LushNatty

I personally like medical tape-- you know, the white tape that they sell in drugstores alongside the gauze pads. It's really stretchy and it clings to the contours of what you're trying to tape, so it stays on better and helps prevent leakage. Tape the lids of each bottle and imp and that'll help.

Ooooh- I have to look for a part-time job starting next week, and I just got an imp of that in with my last order. Good to know.

In the bottle: smells exactly like Butter Rum Life Savers. Applied: smells exactly like Butter Rum Life Savers. It’s making me hungry, but like most rum scents, this is not something that I can really wear as a perfume. Unlike other rum scents, this one is not as sharp, although the rum does come out more on the skin—but not in the really, piercingly sharp way that rums usually do on me. So it would be possible for me to wear it as a perfume, but I probably won’t anyway. Out of the alcoholic notes, the lighter ones (like champagne and white wine) suit me better as body scents. This is a really yummy scent, though. If I don’t find someone who really wants the imp, I’ll probably just use it up as a room scent. In fact, this is a perfect home scent for the holidays. (I wonder why this isn’t a seasonal offering?) On a scale of 1 to 5: 4.

In the imp: kind of a light rose vinegar smell. Not bad—very aquatic. Applied: I thought at the very first moment that I smelled something a little leathery/smoky, but this so quickly turned to STRONG cloying rose on me that I can’t detect anything else. This is not unusual for me with rose—which I usually can’t wear—but I was hoping to pick up more of the earthy scents with it, and hoped maybe that would ground the floral a bit. Unfortunately, that’s not happening here. I will add the caveat that I got this imp in a swap, so it may not be fresh. Whatever else it is, it’s really overpowering rose and I will have to wash this off—it’s giving me a headache. Hey—at least if I want a scent with a whip, I have my beloved Loviatar. On a scale of 1 to 5: 1.

OK-- you just satiated a months-old curiosity, and now I definitely have to get the Trading Post lockets b/c I make jewelry!!! Thanks for the info--

OK. I have to ask a really stupid question. How do you put the scent in the locket? Don't laugh at me, please!!!!

I would have bought Trouser Snake no matter what notes were in it, for three reasons: 1. I would like to see the bottle artwork 2. I would like to have a bottle of "Trouser Snake" with my others on my dressing table 3. If someone asked me what perfume I was wearing, I could say that I was wearing Trouser Snake and let them wonder.

Dang, now I've got that song in my head. I may end up singing this to myself, however-- with the Grammar Time lyric-- when I grade papers this semester. Inspired, Dannahmal.

Q, I think the issue was that nobody had contacted her back yet. If someone had, I don't think she would have posted this thread.

Hmmm...that sounds like it isn't the norm, because I have had absolutely top-notch service from the lab every time I've ordered. Granted, I just got my fourth lab order today and I have not been around as long as a lot of other people here, but I have had email contact regarding two of those orders and the people I emailed (usually Sara) were fantastic about making sure everything was taken care of. I guess I would check the FAQs section for a thread of who to contact when there is a problem, and see if there is a specific person that you haven't contacted yet that handles complaints. From my short time on here and from knowing a lot of other people who are even more hardcore than I am, I would imagine that your issues will get resolved pretty soon. (For one thing, someone is sure to see this thread!) Good luck, and I hope it all works out for you...

Believe me, you're not a tool. This is information that nobody knows until they have to find out. I'm still learning a lot of stuff and I am on order number 5.

You'll get it automatically. It's generated when they print out the shipping label off the USPS system. Also, this thread has info on what to do when you have questions on where your order is...just FYI! http://www.bpal.org/index.php?showtopic=2426

You'll get a CnS notification when your order is ready to ship, but before you get that, the best you can do is to check the "I got my order" and "Click and Ship" threads pinned at the beginning of this section. On those threads, you can get an idea of where the lab is on sending out the orders. You'll notice, when people list the order date, that the dates progress in order (more or less) and then you can get an idea of how close the lab is to getting to the orders placed on the date you placed yours. That's really the best way to check, and it saves you and the lab a lot of hassle. Check the last page or two first-- that's the easiest way.

In the bottle: this is one of those strange scents where I absolutely cannot smell anything in the imp. At all. Applied: This one has me totally confused. Sometimes I love it, sometimes I don’t, and it changes with every test. The biggest source of confusion, however, is that I am having trouble smelling it unless I slather, and even after slathering I don’t notice the smell unless I get my nose right up against my skin or flap my shirt so I can get a whiff of cleavage. Also, I get totally different notes every time I take it on a test run. It reminds me of Mary Poppins’s magical medicine that changes flavor every time she pours a new spoonful. The first time I tested it, I got snow and faint white roses. The next time, I got vanilla, sugar and snow. The next time, I smelled snow and wildflowers—like I would have expected from the description. Then I read the reviews, and now (on the fourth test, and after really slathering) ALL I can smell is plastic and some sort of sickly, pungent floral. My take on this is that I can relate to almost every review of this scent, positive and negative, except for what people have said about this scent having a medium to strong throw. On me, regardless of whether I get good or bad notes dominating, they are uniformly weak and, if I don’t slather, totally undetectable. On the other hand, if I were to get a bottle of this, this would be a bottle that I would probably use up within about a month or so (unlike my other scents.) I probably won’t get a bottle, due to the unpredictability of the applications. Of the snowy, innocent scents of the season, I will be going for Snow Bunny. On a scale of 1 to 5: 2.5. ETA: Ever since I wrote this review, I have totally fallen in love with this scent and I cannot stop craving it. It’s fresh and slightly sweet and completely unlike any other scent I have ever smelled. This is the only scent for which I ordered two bottles for my own use—normally, I am strictly a one-bottle person even on LE’s. This is definitely in my top 5 favorite scents, if not number one. Goes to show once again how initial impressions can be misleading—lots of times, the stuff I love right away ends up not making it into regular rotation, and the stuff I was so-so on at first ends up being a winner. This is a perfect example. On a scale of 1 to 5: 5. Maybe even 6.

In the bottle: Smells like fruit with a whiff of perm solution in the background. Applied: Now it smells like fruit with honey, and the perm solution fades to just a general tangy smell that I get out of a lot of the Voodoo oils. I don’t practice it, so the only way I would be using this oil is in meditation and for aromatherapy. However, there are a lot of other blends that I would prefer for those purposes, and I would imagine this would be better used by a person who knows about and practices other spiritual paths than mine. Doesn’t make me feel especially happy, but only because of the tangy stuff.

In the bottle: lavender and eucalyptus. Applied: Still lavender and eucalyptus, and it’s pretty nice. It’s relaxing—too bad it doesn’t have a stronger throw. It disappears pretty quickly—so quickly that it doesn’t last during the time it takes me to fall asleep. A very pretty lavender blend, and it’s a good one to try. I imagine it would make a great linen spray. It only loses points for being really short-lived. On a scale of 1 to 5: 3.

In the bottle: rose vinegar. Applied: This is a very wistful rose (and I didn’t even need to look at the description to get the word “wistful”—it really smells wistful!) I’m not sure what kinds of spices are in there, but there is still a bit of an undertone that I identified as vinegar in the bottle, but isn’t quite as sharp on the skin. Unfortunately, roses always cloy on me, and this is no exception, but what is exceptional is Beth’s ability to totally hit the nail on the head with the character of the scent. This smells exactly like it should smell if you think of the character it is supposed to represent. It’s not personally my sort of thing, but I can definitely appreciate the accuracy. On a scale of 1 to 5: 3.5.

In the bottle: Mmm, this is nice. I can definitely smell the jasmine and lily in here. Applied: There it is—soap. Normally when I smell soap, it’s sweet pea, but I think it must be jasmine here instead. There is also some note in this that I can’t quite identify but that smells a little rank to me. I have no idea what it is—it must be either one of the lilies or the plum, but I don’t know. This is where a collection of SNs would really come in handy. There’s something about this that is just a little bit sickly to me—it’s a wash-off, unfortunately. Too bad, because the initial sniff was so nice. I have a hunch that it may just be one particular component not wearing well on my skin, though, so I won’t give it the automatic “1” that I usually issue only to wash-off scents. On a scale of 1 to 5: 2

In the bottle: Kind of green and fruity. Applied: Mentholatum. Which is not a bad thing, because I have loved the smell of that stuff ever since I was a kid, but it’s not necessarily something I want to wear as a perfume. I could easily see using this to help relieve sinus headaches, though—an aromatherapy cure. In fact, I’ll probably experiment with that with this imp. It’s interesting—when I raise my wrist to my nose, I can even feel the vapor in my eyes, just like Mentholatum. Happy smell. I like it, and I would definitely use this blend for aromatherapy for any “head-clearing” needs (literally or figuratively). Medium throw, but it doesn’t last long—it’s completely gone in an hour. On a scale of 1 to 5: 3. Maybe 3.5. Afterthought: I got a funny mental image of the lovely, deadly beautiful woman with a red, crusty nose from her head cold (that's why she smells like Mentholatum.)

In the bottle: Oh, this is beautiful! Wow. It’s odd that a scent can be both ethereal and earthy. I can smell the juniper and orchid and patchouli, but the patchouli is so delicate that I would describe it as white. Applied: OMG. This is beautiful. This is so a crossover scent; I could wear this as well as a guy. It’s just creamy and airy—earthy and ethereal—it smells like opposites, but all in white. Wow. I have to get a bottle of this one—it’s incredible. I would wear this on a day where I wanted to feel calm and spiritual, even if I wasn’t, because this scent would snap me into it anyway. It is a wee bit powdery, but who cares? It’s gorgeous! On a scale of 1 to 5: 5!!

Rake, scoundrel, demon in a frock coat. Devilishly seductive, ultimately tragic; a villain undone and redeemed by love. Based on an 18th century gentlemen’s cologne: ambergris, white musk, white sandalwood, Spanish Moss, orange blossom, three mints, jasmine, rose geranium and a spike of rosemary. In the bottle: Wow! This might be the first “men’s cologne”-type scent that I like. It’s very sweet-smelling, and there is just a hint of the men’s-cologne smell in the background. Applied: Mmmmm. This would be a fantastic scent on a guy, and one that I would definitely get a boyfriend (if I wasn’t going through a rather lengthy dry spell at the moment.) It smells a bit like soap, but like Irish Spring or something (which I happen to really like on guys.) It’s all-around good, although it’s difficult for me to pinpoint exactly what I like about it: I think that the main things I am detecting are the orange blossom, mint and jasmine, but it’s grounded by the wood. Very nice. No wonder the Vicomte got laid so much, if he smelled like this. Related thought: I can picture him actually believing his pledge of love for as long as the cologne lasts. On a scale of 1 to 5: 5 (as a men’s scent). ETA: Lab description.

In the bottle: It reminds me a lot of Queen. Real strong “tang” that I can’t quite identify, mixed with lavender. Applied: I won’t be able to handle this one—it’s going to be a wash-off. There’s a really sharp quality to it that reminds me of ammonia—not that it smells like ammonia, but the sharpness is very much like ammonia. On a scale of 1 to 5: 1.

Very strong wood—if I am correct, it’s cedarwood. Almost a single note. It’s very nice as a wood smell but I wouldn’t wear it as a perfume—too harsh. I imagine that it would work well for aromatherapeutic use, though. On a scale of 1 to 5: 2. ETA: Huh. Interesting. Evidently what I thought was cedarwood is patchouli, although this is definitely not like any other patchouli I have ever smelled before, if that is the case.

In the bottle: yum. Coconut and mint. It smells like it would be a good mixed drink. Applied: The coconut immediately turns into rum. I say “turns into” because that’s exactly what it smells like: I smell the mint/coconut oil going onto my skin, and then it smells just like the coconut is turning into rum, while the mint stays the same. I can detect some coconut still hovering under the surface, but it’s gone away from the skin. The rum gets quite a bit stronger as time elapses, which means that unfortunately it will probably be a no-go for me; I can’t wear rum well at all. The throw is actually quite nice, especially after the coconut re-asserts itself in about a half hour after application, but since I am the one close to the scent smelling the rum tang, this is a scent I would prefer to smell on someone else and not on me. I think it might also work in a burner, but I’m probably going to pass this bottle on since it’s an LE. It lasted about three hours before I would have needed to re-apply. On a scale of 1 to 5: 3.5.

In the bottle: smells like a pretty, but garden variety (ha!) rose. Applied: Still smells like rose to me. At first it has a bit of a plasticky undertone to it, but that doesn’t last long. It has kind of an interesting effect that I can only call “rose swirl”: when I sniff it, I can picture a rose-colored spiral. Hm. First time I’ve gotten such a clear mental picture from a blend. Unfortunately, although I get a mental picture thing going on, I am not picking up on anything but rose in the blend. It’s nice, but a little meh. (Note: It looks like it might be an old imp, though, so I might have to try this again later if I can get my hands on a fresher one.) On a scale of 1 to 5: 2.