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Oh, my god, yes! This is coffee, all right. Bitter, with just a hint of sweetness - like really good, really expensive coffee that's just been ground on the espresso setting. Wow! I don't actually want to go around smelling like a coffee bean, but ... well, I may need to reconsider that statement. Really, really good; I want to lick myself just being in the same room with this.

Lots of lush jasmine, with a hint of carnation. The moss and iris are gorgeous, too - they turn this into a hidden, impossible garden in the depths of the forest. Earthy soil upturned for the plantings ... If I were a caterpillar, THE Caterpillar or the every day kind, this would be a good place to live. Comforting, pleasing, a haven from the surrounding world.

An absolutely perfect, true tea rose. So sweetly crisp I'm reminded of a Granny Smith apple. Stunning.

I've been really enamoured of Beth's violet scents of late; highly recommend Veil, Seraphim, and Old Sybaris. Have ordered Marie and the single note in Violet, so will post reviews when they arrive.

My body chemistry wreaked havoc with Vixen. It seemed really promising, both from the description and for the first thirty seconds of wear. It was warm and sexy like Pulse Points, but with a snap to it - which I'm sure was the ginger. Unfortunately, the ginger just kept gaining ground. In five minutes, I was a cloud of grated ginger root - sharp, biting, and very unsexy. I take complete responsibility for this. The scent started out just like everyone else's description, and I thought it would be heavenly. It apparently is, just not on me.

What started out as rose and lavender is now an almost fruity-bitter rose. I'm always amazed at how Beth gets scents to combine with each other as they come off my skin, not just in the bottle, and the frankincense and orchid really melted into the rose and lavender, which I loved from the beginning. I think the chinese musk is what makes it a second skin sort of scent. Feminine, but in a dreamy, "I'm-wearing-it-because-he-likes-it-and-I'm-so-completely-infatuated-with-him" sort of way. I mean that in the best sense of that picture, too - a point in the relationship so good it's okay to want whatever your partner does, and to be happy about being that way for a while.

Exactly. If we need to go to signature required, I'll have them delivered to my office instead. No big deal. UPS or Fedex are easier for me, and have a better track record in my personal experience, but it's all about what makes business better - on so many levels - for you, Beth.

Gluttony. Oh, yeah ...

I actually took Snake Oil off the list for the education job, because it's sometimes a little heavy to people, and while I'm waiting for Zephyr, I understand it might be a good substitute for the Lightning. Great order list, by the way!

How interesting - these are two very different fields you're talking about! The software testing is the tougher of the two for me to recommend. To use a whole lot of stereotypes here (but that's how employers initially interview and hire, let's face it), you want to be womanly, since that will make you stand out in a field that I'm guessing is mostly male, without negating or lessening your technical expertise impression - and that's sometimes difficult to do. I've done a lot of interviewing, and scents either distract me from the candidates or reinforce certain aspects of their personalities that come out in the process. See the reviews, but I'd say Old Morocco, Lightning, Tears, or Unseelie, to give you a range to work with. The teaching thing is easier - 7th and 8th graders are in that terrible, hormonal in-between stage, so something that projects a sense of "comforting" while you project enthusiasm and expertise is what I'd look for. Eve, Bewitched, Dana O'Shee, Fae, Endymion, or Tamora. I love the Voodoo Blends, and they do get me great results ... but you have to be careful with them. The herbal-ness, for lack of a better term, is off-putting to many; in fact, you have to be careful with green scents in general, as they're least favored in polls of the public nose (which is why Tears is the only one listed). I'd also remind you to put these on when you leave the house, and don't touch up more than thirty minutes before an interview - we forget the strength of these oils sometimes, and touch-ups have been known to bowl my office staff over if I'm not really careful. I wouldn't want to be in a smaller office with a closed door if I'd just re-applied, however carefully - and if I were nervous, heaven only knows if I could keep from spilling an Imp or bottle all over myself. All that aside, good luck with your interviews! Remember, your scents are just an extension of you ... you're what counts.

So glad you're feeling better I could kiss you!

A little more detail on the job, if you don't mind - what field are you looking in? Do you have lots of experience in it, or is this your first foray into job hunting along these lines? That may sound silly, but it changes what I'd recommend.

Good idea, FriendtheGirl! The summer before my 21st birthday, my family took a vacation in New Orleans. Mom and I went to Bourbon French, where she had a custom scent made for me - it was beautiful and the process was pretty amazing. The take your scent, put it on file, and keep it for 100 years - and no one else can have it; they're very careful to never duplicate scents exactly. The funny thing is that I'm going to "bequeath" it to my mother, who has been stealing my bottles and making me re-order for her for the last two years! I've thought very seriously about getting her a custom scent through Beth, but am waiting to go through the process myself, as Mom is pretty conservative in her ... hmmm ... social and religious beliefs ... and would likely have issues with the astrological portion of the process. Once I get my scent process completed, perhaps I can fill in the blanks as necessary and give Mom the rest of the questions to answer. I'm really, really looking forward to this process with Beth. I think it will make the afternoon at Bourbon French look like going to the grocery store, because I consider Beth a friend, am constantly amazed by her talent and insight, and love almost all of her scents. Can't go wrong with something like that!

Hmmmm ... Queen of Hearts and Old Morocco might be good to consider.

Violets and clove. Violets and incense. Violets and creamy vanilla. Decadent, and a bit dusty with the incense - perhaps like laying down on an old carpet that's spent years in a room that always has something burning or bubbling to scent the air and has simply absorbed that scent into all its fibers. I love this scent, even with the clove, but can't wear it because of the headache clove gives me. This is a not-sweet, not-old-lady, not-springtime violet scent that's powerful and exotic.

The fig note is particularly lovely in Carnal and the Apothecary, and is indeed available as a single note. You can certainly purchase an Imp of it and see what you think.

I can't really add much to the reviews that are already here, ShriekingViolet's in particular. This is the only one of Beth's scents I've ever found that didn't know what it wanted to be once it settled in, and that disturbed me in its own right. I was thrilled with the first 30 seconds of Seraphim, where it was all sweet wisteria and a splash of rose - like late spring in a bottle. The calla lily started to shine through, but the sandalwood and frankincense yanked it back - and I mean yanked; I could practically feel the struggle - and this became, for lack of a better term, hateful. It really fought with itself on my arm and in my nose. Back and forth between the sandalwood and frankincense arguing with the calla, and the really lovely wisteria and rose the entire time I had it on, which was particularly frustrating as I wanted to love the florals in this one. I don't know why Seraphim wouldn't settle into anything on my skin, but it didn't. Sad, because this could have been such a beautiful scent.

I've done a lot of shipping for Ebay and MUA stuff over the last three years, and one thing that I learned the hard way was allotting for packaging. You'll laugh, but tape and bubble wrap get very expensive very quickly - and my packages from Beth come with a shitload of bubble wrap. Then there's gas and time to and from the post office - if you're a small business, you're paying someone for that time, either in cash or manufacturing time lost. I, too, have issues with shipping like Lush's (although I still buy from them occasionally, so I can't complain much ); I do try to give small businesses the benefit of the doubt, as costs to do any and everything are higher for them than "the big guys."

I am MORE than happy to pay insurance on my packages. To be honest, it never occurred to me that the insurance wasn't in the shipping price already. I'm slow. You'd have to do a little adjusting to your CCNow info. Let's see ... up to $50 $1.30 to $100 $2.20 to $200 $3.20 to $300 $4.20 to $400 $5.20 and on and on, $1.00 more for every $100 of value, up to $5000. There's an order I'd like to see!

This wasn't quite what we had in mind when we urged you to take some time for yourself, you know. Thinking of you ...

Are we sure there's no ylang-ylang in this? This first thought becomes moot very quickly, as the heliotrope takes this from blindingly white floral to an arrangement sitting partly in shadow - almost velvety, but more like a pale lilac than startlingly white. Definite floral sweetness, almost like the scent of violet, but with a great deal more texture - density might be a better word, because something in Eternal (I can only identify the heliotrope) has a downward pull. Very grounding, which is in direct contrast to my emotional response to it. By the time I've had Eternal on for a while, I smell like a pale spring flower bending in the breeze. This one isn't sad to me. It's more of a lingering, gentle, and floral warmth - like dreaming you're being touched, and the dream so realistic that you're surprised to find yourself alone when you wake because you can still feel that faint tingle on your skin.

Lavender, chamomile, and cypress start Despair out on me, so this is a slightly astringent, bitter scent for the first few moments. The Bulgarian roses slip in on the breeze, and melt almost without notice into the initial scent - like crying until you no longer notice the tears as they run down your face. Soft, and soft. Pale, in an almost pastel fashion - roses so pale you're not sure if they're white or barely pink, with a hint of something sharp and longing. No sandalwood or ylang-ylang in my nose, and the scent, while not as long-lasting as some, didn't need touch up for about three hours - an accomplishment for such a light scent. I was droopy-shouldered, wide-eyed, and almost lethargic while I was wearing this one. There's no question that, wearing this, I felt a great deal like I did the first week or so we spent in an ICU waiting room after my brother sustained head injuries in our car accident five years ago - sagging with exhaustion and uncertainty, surrounded by flowers and oblivious to the conversation of well-wishers, nodding and going through the motions. Distinctly melancholy, but it's because of that association and another mental image I get while sniffing this that are very disturbing to me. I managed to distance myself from that in the beginning, but the longer I wear this scent, the more emotionally responsive to it I become. If that weren't the case, I'd wear it regularly - it's a truly lovely scent on its own.

Is this what bay rum is supposed to smell like? I hope so ... I'm in love! This is what the dock off a resort in Turks and Caicos smelled like. It was the most amazing blue water and white sand beaches, and there was salt tang in the air and water on the boards of the dock. Now I know what that other smell was - rum. Makes sense considering all the mixed drinks that were always available, but I thought it was something from the tropical trees and flowers that were everywhere. The leather is a wonderful addition, too - it gives this a texture and depth that's more than transparent, crystalline, and jewel-tone blue. Subtle, flowing, and emotionally moving.

Violet and the orris (iris) are what jump out at me for starters. With a little time, the wisp of lavender and the lilac start to come through, and while the violet and iris stay foremost and true, they're mellowed a bit by the sandalwood, which I think there must be very little of. The ylang-ylang is invisible - hosannas to the highest! I can wear this all I want - and I'll be ordering a bottle right away. It's not too powdery, not too sweet - and the iris leads this to a whole new level of classic femininity. "Younger than springtime are you, gayer than laughter are you, warmer than winds of June are the gentle lips you gave me ... "

The yellow hard candy picture's very apt for the first few minutes. After that, I can't really give you much, as the ylang-ylang and I dont' get along. While this was the softest, most likeable version of a scent with ylang ylang that I've found, it took off running on my skin, and I couldn't smell anything else for a couple of hours.