craftymonster

How about Anubis? That sounds like it could be exactly what I'm looking for. Thanks!

I received a frimp of Fenris Wolf recently. I expected it to be a complete fail, red musk is rarely something I can pull off. What an unexpected surprise! Fenris is nearly identical to Sunbird on my skin. It goes on with a giant blast of red musk, but quickly warms up as it dries to the same dry, hot, spicy sandalwood that's in Sunbird. Fenris is missing the golden, spicy sweetness in Sunbird. My first thought was to layer Fenris with The Lion. But The Lion is too sharp and sour, even on it's own. Maybe Bezoar, or Sri Lanka? Anyone want to throw some (preferably GC) layering suggestions my way? ETA: Ooh, I just thought of Chimera, or maybe Pickled Imp. I'll report back on those. ETA: Chimera + Fenris = yum, but it's sweeter than Sunbird. Pickled Imp was fail.

We live a few blocks from Lake Michigan, and there's a chilly breeze coming in off the lake. It's a perfect day for a hot cup of tea. Silk Road Teas (not to be confused with Silk Road Tea) is my favorite vendor of Chinese teas, followed closely by Hou De. Silk Road's teas are hand selected from local farmer's in China. I've been a customer for over 10 years, and have nothing but praise for the company and the tea. Boutique "tea" shops at the mall charge a lot more for tea and teawares of questionable quality, and even more questionable origin. If you like flavored and scented teas (and who doesn't) check out SpecialTeas. They are my go to for Earl Grey 825, and I love the Peach 927 for iced tea. I've heard good things about Adagio too. Today I'm drinking Gin Zhen (Golden Needle). I usually brew this tea in a 4 oz. yixing pot, but the boymonster recently caused it's demise. Until I find a replacement (teapot that is, I'm keeping the boy), it's wrong-fu in a porcelain cup with a Finium strainer, instead of gong-fu in a proper teapot. Description Becoming increasingly rare, this shiny, small–leaf organic black tea is characterized by golden tips on top of long, slender leaves. It is the best organic lot we have tasted providing a full–bodied sweet and malty flavor and a deep amber liquor. Wrong-fu Brewing Parameters leaf to water ratio: 1 gram leaf to 2 ounces water leaf: 4 grams water: 8 ounces, just off a boil Preheat your cup by rinsing with boiling water. infusion one: 90 seconds infusion two: 90 seconds infusion three: 3 min. Rich, complex, chocolate, malt and honey. Big time delicious! You should get three infusions out of the same leaves, the third will be thinner, but still tasty. I usually add a bit of sugar to the third infusion to perk it up. Gin Zhen is wonderful iced. Just use 3 ounces of water to brew instead of 8 ounces, then add a nip of sugar and 5 ounces of ice. Perfection! You can cold brew this tea too, using the leaf to water ratio above. Just pop it in the fridge for and hour or two to steep.

Red listed bottles are available on my swaps and sales. BPTP Atmosphere Sprays Dungeon decant more please! Unopened Bottles How Doth the Little Crocodile available for sale/swap received 08/28/09 from Lab Lawn Gnome available for sale/swap Lilith Victoria Yellow Dress with Snake, received 11/12/08 from Lab Pumpkin IV '08 x2 Shub-Niggurath Strawberry Moon '09 available for sale/swap Sunbird received 06/27/13 from CBLDF Opened Bottles All They Had Seen, and All They Had Lost 3/5 full Bezoar empty, received 05/15/10 Death of Autumn 1/5 full How Doth the Little Crocodile 2/5 full Lawn Gnome 3/5 full Lilith Victoria: Little Witch with Owl 2/5 full Mictecacihuatl 1/5 full available for sale/swap Pumpkin IV '08 2/5 full Shub-Niggurath 3/5 full Snake Oil 2/5 full, gift received 12/25/09 Strawberry Moon '09 3/5 full Sunbird 2/5 full Imps and Decants I'm keeping these, imps for sale/swap are here Bezoar 1 ml roller vial All They Had Seen, and All They Had Lost 1 ml roller vial How Doth the Little Crocodile 1 ml roller vial Lawn Gnome 1 ml roller vial Lilith Victoria 1 ml roller vial Pumpkin IV '08 1 ml roller vial Serpent's Tonic (custom blend of Snake Oil and Dragon's Milk) 1 ml roller vial Shub-Niggurath 1 ml roller vial Strawberry Moon '09 1 ml roller vial Sunbird 1 ml roller vial boymonster's box The Bow and Crown of Conquest 5 ml 1/5 full, exactly what a boy should smell like The Bow and Crown of Conquest 1 ml roller vial Calico Jack Cthulhu 5 ml 2/5 full Cthulhu 1 ml roller vial Dee No. 93 Engine 5 ml empty No. 93 1 ml roller vial Jolly Roger Trevor Bruttenhelm 5ml empty Trevor Bruttenhelm 1 ml roller vial

Items for sale/swap are here. I'm extremely flexible when swapping, so make an offer! I'm sensitive to and can't wear a bunch of notes, so please don't take it personally if I turn down a swap. Earthy, gently spicy, and golden resinous blends work best for me. Favorite Notes: aspen leaves, balm of gilead, balsam, benzoin, cardamom, carnation, cherry tobacco, cocoa, dragon's blood (non-floral), ginger, heliotrope, moss, myrrh, nutmeg, red grave loam, sandalwood (hot, dry, smokey varieties), smoke, storax, subtle spices (allspice, cassia, cinnamon, clove), tonka, vanilla, white sage, yuzu Favorite Scents: Sunbird, Snake Oil, Aged Penny Greadful Favorites that broke the rules: All They Had Seen and All They Had Lost (mist, dew, rose, floral, seriously this should be awful on me), Clemence (decant smelled funky, caused hives. lab fresh bottle smells amazing, no rash), How Doth the Little Crocodile (mint, but no skin reaction) Notes that cause skin irritation and hives: anise/star anise, bay, cassia, clove, cinnamon, lemongrass, mint, pennyroyal, pepper (all forms) Doom Notes: anise, aquatic, blackberry, booze, butter, caramel, clean, dew, most florals (especially gardenia, iris, jasmine, orchid, rose, sweet pea, water lily), frankincense, grapefruit, green, herbal, honey, heavy incense, lemon, lime, mist, heavy musk, oak, ozone, heavy patchouli, powdery, sugar, rosewood, sassafras, teak Bold items are most desired. BPTP Atmosphere & Linen Sprays Alchemical Laboratory goblin squirt or 1 oz. decant Down the Rabbit Hole 4 oz. Dungeon 1 oz. decant or more, pretty please! Knock-a-Dolly 1 oz. decant or full 4 oz. bottle Bottles Sunbird I just purchased the very last bottle from CBLDF Tombeur Death of Autumn not the really peppery version (my bottle was soft amber with gentle spice and balanced smoke) Low Priority Bottles none at the moment LE Decants I'd love freshly decanted 1/4 imps, most of these contain notes I'm allergic to. Beauty, the Aggrieved Door testable sniffie would be plenty Flowering Chrysanthemums Halloween: Los Angeles Haloes testable sniffie would be plenty Helios testable sniffie, frankincense smells like Comet Cleanser on me, sigh... Jareth for the boymonster Marquise de Carabas for the boy monster The Magdalena Monarch testable sniffie would be plenty Pomegranate V testable sniffie would be plenty, pepper is not my friend Schmendrick for the boymonster Solar Phoenix testable sniffie would be plenty Thousands of Lights testable sniffie, frankincense smells like Comet Cleanser on me, sigh... GC Imps Belle Epoque Black Opal Blood Amber Bordello not aged, too sweet The Butterfly Chicken-Legged Hut Death Cap Edymion Le Lèthè Maenad not aged, bitter RPG: Half-Elf RPG: Rogue Vasilissa Wings of Azrael Anti-Wish List Seriously. Worst skin chemistry ever! I can't believe how many beautiful oils I've ruined. Scents that cause skin irritation, hives: 13 (Feb. '09), Absinthe, Alice's Evidence, Bengal, Clemence (only my first decant), Dark Chocolate Pepper Smoked Caramel, Death of Autumn, Delphi, Faustus, Hod '09, High Priest Not To Be Described, Kabuki, Kyoto, Mad Hatter, March Hare, Namaste, Ogun, Plunder, Pfancy Pfefferneusse, Port-au-Prince, Pumpkin V '09, Saw-Scaled Viper, Shoggoth, Shub-Niggurath, Tweedledee, Velvet (if I re-apply too often), White Rabbit, plus a ton more, I really need to update this... Berry + musk or honey (Bewitched, Lady Macbeth, Lady Una, Berry Moon) ammonia, cat wee Black Musk (Isles of Demons, Pumpkin II '08, Haunted) evil stink coated in baby powder, induces extreme nausea Booze (Bon Viviant, Elegba, Lady Macbeth, Swank, Twenty-one) that's a no, ugh Bulgur Rose (Baghdad, Psyche) unripe green rose and stinky feet Gardenia (Blood Countess, Highwayman, Le Serpent Qui Danse, Pepper, Sacred Whore) sharp, sour, biting Green Tea (Bewitched, Embalming Fluid, Shanghai) super sharp and astringent Honey (Bengal, O, Osun) dirty, sweaty Iris (Florence, The Ghost, Nefertiti) sharp, bitter, almost metallic, hits high in back of throat Jasmine (Black Dahlia, The Caterpillar, Crossroads, Delight, Mata Hari, Nuit) harsh, chemical, bug spray Red Musk heavy (Dragon's Heart, Eat Me, Hollywood Babylon, Kabuki, Spellbound) so overpowering, I can taste it. Gah! Rose (Lucy's Kiss, Kurukulla, Moscow, Rose Red '08, Seance, Zombi) ammonia Sweet Pea (Desdemona, Agape) acrid, harsh, carpet cleaner Vetiver sometimes (Azathoth, Fallen, Highwayman, Nephilim, Saturnalia, Wolfsbane) burning plastic or rubber tires Water Lily (The Black Swan, Desdemona, The Lady of Shalott) sharp, ammonia White, Pale Musk (Black Pearl, Dorian, Lady Una, Pride) soapy, shrill, nails on chalkboard, makes my teeth hurt Wood (especially oak, rosewood, teak) butyric acid (vomit) covered in sawdust Agrat-Bat-Mahlaht celery salt (from caramel), sour milk Alecto pizza with a burnt cedar crust Arkham sweaty, harsh floral, ammonia Baobhan Sith moldy grapefruit rinds and tea leaves The Coiled Serpent no, just no! Delight deet bug spray (from jasmine) and acetone Desdemona sweet pea and water lily? double fail! Eat Me knock me down red musk, bitter burnt sugar Falling Leaf Moon, Fascinum, Perversion, Samhain, Scales of Deprivation, Trevor Comet cleanser (from frankincense?) Gladdener of All Hearts sour milk, nausea The Hesperides green apple and butyric acid (from oak), reminds me of Firefly episode when River eats apples Hurricane soap (from ozone) and butyric acid (from wood) The Isles of Demons burning tires and ammonia Mourning Moon wintergreen and pond scum, ugh Niflheim soapy (from ozone), rotting flowers, menthol, dirty oil (from vetiver), acetone Saturnalia acetone, suede, dill pickles Wood Phoenix butyric acid (from woods), rancid nuts Zombi well, yeah, that's exactly what I'd expect one to smell like