makes an appearance on my skin. I like Milk Moon, but I don't like it as much as Eden (which also has fig and honey). Which is a relief, because I can get more Eden whenever I want, but Milk Moon is kind of a one-shot deal.
So out of the three scents I ordered from the Milk Moon Update, my favorite is the last-minute impulse addition (Minotaur), not the two whose descriptions I drooled over most. Interesting....
I'm about to go live on a boat until December, so my scentblog will be on hiatus until then. I'll miss the forums, and the internet in general, but I'll be working so hard and having so much fun that it probably won't get me down much. Besides, spending your days in the wind and your nights in a metal-hulled hold with a bunch of unwashed sailors has a way of (temporarily) dulling your sense of smell -- which is probably a good thing, in balance.
So here's one final catchall summary of the oils I've tried lately:
When I put it on, Wrath smells just like plumeria (a favorite flower to make leis with in Hawai`i). Then it gets kind of sweetly musky-spicy, in a badass kind of way. It has good throw and good staying power -- lasted all day and all night, and was still very recognizably present the next morning. If I were to guess the notes, I would have said plumeria and musk, but it only lists dragon's blood and spices (clove, cinnamon, pepper). If that's dragon's blood, I may have to reconsider my prohibition of it, because, yum.
I thought Vice was supposed to be really chocolate-y, but on me that note faded into the background behind orange blossom and cherry. It was mildly sweet and not overwhelmingly foody.
Melpomene smells like cheap perfumed soap, then fabric softener. No thank you.
Kurukulla is sweetly rosy at first, then becomes something richer (but still rosy). I get a mysterious incensey note off of it, like in a Tibetan gift shop or something. This one could become a fave. I really thought I didn't like rose-scented stuff before I tried BPAL. Now I know I just don't like cheap rose-scented stuff.
Osun smelled fairly stanky in the vial, but after it settled into my arm, it was pleasant and honey-sweet.
Aizen-Myoo smelled like extremely bitter citrus for quite a while, but then that cleared up and left behind a clean smell which was nice at first, but then became too strong and fabric-softener-y. I wouldn't wear it again.
I loved the idea of Depraved, but apricot turns out not to be a good note for me. At all. This helps to explain why Siren and I didn't get along, doesn't it?
I thought Port-au-Prince was all right, but I forgot to write down why.
Coyote remains a favorite. It's subtly elegant, and works for both formal and casual occasions.
I do like Yew Trees. It's very green and sappy at first, and then it gets sweeter and vaguely coconutty -- reminds me of a shampoo I used to really like.
Aglaea continues to be magical. I never expected this one to be a fave, so I'm delighted.
I liked Crow Moon less last time I tried it. It was really hot that day, so the snow melted and the flowers bloomed right away, and it's the snow-and-cedars part that I like. The flowers make me sneezy. Boo to that.
Veil somehow really does smell veiled. One smell behind another, but both are visible -- er, smellable. It's nice, though perhaps a little too floral for my taste.
Yggdrasil was so-so. I'm disappointed that most of the tree scents I've tried aren't all that great on me (Hamadryad wasn't so hot either), because I really do love trees. Maybe I just wasn't meant to smell like one.
All right, that's all I've got. I'll see you in December.
So I wore my last untried scent, Florence, to work on Thursday. It went on pretty nice, lightly sweet, almost the way a marshmallow smells. But as it dried down, it began to smell distinctly granny-ish. I felt self-conscious about how granny-ish I smelled. The throw was like department store perfume. I might try it once more, but I'm thinking it's definitely not for me.
I'm quickly coming to the conclusion that most amber scents are not for me (though I still love Aglaea). I don't like the fuzzy way amber hits my nose when it's on my skin. Florence is described as containing "velvety spices," but I think it's the amber note that gives it the really fuzzy/velvety texture, and I don't like it. Ironically, I do like fuzzy/velvety textiles. Just not odors.
Friday I wore Kumiho again. This was the ginger/white tea scent that I said smelled like something you'd find in a mall shop. Not a crappy mall shop, I want to add; maybe Bath & Body Works or GAP or something. Anyway, I've concluded that I don't really like Kumiho, and that maybe I'm just not into scents that are heavy on the ginger. Small amounts, like in Bengal and The Apothecary, are fine. But scents that rely on it as a major note are just so sharp, so spiky in my nose, that they're not fun for me to wear. Again, this is ironic because ginger is one of my very favorite things to eat.
So that probably sounds like I'm complaining, but actually I'm thrilled (thrilled!) to have learned to identify these two notes, amber and ginger, and what they do on my skin. It's like learning the landmarks in a new town. The more you know....
And then Friday night I went to a party, and wore Green Tree Viper again. And this time I really liked it. It didn't smell like Mom's perfume at all. It's still not a smell I'm 100% comfortable with; it's sensual in ways that I'm not. But it's a good smell, and it's happy on my skin, and I look forward to wearing it again.
I think maybe another factor in how I perceive scents (especially new scents) is how I'm feeling when I wear them; if I'm relaxed and enjoying myself, I'm usually enjoying my perfume too. If I'm tense and worried, my scent can get all tangled up with my discomfort so that I confuse the two a little. And maybe my chemistry actually alters the perfume to some degree based on how I'm feeling? Anyway, that's how I explain the difference between my experience with the Viper at the work-related banquet, and at the party the other night. I realize that my favorite non-BPAL scent, a Tenzing Momo oil labeled "Pomegranate" that C. gave me a few years ago, is one I save for occasions when I know I'm going to have a good time. I always felt like it was too special to wear when I wasn't pretty sure I'd enjoy myself. And now I think that was a really good instinct, because I always associate it with feeling happy and sexy and having fun.
I finally gave E. her BPAL birthday present yesterday: R'lyeh for creatures of the deep, Calico Jack for pirateyness, and Miskatonic University for mad scientists (all three things she loves). I included the descriptions on little slips of paper, so she'd know what they were meant to be. She sniffed them and said appreciative things about all of them. When she opened the box and said "Oooh," her wife asked what it was, and E. said gleefully, "It's perfumes for evil people!" She had already heard of BPAL, and said she'd been wanting to try their stuff. So of course I was happy to have provided her with the opportunity!
Oh no. Oh yes. I got a second package of smellies today... Miskatonic University (completing the three-scent gift for the friend I mentioned), and five others that sounded interesting and were a buck or two apiece. About these, you will hear more soon.
Wore Vinland (one I've had for months) to work today. Just needed something that smelled nice but wouldn't affect my mood in any particular way. Vinland is almost disappointingly low-key (used to have a harsh chemical note, which disappeared as it "aged" into a mild fruity floral) but it doesn't have a lot of "throw", so it's good for a day when you don't want your perfume bugging your nose every minute.
I just put on Siren (from the last order):
"Bewitching, tantalizing and dangerously seductive. A thrilling, exotic blend -- deceptively sweet, but spiked with malice. White ginger, jasmine, and a touch of vanilla."
On me, it is GROSS. Smells like mothballs. I'm serious. Just BAD. I've smelled other BPAL scents that I hated, but in a "somebody else should wear this" kind of way. This smells like something nobody should wear.
BUT. Your chemistry is supposed to be "off" right before you start your period, so I will give it another chance some other week.
Whew. I keep sniffing my arms out of sheer incredulity that it could smell so bad.
Written 4/25/07.
I haven't been wearing much scent lately. I've been pretty sleep-deprived, and when that happens my nose gets extra-sensitive and I don't really want unnecessary odors around. I am getting more rest now, though. I still have two untried scents and several that I want to give a second chance, so I'd better get on that.
I did wear a little scent under my arms yesterday and today to counteract expected sweatiness. Yesterday I rode my bike to work (for the first time!) and wore Jabberwocky. (Jabberwocky = Adventure!) Today I had to move a bajillion books around and wore Delphi. When I put it on this morning, I was struck by how potently green it is straight out of the vial, punch-you-in-the-nose green; it would be too much if it stayed that way. But the drydown is so sweet and mellow.
ALSO. I got annoyed with my shot glasses as imp containers, so I read a sizeable chunk of the mammoth "How do you store your oils?" thread. Then I found a spare wooden box w/lid (about the size of a cigar box), filled it an inch deep with short grain rice, and stuck the imps in upright. It's not very portable, but I'm pleased with it -- the labels aren't getting bent, I can read them easily, and there's no leakage issues. Plus, it looks (and smells) cool. I would post photos if I had a digital camera.
I need a digital camera.
While visiting C, I gave her some of my unloved imps: Mag Mell, Frumious Bandersnatch, Kumiho. They all smell a little funky on me, but behaved themselves on her. I was going to give her Florence, too, but we dropped it on the floor of a public restroom (really, we both did; it was a botched hand-off) and even though it didn't all spill, I made her throw it away because, yuck, public restroom floor. But she liked that one as well. I'm going to order her a few secondhand imps as a thank-you for her hospitality, and Florence will be among them if possible.
She gave back the Black Forest imp I gave her last year -- said she liked the concept but not the oil. Not much left in it, but I'm really glad to have it again. I only tried it once, and my impression of it was a darker, dirtier evergreen than Jabberwocky, with a lingering musk note (musk always lasts forever on me). I was unsure about the musk at the time. But I recently tried Coyote and decided that maybe I really like musk. Because I sure do like Coyote.
I tested out Minotaur last night. It's a different kind of scent than I've tried before, heavy on the resins, which gives it an edged, dark, weighty kind of odor. On me it's very sweet, though most reviews don't seem to reflect this. I really like it. This morning all that's left of it is a hint of black musk, which I have just about sniffed right off of my arm.
Other scents I've tried, but not mentioned, in the last few crazy weeks:
Hesperides reminds me of sweet, dark apple cider. Definitely a winner.
Yew Trees and Yggdrasil, both tree-themed scents, have not made a great impression on me. I wore them both on days when I didn't have a lot of time to pay attention to them, so I haven't given up on them yet, but I remember both as underwhelming and not entirely pleasant.
Crow Moon - I admit I was hooked by the name; I really like crows, when they're not waking me at five in the morning. The description is very accurate: "This is the final Full Moon of winter. The call of the crow signals the end of the frost, and their scent, of vervain, black violet, white musk, and Chinese cedar, is brushed by the last cold wind of winter on their wings, and the scent of evergreen boughs touched by the season's final flowers and the first blossoms of spring...." So, okay, it starts out smelling like frost, light musk, and cedar, kind of a bracing scent, and then as it dries down, all of a sudden -- spring flowers. That's pretty freakin' amazing. I don't actually like the floral part very well, but I'm still totally impressed.
Coyote is a sweet, light muskiness on me, not dark and heavy like the Minotaur, but the warm golden brown of a smaller, swifter critter. It's a lot like what I hoped The Lion would be. This makes two amber scents I really love (the other one's Aglaea), so I may have to retract my verdict that amber doesn't work for me. Yum.
TKO is a profoundly comforting scent; it's sweet and warm and reassures me that everything's okay. It doesn't magically put me to sleep, or keep me asleep; instead, it soothes and calms me so that I can allow myself the sleep I need. I definitely wouldn't wear this in the daytime, as it kinda makes my brain shut down -- which is exactly what you want when you can't sleep. I adore it.
Yesterday I wore Frumious Bandersnatch to work. When it was still fresh on my skin, it smelled really spicy and good up close -- I bet that was the carnation. It had a weird throw though, kind of an odd dry smell (chrysanthemum?). Overall, it was really mild and faded quickly. By the end of the day, the plum note had mixed with my sweat and smelled kind of tomatoey. I'm not so sure about that. I definitely want to try more carnation scents now, though.
In the evening I went to see my cousin's band play a May Day show. I decided to give Aglaea a try. I couldn't remember what was in it, but I knew I liked the description -- "splendor" and something to do with fruit and alcohol, which sounded May Day appropriate. Whew, sex-ay. I love it! I was way off on the notes though -- I guessed pear and vanilla and a flower of some sort, but it was "Three golden ambers, bright musk, peach wine and myrtle." I'm glad to find an amber scent that I like, as I haven't had much luck with it in the past.
I just tried on Hearth, a limited edition from 2005 (not to be confused with the Hearth from 2004, which was apparently COMPLETELY DIFFERENT). I like it. It smells sweet and nutty. There are supposed to be more notes there -- cedar smoke and pine -- and I'm not getting either of those, which disappoints me a little. But it's still a good smell to have on your arms.
Written 5/2/07.
Yesterday I got to wear baggy jeans and a t-shirt and Tevas to work. I had to move hundreds of videotapes from a storage area in the basement of a dorm into the library (2nd story, no elevator). Also, the storage area was full of horrible black mold. It was the day after finals so I felt sort of free, that end-of-the-semester who-cares glee... caught from the students, I think. So I was ready to get my hands dirty and not care what anybody else thought.
Anyway I decided to wear Delphi, even though it smells like alcohol (i.e. mead). It seemed right for the day -- I don't know how I knew this at 9 a.m., but it was. This is the first time I've worn it since I got it, so I wasn't quite sure what I was in for, just remembered that I liked it at first whiff.
It's so good. I think it's my new second-favorite (after Jabberwocky). It smells like greenery and mead -- the sweet, smooth kind, not the kind that tastes like pickles! I felt like Michaelangelo's Delphica (http://www.verbeat.org/blogs/miltonribeiro/Delphica.jpg), beautiful and muscular and wise and slightly mad. I loved it so much I put on more, instead of a different scent, before I went out that evening. This isn't a sissy-girl perfume, and it's not formal. It's MIGHTY.
And today (commencement) was a Glasgow day. Glasgow is my go-to scent for social occasions when I'm on my best behavior. It's so friendly and sweet.
I haven't had the chance to try any of the new imps yet, though, and it's really getting to me!
Written 4/28/07.
I sent C. a package of imps to thank her for her hospitality during the Folklife festival. She just e-mailed me about them, and I really enjoyed her scent descriptions:
thank you thank you for the black phoenix scents!! i LOVE them!! except laudanum i have to admit that it reminds me of foul bandages (taken off a bloody cut after a week of being blood and water soaked)! and it has a moldy eucalyptus tinge. bleuck...!
but here's my critique of the others (did you get a chance to test them out before you mailed them?) :
florence: smells like honey and dark wine mixed with eastern spices. it's gorgeous!
bewitched: swirls around me like heavy wild flowers after rain with splashes of dried herbs and dark, cavelike musk. LOVE it. i think this one likes me best.
desire: it is very woodsy but not pine...like ferns and bark and sunshine. yummy.
rose cross: the scent is like dried roses left on stone (a grave?)...not an overbearing rose smell but light and mossy. lovely!
Tonight's scent is Sugar Cookie -- a limited edition scent that I got an empty-but-damp vial of as a sampler. It smells to me like sugary vanilla (for sure) and almond (maybe) and makes me want to eat dessert. I put it on my forearms and did the dishes in a cloud of sweetness... it's aptly nicknamed "the devil's bake sale."
But it does me no good because it's been discontinued for the past two years.
Kumiho, the white tea/ginger scent I wore to work, was okay, but I didn't love it. It was so reminiscent of the kind of thing you'd buy in a mall shop. It's similar to another one I've got that also has white tea and ginger [baobhan Sith], so at least I can confirm what is what and what I don't really care for in those scents. Half the fun in all this is educating my nose.
When I got up this morning, the Viper I put on last night was gone. After sniffing and sniffing I caught the faintest ghost of a tea smell, but I might have been imagining it. Calico Jack was still going strong, though. Dude's got stamina. It's the musk, I think, that stays forever on my skin. (Or if there's ambergris in it, maybe that. It doesn't say if there is, but it seems like the kind of thing you'd put in a perfume named after a sea-dog.)
From an e-mail sent 4/18/07.
Forgot to put on perfume before work again. Wore Green Tree Viper to [evening work-related] banquet. Mmm, snakey. Actually I didn't love it tonight. My opinion changed from moment to moment. Sometimes I think it smells too much like my mom's going-out perfume.
From an e-mail written 4/24/07.
My first BPAL order from another customer/forum member came today. It was from Canada, so it took a while to get here. This one cost me $10 total for 4 imps I ordered. I would say I got my money's worth and then some....
I ordered Green Tree Viper, and in order to make it worth the trouble to ship, I also bought three other imps that sounded mildly interesting. The sender threw in three bonus partly-used imps (including two I've really been wanting to try!) and three "sniffies," or empty vials with just enough left in them to get an idea of what they smell like. She also included a sliver of scented soap from a different company, and Easter-themed confetti! Whee!
I don't want to try them on all at once and get all confused. I put Green Tree Viper on my right wrist and Calico Jack on my left. So I'm sniffing one wrist, then the other, then the first one again. They are so opposite. The Viper has lost most of its mintiness and just smells like Snake Oil to me. It has a lot of "throw" and I envision a little cloud of it around my right arm. Calico Jack packs a punch up close, though. It's a little cologne-y, and I can smell notes of salt, leather, musk, and woods. Left wrist -- pirate. Right wrist -- seductress. I think my arms are gonna make out with each other.
Tomorrow, maybe I will wear Kumiho (one of the freebies) to work -- it's white tea and ginger, which sounds like a good combination for me.
An e-mail sent to a friend 4/17/07.
I took 4 small vials with me for my 5 months crewing a tall ship: Jabberwocky and Delphi for being brave and tough, and Coyote and Aglaea for being sexy and feminine. I never wore the second two -- there just weren't a lot of occasions where I wanted to feel girly. (I also never wore the one set of dress-up clothes I took.) I only wore scent on really hot days and on my days off, both to mask the smell of my own sweat (Delphi does this really well for me) and to add an extra "yay!" to my day. Both hot days and days off were few and far between, so I didn't go through a lot of oils.When we went to Tacoma, C. came down to the boat to visit, and she brought the BPAL samples she'd ordered. The only one she wasn't delighted with was Laudanum, which she described thus: "it reminds me of foul bandages (taken off a bloody cut after a week of being blood and water soaked)! and it has a moldy eucalyptus tinge. bleuck...!" So of course I was terribly curious about it. Turns out Laudanum smells great on me -- no blood or mold, just warm spicy goodness. Even C. admitted it was nice on my skin. She gave it to me, and it became the scent I wore most often on my days off.Here are our notes on a couple of other scents she let me try:Rose Cross: purest rose with sacred frankincense.C: the scent is like dried roses left on stone (a grave?)...not an overbearing rose smell but light and mossy. lovely!L: very rosy, perhaps a little too reminiscent of cheap incense sticksDesire: bittersweet neroli, black patchouli and black musk, gilded by apple, bergamot, blood red rose, teak, and vanilla.C: it is very woodsy but not pine...like ferns and bark and sunshine. yummy.L: absolutely gorgeous.Oh yeah, I also took my bottle of TKO aboard, for which I was glad many, many times. Sometimes a reassuring smell is just what a body needs to relax.When I settled in back at home, I opened up my BPAL box and basked in the smell. Now I leave it open all the time so I can catch a whiff as I pass by. I haven't bought anything new (yet), but I revisited some scents I've had for a while:Nephilim: I love how it starts out with a lot of fig and patchouli, very complex and delicious; but as that fades, the church-incense smell gets stronger until it's just... whoa. Nostril-jabbing. I think that's frankincense I'm smelling, in which case my take on Wise Man gifts is that myrrh smells awesome, frankincense stinks, and gold is shiny.Osun: I rated this as "not too bad" on first try-on, but it's not too good either. I think I only like it when it's really, really faint; the late-phase honey smell I liked on first test seems sickly-sweet in any significant quantity. To be fair, since I got the sample used, there's always a possibility that it may have been contaminated and that's not what it's supposed to smell like at all.Wrath: makes me feel like I could kick some ass, but I need to remember to go easy on the application -- this is a strong scent in more senses than one.
So today I wore Tweedledum, which turned out to be a fruity, sweet patchouli. I liked it, but it was really faint -- have to try more on next time. It had some crustiness on the edge, so I wonder if it might have got diluted somehow.
Tonight I'm wearing Hungry Ghost Moon, another discontinued "sniffie." It's a bit strong for me. Smoky musky sandalwoody. I feel like it should be worn by someone with a stronger personality. Or maybe just different skin chemistry.
It really makes a difference when a friend smells something on me and said, "mm, I like that." I mean a difference in how I perceive the smell. So in order to give everything a proper chance, I'm trying to pretend somebody whose opinion I respect just told me they really like it on me. It's not working for Hungry Ghost, though.
Written 4/19/07.
Today I tried an old Chanel scent (19) -- it was the last of the sample vials that I wanted to try one last time before getting rid of them. I wish I knew how much of the weird alcohol scent is due to the original composition of the perfume and how much is due to its age. But it definitely smelled weird to me. I liked some of the notes, but I can't get over that sickly alcohol-y scent -- not like alcohol you'd drink, the other kind. The only Chanel perfume I have that I really like is Gardenia, which still doesn't have that tang for some reason.
Yesterday I tried on a Chaos Theory scent (CT II, CLVI). "Each bottle of Chaos Theory is truly unique, a fragrant fractal, and exercise in the joy of chance and uncertainty! Each is a one-of-a-kind, utterly random combination of scents, the composition of which is based on whim, mood and gut instinct." Which is a cool idea, but the downside of it is that there's no way to confirm what I'm smelling, and I am still too ignorant to guess. With a list of notes, I can say, oh, obviously that's musk and eucalyptus and, I dunno, burnt toast. Without one, I'm just making stabs in the dark -- and I want to LEARN from what I'm wearing! My stab in the dark for this one is that it's spicy and musky. A little strong for me.
Written 4/30/07.
Friday, May 25th was kind of a manic day to begin with. I was going to leave for the Folklife festival in Seattle that evening, and I wasn't packed yet, and I had a dozen things to do first, and I really should have spent more time at work that day. But I had doublechecked and the Convergence vendors' hall WAS open to the public, starting about noon on Friday, and by golly I was gonna go or my future self would never forgive me for missing the one time BPAL comes to visit my town.
As I walked down to the hotel that was hosting the convention, I could tell I was getting close by the increasing number of goth-types on the street. It was in the Hilton, and the swanky lobby contained a number of people dressed in black, standing around talking quietly with luggage beside them. I played it cool, strolled on in as though I had any clue what was going on... found a staircase, wandered down, followed signs to a ballroom, and bingo: Vendors' Hall.
I don't normally do this kind of thing, wander into someone else's party without even trying to blend in, so at this point I was buzzed on a blend of mad glee and mild terror. Not many customers in the Vendors' Hall yet, I noted (still trying to act casual), but it was lined with booths selling fancy black clothing, stripey socks, skull jewelry and other gothy paraphernalia.
And then I saw it. The BPAL booth. (There are some photos of it near the end of this post.) I went straight over and gaped at the rows and rows of bottles. They were arranged in alphabetical order and I started getting dizzy just looking at them. So many to choose from! And I've never bought a bottle before. How can I pick just one or two based on a momentary sniff? Do I buy something I already know and love (and have an imp of), or go for something entirely new?
I recall that there were some blends mixed up exclusively for this event. The last rack isn't alphabetical and seems to be made up of the more expensive, limited edition stuff, so I go over to that end to look for them. There's a guy standing in front of it, making small talk with the girl on the other side of the table. He's asking about the Convergence exclusive blends, and she points them out to him. So I sidle up to sniff them and then test them on my arms. Well, two of them. The third one is a white floral, which I'm not interested in. It's called Lydia and is named after a local ghost (I've never heard of her). The other two are Shanghai Tunnel and The Unheavenly City. So we've got a "Portland's Seedy History" theme going on here. Nice. Shanghai Tunnel is really bitter and murky, and Unheavenly City is complicated but definitely has some coffee in it, which is cool. (Later on it turned extremely jasmine, though, which is not cool.)
So I'm sniffing and sniffing and deciding I don't really want either of these, despite their rarity and resale value, when the chatty guy leaves and the girl starts talking to me. She's wearing a red dress that matches the color of her dreadlocked hair, and she's really friendly and funny, and after we've talked for a couple minutes she sticks out her hand and says, "I'm Beth." And my head explodes.
So that's how I got to have a conversation with the nose and creative genius behind BPAL. After her attention turned to some other customers and friends, I went back to scanning the labels and trying to decide what to buy. And sniffing. Lots of sniffing. I noticed that many of the oils seemed to share a sort of bitter edge to them that I didn't like. Hours later, I realized what I was smelling was the Shanghai Tunnel I had foolishly dabbed on my left wrist, just below my bottle-sniffing hand. Oh, duh.
Seeing that it was taking me 5000 years to decide, Beth asked what my favorite scents were so she could recommend some to me. I told her I love Jabberwocky most, and Delphi second-most, and she looked puzzled: "Seriously? Nobody says that. I mean, I like Jabberwocky, but it's just not that popular." I was sort of stunned by this, and someone else demanded her attention just then, so I never got to find out what scents she would have recommmended based on those two, or why it seemed so strange that those were my favorites.
Eventually I decided on Snake Oil, because it will age well, and given the amount I typically apply, a bottle of anything will last me the rest of my life. I also bought one of the aromatherapy (Panacea) blends called TKO that's supposed to help you sleep. I've had insomnia lately, but even as hyped up as I was right then, when I opened that bottle it was like a big Hand of Calm reached out of it and went "sshhhh." Panacea oils are pricey at $25 a bottle, but I figured if I got even 25 nights of sleep out of it, it would be a great investment. And that bottle contains a heck of a lot more than 25 doses.
So I gave them my money and took my bag o'fumes and went off to run some other errands, leaving the bag in the car. I didn't look into it because it had a cute BPAL sticker sealing it shut, and also I was in a hurry and had a lot of other things on my mind. It did occur to me, as I was congratulating myself on getting BPAL products with no shipping charges, that one down side of not getting your oils through the mail was that you don't get the bonus imps, which is one of the funnest parts of buying BPAL. (The Lab people had notified us in advance that there would be no imps for sale at the booth because "they cause havoc on the plane.") Still, I was very happy with my purchase, and ecstatic about the whole experience.
So I'm racing against the clock to get a bunch of things done, and I finally get home and bring my goodies inside. The bag has started to emit a pretty strong odor, and I'm afraid my bottle of TKO is leaking because that sure as heck doesn't smell like Snake Oil. But I'm distracted from this because the Tea Swap box has arrived and is sitting on my doorstep! If you haven't heard about the Tea Swap, the box arrives filled with different kinds of tea, and you take out as much as you like and put something different back in, and send it on to the next person. So here it is, just in time to take to Folklife with me and share with my host C.
I'm really, really excited about the box of tea, but I set it aside to open once I get to C's. I finally look in the BPAL bag, and discover THERE ARE FOUR IMPS IN THERE WITH MY BOTTLES. (One of the imps had leaked a little, which accounted for the smell.)
Then, and only then, did I start running around in circles going EEEEEEEE!!!
