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About this blog

Astrophysics, Lovecraft, BPAL, computers. If that 'aint a weird mix I don't know what is.

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Obatala: A Passing Fling

The King of the White Cloth, King of the Orishas, the First Among Equals. He is the King of Power, and his weapon is wisdom. He is the essence of honored maturity, wisdom through age and experience, purity of intention, virtue, humility, tolerance, judicious use of power, the knowledge of what is truly right and wrong, the moral code, and the obligation to do what is right. Obatala is the Creator God, who first fashioned mankind from clay; thus, he is also the first sculptor and potter. The human head itself is Obatala’s creation, and it is through it that he grants us the ability to discern genuine morality as opposed to oppressive, mistaken and arrogant self-righteousness. His is not the falsehood of societal boundaries, His Truth is the understanding of one’s own character and the obligations that we all have to our world, our Gods, and one another. He is the Benevolent Judge, calm and lucid, and he governs rational deliberation. His color is white, as His spirit is free from any soil or stain, and His energy radiates sanctified purity, great wisdom, happiness and internal peace. He is associated with cloth, as that was one of His gifts to mankind. The aspects of Obatala are symbolized by the chameleon, boa constrictor, elephant, gorilla, and snail. Obatala is the Lord of Laughter, for it is through wisdom that one may see the joy in life, and through laughter we are able to see the follies of mankind not with cynicism and derision, but with humor, compassion and understanding. Obatala’s Laughter helps soothe the pain of life’s rigors, and takes the sting out of the harshest of life’s lessons.   Obatala’s ofrenda is soft, white and pure: milk, coconut meat, shea butter and cool, refreshing water.   Bottle: Liquidised coconut!   Wet: SWEET. Very, very, very sweet. Smells like that Lush soap 'I Should Coco'. Rather Brown Jenkins-esque (another coconut scent) on me. The coconut is still very strong, although it is much lighter and less warming than Jenkins, and much better for summer!   Drydown: A sweet, soft scent, light and "fluffy" for summer. I can smell a buttery smoothness under the coconut, evidently the shea butter.   Dry: Oh no, where did that come from? The butter has gone rancid. It's not overpowering, but it's still rather unpleasant.   Dry (20 mins): Well, it's gone. My skin ate this completely. I'd have loved this blend if it has stayed the same as in the drydown stage, however I think butter doesn't work on me (odd for a foodie eh )   Verdict: Lovely when first applied, but goes rancid and then disappears. Booo   Rating: 3/5 (It will make an excellent room scent for me!)   Review
Jenesis

Jenesis

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New Sales Post

Just a bit of pimpage for my Sales post   Some highlights:   - 5ml of Ventriloquist Dummy (He hates me) - 5ml of Xanthe (My backup that I won't use, never opened) - 5ml The Red Queen (Bloody Mary and I get on much better!) - 5ml Velvet (Can't compete with Candy Butcher)   - Decants of: Mama-Ji, Mr Jaquel, Carnival Diabolique and Harvest Moon - Loads of GC Imps such as Brown Jenkins, Eris, Delphi, Sin, Wrath...
Jenesis

Jenesis

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My Sale: Now a Sale Only

I'm really sorry to any potential swappers, but I have to make my Sales post a true sales post and make it Sale Only. I am getting in some serious financial difficulties and I really need to make some money back - thank the almighty that I have room and board provided free, is all I can say!   To anyone who is CURRENTLY swapping with me (i.e. has started a dialogue via PM), our agreements will of course be honoured I'm posting the last of my swap packages today, but after today I am not swapping. Thank you for reading!
Jenesis

Jenesis

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My Precious

My Bottles   LE/Discon.   Black Lace Candy Phoenix Enraged Groundhog Musk Frederic Geek The Perilous Parlor Rose Red 2008 Samhain 07 Snake Charmer Resurrected   GC/Salon/Carnaval Diabolique   Black Opal Eat Me March Hare Schrodinger's Cat Snake Oil
Jenesis

Jenesis

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March Hare: Pure Fruit Heaven

Bottle: Pure apricot. Like a jar of apricot jam.   Wet: Slightly spicy apricots, reminiscent of one of those pastries with apricots and cinnamon/spices on top.   Drydown: Sweet, slightly less in-your-face apricot now, lightly spiced.   Dry: Now this is LOVE. Gorgeous, smooth, sweet apricot grounded by a hint of clove and spice in the background. Absolutely delectable. And so glad it's GC!   Verdict: An apricot pudding with spices drizzled over the top. Sexy, smooth and sensual. Seriously, I can't find the words to describe just how delectable (sorry, used that word already!) this scent really is. Definitely one of my top five! It's also great as a room scent (hence my pending second bottle!)   Rating: 5/5   Review
Jenesis

Jenesis

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Mania: Imp's Younger Sister

Wet: Like Imp's younger sister; darker and muskier, but not as complex.   Drydown: No strawberries that others seem to be getting Just straight-up musk.   Dry: For some reason, I'm just not getting on with this. No idea why, it has notes I like - strawberry and white musk - it just doesn't leap out and go "SMELL ME!". It doesn't smell *bad*, but it's like a less complex and interesting version of my all-time favourite, Imp. So I'll keep my little implet of Mania, but it won't go in my top ten.   Verdict: Like Imp's younger sister, who wears her clothes and tries her makeup, but doesn't manage to get her mood and complexity.   Rating: 3/5   Review
Jenesis

Jenesis

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Layering Thoughts

This isn't turning into a blog so much as an extension of my BPAL database. Oh well!   Layering   Vice & Velvet/Candy Butcher   I recently started experimenting with layering my BPAL. It started with Vice - I liked it, but it didn't really wow me, just a simple (if a little plasticy) cherry scent. After receiving Velvet and finding the same thing only with chocolate, I had the bright idea of layering them. The result? Sweet cherries rounded off by chocolate. The resultant blend can be a little too sweet sometimes, so I swap in The Candy Butcher (a slightly more bitter cocoa) for Velvet when that happens. With the Butcher and Vice I smell like a box of those hellishly expensive dark chocolate cherry liqueur chocolates. Yum yum!   I'm also going to try it with Bloody Mary when I get home on the 26th. As that's a cherry scent too this could work quite well! I will post how that goes.   Shub-Niggurath & Xanthe   This one's a bit more tricky to pull off. While in theory the scents work very well together, the sweet fruit of Xanthe drawn to Earth by the herbal ginger of Shub, the two scents have such radically different strengths and throws that it took me a whole day of experimenting, and I'm still nervous about doing it! My basic finding was that ginger AMPS on me. A LOT. The people in the opposite block of flats could smell me when I wore Shub. So, I apply a tiny, tiny bit of Shub first - using an Imp wand or a toothpick or something - and rub that in. I let it sit for about 30 minutes or so, and then I apply Xanthe as liberally as I do when I wear just that. That's a dab from the cap on one wrist, rub wrists together, re-soak cap, a small dab on each side of the neck, and rub wrists on neck. Quite a lot for some scents, but just the right amount for the shy clown.   After the Xanthe enters the drydown stage, the ginger of Shub comes back into play, and wowee! A gorgeous, fruity blend with spicy ginger in the background. The sweet sexiness of Xanthe with the uniqueness and individual spice of Shub. Just like me really   As an aside, I have an Imp of Shub coming from the Lab in the Bloody Mary order. I might (since I have two bottles of Xanthe) try putting a custom Imp together of 1/4 Shub, 3/4 Xanthe and see what happens. Just a thought
Jenesis

Jenesis

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Introductions

Where to start..? Well, explaining the title for those who don't know would be a good idea! Yuggoth is the name given to the ninth planet (Pluto, to us) in the works of H.P. Lovecraft*. In some of his stories a race of monstrous alien beings from another solar system have a base in our own solar system on the ninth planet, as they call it, Yuggoth ...Not that Pluto is technically a planet anymore. While I do understand the reason for the reclassification (i.e. some asteroids are bigger than Pluto) it still tugs at my heartstrings a little. If Pluto had feelings (and indeed a personality and a brain etc.) it would be very upset. My Astronomy lecturer expressed the sentiment: "When I was young, Pluto was a planet!"   Anyway, I guess introductions are in order! Hi there everyone, I'm Jenny and I've been a member of this forum since December of last year (06). I got into BPAL when I saw "BPAL" referred to on the Lush UK forums, had no idea what it was and Googled it, coming up with the Lab's pages! I was intrigued and placed a small order (Hell's Belle 5ml and a couple of Imps) before joining the forum. I began to buy on the For Sale forum to further my collection. I placed another Lab order in January and I've continued to be a BPAL addict since!   Notes   My first order of Hell's Belle has since dropped off my "Likes" list, as my tastes have changed somewhat. I (now) love foody scents, especially fruit. Florals and I really don't get on; they go straight to "old lady nasty cloying soap" on me, and citrus and I have declared all-out war. I cannot wear a citrus blend without either gagging or spending the whole day with a nagging feeling I should have my hands in a bowl of artificial-lemon-scent washing up water. As I do enough washing up already as a student, this is a bad thing.   Layering   I don't wear layered scents exclusively, but I do layer some of mine. As far as layering goes, I'll try anything once! My favourite layering is Vice with Velvet or The Candy Butcher - sweet cherries rounded by the dark cocoa. I also layer Shub and Xanthe sometimes. Thankfully, foody scents tend to layer well, and as 90% of my BPAL chest is foody stuff this works quite well for me!   Favourites   See my signature link or the link on the right for my current Top Ten, but suffice to say, I will crawl over hot coals for Imp, run through a lion's cage for Xanthe, and maybe suffer a small paper cut for Shub or Chimera. Well, I would, if I didn't already have bottles of them   Thanks for reading this far, and keep watching for the updates of the BPAL-obsessed-physicist-gamer-violist-computer-geek!   *It should also be pointed out that BPAL is soley and wholly responsible for my Lovecraft fandom. I looked up "Arkham" after seeing it on the BPAL site and the rest, as they say, is history!
Jenesis

Jenesis

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IGMO!... Well, my Mum did!

As I'm at University at the moment, I get my BPAL orders (the Lab ones, at least) sent home, for a couple of reasons, mainly the shipping time fluctuations, but also housemates here are useless and never answer the door for post so I'd have to collect it from the PO every time. So every time a Lab order arrives home I get a bewildered email of "Some Alchemy potions have arrived for you"   European Order! Ordered: October 30thCnS: November 14th Received: November 19th   Black Forest The Lurid Library The Snow Storm - with a picture label, as far as my Mum described it to me.   ...and seven frimps! (Namaste, Vampire Tears, Villain, Juke Joint, Seance and Oberon.)   My Mum said that she liked The Snow Storm, and that it "smells wintery". I won't get to smell any of these until December 1st, when the parents are coming up to see my concert and bringing a few things, like a warm dressing gown, and smellies!
Jenesis

Jenesis

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IGMO! (Yay for birthdays!)

Well, again, my Mum got my order She confessed she's been trying them all on! Go Mum   European Order! Ordered: 25th OctoberCnS: 14th November Delivered: 20th November   Ivanushka Samhain Perilous Parlor Gingerbread Poppet El dia de Reyes Vampire Tears March Hare   Imp pack #1 1. Schrodinger's Cat 2. Katharina 3. Event Horizon 4. Embalming Fluid 5. Iago 6. Sudha Segara   Imp pack #2 1. Bastet 2. De Sade 3. Fire of Love 4. Goblin 5. Whip 6. Incubus   ...and (from the sound of my Mum's email) about twenty frimps! Hoorah!   It's not actually my birthday until Dec. 14th, and I won't get these smellies until Dec. 1st, when Mum brings them up with her when she comes to my concert. I need my Samhain!
Jenesis

Jenesis

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IGMO! (13, Eat Me)

My 13 order has arrived!   Ordered: 13th July CnS: 31st July Arrived: 4th August   5ml 13 5ml Eat Me   Frimpies of King of Hearts, Incantation, Erato and Harlot. I swear Harlot is following me about. Incantation sounds interesting though!   I'm quite impressed that this order got here so fast, due to the stupid postal strikes in the UK. I'm waiting on two swap/decant packages as well, both mailed before or around the time of my CnS, so here's to hoping RM don't eat my decants...
Jenesis

Jenesis

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IGMO!

Yay! I actually picked this up and hugged the package when it arrived. Cough.   European Order! 5ml Imp5ml Brown Jenkins   Imp of The Red Queen   Frimps: Phobos, Water of Notre Dame, Tezcatlipoca, Regan   I FINALLY have bottles of two of my absolute favourites now!   It struck me the other day that my five favourites (this week ) are Imp, March Hare, Dorian, Brown Jenkins and Geek. Four of those are GC. Perfect!
Jenesis

Jenesis

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IGMO!

5mls of Saw-Scaled Viper and March Hare, and frimps of Baku, Himerus, Coyote and Intrigue.   I have to admit, I'm suffering a tiny bit of buyer's remorse about the Viper. While I love it, I don't wear it nearly as much as I used to (back when I ordered this second bottle), purely because the first ten minutes of wearing it is so hard. The cassia nearly blows my sinuses inside out. The drydown and dry phases are gorgeous, but it's just not going to be used enough to have two bottles of it. Oh well. I may put my older, slightly less full bottle up for sale in the future.   On the other hand, March Hare and I were meant to be! I found myself using my partial bottle for scenting my clothing, bedding and in my oil burner, not to mention a lovely if short-lived perfume. So definitely not regretting bottle #2 of that.   As for the frimps, I'm sure Intrigue is following me around. In the last three Lab orders I've made, they all have a frimp of Intrigue. And I still haven't tried it yet! I'll be putting it on tomorrow or tonight to test it out.   Oh, and I also got my eBay UK purchase - my long-sought bottle of Geek. Yum yum, opopanax, woods and leather - rawr!
Jenesis

Jenesis

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IGMO, Tenochtitlan & PC Bits

I Got My Order!   W00t, my 29th April order came! My Mum, rather bemused by the sudden avalanche of boxes, parcels and packets for me, called me and told me. I asked her to open it and put the Bloody Mary upright somewhere dark. I can't remember what she said the frimps were (although her pronunciation of Shub-Niggurath was amusing), but I'm pretty sure one of them was Phantom (maybe Phantasm). The Imps that I ordered were: 2 x Brown Jenkins, 2 x Vice, Imp and Shub-Niggurath.   Can't wait to get home on Saturday now   Tenochtitlan   Wow, I can finally spell that right!   In my package with the 5ml of Ventriloquist Dummy (see previous post for the tragedy of that one ), lorajc kindly included a frimp of Tenochtitlan. My review of it is here. To sum up, it's not unpleasant, it just doesn't quite work on me. Oh well .   New PC Components   I really shouldn't start squeeing about this until I get home, but oh well   I got a call from my Mum earlier today: All my computer bits have arrived at home! I'll be building it next Sunday, after I go and get a monitor (I already have an AWESOME keyboard - the Logitech G15 Gamer - and a great Razer Diamondback mouse). My poor Mum sounded very bemused when she said "There are four large boxes here for you - one says 'X-Cruiser Chassis' on it. Are you building a car?"  
Jenesis

Jenesis

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How would you define "cheating"..?

There are 5 of us in my house - me, my boyfriend, a guy (M) who my boyfriend knows and who is now my good friend too, and a girl (J) and guy (A) who are on our course. We are all friends. Or at least we were at the beginning of the year.   I get on fine with M and A. They are nice, considerate guys. Usually I get on with boyf too, no major problems living together until recently. It's become apparent that he prefers hanging out with J instead of me. They like the same shows (I tend not to like the same shows he does), they have lively conversations that stop the minute I enter the room and they get on really well together.   I have been crying myself to sleep for 3 nights in a row. It's blindingly obvious that he would be better off with her than with me, and it looks like he sees it too. I really thought he was the one. I guess that the temptation of watching Battlestar Galactica with her was too much for him. They're in her room now, with the door closed when she always props it open usually, and they've been in there for 2 hours.   I am tempted to just walk out of the house and time how long it takes for him to even notice that I'm gone. If he doesn't call me within an hour or so (bear in mind my room is right next to hers...) I am going to confront him with this.
Jenesis

Jenesis

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Hexennacht 2008: Not sweaty at all!

The Night of the Witches. In the Teutonic calendar, April 30, not October 31, was the night that the witches congregated to celebrate their Work through ecstatic dance, wild music and revelry. The witches fêted with spirits, fairies, and a bevy of otherworldy creatures atop Brockenberg peak in the Harz region of Germany, where they lit an enormous bonfire and cavorted naked until midnight... at which point they donned their robes, boarded their brooms, flying rams and sacred goats, scooped up their cat familiars, and sped off into the night. In later days, it was believed that on this night the witches conjured the devil, who would then select one of them for his bride. This perfume is the scent of the witches' revel: German fir and forest herbs, incense and bonfire smoke, infernal flora, glowing amber, and the wet, glimmering scent of skin warmed by dance.

I definitely get the fir from this when I first put it on. It's a sharp, bright, "clean" scent when wet.
The fir mellows after a few minutes to be much warmer, and less artificial. It's a very pleasant "green" scent at this point.
It stays like this for a half-hour or so and then... disappears. All that's left is a light, slightly musky scent which is hard to place.

Odd behaviour, but very nice!
Jenesis

Jenesis

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Happy... for the first time for months

I feel oddly happy and peaceful today. I shouldn't be; I'm at home for the summer, bored, unemployed, nothing to do, and the boyfriend has gone away for the week to NY. I think that's one of the reasons I'm happy: He's even worse at being idle than I am, he was getting really edgy and angry from being at home all the time with nothing to do. I'm so glad he's going away for the week with his family, he'll have a great time and come back refreshed and happy. (...Also he's staying at mine next week. My parents will be away. )   I also think it's my pills. I started taking the birth control pill Cerazette 3.5 months ago, and I have been miserable and hormonal for those three months. I kept taking them because the other side effects (such as no periods and better skin) are so good, and now I'm very glad that I seem to be adapting to the hormones too. I'm still not quite as bouncy (or as, erm, horny ) as I used to be, but oh well. Like I said, the benefits far outweigh the minor downsides.
Jenesis

Jenesis

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Graphics Cards, Frames per Second, Memory, Core Clocks, oh my!

W00tage! I have found the graphics card I want   The XFX 8800GTS 320MB. The brand is XFX, a reputable brand, and as mentioned in this article on MadShrimps, the XFX 320MB 8800GTS gives the best "frames per penny" rate of the bunch of similar cards they tested. This means that I'm paying the best money/performance ratio for it, which can't be bad! It's also under £200 on Scan, which I should be able to afford at some point this year   There is also another article on the same site, testing the 320MB and 640MB versions of the same card. To be honest, people, there isn't really that much difference at all, and certainly not £100-worth of difference. The 640MB can run at a few more frames per second (i.e. single-digit amounts more) on higher settings than the 320MB, and that's about it. The core clock speeds are the same and they overclock (if that's your thing) the same as well. Besides, very few games use more than 300MB of memory, let alone 600MB. I get the feeling this is just another attempt, and probably a successful one, judging by the sales, to appeal to the "mine is bigger than yours!" market of teenage computer nerds. Y'know, the kind who run their games on the highest possible resolution with 16x Anti-Aliasing because it makes them feel big and important.* Now, I'm not too fussed about AA above 4x (there's no discernible increase in image/texture quality above that), and I game at the most convenient resolution for my monitor. As said new monitor will be no bigger than 19", I think the 320MB will be fine.   My current card, a 256MB laptop version of the 6800, manages to run most things pretty well. It can manage The Sims 2 on mostly high settings with a couple of mediums, and it can run Half-Life 2 with no problems. It's in games like Oblivion and F.E.A.R. that the age of the card begins to show. It just can't handle AA at all, and only by turning the physics and detail settings down to minimum can these two games be played at framerates of more than about 10fps**. However, it should be noted that Oblivion is notorious for being a very demanding game graphically: It was released last year, before the 8800 chips were developed for consumer use, and very few gamers were able to manage it on the higher settings. It also uses a complicated rendering/shadow engine that, again, is notorious for being very demanding. F.E.A.R. is also quite demanding, for the physics and texture detail, and both of these games are often used in benchmark tests such as in the articles above. Tomb Raider: Legend is another benchmarker, a rather newer game that actually runs quite well on older systems thanks to an options/setting set that's a bit more customisable. I could run the demo of that with no problems on the lower or medium settings.   I think my processor may have something to add to this as well: It's a Centrino (Intel, uuuurgh) 1.8GHz single-core. Veeery slow and a bit clunky at times. It can't be bottlenecking the system, as the rest of the components are about the same standard, but it isn't helping. Thank the almighty that my new PC will be a dual-core! Having said that, I am quite attached to my laptop. I've had it nearly 2 years now, and for a laptop, it's done very well. When I bought it (or rather, when Daddy bought it for me ) it was the bees' knees, now it's a crap-but-still-above-par-for-a-laptop rig. It will do for work, the Internet and World of Warcraft, but for newer games I'll be using my new system. Watch this space for more rants, musings, thoughts and comparisons of hardware   Oh, and a review of Windows Vista, coming soon!   *I know, I used to date one. **Which is a pain in the behind because when played on a good rig, F.E.A.R. is a beautiful game.
Jenesis

Jenesis

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Geek: A Man to Watch

So I got home yesterday to find a box of BPAL waiting for me! My Mum (bless her heart) obeyed my instruction to the letter and not only did she put the bottles upright in the Lab box and leave it in a dark place, she put all my other bottles in it too! So well done Mum!   Anyway, one of mine was a 5ml of Geek with about 1ml left in it. My review as up on the forums goes like this:   ---------------------------------   Geek   A snarling, feral scent, ever-so-slightly deranged: hot leather, opoponax, cedar, pine needle, mosses, dry grass, patchouli and cinnamon bark.   Wet: Smells like aftershave. Not unpleasant, but I'm questioning the long-term use of this scent. Patchouli AMPS on me so that's all I can smell at the moment.   Drydown: Ooh this is getting lovely! A warm scent, green and plant-y but without being herbal.   Dry: Hubba hubba! Sexy woods lifted by a little spice. A rather more masculine scent than I'm used to, but perfect for when I'm either PMSing or just in the mood to feel powerful. Rawr!   Final verdict: 5/5   A sexy cedar and pine blend, made fun by cinnamon bark, and darkened by opopanax.   Review   ---------------------------------   I mainly put this on this morning as I'm building my new PC this afternoon
Jenesis

Jenesis

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Friday 13th Update

I'll be honest, when I got up this morning and realised it's Friday the 13th, my first thought was "Oh no! I'm seeing Jon today! I hope we don't have bad luck!"   Yep, I completely forgot about the Lab's 13 formulations! Thankfully it came as a nice surprise, therefore, when I got home and saw the update. And what an update!   A base of cocoa absolute and white chocolate with thirteen baneful and beneficial bits including vanilla bean, white ginger, orchid, golden peach, massoia bark, clove, honey, and starfruit.   Chocolate... AND vanilla? AND peach? AND ginger? AND bark? BPAL, you read my mind Holy shamoly this sounds good! Chocolate I love, peach is my favourite note ever, and vanilla and ginger run a close second. I also love woods so hopefully the bark will give me that. The only thing that slightly concerns me is the orchid, but as Beth said the chocolate is a strong note I'm not too worried about it.   Yep, it is ordered! Along with a bottle of Eat Me which I've been planning to order for ages. I can only afford two bottles plus shipping at the moment, so it might as well be these two!   *Sends strength and speed thoughts to Labbies, the USPS and Royal Mail for the coming month*
Jenesis

Jenesis

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Frederic: Geek-esque Manliness

For some ridiculous reason, to which, however, I’ve no desire to be disloyal,
Some person in authority, I don’t know who, very likely the Astronomer Royal,
Has decided that, although for such a beastly month as February, twenty-eight days as
a rule are plenty,
One year in every four his days shall be reckoned as nine and twenty.
Through some singular coincidence – I shouldn’t be surprised if it were owing to the
agency of an ill-natured fairy –
You are the victim of this clumsy arrangement, having been born in leap-year, on the
twenty-ninth of February;
And so, by a simple arithmetical process, you’ll easily discover,
That though you’ve lived twenty-one years, yet, if we go by birthdays,you’re only five
and a little bit over!

Alas, poor Frederic the Leapling! -- bound to the merry Pirates of Penzance until his twenty-first birthday.

As his birthday comes around only every four years, so does his scent!

Victorian whimsy and piratical romance: a reluctant seaman’s chypre sloshed with a mix of bay rum, patchouli, amber musk, dark woods, tea rose, and red currant.

The whole thing just screams manliness and sophistication. It is indeed quite dry, with woods and spices, and thankfully completely free of the sickening "Lynx effect" sweetness that so many masculine scents unfortunately have.

Although it is manly, it retains a touch of femininity with the spices and the hint of rose (I normally hate rose, so don't worry, fellow haters, the rose is not prominent at all!). In general it evokes the same feeling as Geek - although the scents are completely dissimilar apart from the woods, it has that same "manly but feminine" feel. I love Geek too, so this is right up my alley!

Looking at the notes, I can't smell any rum at all and I have no idea what chypre is, but the musk, woods and patchouli all make themselves known. The rose and currant show up after the drydown as quirky extras, stopping this from smelling too much like aftershave.

I absolutely adore this blend. I have the one bottle, and I may have to find another as this is just too nice to only get one of, and I bet it'll age fabulously!
Jenesis

Jenesis

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Fire Pig: Squeaky, Soapy Clean

A new year's blessing! Peony, China's national flower, with bamboo for flexibility, plum blossom for perseverance, courage, and hope, tangerine for wealth, orange for happiness, lychee for household peace, pine resin for constancy, golden kumquat, pussy willow, and quince for prosperity, narcissus and King mandarin for good fortune, and peach blossom for longevity, with a splash of blazing red of dragon's blood… to help you scare away the rampaging Nian.   Bottle: A light, refreshing floral (oh dear, florals = soap)   Wet: Smells like my Mum's shower gel, an inoffensive yet plasticky flowery smell.   Drydown: More like soap than gel. I should have learned my lesson about flowers by now.   Dry: Nope, afraid the piggy just doesn't like me! I'm sure this would smell far better on someone who likes florals. It seems to be a very light, refreshing and energising scent for those it works on.   Final verdict: Flowers hate me, and this was no exception. Given an extra point for not making me want to vomit like peony usually does.   Rating: 2/5   Review
Jenesis

Jenesis

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Feeling Miserable

This is just a general post whingeing about exams and end of term stuff that's bringing me down. I noticed this because, even though I personally don't get stressed out the way some people do, my body does! My insomnia has been worse in this past fortnight than it has been for a year, plus I have three lovely mouth ulcers and a cold sore, all brought on by my general tiredness. I felt a little coldey and fluey yesterday but thankfully it just seemed to be a bad day rather than illness. I was a little worried as my boyfriend's housemate currently has the flu, poor chap. Another lovely side-effect is a mild depression and aching/tired muscles.   At this point, I just want to go home I have one week of University left, with two exams - one tomorrow and one Friday - which I know I'll either scrape past or fail completely. To make matters worse, my father is coming to pick me and all my stuff up on Saturday morning so not only can I not go out on Friday night to celebrate with my friends, but I somehow have to pack an entire year's worth of stuff, including books, folders, bedding, saucepans, plates etcetera (not to mention my BPAL, securely bubble-wrapped!) while I'm revising for my last exam. My father has to pick me up then as it's the only weekend in about a month when he's home. I know it's very selfish, but sometimes I wish the office would stop sending him overseas all the time, especially over the weekend He's been working for them for thirty years and is retiring in December, give him a break! I didn't see him very much when I was home, and now I can barely see him at all. Mum resents all his trips too, but she knows he gets paid extra for it so she can live with it.   I have a bad feeling about my father's imminent retirement. I'll be happy to see him stop working and be less stressed, however I also know he's the kind of person who needs something to do in their lives. I predict my Mum will be able to put up with him under her feet for a week, tops, before they start screaming and shouting at each other. I wouldn't be at all surprised if he goes and gets a part-time job or goes and works in the Library on his book or something. Sometimes I wonder how they're still married.
Jenesis

Jenesis

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Exams are over!

And that's official!   Whether I'll have to come back to resit any of course remains to be seen, but oh well, that's not for a few months   I'm off home tomorrow, which is bad in the sense that I'm leaving a week before everyone else so they'll all be partying without me, and also that my Mum and I fight a lot when I'm home (we get along fine at opposite ends of the country, strangely...). However it is good in the sense of BPAL! I've had all my orders/purchases/swaps from after May 10th sent there rather than here, so when I get home there should be Geek, Bloody Mary and The Red Queen waiting for me!*   Not to mention all the components for my gorgeous new PC   *ETA: Plus Imps of Brown Jenkins, Shub, Imp, Vice, Fire Pig...
Jenesis

Jenesis

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Enraged Groundhog Musk: The Perfect Foody

Really ridiculous, insanely inappropriate, and staggeringly silly! Cranky groundhog musk sweetened up by chocolate-covered black cherries, cardamom, French vanilla, and caramel. Bottle: Bitter cocoa and cardamom.   Wet: Dark cherries with a lashing of chocolate.   Drydown: The vanilla appears, rounding off the slightly bitter cherries nicely.   Dry: The foodie in me loves this! I'm having trouble picking out individual notes, but it's a warm, sweet scent, but not as sweet as, say, Carnivale. Yummity yum yum!   Dry (20 mins): Obviously my skin thinks this tastes as good as it smells, and has eaten it! Oh well. It leaves behind a very light musky scent, so would be great for a job interview or something - pleasant, but with little throw and no permeating qualities.   Verdict: While it lasts, a sweet, musky foody. Warm and cuddly with 50% Extra Added Cute.   Rating: 4/5   Review
Jenesis

Jenesis

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