Happy New Year to all of you! I really hope 2007 is a kick-ass year, in more ways than one-in my studies, my social life, my creativity and my hobbies. I want to make resolutions but it seems just calling them 'New Year resolutions' means that they will be broken ten minutes later. Call it a jinx, if you will. But anyway, my goals for '07 include:

-Studying harder and much more than last year, especially in maths.

-Looking for jobs early so that I can save up money to help when debt-time really hits me, and also for nice things like holidays, gifts, and indulgences like BPAL.

-Putting more money into savings, though that's hard, especially considering today's Wallet Armageddon...

-Selling off the stuff I really don't need on Ebay, like that pair of jeans that I got one Xmas and never fitted me, they're as good as new...

-Trying to get my writing and arty muses back so I can write and sketch loads more than I did last year.

-Socialise a little more, especially with guys. I'm pitifully shy in real life, and I need to get my arse off that computer chair and get mingling a little. And go to more student union clubbing nights or go to the union bar more.

-Keeping that temper under control, and those uber-emotional/panicky moments need to be restrained too.

-Do more active stuff, like swimming, dancing, or even gym...

Now, let's get to business. BPAL style...

BEST START TO THE YEAR EVER! Wow, what an update! The mother of all updates. The update to end all updates and the road to sweet-smelling debt...I thought the first CD instalment was amazing. I thought the Order of the Dragon and Halloween update was breathtaking. But this just blew my socks off and blew my mind and my Paypal all at once. It was just so good...and there's so much that I WANT RIGHT NOW, no decants, give me bottles! But alas, with Xmas and all that, my bank account is crushed...but these scents are up for ages!

I just had to get Bakeneko since I love all things kitty-shaped and I want one of the Japanese scents to become a top ten scent. It has cherry blossom which can ruin a scent on me but hopefully that will be cancelled out by the wonderfulness of cinnamon, cardamom and tangerine tea with amber and musk!

I love the concept of Faces of the Heroine, even if I can't pronounce or spell the names! But I love the combinations of exotic notes present in that series. In fact, I really like the whole Indian theme that many Lupercalia scents have this year, the incense blend Chintamani-Dhupa sounds particularly interesting with so many notes I've never encountered before!

But the best bit of the update of course was the Freak Show itself. I knew it would be good but I wasn't expecting it to be so magnificently, gargantually, fantastically wonderful! I adored the previous lot of CD, most scents there were hits on me. But these new scents look even better, more complex, more unusual, with loads of unique notes and combinations.

And then there are those Snakes. I'm so intrigued as to what Snake Oil with mint tea will be like. Or SO with acai berry and cardamom, or SO with teak and bamboo, or SO with aquatic moss, or SO with tropical flowers and tangy fruits...and I can't wait for cinnamon SO and mandarin SO and chocolate SO. And I wonder what that Anaconda will smell like?

Hope and Faith were destined to be mine from the moment I discovered that they were Londoners like me and that they contain sugary flowers, and I can't wait to get my hands on them. And Priala the Human Phoenix looks like it will be divine, like Chimera's cinnamon-myrrh, but better. And what would a Black Phoenix carnival be without a phoenix?

And of course, the cherry on the cake was the fact that two freaks are from You-Know-Where, and one of them is a MUMMY! (Must hoard loads of bottles of them!) That was probably what made this update not just wonderful, but utterly perfect, well for me anyway. But it goes to show that this Carnaval series is truly incredible and epic, and it's for everyone. Be you a foody fan, or mad for musk, or even a flower fanatic. It's for vanilla whores and spice girls. It's for incense addicts and aquatic adorers. It's artistic and beautifully told. It appeals to everyone, no matter where your interests lie. It even hits our fears-of clowns, or snakes, or spiders, or death itself, what lies in the shadows, the unusual and disturbing and mysterious...and it makes us confront those demons through means of scent-and perhaps, through this, to discover what could be their inner beauty. It is truly all encompassing, the whole world-and then some-within a travelling fair, all within little bottles of beautiful fragrance...

I can't wait for Carnaval Diabolique-The Movie! (I can dream...but you never know!)