forspecial_plate

Gacela Of The Dark Death....."Terebinth pine, pitch, and clove". After reading the poem, I'm wondering if there will be a sneaky note of apple that wasn't listed? Anyway, clove is the only thing I'm not really sure of here. Sometimes it smells sour to me. Probable decant. 3/5 Hypothermia....."Bone-chilling, heart-stopping cold". Hmm, could this be like Archangel Winter, or something totally different? I do like the cold scents. Probable decant. 3/5 In Winter In My Room....."Pink, lank, and warm: grapefruit, yuzu, tuberose, peony, violet leaf, pikaki, Indian frankincense, and tonka". I don't really get the poem, and the notes aren't really calling to me either. Possible sniff somewhere down the road....unless the reviews catch my eye. 2/5 Joulumuori....."Old Lady Christmas, the sweet, smiling wife of Finland's Joulupukki. Her scent invokes the comforts of Christmastime and the warmth of love and cheerful companionship: a glowing hearth, luumukiisseli, riisipuuro, and sima". So apparently this has prunes soaked in sugar, rice pudding, and a certain mead made with lemons and raisins (in addition to the glowing hearth). Could be a nice warm and cozy scent. Possible decant. 2/5 Lick It Til It's Sticky.....another one I can safely pass on. : ) 1/5 Midnight Mass 2009.....I don't need a bottle, but a decant might be nice. I already have 2 or 3 decants from the past Yules, and I don't really wear this scent, but I always feel drawn to it. Go figure. 2/5 Nes Gadol Haya Sham....one scent in four parts?? I'm so confused! The notes all sound nice enough, but if they're all together in one scent, it will be complex indeed. I'll be watching with interest for reviews and clarification. 2/5 Now Winter Nights Enlarge....."Shorten those tedious nights with a surge of body heat: vanilla-infused red musk, champaca, petitgrain, ylang ylang, patchouli, nutmeg, honey, galbanum, and traces of caramel". This just isn't calling to me all that much.....and there's the dreaded honey, too. I'll be watching reviews. 2/5 On Darkness 2009...."An embrace: black poppy, lavender, thick black incense, black amber, rose geranium, Brazilian rosewood, and benzoin". At first I liked my decant from last year, but after a while I decided it was a little too rich. I might still want some more of this, but I'm just not sure. 2/5 The Peacock Queen.....thanks but not for me. I still have an older decant that I never wear. 1/5 Pink Snowballs...."A lighthearted winter scent: chilly vanilla rose snowballs! Dainty, soft, and certainly unfit for flinging!" Hee hee, I kind of want a decant just because it would be funny for a guy to wear this. What's that perfume you're wearing? Oh, this is Pink Snowballs. So butch!! It does actually sound pretty. 2/5 The Season Of Ghosts....."A scent created to burn away sorrow: bergamot, frankincense, rose geranium, ginger, lemongrass, and blood orange". Lots of citrus, but where's the fire? This could be something nice. 2/5 The Shivering Boy 2009......I probably don't need more of this one. Probably. 2/5 Sleipnir...."Confections spun of hazelnuts, honey, elderberries, and bilberries with a dusting of hay and a bit of carrot". Well......not so much. I just don't like honey (in perfume, that is). 1/5 Snow-Flakes 2009......"The radiance and desolation of winter". I used to have a decant of the older one, and I gave it to my sister. I can barely remember what it smelled like. I might end up wanting a decant this year. 3/5 The Snow Maiden......?? I have a blank spot in my memory for this scent. Are their older versions? No notes? I'll have to look up reviews, but I have a feeling I can pass. 2/5 Snow White 2009.....I'm happy with my decant from '07. 1/5 Snowball Fracas....."Muddy dirt and frost-covered moss from the trenches rubbed into winter clothes and snow impact overspray". Not sure, possible decant. 3/5 Sol Invictus 2009.....never had much of a hankering for this one. I think I actually tried it one time, and it turned to powder. 1/5 When The Winter Chrysanthemums Go....."A gentle flurry of snow dusting the season's last chrysanthemums, illuminated by pale rays of winter's amber-tinted sunlight". Yes, please......possible bottle. 4/5 Yule Cat....."Malevolent musk, a drop of infernal civet, vetiver, club moss, birch, goosefoot, and rowan". No civet for me, thank you! 1/5 ......to be continued.

Rated on a scale of 1-5, as being relevant to my interest. But Men Loved Darkness Rather Than Light...."The world will love its darkness: cistus labdanum, ginger, East Indian patchouli, pimento berry, oakmoss, saffron, smoky vanilla, sage, myrrh, and bitter blove". Sounds like Schwarzer Mond. With both patchouli and clove, this could turn out to be sour. Or it could be great. Decant. 3/5 Ded Moroz....."Light, darkness, kindness, and malice: golden amber, white amber, redwood, teak, bois du rose, sage, tree moss, and snow". I've sniffed the prototype....it was pretty nice. From the notes, it looks like it could be a touch powdery. I'm interested, though. Decant, or bottle? 3/5 Diable En Boite...."There are few things more disturbing than a Jack in the Box. A strangely sinister, unnerving holiday scent: redwood, bitter clove, tonka, hemp accord, and tobacco with peach blossom, black currant, and red musk". I can't really imagine what this will smell like. Possible decant? 2/5 El Dia De Los Reyes.....didn't like it last time, I can safely skip this one. 1/5 Evening Cicadas And Red Peppers...."Frost-limned, ice-bejeweled branches, scattered blood-red maple leaves, a few camellia petals, red peppers, and nacreous, multi-colored musks that shimmer like gently-beating cicada wings". This sounds freakin' awesome. I suppose something could go wrong in those notes, but I am feeling a bottle purchase on this one. Possibly. 4/5 Faunalia...."The scent of a thick, starlit, unspoiled forest, with a burst of wild musk, opobalsamum, black bryony, mandragora, and hemlock". The forest part catches my interest. What in holy heck is opobalsamum? Is that a typo? I'd like a decant of this one, I think. 3/5 The First Soft Snow....."Heavy drifts of snow blanketing winter's narcissus". I don't know what narcissus smells like! I'll have to do a little research. Possible decant. 3/5 The Fruit Of Paradise 2009.....still have my decant from '07 I think, and never wear it.....another one I can skip. 1/5 .......to be continued.

So, after all that fuss, it turns out I was right after all.....my current lease is from December to December. With a little more planning and communication, I could have avoided that whole awkward situation. The good news is that I'm moving next month. My new apartment is almost exactly halfway between work and school (a mile and a half to either one). In a pinch if my car broke down, I could walk to either work or school. It also has: off street parking, secure entry/building, laundry in the basement, and paid heat and water. I am really excited. Now for the big pain in the ass of moving again. Once again, I should just throw a lot of stuff away, useless junk that I tend to hold onto. Time to look for boxes!

I talked to my landlady and she might let me out of my lease even though I'm technically already into my next year. Not only that but I might have to be out by the end of October.....which is faster than I was planning on. I need to get all this resolved soon, because it's making my anxiety worse than ever. I need to know where I'm going to live! She's going to look over the lease and call me back (I guess tomorrow....I thought she would call me back tonight but she never did).

.....and the bottle is at home. I'll edit later with the Roman numeral. Herbs? Licorice, black leather? Eucalyptus? This is scent is weird. Very weird. It starts out herbal and..........jeez, I can't even think of a word. It reminds me of chemicals, magic markers, or maybe hairspray, with eucalyptus. After it dries for a while, I would still call it herbal, but the nearly menthol quality fades. It changes to something like black jelly beans with no sugar, more synthetic, not like anise the herb. I also smell asphalt, and something that reminds me of sleet. The slightly sour hairspray note can still be detected. This reminds me strongly of a conceptual scent, an H.R. Giger painting, maybe? Grey pipes hissing with mist......cold, not hot. The colors would be all grays and blacks. There is not a drop or ounce of color in this scent. It could be called Black Ice if there weren't already a Black Ice. This one has no flowers or sweetness whatsoever (unlike the existing Black Ice scent). I'll be honest, at first I hated it, but I have to admit that it's strangely compelling.

This is for my future swap post. I'll have some Possets bottles up for grabs, and here are some that I would swap for: Adamus The Awakening Conscience Cootie Dark Lady Margot Queen Of The Night Risk Sex With The Spirits Tulipomania Warmth

I am an idiot. My lease is over at the end of this month (October, not November). It's too late for me to move out. And the landlady already told me she won't go month-to-month. The reason I got confused, is because the last time I moved, I got sick in the middle of the process. I spent 2 or 3 weeks recovering, and had to stop the whole moving process, which means I stayed over a couple weeks at my old apartment. I actually should have paid them another month's rent, but they let it slide. Anyway, looks like I'm staying put for another year after all.

Lots on my mind, and lots to do in the next week or so....and beyond. I've pretty much decided to move when my lease is out which is at the end of November, which means I'm looking at an apartment tomorrow, so I can get things moving ASAP. The apartment sounds really great, and it's in an area that I like, so I'm really excited and I hope that I like it. It has many more pros than the place where I live now, and honestly, I can hardly wait to move out of there. Cat friendly, laundry in basement, off-street parking, secure building, paid heat and water, nicer neighborhood.....and the landlady seems okay to me, just from the phone conversations we've had. Also it's only a couple of blocks away from the Cincinnati Zoo, which I think is really great (the Zoo is in kind of a bad area but that's not the part where I'm looking.....I'm a little further south of that which is more of a college- and medical-student area). Other than that, I have a whole bunch of smaller stuff that I need to get done, including cleaning up my current apt so I can be sure to get my deposit back. I will feel a little bad telling my current landlady that I'm not staying, but......well, I can't think of a but. I just never felt at home there, can't stand the neighbors, can't get comfortable in the space....what more really needs to be said? It's a nice apartment but I just for whatever reason couldn't get myself adjusted there. And I'm definitely not staying for another year, and she won't go month-to-month, so there ya go.

Bumping this: .....Because I have a few of those older ones, and I was wondering just how old they really were. Good to know!

From the male point of view, There's A Certain Slant Of Light gives me that vibe: "Thin, tinny ozone with frankincense, white sandalwood, white amber, hyssop, bitter violet leaf, and shadowy wisps of smoke".

Another one I tried at Sally's, and I've been wanting to try this for a long time. I don't like it nearly as much as I thought I would, but again, this was tested along with about a hundred other scents (exaggeration), so that can distort my impressions. But the wood had a different quality than what I was hoping for (more fuzzy or powdery or something), and it smelled somewhat reminiscent of Rat (I think) from last year's Yule scents, which I already have a decant of, so I probably don't need to hunt down any Yule. It's a good thing to know, and I'm glad I got to try it, because I was really going to try to get a bottle unsniffed.

I tried this at Sally's house, but it was kind of drowned out by the 50 other scents I was wearing. I smelled the cherry and a little booze, and it might actually be a nice, subtle scent, but I would have to re-test to give a real impression. Just posting this here for my own future reference (sorry that it's a useless review). : )

First applied, this is lovely! Right away it's very sweet to me, and I don't really know which note is so sweet unless it's the opoponax. Anyway.....I can also smell the rain note, and it's the most lovely, delicate aquatic scent that I have experienced. It's so light and fragile that it's almost lost in the blend, but just strong enough that it stands out if you're 'looking' for it. I love aquatics and this aspect is stunning, but overall I don't consider this an aquatic scent. After the scent warms and dries on my skin, it seems to actually get stronger. It loses a little bit of the complexity of the very first stage, and the sweetness starts to get to me a little bit. I don't like honey in perfume, and this starts to remind me of honey somewhat.....a little cloying. And this stuff really has staying power and strength! I can really understand the comparisons to Samhain, but this reminds me even more of Autumn, except without the rose in that scent. I'm going to try applying with a lighter touch, and I refuse to give up on this scent, even though it turns too strong and a little cloying with the honey sweetness. What I learned from Samhain is that after 3 years, the sweetness balanced out with the other notes and it became something almost heartbreakingly beautiful. I hope for the same thing to happen with Falling Leaf Moon!

The first time I tried this, I didn't like it at all. I gave it a couple weeks and tried it again, and it's better....but still not something I need a lot of. It's very dry and I do like the clove, but the black musk keeps wanting to fight with me. I have been having trouble with black musk lately. This scent reminds me of Velvet Bandito, but I think I like that better, and at any rate a decant of this is enough for me. I will probably keep it but not go for a bottle.

I haven't tried that soap either, but I still recommend Cathode: "A negatively charged scent. Ambergris, Spanish Moss, oakmoss and three electric mints". It does start out minty but it dries down to a fabulous mossy finish. : )

I was really curious about this scent! So glad that Sally let me try hers. As it turns out, it's just not for me. At all. I see where people are getting rose from this, I smell it too. Actually this has more rose than some rose scents that I've tried. I think I wanted more sweetness or caramel/cake out of it. It's kind of strong and cloying, and almost plasticky for the first half hour to an hour. However after that, it does reach a middle stage where it smells kind of good to me. It takes on almost a hint of chocolate, and has a nice, complex cake-y smell. Much later on.....stale dusty roses. : ( Or maybe : ) because that means I one less scent for me to hunt down.

Briefly tested..... Pleasant, sweet, however somewhat undistinguished, this one is just not for me. I have nothing against sweet scents but I wouldn't wear this with so many other scents I like more. Plus this does something a little funky on the dry-down. It reminded me of Anactoria, which was weird.

More bottles that I may or may not want....I need to decide! A Fit Of Artistic Enthusiasm....."Electric jolts of mania: a salt-crusted coffin bobbing through tumultuous ocean waves". This sounds good, I'll have to decide when my decant arrives. If it's close enough to Kingsport, I may not need more. On the other hand, if it's a good substitute for Kingsport, maybe that would be a good backup for when my Kingsport runs out. Hideous Heart....."A macabre Valentine: wild black cherries, licorice root, and cinnamon". I doubt that I'll need a whole bottle of this, unless it really knocks my socks off. Trevor Bruttenholm...."A classic men’s cologne mixed with the scent of old, yellowed books, a splash of bay rum, and summoning incense". Could be too masculine, but I perk up at bay rum and incense. Waiting for my decant. Abe Sapien....."A soft aquatic musk with kelp and juniper". Another aquatic! Can you really have too many? See Artistic Enthusiasm above for my thoughts on this one, they're pretty much the same. I have a feeling Abe might be more on the powdery side, but the decant will decide it. Still need decants of Bite Me, Shadowless Like Silence, and Summer's Last Will And Testament. Rose kind of scares me off sometimes but you never know. You just never know.

I have to narrow these down at least a little bit! Unless I decide to just go crazy and have a huge order, which is not out of the question. Maybe if I get my thoughts down, it would help me decide. Lambs-Wool.....this is a really nice scent, and wears kind of light, so a bottle might be a good thing. I already have one apple scent, Fearful Pleasure, but to me that is a much different kind of scent. FP is more musky and smokey, whereas Lambs-Wool is bright and springy. It's complex and unusual. If I get a bottle, I almost certainly wouldn't need any more apple scents! Sarah.....I loved this at first, and I want to make sure it's not a false alarm, that I really do love it, before getting a bottle. At first I thought I hadn't smelled anything like it before, but now it is starting to remind me of things like On Darkness, Ghulheim, and one other dark scent that I can't put a name to right now. I still like Sarah, though. I'm just not sure if I need a whole bottle or not. Julia Stone.....I love this one! When I first discovered Bpal, Dirty was one of the first scents I tried, and in the end, I just didn't like the linen note. So from then on, I thought linen wasn't for me. Well guess what. Julia Stone is a linen-y scent that I actually can wear! I'll have to try it a couple more times to be sure, and as long as it doesn't turn powdery, I would love a bottle. It's really fun to discover that I can wear linen after all! Feeding The Dead.......I love this one too (damn it)!! The one drawback to this one is there is a limit on where I would wear it. For example, I don't think I'd wear it to work, not just because of the beer, but because I usually avoid the more incense-y blends at work (I just don't think it's real appropriate for my job). But....I really enjoy smelling this, even just wearing it at home, as a comfort scent. I've discovered that I like cake scents to wear around the house, but I'm even more drawn to the ones that have some interesting twist, which this definitely has. Knock A Dolly......This sounds sensational, and I have a feeling I must have it. I already have a million kinds of incense and tarts that I haven't been using, but this would be my first BPTP room spray. I do have a couple of little samples of their room sprays, and I do like them. So, I may end up kicking myself later if I let this one pass by. A couple of the late summer scents are calling to me too, but so many of them have rose, which could turn soapy or powdery, so I may pass those up (even though I might regret it). I just have to accept that I can't get everything, and I think the Halloween scents are more important to me. So......that didn't really help. All I did was come closer to buying all of them instead of narrowing down my choices!

I bought a book of the Alien comics (comic books compiled into a softcover book, 'Omnibus'). The story starts up after Aliens, but the characters' names are changed, and Ripley isn't in it. Actually only Newt and Hicks are in them. Anyway, good story, alternate sequel material, and I haven't read a comic in ages, so it's kind of fun. The last comic books I got into were Eightball but that's been a few years. There are a couple more volumes of the Alien Omnibus, I might keep following the story, we'll see. Oh and I tried Melainis again today.....just doesn't work for me, due to the black musk I think. Just too blecch papery powdery and reminds me of Haunted. Another one for my swaps if they ever get off the ground.

I agree with the person who said this is "heavenly". : ) It has tart apple, of course, and was more......bright and spring-like than I was expecting, but I'm not sure why. It somehow is more complex than just a foody scent, but it looks like it behaves differently depending on the person wearing it (based on other reviews). Personally, I didn't like the milk note in Milk Moon (the newer one), but I barely detect any milk in Lambs-Wool at all. What I do smell is tart apples and gentle spices. The apple is strong in the beginning but as the oil dries the apples blend in softly with the rest of the notes. Interesting how there's nothing listed that strikes me as perfumey, but after a while this does have a perfumey and almost soapy quality (not in a bad way) when I wear it. Maybe it's the ginger combined with the milk. To me this is a light scent, but it does have lasting power. Does anyone else think this smells like Lovers In A Ricefield? That's what it reminded me of most of all.

I just got Feeding The Dead yesterday...."A barrel of beer, a pyramid of cakes, and three sticks of incense". The beer note is really amazing. I never thought I would be attracted to the scent of beer in my perfume! It actually smelled fizzy to me, and reminded me a little bit of the 'fizzy cola' smell that I've detected in some other scents. But it blends so, so well with the other notes. Very unique, and very appealing.

I had high hopes for this. The notes in the description are just so odd! Well, let's see how it plays out. The decant is fresh out of my PO box. Freshly applied, I thought of Devil's Night '06 right away. I'm smelling musk with some sort of candy sweetness. How strange! It's almost powdery but not quite. Obviously things like flecks of froth and black marble are more poetic descriptions than things that you will actually smell in this scent....unless you are swayed by your imagination, which could very well be. As it dries, I'm......spellbound. This is like nothing I've smelled before. I'm still smelling a sweetish musk, and now there's a bit of peppery bite, too. This goes beyond gender-neutral into its own category altogether. Remember how I said you can't really smell the poetic notes? I'm backpedalling now, because yes, I can smell unholy mist, cold, black marble, and everything else in the description. It's amazing. I have a feeling the sweetness is coming from the incense. Something else about Sarah.......to the casual observer (or sniffer), this might pass for a more traditional scent. I think some might find this masculine, but I really think it could go either way. I think you could wear this to work and get away with it, because it's soft, with not a lot of throw, and could trick people into thinking it's a traditional, and classy, perfume. It could also work for a formal occasion, because it has a bit of an austere quality. All of this is is my long-winded way of saying that I love this scent!

I only tried this once, but I want to post my impressions of it. It was much drier than I expected, and strong! It was a little on the sharp side, almost searing, but pleasant too. The first thing I thought of was Sol, I think they smell alike. I found it hard to identify any notes in Sunbird, except I thought I smelled frankincense. There was some morphing going on, too. The scent seemed to change at least once while I was wearing it......but I couldn't really explain how it was different! Overall this was definitely something I could wear again, but I love scents like Djinn that other people find too burny, so take that into consideration. Edit.....I guess that wasn't very descriptive. It's a hot scent, almost fiery, but dry too, like a desert. Basically it illustrates the concept very well, and I couldn't describe it better than that!

Oh my God, this smells like chili?? And I like it?? Really bizarre and I usually don't like honey, but I am strangely compelled by this. And it smells like chili.