SueDonym

"We can put the food here," said Silas. "It's cool, and the food will keep longer." He reached into the box, pulled out a banana. "And what would that be when it was at home?" asked Mrs Owens, eyeing the yellow and brown object suspiciously. "It's a banana. A fruit, from the tropics. I believe you peel off the outer covering," said Silas, "Like so." The child – Nobody – wriggled in Mrs Owens arms, and she let it down to the flagstones. It toddled rapidly to Silas, grasped his trouser-leg and held on. Silas passed it the banana. Mrs Owens watched the boy eat. "Ba-na-na," she said, dubiously. "Never heard of them. Never. What's it taste like?" "I've absolutely no idea," said Silas, who consumed only one food, and it was not bananas. "You could make up a bed in here for the boy, you know." A banana peel discarded among tombstones and crypts. Received as a frimp on Bat's Day 2008: thanks Lab! Every now and then Beth pulls out one of her what I call "trick" perfumes. In my own terminology, this means a perfume that's *such* a dead ringer, so evocative, that it just makes me want to go full on squee with glee: the popcorn of Shill, the warm dry stone in the road (on me) of the Clod and the Pebble. It's genius. When I first applied this, on *my* skin, this scent did a story-morph I would not have missed for the world. It was as if you were standing next to someone eating a banana, who then throws the peel to the ground. The peel begins to slowly decay, and in it's fade comes this dry dusty decay. Literally, a banana peel in a graveyard. Eventually the peel fades entirely and I was left with the graveyard alone. I would not have believed it if I didn't smell it myself. It went from very strong bananas in the vial to an almost bananas foster note on the skin, to a faintly decaying banana...peel! Yes. A peel!...lying on the ground (dirt note). And then on to a dusty graveyard scent. It's insane. I've repeated the experiment with slightly varying result: more creme in the banana initially, a longer fade, a shorter fade, and a lingering sweetness at the end. Yes, my skin chemistry is more than a bit wonky right now and I am a bit stuffy as well, but STILL! It's delightful. It's skilled. I'm amazed. Maybe this isn't what it's supposed to be. I know other people who get bananas and patchouli and on whom bananas foster lingers or the patchouli deepens, and I'd be jealous really...except I get a story. I love the story. Thanks!

Thanks so much for pointing me at that review, kscha. It's definitely an earlier version of it, as I wasn't purchasing in 2012. I'm wondering if it just didn't get a review? Is there anyone else who remembers an older an earlier version of Theotokos? Was it the same formulation as the newer one? I have a cold and just can't tell and someone interested in the bottle.

Does anyone remember the Winter BPAL bottle that had an icon of the Virgin Mary on it? I believe it was called Theodosis but when I look for it in reviews I can't find it. I have an old bottle of it, but the label is damaged and I can't quite read it. It's from when I first started BPAL so back around 06 maybe? It was one of my first bottles. I'd appreciate any help tracking it, and the review page down. Thanks!

Gloss Fearsome fungi! A very deep, very dark mushroom brown. As there has been much discussion and some disagreement about Destroying Angel, let us begin this review by what CAN be agreed upon, as absolutes. 1. Destroying Angel is currently the darkest shade available in the BPTP polish spectrum. It sits at the end of that rainbow, quietly and absolutely deeper than everything else. One's gaze is drawn, rests, and sinks into it utterly. 2. Like all the polishes available from BPTP, it glides on smoothly, and has excellent coverage with even a preliminary single coat and dries faster than it would take to think out a proper analogy. With two coats however...well, we'll return to that. Let us say then that it finishes very smoothly, has a wonderful glossy sheen and does it all without the use of formaldehyde, which leads one to question that if BPTP's polish can accomplish all this without that net, why isn't everyone doing triple jumps? 3. Wears. Handily. (Yes, I know.) In any event, at some point last weekend I put a streak on a nail, waited for it to dry then tried to scratch it off as a test. Which I did manage to scrape it, I entirely failed to chip. Also, residual pigment lingered on the nail some four days after, until I decided to reapply for this review. Now I *know* that nail polish remover will cleanly remove everything, because I confirmed as much upon my arrival home from Bat's Day with my nails painted every single shade of polish available there. Here too everything was dreamily easy. No sticky bits I had to douse with chemical to remove, just a little scrub and some cleaning around the cuticle and it's gone. Minimal staining of the flesh too. Impressive. However, without bending with the remover to remove, the fixed mark of remaining pigment seemed willing to stay on my hand indefinitely. MOST impressive for someone whose nails seems to reject polish after the first day and vigorously expel color like a cobra spitting venom. Which brings us to... 4. The Color. In keeping with just the facts, let us clarify that it is based/inspired/looks towards a vintage 1920's shade. Wear it with beads and flapper fringe. Wear it as the tough new-age business woman/girl reporter when you're struggling to have your obvious talent recognized in a man's world. Wear it when you feel plucky. Wear it with a very very long, dazzling evening gown, but you're just dressing for dinner at the manse. Wear it when committing an unspeakable crime for the man you love. Wear it when stealing the leading role and leading man on a black and white movie set. Wear it when you're feeling a little very early Noir or a touch of German Expressionism coming on (and go watch Nostferatu or The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari if you need to acquire the disease). Wear it to forget your first love who died in the trenches and to remember him when you attend the Wobblies meeting. Whatever your excuse, wear it. Because... 5. It is one of the richest, most velvety colors I've had on my nails in quite some time. Deep. Plush. Velvet. I find it difficult to believe something that I know is glossy hard can look and feel so...sinkable...as if your eye were falling endlessly into soft thick layers of velvet. Putting that second coat on, while it fills in the nail, is as if someone flooded and then froze a patch of velvet before your eyes. Which leads us finally to... 6. The Shade. But really, after all this do you need to know the exact hue? . . . . . Of course you do. And yet this seems to be what the crux of the various interpretations are about. Let me begin with what it is not. It is NOT black. I love black too, but this has far too much going on to be a simple flat black, or even a glossy one. Neither is it brown. As much as I love a good rich chocolate-brown, again, too simple a definition for something that is too deep and too rich. Nor, alas for all those wishing it, is it a true and simple dark purple. When I was taking an oil painting class, back in the day, my teacher told me something I've never forgotten and which I now share with any aspiring artists, color aficionados, and, factually, anyone reading this post. To wit: if you want to make a shadow of any sort in your painting, an active rich shadow, then you simply cannot use black. What you must use is something that aspires to black but is more complex. If it's just black the eye will skip over it, pick it up less, it remains flat. BUT if you add a little mystery, a little addition to the color, or even create a blackish color out of other darks, what you have is something on which the eye will rest and never want to leave. Something which can be gazed into endlessly. In other words, mix a little dark green in with your black. Or, in this case, a little dark purple in your brown. To me, this is a very deep brownish purple, but it may hold your gaze a bit differently, and the gaze of someone else when they look into your hands, and frankly that's part of the appeal. I imagine the good folks down at the lab could tell us what exact shades were brewed to make this magnificent elixir, but *really* do you want anything as mundane as that? Personally, I prefer a little mystery. ETA: Well I just read the site description and if the lab says it's brown, the damn thing is brown. (With a little purple in it. )

Egg moon? Hay moon? Egg here Hay here Plus, Persianmouse's review of Egg Moon is hilAIRious.

On the question at hand, unless they're doing full body scans, I've put the bottles in my pocket, in my luggage, etc. with no problem. Have you flown that way before or do you know what security is like at your terminals? The safest way is to put them in your luggage well wrapped, but I've walked through terminals with several bottles in my pockets. Once I think I was asked about one, but I opened it up, the TSA agent sniffed appreciatively and that was that. It's perfume, not explosives. I do cringe at the thought of somebody over-enthusiastically dumping a rare 5ml, but...

A double-dose of seedy that oozes rough-and-tumble sexuality while promoting vice-driven profitability! Volcanic red musk, vanilla bean, Queen Elizabeth root, red ginger, skin musk, black leather, honeycomb, honeysuckle, magnolia, and patchouli. Hmmm...actually there's already a review in the BPTP thread that is lovely, and should probably be placed here first. However, since I'm always dying to know what new things smell like, I'll try to do a quick report. Just the facts maam. In the bottle: The red musk, patchouli and leather are really forefronted for me, with maybe wafts of the honeysuckle/magnolia. No ginger yet. Wet: Now the ginger comes out. I'm apparently a sucker for Beth's musk, patchouli & leather combinations so I'm eating this up. (The other trick had tabacco so it's all happy and good in Tricklandia.) The florals give it a southern flavor, kind of heady, and the ginger spices that up. Dry: Consistent throughout. This is a very 'red' scent to me, if that makes sense. The vanilla is there, sweet with the flowers...wish I knew what Queen Elizabeth root smelled like. Very well balanced, patchouli and leather taking precedence on my skin. ETA: Wow! On further drying it's really blending together fantastically! Clearly not enough dry time before finishing this review. The florals and vanilla manage to come on strong towards the finish while the musk/patchouli/leather fades back just far enough to let them run. It might be the Queen Elizabeth that's in front now. Okay, it's apparently now a race onmy skin and I lied about my ability to keep this nice, clear and to the point. Still, yay for the scent! Overall: Sexy musk,patchouli, leathery, southern come-hither florals, sweetened by vanilla's fake innocence with some sharp ginger peeping through to keep things even more interesting. There, nothing florid. nice dry first review material. (*lie*) I expect better from the rest of you.

Treat #2 A fine confection for discriminating trick or treaters: a fig meat, coconut, and buttercream bonbon rolled in orange rind, mint leaf, cardamom, clove and ginger, dipped in milk chocolate. Bottle: I get a really buttery scent, chocolate and orange/mint, the spice is there too, but I'm not quite...oh, there's the coconut. It's very rich. It's very foody but edged with the orange and mint. Wet: Chocolate-coconut with a little mint...like one of those chocolate coated candies. Maybe a little figgy, not a lot. As it dries it's uncannily reminds me of a pile of those chocolates... What are those chocolates? Open a box of chocolates (Sees, those Westmark ones, almost any assortment) and you'll have some filled with coconut, some mint chocolate, a chocolate orange divided into fake sections or chocolate orange buttercreams...it's a bit like a pile of those on a very fancy plate -- the spices render it more upscale and hiding behind it is the fig perhaps...something a little darker. Maybe they're being served on a crystal fig leaf plate. You get the picture. Dry: The spice comes out more. The fig as well. Less chocolate, less buttercream...maybe it's the delicious smell of the empty box 'cause my skin has eaten it all. Not really. It feels simultaneously light and heavy. Light spice, some soft coconut, an edge of orange and mint and chocolate. It's lovely, soft and sweet. Puzzling. I have ambivalent memories of those chocolates (preferred the nuts), so the fact that I keep sniffing my wrist surprises me. I really liked the immediacy of Treat #1 at willcall, which is very fresh and in your face in the bottle, so I kind of skipped over the butteriness of this, but on wearing it's...it's complicated. Definitely for the descriminating palate, feels oddly high end.

I'm not a note maven, but these are my impressions, on my skin. A series of very clean, subtle scents... MCXCIV -- clean scent, goes on cotton and smooth, light soft mild floral on drydown. Clean linen, very fresh and soft. Linden blossom? Dandelion? Goes all soft and creamy. DCXV -- soft, sweet sugar. The sweetness of Treat I without any fruit. Vanilla in there, but mostly sugar without being SUGAR or really foody at all if that makes any sense. MCCCLXII -- Clean background, astringent herbal on top. Lemongrass? Bay? I haven't the faintest. While it's definite in the bottle, this is not forefront on the skin giving a faint edge within this overall CLEAN impression. Creamy slight herbal goes really nicely soft and sweet on full drydown. DLVII -- again very light with a touch of leather and fruit. Nice drydown where it goes to sweetness. Maybe some faint apple at the end. MCCXIX -- light in bottle but the darkest of the lights thus far, or lightly touched with dark, if that makes any sense. Maybe a waft of something like patchouli but mostly light resins. There's a kinda 'spicy' note here that's common in a lot of my favorite blends and I wish I knew what it was. I also wish I knew what the background is in all of these oils. It's a clean faintness that makes me want to go to all the lighter oils or maybe the background on the lunar oils. A light skin musk? I smell unexpectedly delicious and I kind of want to mix them all together. LOL I was just going to put this up here because I was sorting through to smell and sell and now I kinda want to mix them all together and find out what that background is. Gah! ETA: I think they're all skin musk, most with just one note more (1 floral, 1 vanilla, 1 herb, 1 leatherish and 1 resin. Cool)

I'm pulling out rares from my impage for impending sale and thought I'd give a few of them a try first. I'd heard good things about Masabakes for a while now, and I understand why -- it's an interesting mix, kinda floral, kinda fruity, kinda spicy, kinda sexy. Imp huffing gets me mostly myrrh, cedar and a little fruit. Wet: kinda grapey-winey spice that swiftly gets a little...citrusy? Ok. Sharp but good. Dry? Deep resin-y goodness kinda sweetened. Dark. Sexy. Good. Yeah, I get it.

Hi guys! Thanks so much for the answers. Yes, it is the forum only scent for the wedding. I know and love Jolly Rodger but this has a very different look. Thanks for the thought, though, Mel85, and thanks very much for pointing me to the review portalkat. Good to "see" you btw.

Is there a review page for the Pirate Flag scent from October 31st 2007 (an event exclusive I think but I can't find it when I check that area)? I might be looking in the wrong area, but would appreciate a kindly nudge in the right direction, or indeed, what to actually call the scent.

I like good Karme. For me, it registers as purely bright and fresh: a little bit of sunshine in a bottle. Maybe a bit grassy, definitely bright, almost a white light floral. On: Softens up and goes creamy. I do get that floral feeling, but perhaps I'm associating it with the green note under some rose scents I like. Gord lies very low underneath, throwing hints up now and then and giving some stability. Mostly waving greenery on a sunny day, resting in the cool shade. Soft, creamy, fresh. Like lying in the grass in your backyard next to clover. Really good summer scent. It's hot already!

No description or notes available from the lab, although rumor has it that it is apparently Wrath and White Rabbit mixed? For the curious, with thanks to Puddin' for making sure we got this before we left, Beth for dreaming it up, Corinthian, wickedgoddess and Jackie for being there with bells, beauty and brain well on, and big BIG B I G HUGS to all the BPAL fans at the Portland MeetNSniff. I'm not sure what Wrath nor White Rabbit smell like and to avoid letting their descriptions or scents mess with my initial impression I'm going to just go for it, so if this is completely off the wall, well, you know who to blame. Me of course. In the imp and early wet stages this has a big rootbeer scent to me. Saspirella(sp), slightly bubble gum but not in a typical way, just sweet and fresh and a bit bubbly (the rootbeer thing had really gotten to me). As it dries it turns to a tropical, heady floral scent with musk. It reminds me of a chaos bottle I acquired that folks said was jasmine, so I guess it's jasmine or perhaps gardenia maybe? Or none of these because I'm not the note expert. Still with a light bubbly quality. Then it goes mostly musk on me, very light floral. Very nice. Sorry so brief, this is getting interrupted in the writing. I'll try to return with a better one. ETA Or not. But I will return. I guess I see where schackjj is coming from with the cinnamon, and the imp IS reddish, but I thought that was the musk. It DOES have a certain spiciness to it (bubbly-spice), but it is pretty musky-floral-with a little spice on the drydown for me, and then mostly musk. And sweet, but not sugary. I like it. Not very masculine, rather pretty IMO. But I'd love to hear what you have to say. MORE MORE please!

Bat's Day gift with much thanks! The ginger in this scent is soooo dry and crisp it's Death Valley scary and happily so! It may be candied, but you'd break your teeth biting into it...unless you're a ghoul. Then maybe it would just freshen your breath. Because it *is* very fresh, almost lemony at first, and I do understand the reference to a slightly sweat-like edge, similar to what I get sometimes with grapefruit actually. The ginger sits at the forefront and throws its weight around for quite some time, which I'm rather grateful for as my skin tends to just eat things so it's always nice to get something that lasts and throws. Then we're a bit musky sweat-ginger-like...maybe that's meant to be the dessicated skin. Perhaps if Shub had a younger, smart-ass second-cousin, an embarrassment to the family who stole the milk from the kiddies and knocked over mailboxes as a hobby..but don't go all Shub crazy on me now! Seriously. This scent has teeth. ETA: On full dry down last night I noticed what I'm assuming to be the non-ginger spices coming out a lot, which was pretty nice. Long lasting for me so if you've got skin that sucks scent up this might be something to try.

Rat King mixed with something else. It's pretty disturbingly furry.

From Fatalbellydance and the Civet Evangelism Circle: In the imp, faintly herbal. Pleasant. Unstrenuous. On: I smell like my precious auntie! She has a lotion that smells something like this. Ummm...so maybe a little waxy (as some lotions will), a little fresh from the shower clean/soap (but not bad soap) and a little herbal. I love the sage in Lear. I'm not getting a strong sage from this. Kind of an early throw, but it's on a shoulder which might account for it. Very nice lotion skin fresh from the shower, wearing a robe, sitting in her kitchen and talking to me. Put my nose against it and I'm getting a hug from her. Awwwwww...I love my aunt! Thank you BPAL and the Civet Evangelism Circle for giving me a "Love Teta" scent. Big squishy hugs to you, hot tea, comfortable bedclothes and much love.

Lust comes from Fatalbellydance and the Civet Evangelism Circle: It's not really registering much to my nose in the imp, kind of a nebulous ah a dark scent red musk patchouli hmm...etc. Put in ON though, and it's distinctive. Spicy definitely. Ylang ylang comes out to play for a little and the patchouli is just watching the swings from the background like a good mum at the park. Is it myrrh that lends it this interesting spice? It's got this really delicious edge that registers and feels like the swirling center of the scent. An edgy muskiness. Fun! But is it lusty? Let's try!

Orange creamsicle! The Devil is an orange creamsicle to me! I know that makes no sense. I'm sorry. But that's what it smells like fresh! The orange part goes FAR background quickly but the creamy bit stays. Very fresh, some musk, a little sharpish. A little floral, somewhat lily-esque or toy doll head smelling. Yes, I can't keep away from the weird associations. Maybe faintly lavender, but not really. Very pleasant! Goes a bit darker as it dries, come up from underneath-like. The floral note is enough to make this a little heady while the musk(?) keeps playing solid in the same range as the floral. For me this all takes place in a high place with very little underpinning it. It's dancing in the penthouse and upper/midfloor but haz no basements. That doesn't make sense either but good luck to you!

From Sealgair, queen of reviews, and the Civet Evangelism Circle: In the imp, this...well, I just say scrummy! It's yummers! It's delightful in other words, sweet and fun and sexy. On the skin, this goes sweaty hairy sexy guy very quickly. Now, initially the sweaty hairy guy is kind of randy and sexy with a little fir tree or faint cedar maybe...and I'm working with that, but MY he's really throwing his scent around! I mean it's much more rare for me to be able to smell a scent, I mean have it really in my nose, while I'm typing and be worried that it's carrying over to my beloved on the couch (hates the BPAL) but I'm choking on the fumes here because I'm afraid Saytr has taken a bit of a turn. Generally I'm lucky with scent. I've rarely RARELY ever have something "go" on me, but for a while here it's kinda... and worse yet, crawling up my nose UGH. However, just in the course of typing this that ugh has turned a bit to relief since now I can really smell the red musk/patchouli, a bit soapy and rubbery faintly but OH so infinitely better than before. It's still a little flat/chokey from a distance. Nose to crook of arm it's much better and sweeter but it's kind of light a faint gassy flatness when my nose isn't up against skin. So much so, that I want to keep my nose buried in my arm so I don't have to endure it... ...and I can't type if I do that. I'm sorely tempted to wash this off except for faint wafts of sweet deliciousness that drift up occasionally. It's mostly patchouli and red musk, I imagine, but it keeps getting negated by whatever WWI toxic vapor persists in rising up crying "EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!" I need a TimeLord to move us up a few hours and gets to a full dry stage which I hope will be better... Thanks Doctor! Okay, this is better. *wipes sweat from brow* Lovely sweet grittiness with a kind of fresh, sharper edge. I need not chew my arm off. Yay! (And yes, by the clock this didn't take very long, but it felt like an eternity!)

Courtesy of Innana9 and the wonderful Civet Evangelism Circle with all courtesies extended to the Lord of the Forest, despite this being principally a scent review: Caveats fully in place...we now review. In the imp this is rather bitter and harsh. There's an almost smoky edge to it. Dirty and mossy. On the skin this almost burns a bit. Am I being rejected? I'm soorry!!! And here I always thought I had a bit of a feral, masculine side. At any rate... It's definitely tingly. It's pine-y, cedarish at first but has a dark muskiness that follows through. Then it turns into a musky patchouli with a little floral. It's almost sweet. It doesn't make ME feel particularly controlling, but still I wish I had someone to dominate right now, if only for the sake of science. :wicked:

Cranberry seduces from afar through the Civet Evangelism Circle: Seduction is interesting, an almost candy-like whiteness in the imp. It's triggering some sort of scent-memory reflection but I cannot for the life of my specify what it is. On: I'd also vote for lily, since SmileCat let me sniff some Tiger Lily as an example when we met up recently. Civet turns to lily on her, and here we have civet pared with something that's already lily. Lil-stravaganza! At any rate, lily. It's a smooth creamy floral. I don't find it particularly seductive and regrettably today is a miserable day to try my powers of seduction because I'm overwhelmingly busy, as is my partner. Alas. We'll see if this overcomes. :wicked:

Cranberry geeks out, on behalf of the Civet Evangelism Circle: In the imp this smells like leather, then a little patchouli, then a little somp'in somp'in else. On it begins that bright fresh thing, then hits mostly with leather and patchouli. I'm begining to detect a pattern with the civet-y scents. It seems to be pared a lot with patchouli and seems to always carry a bit of cedar, fir, pine or woodsy scent along with it. Of course, the results all tend to be quite different, which is the fun thing. A bright leather & patchouli. Very nice! ETA: By bright I don't mean that the scent of the leather is that very fresh leather, but rather that there's a brightness to the scent irrespective of the leather and patchouli which ground it. It darkens and sweetens slightly later on.

Raving thanks to Cranberry and the Civet Evangelism Circle: In the imp this is glorious. My first thought was YUM! Orange blossom smells very juicy to me and deliriously pleasant with just a tiny tiny hint of patchouli. Alas, on my skin the orange blossom is sucked away immediately and the civet (I imagine) begins doing it's fresh almost cedary thing briefly, and then the whole thing goes faint. Woe is me. It's a pleasant faint -- sweet, slight patchouli, hintingly orangish, but my nose would have to be right up against my arm and I don't walk good that way. (I've tried. I've failed.)

Love to Cranberry of the Civet Evangelism Sniffing Circle: This smells a lot brighter in the imp than several of the civet ones I've tested. To my nose it's almost a golden spicy smell. Once it hits the skin the florals open up. I had thought perhaps a little carnation in the imp (because of the spiciness) but here I have to back the rest of the reviewers and think jasmine...or maybe even a little gardenia? It's heady, certainly. It's pleasant. If my love starts snorfing up my left arm, where I've tested Fire of Love as well, we'll know it works. There's a bit of a dead space in the center of this scent, that everything seems to be dancing around, an absence if you will. Barely noticable under the floral. The spices are giving it a little punch but my skin doesn't telegraph it that much. Floral feels a tiny bit sour to me, not much civet that I can smell directly.