Dare to be different and learn to be lonely

On weekends it's very hard to get dressed (as I usually don't see the point), but I managed to freshen up and put on clothes both yesterday and today, yay! One incentive was that I got to try a new perfume oil from BPAL (The Black Phoenix Alchemy Laboratory). I ordered three bottles and a couple of samples back in March, but due to a busy schedule I postponed putting them on until I was stressfree. I wanted to make sure nothing affected my sniffing experience negatively;)

( The bottles have awesome artwork on them )
This weekend I put on Pink Fuzzy Handcuffs, a limited edition for Lupercalia 2018. The scent was described as: Pink cotton candy, candied rose, and vanilla sugar. When I smelled it from the bottle it made me think of a deliciously heavy honey. It wasn't until I put it on that the rose really came through and I immediately had a flashback to a thing from my childhood that I had forgotten. On my way to school I would walk past a whole bunch of rose bushes. I would take the pink petals and crush them in my hands: that's what this scent smells like and I love it!
I'm not usually a fan of flowery perfumes, as I am a big foodie, but this works wonderfully on me as all of the notes combined give me a sweet and warm rosey honey smell, mmmmm.

I'm looking forward to trying the other scents next. (I won't test them during the week, as I don't want to be stuck in the office if a smell turns out to not suit me;)

Speaking of things that make me happy: I'm very amused that the Unicorn balloon that my sister in law bought me last weekend is still floating around. ( I just had to take a photo of it with my Unicorn cereal )

J.

P.S. I'm experimenting with fonts on my Dreamwidth; if you see anything funky, let me know!

Almost three years ago Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab stopped making my favorite scent Gluttony. When I opened my new order two weeks ago I was pleasantly surprised when sniffing one of the vials; Cockaigne smelled just like that scent that I thought was lost for ever. Today I finally tried it on for real (I hadn't dared to smell it again for fear of being mistaken) and it had not just been wishful thinking: it is MY scent all over again, mmmmm. I've been walking in a cloud of deliciousness all day.

Cockaigne - from the Wanderlust collection: The weather is always mild, the wine flows freely, sex is readily available, and all people enjoy eternal youth. The Land of Plenty, also called Luilekkerland; the Lazy, Luscious Land: milk and honey, sweet cakes and wine.

Ah, that made me feel a little better. Just had to let that out:)

Yesterday spn_cinema started and I realized I still haven't finished my artwork for that challenge. My posting date is Sunday November 13. *gulp*
Before that I'm busy with the final touches on my designs for spn_reversebang, which will go online on Friday November 11 together with the marvelous story that tmn1966 wrote based on my prompt. I can't wait to share that with all of you! *bounces*.

November 11 is St.Maarten's Day in the Netherlands: children will light lantarns and go from door to door singing for candy. Hmmm, sounds familiar? Yeah, kind of like Halloween, but without the dressing up :-p
Speaking of Halloween: I received my order from bpal this week: ( two deliciously sweet scents in adorably labeled bottles )

Yeah, I may have overdosed on sweetness the last few days. Oops.

Now that I almost reached the end of deliveries from my booklist (only waiting for one more package from The Book Depository), I figure it's time to lighten (up) my workingweek with another order from The Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab; I always have packages delivered at work, since I'm never at home during mail-hours. It's awesome to open presents, even if I buy them myself;)
I already know I want to order a whole bottle of Drink Me from The Mad Tea Party collection, because that smells utterly delicious: "...mixed flavour of cherry-tart, custard, pine-apple, roast turkey, toffee, and hot buttered toast" :-)

I also found a new scent I MUST HAVE. Not so much for its smell but mostly for its name:
JUDITH VICTORIOUS \o/

It's inspired by this awesome painting:
( depicting the same story as my icon; )

Obviously the scent should fit me, but even if it doesn't, the bottle alone is worth the cost to me;)

I still need to complete my list of 6 samples. I'm definitely gonna order Dorian (Sin & Salvation) and Aglaea ( The Gratiae - Excolo), because I need another dose of both to decide of which to order a bottle. I get to pick 4 more scents. Any suggestions? My favorite scent Gluttony is discontinued (I'll never get over that) and I'm still looking for a replacement.

I've lost another one of my favorite products: The Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab is no longer making the Gluttony scent. I'm more than a little insulted that it's apparently not one of the seven deadly sins anymore. *huffs*
(It almost makes me weep: I discovered that scent when I was struggling through my bra-experiment and it was such a comfort)

I don't understand why it had to go; there doesn't seem to be a scent that can replace it. This happened a lot with products that I liked in the past and it makes me cranky, as I can not deal with change at all. Last week the company that sells my daily dose of tasty, yet healthy snack (a fiberfilled cake) decided to change its name. Even that's enough to make me extremely pissed off and sad, because I desperately want things to stay as they were. *pouts*. But at least it's still there...
From last week I couldn't find my favorite toothpaste in any local drugstore; it seemed to have disappeared from the shops without a warning; I spent half my shoppingtime in Amsterdam last week* trying to find it, but failed. Today I found an online drugstore that offered it and I immediatly ordered a batch. But I don't want to get my hopes up until the parcel is delivered. (As I can hardly believe it really is still available)

*The other half was spent on shoeshopping, that mission was also a failure, hrmpf.

All this has made me so angsty: yesterday I cycled to the supermarket in the neighbourhood next to mine, since the supermarket in my own neighbourhood doesn't sell the flavor I was looking for and I was already preparing myself for another let down. Imagine my relief when they still had my favorite: Hot Dog Pizza! It may sound horrible, especially with the pickles and the mustard, but day-um it's good. \o/ I had one for dinner yesterday and have another one in the freezer just to be safe. Whatever other product will escape me, at least I'll have one more delicious meal to look forward to.

I already tried two oils from my new sample collection of the BlackPhoenixAlchemyLab!

As I posted earlier I received four extra scents next to the six I ordered and wasn't sure with which to start. After albeitslowly praised the amber components in one of the surprise scents, I decided to begin with Aglaea from the Excolo series. Its ingredients are: three golden ambers, bright musk, peach wine and myrtle.
I had to do some research to figure out what myrtle is (a plant) and I am still not quite sure what the basis of amber is (do I even want to know?), but the whole combination smells delicious! From the first sniff of the vial to dabbing it on my skin and all through the day the musky scent kept wooing me. It's a little dark and sweet and it fits perfectly with my honey based showergel, shampoo and Honey Suckle body powder. I'm in love.

I had high expectations for the next scent I tried, for some reason I thought Dirty from the Sin and Salvation series would be in the same league as Stinky, a limited edition scent I adored last year (I still have a tiny bit left;)
Dirty was summarized as: "a wonderful antidote to an all-nighter oozing with drunken, addled perversion and debauchery. A fresh, crisp white linen scent: perfectly clean, perfectly breezy."
Of course I would never need that antidote because I'm a pristine woman who only dreams wouldn't dream of such nights, but the description of the scent did appeal to me.
Unfortunately it did exactly as promised: it smells like laundry detergent! Not a bad smell per se, but I associated it with the barf-bucket mom would put next to our bed when we were sick; that too smelled of detergent. It was the sweetest smelling bucket, but I do not wish to be reminded of it. So, if anyone is still interested in the scent after this lovely reference, the vial is available for anyone else to try;)

The final scent in my 2009/2010 collection of The Black Phoenix Alchemy Laboratory (aka Bpal;) is HellCat from the Diabolus series: a soft, sensual, luxuriant blend with a wicked bite: hazelnut, buttercream, honey mead, rum and sweet almond.

This actually smells similar to Kill-Devil which was summarized as 'rum-punch'. That description fits HellCat even better; despite the supposed addition of all the sweet flavors mentioned above, it mainly smells of rum. And even though I'm not a fan of alcoholic beverages it doesn't give me a headache. The scent doesn't change at all; it's starts off very deep and dark and stays that way all day. I like it, but since I chose it for the promise of hazelnut and buttercream it didn't deliver. Highly recommended for lovers of rum though!

This was the last variety in my current collection and I filled my last imp with what was left in my bottle of Gluttony, so I am going to treat myself to some new scents this week. *rubs hand* What to pick, what to pick...

Other scents I reviewed in 2010
#1 Stinky
#2 Kill-Devil
#3 Bon Vivant!

Scents I rated in 2009
#1 Gluttony
#2 Vice
#3 Blood Kiss
#4 Dragon's Milk
#5 Wrath
#6 Jezebel

Last year I focused on the chocolatey scents of The Black Phoenix Alchemy Laboratory (aka Bpal;) this time I ordered some honey based imps. From the Bewitching Brews series I tried Kill-Devil: sugar cane, molasses, oak wood, and honey. (Rum punch)

I was a little apprehensive about the mention of rum, since I usually avoid links with alchoholic beverages as the smell alone will give me a headache, but to my surprise it didn't bother me. The overwhelming scent is very sweet with a strong undercurrent of honey. It's a heartwarming and reminds me of raisins (I'm guessing because of the association with rum 'n raisins, a common combination of flavours; it's probably rum I'm smelling;). On me it's mostly the molasses that lingers. I approve.

Scents I rated in 2009
#1 Gluttony
#2 Vice
#3 Blood Kiss
#4 Dragon's Milk
#5 Wrath
#6 Jezebel

Results in 2010
#1 Stinky
#2 Kill-Devil

Last year I started a collection of scents from The Black Phoenix Alchemy Laboratory (aka Bpal;) I ordered smal vials ("imp's ears" or imps) to try and ended up ordering a whole 5ml bottle of my favorite: Gluttony.
I was so excited about the whole experience I decided to get some more scents and continue testing:)

In addition to the small imps, I couldn't resist trying a limited edition, which is only sold in 5 ml bottles.This one was available up until September of 2009: Stinky - Newly-washed skin with a dusting of milk, white honey, and baby powder. Now doesn't that sound simply scrumptious?
( I started to doubt my choice when it arrived in a bottle with a scruffy little dog on it... )

In the past week I tried my penultimate scent from the Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab: WRATH from the Seven Deadly Sins Series; aflame with rage, swirling in the red haze of hatred: dragon's blood spiked with black pepper, clove, and cinnamon.

Hmmm. On first smell it's mostly musky pepper and clove, I could hardly detect the cinnamon, while that was the insentive for me to try it. Like Blood Kiss the scent didn't linger, what was left after a while was only a faint sense of clove. Since that was also an ingredient in Blood Kiss, I'm guessing that's the one sucking up the other scents. I would love to have a black pepper/cinnamon combination, but this didn't live up to my expectations.

Here is my top 5 so far:
Number one is still Gluttony! (Of course;)
Dragon's Milk comes in second, despite being very vanilla;
Blood Kiss could have been number two if the scent had been stronger - I'll splash on even more on the next try;
Wrath wins over Jezebel, but only because that just wasn't my kind of scent.
If you love roses Jezebel is definitely one to try, even if it's last on my list:)