Rheliwen

At first this was all wintergreen and english breakfast tea. I liked it but I have other mint scents. As it started to dry it changed to a fruity blend. In my notes I list it as Perfumed Garden - jasmine + mint. It had a nice tart apple quality to it. In it's dried phase it smells like my Yankee Candle lilac tart! I LOVE lilacs!!!! It's so funny...the blends that don't have their own description, I take snippets from the reviews that best incapsulate the majority opinion. This is what I had: "mint/pennyroyal or lilac/apple blossom would go together with fig very well" It's funny how it really does smell just like that!

Thanks guys! Those are absolutely adorable. I think they are my favorite labels to date...I can't wait to see the underpants version.

Anyone have pictures of the Monster Bait labels?

BORGY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm so sorry! I feel so bad about laughing about something so serious. But holy shit is that surreal! Imagining it in my head had you spinning like a disco ball with flashy lights and everything. I agree, that procedure is wrong on so many levels and seems made with sadistic intentions I hope you survived and that they got what they needed so you never ever have to do that again.

Well, maybe not...that's a case of shock advertising for ya! Last week Thursday-ish I developed chest pains, like I had been screaming for hours and my throat was raw. I wish my life was that exciting . It was accompanied by minor blah cold symptoms, but were easily forgotten and gone within 3 days. However, my cough is still here and is getting worse. It's a dry cough and I can't do anything about it. Cough drops, medicine, and liquids just don't seem to help. I blame moving to NJ with all its deciduous trees. Anyways, I still prepared myself with these defense mechanisms for my evening international political economy class. Just as it was getting started, I was seized with an uncontrollable coughing fit. I'm not kidding you, I must have beet red, my eyes were streaming the tears as I desperately tried to make it stop. Class was stopped so everyone could stare at me...so embarrassing. Single-handedly the most out of control coughing fit I have ever had (and I've had nmeumonia and mono) I spent the next 20 mins convulsing as the coughs tried coming up while I fought to keep them down. I must have looked so silly. Cut to the end of the class where I'm walking out with the professor and she says to me, "you were quiet in class today." ...ummmm...

On first sniff this was pleasant: roses and something tangy in the background. I thought, "maybe I am going to end up on the good side of this one!" I spoke too soon. While it wasn't revolting by any means, it was definitely off. It did sort of have that rotten vegetables / bile scent in the background, but the roses were valiently (but unsuccessfully) trying to cover it up. They were at least stronger in scent. Perhaps the cognac didn't come from its bottle, rather from a night of heavy drinking and post-party porcelain god worship? LOL that was gross!!! Bad Rheliwen! Anyways, I don't think it was horrible by any means, just off. I enjoyed trying it anyways.

Hmm, it was a while ago, maybe about a year. I think it was on either Animal Planet or the Discovery Channel. I only caught the end of the show so I didn't see all of the ranch. I think it was also a show about many places doing good things for animals. I wish I knew more about the what, when, and where's! I honestly couldn't even remember the name of the ranch until you posted that link. I wanted to donate a while ago and was pissed that I couldn't find it

Jester, sweet strawberry syrup-like candy Carnal, tart fruity candy

Oh! I saw a show about that ranch! It totally pulled at my heart strings and I too want to be like them when I grow up. They had one cute as can be lab mix that ended up being blind in both eyes (they thought one might be saved but it didn't work out). Anyways, I won't go into how he came to be that way since those things make me cry. Despite what he went through, he was always wagging his tail, running around with the pack. His fellow dogs became his eyes and ears...it was so inspiring. Don't get me started on the paralyzed kitty. What those people do is like magic hospice for animals. Letting them live in dignity when most would consider them a waste. Ok, enough of the sad stuff, just wanted to share my love for the ranch as well.

That's so awesome! I'm not sure how you and Di fit everything into your schedule. I have to say how cool all the new forum upgrades are...kudos! I'm looking forward to seeing the feedback addition.

You people must all be out having fun on this lovely Saturday. I am stuck inside researching for 3 awful papers I have to write. My only salvation? Coming here to read the boards every once and a while. Unfortunately, you people aren't here posting for my amusement!!!

I am seriously having trouble posting comments. After getting forbideen notices on my last ones, now I copied over my entire post I just wrote, lol. Anyways. The link you sent actually makes it seem pretty interesting, if esoteric. I was always told it was a high-brow, boring profession. My old boss wanted to break into it but didn't have any luck. I had no idea it took so much training either. It makes my 3 little papers a little less important now since they are relatively easy. Good luck and I hop you get those shiny little letters!!

Yay!!! /am amused Oi for the preppng for a seminar in which you prep some more. What exam is it for if I may ask?

Well hello fellow BPAL admirers! I have no idea what I'll put here as I am not a big online journal user, but who knows.

Hmmm, I can definitely see how some of you are getting that cherry cough syrup vibe. Frankly, I'm suprised I don't associate the two myself...especially since I DETEST anything cherry. That being said, this reminds me of taking a big whiff of a merlot oak barrel right at the winery. Very concentrated and potent. The berries are tart and a little bitter. They give off almost an anise quality because of the bitterness. They remind me of black cherries, black currants, and purple grapes. Keeping this altogether is the vanilla. You can't really smell it per se, but if you concentrate, its vibe is there, rounding out the sharpness of the fruit. The oaken notes become more prominent after about an hour of wear, but they were always there, they were just eclipsed by the berry notes. Overall, this really does smell like wine. Almost like what a wino would smell like at the end of the night...haha! I don't get the dessert wine thing because, to me, this is sweet, but not desert sweet. There is a lot of bitterness here. I think of it as a highly concentrated wine scent...slightly syrupy. Definitely something to wear on a night of debauchery.

As I was testing my frimps from my last order, I swiped this and tossed it into the swap pile. Over the course of the evening I'd catch a beautiful whiff of something. My nose keep being drawn to the spot where I dabbed on Loralei. It smells a little dusty, a bit tropical. I'm reminded of hawaiian ginger and gardenia a little bit...but so much more subdued and less cloying. It must be the neroli that I am seriously loving in this. It's expertly blended. The sandalwood is keeping this on the ground but does come out in the latter drydown phases, and ylang ylang is very faint. I really really like this and I didn't think I would at all. Go figure. Don't judge it in the 1st 30 seconds or you will be missing out.

Oh wow, the one Lupercalia oil I was hesitant on is the only one that works for me! Initially, it's a bit sharp. I'm thinking of floral infused granny smith apple. The citrus only makes an entrance in this introduction. What I'm left with is a expertly blended oil where each component is beautiful, but even more so as it compliments the whole. No one note is dominant here (other than the top 3: myrrh, apple peel and jasmine). The myrrh give this a grounded, round feel. The apple peel gives it a fruity tartness, the jasmine lifts the mood of the blend. And for you jasmine haters out there: moroccan jasmine is SO MUCH BETTER than your everyday jasmine. It's not soapy or cloying at all...and I don't like jasmine so I'm one of you. The other notes just seem to keep this blend aloft. It's much fruitier than I was expecting, but the sandalwood and myrrh give this such a nice, rounded edge. I needed to add that I think I have decided this is my #1 bpal...yes

Gingerbread cookie dough. The spices are nice and mellow, wrapped in gooey, squishy dough. Short and to the point ADDED: Now it smell like freshly made oatmeal

It smells like a vanilla candle...wax and all. It's very soft up close, but oddly wafts really well. This is the vanilla scent in le fee verte. It smells a lot like it without the wormwood and other stuff. Just a simple vanilla musk. Lovely.

Heaven in a bottle! I love all the notes in this one so of course I'd love the whole thing. My gut reaction was "damn this is a killer men's scent." But as it kept drying I was like, "Oh hell no! This one's for me!" Initially it's a really soft sage. The lavender is merely a memory flashing in the background. The cedar starts to pick up dry and the carnation is really keeping this a little spicey, but subdued and mellow. The musk is just a fuzzy top layer over everything. I can't really smell the vanilla but I suspect it's working with carnation in this. The leather is what gives this blend a slight edge, but it isn't overwhelmingly animal hide. I love this. I thought it smelled like a more woodsy, less salty cousin of Jolly Roger. Imma getting a big bottle...should have done it unsniffed like I was going to ADD: after an hour or two of wear the leather note became very dominant. Much more reminiscent of Perversion and de Sade.

To me, osmanthus smells weird and soapy, and I definitely get this smell on initial application. Overall this is a citrusy, powdery musk. It reminds me of the bamboo and tea scents out there. Something like Sudha Segera, but more floral. I can't really smell frank, but I think he there holding down the floral ropes. This is very quiet, but up close can be a bit sharp. A perfect spring blend when the flowers are gettting ready to bloom but the icy wind hasn't yet gone on its merry way.

Heaven's to Betsy! I shouldn't have listened to all the caramelly-sweet reviews that told my inner voice not to order another bottle! On me, the caramel is simply a candy-coated backdrop...a tempered sweetness. I smell cooking spices, and amber and a teeny tiny bit of coconut with tobacco occasionally poking his head in. This one isn't fruity on me. Very spicey and akin to Snake Oil and Perversion in feel for me. ADD: So I wore this all day today and it smells so much like perversion! I would swear there is leather in here somewhere.

I definitely smell red musk, black musk and siberian musk. The last one I have a 5ml single note of and I'm convinced it's the yumminess people find in Snake Oil...hence the comparisons of Smut and Snake Oil. (And another reason why people shouldn't discount musk as automatically bad...but I digress...) It's very bitter, almost like tobacco...if you cut open a really fresh cigarette and smelled the contents. I am not finding any sweetness or booze yet, though I am waiting for it. My skin amps musk, I hope it doesn't drown everything out! I want to smell like booze! So far no morphing at all from bottle to wet skin to dry. I'll update if something drastically changes. Overall, not as impressed as I had hoped, but its my skin drowning out the booze, not the blend itself.

Hey, it does smell like menthol and cucumbers sort of! Immediately I smelled vetiver(t) in here. I'm like a bloodhound when it comes to that stuff. I might be wrong, but I definitely smelled something like it. However, I normally HATE it with a fiery passion, but here it's really soft and subdued. Overall Niflheim gives off the same sort of feel Ulalume does, but more floral. A tad bit aquatic, with tropical flowers in a murky pond...definitely. I actually really like it.