Indigo

When I was there last week, the women told me that the guy in charge of ordering was planning to double the size of the existing display. *fingers crossed*

Sugar cookies with bay rum, tobacco, and lime. In the bottle: Sour lime and tobacco. Oh, ew. I was so disappointed. But I was determined to give it a try, so I broke a tine off a clean plastic fork and tested it on my wrist. Wet: The lime backed off, thankfully, but still was too there. I got more tobacco. Which wasn't so bad as I love the smell of unburned cigarettes. Twenty minutes later: The lime has gone altogether, and the rum and sugar have turned up along with the tobacco. It's kind of masculine, but mmmmm. Yum. Good.

I haven't tried the other snake pit scents, yet, still being a baby bpaler. But it was love at first smell for Boomslang, and a bottle of it is in my future.

Going through some of the new imps and fighting the urge to slather on lots of Purple Phoenix again: I think that will be my imp of the day. Wet: Mmmm. This is sweet. And I can kinda sorta smell the notes I was given to expect by the writeup, but they're so nicely blended I can't really pick them up. If this maintains this way, it goes in the "keepers". Dry-Down: Hm. I had heard of fragrances turning soapy on the wearer. I think I'm experiencing that now. It's not bad, but I am definitely brought to mind with soap. Throw: I have a hard time picking out throw because my sense of smell is so diminished by allergies and the like. Oh, and this one seems to be another voodoo blend. I seem to gravitate straight for those before I even realize they are voodoo blends. Later: It seemed to fade away to nothing by lunchtime. But I had some running around to do at lunch. The fragrance rallied in the Atlanta heat and I was surrounded by spicy loveliness all afternoon. And no soapiness! Keeper!

Going through some of the new imps and fighting the urge to slather on lots of Purple Phoenix again: I think that will be my imp of the day. Wet: Mmmm. This is sweet. And I can kinda sorta smell the notes I was given to expect by the writeup, but they're so nicely blended I can't really pick them up. If this maintains this way, it goes in the "keepers". Dry-Down: Hm. I had heard of fragrances turning soapy on the wearer. I think I'm experiencing that now. It's not bad, but I am definitely brought to mind with soap. Throw: I have a hard time picking out throw because my sense of smell is so diminished by allergies and the like. Oh, and this one seems to be another voodoo blend. I seem to gravitate straight for those before I even realize they are voodoo blends. Later: It seemed to fade away to nothing by lunchtime. But I had some running around to do at lunch. The fragrance rallied in the Atlanta heat and I was surrounded by spicy loveliness all afternoon. And no soapiness! Keeper!

Based off a conversation I had with my good friend Jenni. I told her Rose Cross would suit her. We agreed it sounded like a Final Fantasy special attack. She asked what I thought it would look like, and I told her. Today I needed some practice doing digital inking, so I drew it.

I now officially need a bigger BPAL container. <lj user="kandrinchae">, as a "thank you for enabling me" gift got me: Midnight on the Midway Bakeneko Madame Moriarty: Misfortune Teller Monster Bait: Bigger Critters and the lovely person she got them from gimped me with Obatala and Pinched with 4 Aces, as well as some LUSH haircare. <lj user="crazyfurries"> sent me a box of stuff I'm to give to others, but also gifted me with chocolate body wash [and I was just about out of soap, too!], bath bombs, plush toys [including a chibi Hiro!] and a little box that may have been an Altoids tin in a previous life, which is now full of bpal imps: Purple Phoenix [how did she KNOW? And she sent me a bottle of it too!] Djinn Has no Hanna Cheshire Cat Ultraviolet [which I think I've tried already? Maybe?] Whitechapel [...Jack the Ripper?] Marie Embalming Fluid [oh, that'll be fun to wear for work, yes it will] Gluttony Sophia Dove's Heart Drink Me ...do I have incredibly awesome friends or what? Or is that I have really insistent enablers?

I have been having an ongoing problem with a coworker I call "Freckles," and his tendency to go all religious, and work religion into conversation or the class I'm helping him teach, whenever possible. My LJ friends have been very supportive. Today, though, I wore Wolf's Heart. I got the courage to broach the subject with a couple coworkers. One told me she finds him abrasive and she has the urge to tell him to STFU every time he cracks on how skinny she is. The other informed me that when word got around I'd be working with "Freckles," the response was "uh-oh -- conflict," because people thought our personalities would clash. Today was also the least offensive he's been to me in four work days. I think I need a bottle of STFU.

Due to a couple charges hitting later rather than earlier, and my transfer of funds not hitting as planned, I ended up extremely, extremely overdrawn. I've fixed it, but paying the overdraft plus the damned fees for being overdrafted cost me money I was planning to spend on Dragon*Con, and other stuff. So I'm wearing Foundation of Fortune again. I would really like it if the universe could help me out on this one.

In the imp: Mmm, sweet and rich. Wet: Ack. Musk. Heavy musk. Overwhelming. Endure. Endure. It must get better. Dry down: Oh, yeah. There it is. Spicy. Mmm. Yeah. Much later: A coworker thought it smelled babypowdery. I can smell that underneath, but it's all sexyspicy on top. And the name made her crack up laughing. So glad I got a bottle of this.

Well, such that they are. I haven't been enabled long, but I am copy/pasting the ones from my LJ: WOLF'S HEART: Grants courage under extremeconditions, helps overcome fear of death, and strengthens the fortitudeof artists and businessmen, enabling them to further their goals. I sampled this at the zorathenne party and loved it. I hate the scrip doesn't say what's in it. In the bottle: warm and sweet. Wet: A little more flowery and less spicy than I recollected, but still nice. Throw: Good throw, too. I can smell it even without having my wrists near my face. Dry down: Went spicy and musky for a bit there, but ooo, that's good too. Later: Went icky for about 5 minutes, then went back to the warm and sweet from the bottle. Comment: It wasn't my goal to feel like Eartha Kitt in the leather cat suit, nor to have my carpool buddy grab me and purr/growl at me, but hey. Egoboo is never a bad thing. Rating: 4/5 -- gonna have to be careful who I wear it around! Midnight: Night blooming flowers. Wet: Sweet and floral Throw: Not terribly strong, but the scent really digs its claws in. I had to wash my wrists a second time after a shower to get rid of the scent before I could try another one! Dry down: Floral still. But nice. Which is a surprise. I thought it would be overwhelming and cloying, but the people who have described it as "walking through a lush garden at night" are right. It does give off that flowers in the dark feeling. Later: The floral is undercut with something mildly spicy. I don't know what, but I like it. Comment: After all the fear of another OMG ORCHIDS EW, it turned out to be delicious. Rating: 4/5 due to not being able to get rid of it after a shower! Pele: Whimsical, temperamental, radiant and ravishingly beautiful Goddess of Volcanoes, Fire, Lightning and Dance. She is the Mother of Eruptions and the personification of destructive power. Volcanic eruptions are said to be a side-effect of her jealous rages and her epic quarrels with her siblings are legendary. This perfume embodies her gentler, benign aspect as the capricious Goddess of Dance: muguet and Hawaiian white ginger enveloped by warm, damp tropical blooms. Wet: I can smell the tropical flowers. It smells like hibiscus. Very nice. Throw: Practically none. Dry down: Kinda fades to nothing on me. Disappointing. Comment: I think florals kind of fade to black on me. Rating: 3/5 because it fades to nothing. I really like it, but I may have to slather to get any mileage out of it. And I'm not a slatherer, really, by nature. ULTRAVIOLET: Electrifying,mechanized and chilly -- the scent of crushed blooms strewn on cold metal. Lush violet and neroli spiked hard with eucalyptus and a sliver of mint. In the imp: WOO! That's mint and eucalyptus all right. Mouthwash that also makes you stop coughing? Wet: Both those intimidating primary notes have backed down, leaving something slightly floral and spicy. I'd expect that's the neroli. Hmm. Dry down: Aw, man. It ran away on me like that other scent last week. I can barely smell it at all now. Comment: Floral. Kinda runs away on me. Rating: 3/5 due to the fading. See above regarding slather comment. HIGH JOHN THE CONQUEROR: fast-acting, powerfulscent used to overcome adversity through positive means. Attractswealth, prestige, good health, and enhances others' opinions of you.Grants courage and steadfastness. In the imp: ... hurk. Gah. Smells like something green that's been sitting too long. Wet: It's supposed to smell like grapes. It smells like dirt. ALMONDS and DIRT. Yark. I may not be able to make it all day on this one. I'm actively becoming nauseous. I'M SO DISAPPOINTED, everybody else on the forum says theirs smells grapey and lemony. I'd love to smell like grape lemonade. But I smell like almonds and dirt. But it's supposed to have courage-enhancing and wealth-attracting properties, and I could use those, so on it stays. Dry Down: ... about 20 minutes into my commute, it changed. The horrible almonds and dirt smell has gone away, replaced by something I haven't been able to identify. more as the day goes by. I can't place a finger on the notes at the top now, but they're much, much nicer than the horrors of this morning. Comment: By the end of the day, I adored it. And ooooh, the reaction out of my male carpool buddy. Worth it just for that effect. Rating: 4/5 -- the fact that it starts off smelling offensively bad means I have to wait it out for about 40 minutes before I get to the lovely powerful part. FAE: A brilliant, ethereal scent: white musk, bergamot, heliotrope, peach and oakmoss. Wet: ...black licorice with sugar? Ooookaaay...not bad, but not a scent I'd immediately have thought to make a perfume from. Dry down: ...marshmallows? A bit later: Ooh, there's the oakmoss. Much later: I smell the musk and the bergamot. Comment: Lovely. Whimsical. Appropriately named. Keeper. Rating: 5/5 Y'ha-nthlei We shall swim out to that brooding reef in the sea and dive down through black abysses to Cyclopean and many-columned Y'ha-nthlei, and in that lair of the DeepOnes we shall dwell amidst wonder and glory for ever. A great undersea metropolis located below Devil's Reef. A swirling, lightless,effervescent scent: the deepest marine notes with bergamot, eucalyptusand foamy ambergris. In the imp: Fresh! Wet: I'm not sure how to describe it. Kind of green smelling? Dry down: Didn't get a chance to tell. I got into a car with my coworker, and her Ralph Lauren made Y'ha-nthlei go YIPE YIPE YIPE YIPE YIPE! and I haven't been able to smell it since. Comments: No muscle whatsoever. Folded for Ralph Lauren. Hmph. Couldn't have had much of a throw, either, but I didn't know about throws when I first tried this one out. Rating: 2/5 SUSPIRO: A Latin word that means to sigh or draw a deep breath, that alsosuggests longing, desire, yearning, and a passionate wish. Ylang ylangwith white plum, white orchid, jasmine, calla lily and lily of the valley. (Gender neutral) In the imp: Nice. Sweet. Wet: o_O X_o x_X BLEH! OMG orchids are the master tone of this one! I mean I knew there'd be orchids, but ...gah.[1]. Not happy orchids. Putrid orchids! Steeeenky. Nononono. Okay, this has about an hour to smell less worse or I am diving for the sink. Suspiro means "draw a deep breath" -- I want to not be breathing this in. Yargh. If I ever want a sick day when I'm not genuinely feeling sick, I can just snorfle this. This is what I get for trusting the other notes would work over the orchid. Dry Down: Softening back a little. Jasmine is starting to show up, I think. Still too flowery for me, though. I can wear it without the OMG reaction now, but I think Suspiro is destined for the swaps. Later: About an hour later than my first Dry Down impression -- it's backed off so much now I can barely smell it at all. No staying power, definitely not my thing. I need something that can go all day. Which is too bad. The orchid scent is gone but it took all the others with it. And I got the impression it might've gone nicer on me if I'd given it more time. Yep. To the swaps. Still later: The scent is back, but OMG now it smells like dotty little old lady. Comment: This is the kind of Whimsical I can live without. Failboat, one for the Lido deck. Rating: 1/5 - I don't plan to be a dotty old lady. I don't need to smell like one. BASTET: Bast, Ubasti, Ailuros, Ba-en-Aset. Represented as both a domestic cat and a fierce lioness, she truly evidences traits of both. She is the Mother of All Cats, Goddess of Sensuality, Fertility, and a guardian and protector of women. She is also one of the Eyes of Ra, and in that aspect is an Avenging Goddess, seeking retribution and punishing enemies of her people. Luxuriant amber, warm Egyptian musk, fierce saffron and soft myrrh, almond, cardamom and golden lotus. In the imp: sweet and spicy. Can't really identify it. I was worried about the almond but i don't smell it at all. There's saffron in this one too, so I'm looking forward to it. Wet: I think I smell the musk and the lotus. And the sweetness must be my beloved saffron. More as the day passes. Dry-Down: There's my saffron again. Aaahhhh. Oooooooo. I like the amber-musk undertones too. Lovely. Comment: Keeper. Wasn't paying attention to the throw. Rating: 5/5 -- saffron scents make me really happy. Tamora also works like this on me. See below. Saint Germain: "A man who knows everything and who never dies." Saidto have lived for centuries, the Comte de Saint-Germain is truly a manof legend and mystery. He was an aristocrat, master alchemist,adventurer, magician, artist, and seer with a lust for exquisitejewels, and was reputed to have attained knowledge of the Elixer ofLife. His knowledge was so vast and all-encompassing that his claim tohave lived hundreds of years - he allegedly knew Jesus and was presentat the Council of Nicea - was widely accepted as true. He is a HermeticMagician's hero for the ages, and his scent is an elegant, timeless,truly refined cologne, bold yet classic: gilded amber, hypnoticlavender, brash carnation and deep mosses. Wet: Smells green and herbal and masculine, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. It must be the lavender I smell, and the moss. The name is what caught my attention because there was a novelist whose main character went by that name. Vampire. It doesn't remind me of the vampire, but it does smell like something a guy would put on. Dry down: Mmmm, the green and lavender scent has backed off, leaving what must be the amber. Spicy. Intoxicating. Later: Amber and the lavender has returned a little, mildly. Comment: Another keeper. Rating: 3/5 ETA: I'm learning about throws now. It apparently doesn't have much of one. DCMC is one of my snifftesters, and he couldn't smell it on me even when I had an arm six inches under my nose. Also, it fades quickly. Tamora, on the other hand, sticks around. I could still smell it the following day until I showered. Tamora - Illyria - Amber, heliotrope, golden sandalwood, peach blossom and vanilla bean Wet: Oooo, sweet. Fruit and vanilla together. I smell like a smoothie. Dry down: Millions of peaches. Peaches for me. Millions of peaches. Peaches for free. I smelled like a giant bowl of peaches. In the syrup. After all day: Yummy. The peach backed off and left the sandalwood and vanilla bean. I feel like I should be at the beach. It's soothing. Keeper. Comments: The guys really liked this one, and one of my female coworkers said I smell like a lemon wafer cookie. Rating: 4/5 PHANTASM: This delicate, spectral perfume givesrise to an eerie distortion of of the senses. It bestows an ephemeral,ghostly, and truly haunting quality to your presence. Green tea, lemonverbena, jasmine and neroli. Wet: ...what is that? Furniture polish? Drydown: It's running away. I can barely smell it at all now? Hmm. Slightly milder furniture polish. Hours later: Dishwashing liquid. Bleah. And then gone. The guys couldn't smell it either. Comment: So disappointed. I wanted to like this one. Rating: 1/5 AZATHOTH is the blind, idiot god who sits on a black throne at the center of Chaos. His scent is high-pitched and screeching, both impenetrably darkand searingly bright with the clarity of madness: tangerine, saffron,vetiver, black amber and cedarwood. Wet: Pepper and pine-sol?! Gah. WUT?! But the peppery scent is enticing, so... Dry-down: Give it a few minutes, and...gah, air freshener/moth balls. I'm guessing this must be the cedar. Bleah. I do not smell any damned saffron, either. I'd definitely say madness is a good description. This...is...revolting [cue Data quotes here]. But maybe being insane is what I need to face another day at work. I'll give it a chance. Drying down more: Oooooo, now I smell the saffron. That's not maddening. That's soothing. Still no tangerine, though. And I don't know if I'd know vetiver if it walked up and bitchslapped me. After all day: I'm just mad about saffron...she's just mad about me... Saffron note wins. It has pretty much outstripped all the other notes, and this wins. Plus, guy-opinion is it works, too. Comment: Can't tell about the throw. A little disappointed that the other fragrances muscle out first and I have to endure them to get to my saffron. Rating: 2/5 -- if the saffron were stronger and sooner, it'd be an easy 4. Black Dahlia Wet: Oh my god, hideous. Smells like cat urine. Gah. Bleah. Fek! Ptui! Drydown: I endured that immediate reaction and I'm glad, because the musk backed down within two or three minutes to something spicy and alluring. After all day: It isn't as relaxing and calming a scent as Languor, but the spiciness is good for keeping one's dukes up. Which I needed after today. Comment: It was okay. That cat urine reaction at the beginning is enough to make me not want to wear it much, though. Rating: 2/5 Langour is an imp that was gifted to me at the party. I really like it. Though I haven't worn it since I've been trying a new imp every day. Rating: I'd say it was probaby a 3/5 because I liked it, it had a good throw -- enough that the little old lady in the fitting room at the JC Penney Outlet asked me what I was wearing because I smelled good.

Yesterday, I was wearing Wolf's Heartthe description indicates it: strengthens the fortitudeof artists and businessmen, enabling them to further their goals. I'd buy that. Given the day I'd had. It started out terrible but got increasingly better as the day went on. The morning was annoying. I was back on the phones getting yelled at by cranky customers. Then one of the bigwigs at work did the infuriating "I have something to tell you but I can't really tell you so I'll hint at you" thing. By the afternoon, one of the other bigwigs at work put me back on the schedule I wanted to be on for Friday, doing the work I want to be doing. And starting Monday, for a week, I get to be tried out in a training environment -- the job I've been trying to do since I got to this company. So, yeah, I believe. I'm looking forward to wearing Jinx remover TAL and Foundation of Fortune TAL early next week. I may even layer them if the scents seem amenable!

I've made the two guys who carpool with me serve as sniffie guinea pigs. So far, I've hit on one fragrance one of them doesn't like [i can't remember which it is -- I can check my LJ and update]. They're politely indifferent or "that's nice/that's flowery" to most of the others. Last week High John the Conqueror had one of my carpool buddies giving me the eyes and saying I probably shouldn't wear that one around him again. He then went on for a good bit about my boyfriend being very lucky if I wear that around him. Last night, I was wearing Wolf's Heart, and my other carpool buddy was in the car. I asked him what he thought of it. He took a very long sniff. And then he raised his head and made this face. And he didn't say a word, but just by the expression, I got the feeling of "...how exactly do I explain this reaction?" I blinked at him and waited for him to say something. He reached across my car, grabbed me in a tight hug and purred, "Oh, Indigo" at me. I blinked some more and said, "I take it this means you like it." He nodded, said, "Me like," and got out of my car faster than I have ever seen him do before. This of course will result in a new BPAL MACRO when I'm home in front of my computer. Oh, yes. It will. This makes the "men are toy mice" part of my personality very, very amused. And part of me is wondering now if it's safe to wear Follow Me Boy around either of them. The rest of me is looking forward to seeing if the Voodoo properties make it fun/dangerous. I think Jinx Remover works too. The days I wore it this week, good stuff happened, or bad stuff stopped happening. I quit wearing it, bad stuff came back. Maybe it's psychosomatic. Maybe not.