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BPAL Madness!
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About this blog

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

Entries in this blog

 

Spooky: Good Enough to Eat

Spooky 05: A maddeningly festive blend of warm, buttery rum, cocoa, coconut, vanilla and a jolt of peppermint. It’s a sweet, decadent, slightly silly scent, reminiscent of rum-laced holiday cookies.   Bottle: ARGH! A blast of pure "perfume" smell.   Wet: A strong pepperminty smell with a sticky sweetness (maybe the rum?) behind it.   Drydown: Still very minty, but not unpleasantly so. Refreshing and "light" in a scent way - but definitely not in a throw way! This is very strong on me.   Dry (Immediate): Sticky peppermint. Nice but nothing to write home about.   Dry (60 mins): I'm so happy! After about an hour, this turns into sweet vanilla with hints of coconut, splashed over with mint rum. Definitely a foody, and going into my top ten. The only reason it doesn't get 5/5 from me is the "waiting" period before it turns gorgeous.   Last: This is the other downer about Spooky! After it's mellowed, it lasts about an hour, tops. And that's with slathering. So two hours total after slathering. I'm going to get through my bottle so fast My skin obviously thinks this is as tasty as it smells, because it eats it!   Throw: Again, after it's mellowed, there's hardly any throw at all. Definitely a skin scent, and a very pleasant one, but someone sitting near me on a train probably wouldn't be able to smell it.   Final Verdict: Vanilla ice cream, topped with sprinkles of coconut and a drizzle of mint rum. Not much throw or lasting power, though.   Rating: 4/5   Review
Jenesis

Jenesis

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Dummy off eBay

Right, I've taken the Dummy off eBay and put it up in my Sales Post. The reason, you ask? I'm in search of one or two particular bottles, so I thought I'd have more luck swapping it than selling it   I also have an ISO Post up asking for a 5ml, full or partial, of Monster Bait: Underpants. I know it's a long shot, since it's popular and rare, but if anyone has any Underpants that they would sell to me (or better, swap for my Ventriloquist's Dummy!) please PM me!
Jenesis

Jenesis

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Ventriloquist's Dummy on eBay!

As the Dummy goes really psycho on me, I'm selling both bottles. One is in my Sales page (Gone!), the other is on eBay.   My eBay Stuff   Anyone who missed getting the first bottle from my sales post can bid Oh, and if a forumite wins, send me a PM and I'll include some freebies!
Jenesis

Jenesis

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The New Rig

My new rig is built and working! Running Windows Vista Ultimate, this thing has a 2.6 GHz Athlon Dual Core processor, 2GB of DDR2 RAM, a lovely MSI K9N Diamond motherboard, 500GB SATAII hard drive, a 6600GT graphics card, two DVD-RW drives, a card reader, a floppy drive and one of the coolest cases on the market. In case you're wondering why a new gaming rig has an old 6600 GFX card, suffice to say I'm saving up for an 8800GTS!   The Case     My Desk   The rig with 19" monitor, Razer Diamondback mouse, Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard and speakers.  
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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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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Carnivale: Sweet, Sticky and Sinful

Bright, intoxicating, hectic notes masking a twisted, corrupted core: sweet wild berry, spicy carnation and heliotrope layered over deep amber and musk.   Bottle: All I get from this is "cheap cologne".   Wet: Very sweet, sticky berry, rather like candyfloss. I feel like my nose will become stuck to my wrist if I get too close!   Drydown: Still the sweet berry, but with an undertone of florals. I must admit I was scared by the carnation in the description (flowers hate me), but it seems to be working out so far.   Dry: As always on me, the musk appears. No spices, but the florals are behaving, and that's all I ask! The sweet fruity note is still top of the heap, and the whole thing definitely reminds me of a carnival or fair. Or a sweet shop. Not exactly an everyday scent, but definitely one for Hallow's Eve, Christmas or other Winter festival! (Or just for when I'm feeling indulgent )   Final verdict: Rich, sensual and sweet, this is truly a decadent scent.   Rating: 4/5   Review
Jenesis

Jenesis

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The Red Queen: Too Big a Tart

Deep mahogany and rich, velvety woods lacquered with sweet, black-red cherries and currant.   Wet: Rather nice cherries, not very sweet, more "real" cherries than those glace ones drenched in syrup.   Drydown: A weird mix of sour, tart currants and cherries.   Dry: Sadly, it was not meant to be. It's not an "Eugh!" scent, but it's nowhere near as nice as, say, Bloody Mary. The cherries remain, but there is no sign of the rich woods, and the currants smell like they could use a few more spoonfuls of sugar on top.   Final Verdict: Fruity, slightly tart pie with no sugar.   Rating: 3/5   Review
Jenesis

Jenesis

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Bloody Mary: Sweetness in Red

Why waste time chanting her name in the mirror 13 times? Bedevil your next slumber party the easy way! Chunky, glistening red fruits with sweet cream accord, black clotted cherry, and powdered sugar!   Wet: Cherry cough medicine.   Drydown: Getting more interesting, a cherry scent (real cherries, so not too sweet) with a creaminess underneath.   Dry: What every summer fruits pudding aspires to be! A gorgeous, sexy blend of cherries, lifted by the sugar and warmed by the cream. Yum yum. It's like a less sweet version of Vice (which suits me just fine!). Final Verdict: After the drydown, a cherry pudding sweetened by sugar and drizzled over with cream.   Rating: 4.5/5 (Loses half a point for the bad wet smell )   Review
Jenesis

Jenesis

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Brown Jenkins: Less than Scary

A small, furry, sharp-toothed scent that will nuzzle you curiously in the black hours before dawn: dusty white sandalwood and orris root, dry coconut husk, creeping musk, and the residue of ceremonial incense.   Wet: Smells like paint. Oh dear.   Drydown: Smells like cheap shampoo. Equally, oh dear.   Dry: Oh, thank goodness for that! The musk (always good on me) and the coconut come out to play. The sweet coconut balances the dryness of the woods, and the mellow musk and spicy incense add complexity to the blend. Not an everyday scent, but definitely one for when I feel particularly engimatic!   Final Verdict: Once it dries, it's a sweet, musky blend complicated by spices and woods. Gorgeous and sexy, although not an everyday scent.   Rating: 4.5/5   Review
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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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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Wishlist Pimpage

Just pimping my Wishlist   Wishlist Highlights:   Fire Pig Enraged Groundhog Musk Cheshire Cat Eat Me March Hare
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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Ventriloquist Dummy: As Evil as the Namesake

Well, in good accordance with Murphy's Law, the missing bottle of Ventriloquist Dummy was waiting on my doorstep for me this morning! So I'm happy about that (annoyed at Royal Mail though!).   The problem came when I first wore the Dummy.   I don't usually go for hyperbole, but this is just: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!   The Dummy really hates me most woods and things go lovely on me but with this one all I can smell is dust, decay, rot and a pile of ancient, rotting potpourri. And the worst part is, I'll have two bottles, as I ordered another one thinking the first one was lost. So now I'll have to sell or swap them both, which always makes me feel guilty, as I put other people to effort packing and sending them to me, and then I'm just getting rid of them. I always stay well under the price caps in the swap forum, though.   Whyyyyy   ETA: Oh no! I have a decant on the way as well! I'll feel soooo guilty about putting 2 bottles and a decant up for sale at once, it looks like I'm trying to profit, but at the same time I don't want to hang on to them for six months then sell them, for the same reason
Jenesis

Jenesis

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The Poor Lost Dummy

ETA: SEE MORE RECENT POST!   I think I may have to bite the bullet and admit that, for the first time in all my BPAL buying, selling and swapping, the Royal Mail has lost one of my parcels.     I had a bottle of Monsterbait: Ventriloquist Dummy on the way from lorajc. She shipped it on the 8th of May - nearly 2 weeks ago - and it still hasn't shown up. Every other purchase I made from the 7th - 10th of May has turned up apart from that one. That is in no way her fault or my fault, just the stupid Post Office losing packages   I haven't had a problem before, but as I've bought literally hundreds of things off the Internet in the past few years, statistics indicate that at least one or two of them would be lost. Why oh why did it have to be a bottle of BPAL though especially a discontinued LE!   I'm going to go and cry have a big cup of hot chocolate now
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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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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Pending Orders

Pending Orders   -------------------------------------   None   ------------------------------------- Past Orders   -------------------------------------   8th May 2009   5ml Strawberry Moon 5ml Velvet Nudie   CnS: 15th May Received: 22nd May   18th November 2008   5ml Candy Phoenix 5ml Snake Charmer   CnS: None (Was sent during USPS weirdness period) Received: Dec 20th   24th October 2008 (Trading Post)   Clockwork Scent Locket Samhain Room Spray   CnS: 4th November Received: 10th November   3rd September 2008   5ml Lilith Victoria 5ml Graveyard Dirt Resurrected 5ml Pumpkin II 5ml Pumpkin IV   CnS: 20th September Received: 26th September   29th July 2008 (Trading Post)   Explorer's Society Tee Imp Case: Witches Dancing on the Sabbath 2 Notepads Keychain: Triple Dagger Goblin Squirt: Dungeon   CnS: August 13th Received: August 19th   29th July 2008   5ml Schwarzer Mond 5ml Inez 5ml Doc Constantine   Imp Pack:   1 Antique Lace 2 Fae 3 Tweedledee 4 Nostrum Remedium 5 Stimulating Sassafras Strengthener 6 Eden   CnS: 2nd August Received: 9th August   18th May 2008   5ml Hand of Glory 5ml The Illustrated Woman 5ml Pickled Imp   CnS: 10th June Received: 17th June   22nd May 2008 (Lab eBay Auction)   5ml Geek   CnS: May 24th Received: May 30th   22nd April 2008   5ml Rangoon Riptide 5ml The Antikythera Mechanism CnS: May 7th Received: May 13th   18th April 2008 (Trading Post)   Dragon Moon tee Phoenix Steamworks tee Hell's Belle Claw Polish   CnS: May 17th Received: May 22nd     17th April 2008   5ml Te Po 5ml Theodesius, the Ledgerman CnS: April 25th Received: May 1st   25th March 2008   5ml Tiki King 5ml Upa Upa 5ml March Hare CnS: April 20th Received: April 28th   15th February 2008   5ml Love's Philosophy 5ml Ebisu Making Love as Two Octopuses Look on 5ml Mme. Moriarty, Misfortune Teller 5ml Severin CnS: March Received: March   19th January 2008   5ml Khajuraho 08 5ml Luperci 08 5ml Smut 08 CnS: February Received: February   7th November 2007   5ml Samhain 2007 5ml Plunder CnS: November 30th Received: December 14th   25th October 2007   5ml Ivanushka 5ml Samhain 2007 5ml The Perilous Parlor 5ml Gingerbread Poppet 2007 5ml El Dia de Reyes 5ml Vampire Tears 5ml 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 CnS: November 14th Received: November 20th   30th October 2007   5ml Black Forest 5ml The Lurid Library 5ml The Snow Storm CnS: November 14th Received: November 19th   13th July 2007   5ml 13 5ml Eat Me   CnS: July 28th Received: August 4th     11th June 2007   5ml March Hare 5ml Saw-Scaled Viper   CnS: June 25th Received: July 3rd     10th May 2007   5ml Imp 5ml Brown Jenkins   Imp: The Red Queen   CnS: June 6th Received: June 13th     29th April 2007   5ml Monsterbait: Bloody Mary   Imp Pack: 2 x Brown Jenkins 2 x Vice Imp Shub-Niggurath   CnS: May 11th Received: May 21st -------------------------------------
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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BPAL Postage Price Rise 2

Why oh why do I have this incredible inability to get out of bed before 1030? It's really messing my work/revision schedules up. I guess it's related to my insomnia but I don't know where that comes from either. Oh joy of joys. (And before you recommend Somnus, all that did was give me a migraine .)   More Shipping Thoughts   I've had some more thoughts on the postage price hikes. This will not stop me buying BPAL altogether, as some of the other UK people seem to be rather dramatically going towards, it will just make me a little more thoughtful with my orders. Here is my reasoning (done in bullet points 'cause I'm a scientist and I like things to be simple):   - Postage before was $9-$11, or about £6. This was an AMAZINGLY low rate for a Priority box from the US. I've paid three times that for things from within the UK. - Postage now is $22-$25, or about £14. - This is indeed double, BUT it's only an extra £8. - I can live with that, especially in a "large" order... - ...Because for me, a large order is between 4 and 6 items.   - Thus, if we make a theoretical order using four items from the current catalog and compare the new and old prices:   -------------------------------   Old Postage   1 x 5ml [A Carnaval Diaboliqe] $20 1 x 5ml [A GC] $15 1 x 5ml [A GC] $15   Imp Set $19.50   Total: $69.50   Postage: $9 (four items)   Total: $78.50 or about £40.   New Postage   Same order: $69.50   Postage: $22.00   Total: $91.50 or about £48.   -------------------------------   Also, bear in mind that I've probably overestimated the pounds part, by assuming an exchange rate of $1.9 = £1.00. It's actually more like $1.999 or even $2.00 = £1 at the moment.   Now, this is an extra £8 on the order. Assuming that I could afford the previous price alright, all I have to do to afford the new price is not go drinking for one week or stop buying coffee for a week or something. (Or even save up all my coppers!) Certainly doable, especially if (like I already mentioned) I only order when I have enough wants to justify an order, which would be once every few months at the most. Also, I don't order lunacies or really Limited Editions (i.e. not long-term LEs) so there's no problem there. For this particular order mentioned here, that is a larger order than I've ever made with the Lab, and I think it would take about 8 weeks to save for that by putting £6-7 a week away.   So there we have it an objective, scientific analysis of the new shipping costs as related to BPAL buyers in the UK. By the way, I am a student, so I know how being poor feels besides, if you save up for your BPAL rather than just buy it on a whim, doesn't it smell sweeter?   ETA: Another thought. BPAL is a luxury. Maybe this will make me think of it as such and not just another thing I bought off the Internet.
Jenesis

Jenesis

4
 

Computers and World of Warcraft

Meh. Simple harmonic motion is SO BORING. And the word "simple" is a very inaccurate description. So I've come on here to rant about World of Warcraft and computers instead   World of Warcraft   I play World of Warcraft. I play it a lot, but it's not the only thing in my life. And no, I don't mind paying for the subscription because it's so good.   I play in the Aggramar realm. I'm a gnome Warlock called Jenesis, currently level 37 (trying to level fast though), specialising in Demonology (I want a Felguard!). I was looking around the WoW-Europe site earlier and I found the High-Level Armour Sets - these have given me a new incentive to get to Level 70 and go do some instances! I particularly like the Felheart armour set, a Tier 1 Raid set that can be obtained from mobs in Molten Core. So when I get to Searing Gorge, off to Molten Core I go   If any other BPALers are WoW (EU) players, whisper me and say hello!   ETA: Molten Core is in Searing Gorge, not Outland. Oops   Computers   I can't wait to get home on the 26th. Why? Because I will be building my new computer after that I'm aiming to have all the components arrive at my house the following Monday so I can build it/test it/tweak it/swear at it when it doesn't work all that week. Not that any of you are at all interested in this, but check out the specs:   Case - This is a sexy case Processor: AMD 64 X2 5200+ Dual-Core 2.6GHz Motherboard: MSI K9N nForce 590 SLI-Ready 8-Channel Audio with Creative Audigy soundcard OS: Vista Ultimate   The other specs like hard drive (500GB SATA), memory (2GB at least) and things are all a bit more changeable and so not concrete yet. Total cost: About £900, or $1750. Not bad for a from-scratch dual-core system. A bit annoyed about the graphics card though; I can't afford a new 8800 yet (check out this sexy beast *dribble* ) so I'm using the boyfriend's old 6600 card until I can! He got an 8800 for his machine and gave the old card to me. So I'm gonna have this lightning fast rig bottlenecked by an almost outdated graphics card   ETA: Must... resist... getting... credit... card... out... I WANT an 8800!
Jenesis

Jenesis

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BPAL Postage Price Rise 1

Today's Scent   So today I got my bottle of Shub that I swapped with naughteblonde for my backup Gennivre bottle. On first sniff I thought "Oh no!" but on application it mellowed. It takes a while to mellow on me so I had to be patient, but it was worth it in the end: Lovely spicy ginger! This is going to be my "spicy" scent. I don't have any yet, Chimera is just barely spicy enough, and all my other blends are creamy-foody or light. So all in all good. And by the way: DON'T LAYER SHUB WITH CHIMERA. I tried it out of curiosity, and oh boy did I regret it. I was scrubbing my wrists for ten minutes after that gaffe Smelt like baby sick   ETA: It does work well with Xanthe though! The uplifting fruitiness of the Clown is darkened and sweetened by the herbal ginger of Shub. Worth a try if you have both   USPS Price Hike   And so we move onto the main story of the day: The huge increase in International shipping prices by USPS. I started a thread about it myself here, but it's more expertly covered in this thread here. To US customers of BPAL that's not much, but for us UK citizens (and indeed Canada, Australia and the whole of Western Europe) it's crippling.   [ETA: The threads have been split, the main one discussing the prices as directly related to BPAL and possible solutions is here. The other thread mentioned above is mainly discussing the hike in general.]   The cost of shipping an order from the Lab to me is now $22.00, up from $9. That's over double the price. I don't know about you but this is seriously going to limit my orders. Good for my bank balance maybe, but not so good for the Lab, and definitely not good for new customers and newly enabled peeps. I really hope we can get a UK group order circle going. I don't order LEs much anyway (and certainly no Lunacies), but I definitely won't now. I can't justify spending $20-25 on a bottle and $20 for shipping of something that might not work on me.   So my plan is to plan my orders way in advance - say 3 months before I order - and make it at least two or three (GC or long-term LE) bottles and some Imps or other things of equivalent value. That's the only way I can justify spending $20 on shipping, where before I was happy to order one 5ml and a couple of Imps.   Such a shame
Jenesis

Jenesis

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BPAL Reviews

BPAL Reviews   Whenever I review a scent, I'll post a link to my post in the review thread here. This is also partly for me so I can keep track of all my reviews   13 (July 2007) Aziraphale Black Pearl Bon Vivant Brown Jenkins The Candy Butcher Carnivale Creepy Crowley Death Adder Death of the Grave Digger Delousing Powder Dorian Eat Me Enraged Groundhog Musk Fire Pig Geek Gennivre Imp Kumiho Lampades Mania Monster Bait: Bloody Mary Monster Bait: Ventriloquist Dummy Obatala Odin The Red Queen Saw-Scaled Viper Shub-Niggurath Spooky Tanin'iver Tenochtitlan Two Monsters White Rabbit Xanthe
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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