Mini Haul!

So you thought I'd be putting all the money from my recent blog sale on my credit card or in savings or something, right? Well, some I did. But I had to have a little spendy-spendy, which doesn't count towards my vow to not buy anything until May, because it's found money. Found money never counts.

From All Cosmetics Warehouse:

• MAC Studio Finish ConcealerNW20
• Maybelline Color Sensation Lipstick Luminous Lilac
• Stila Eyeshadow Kitten
• SMH Eyeshadow Cashmere
• SMH Eyeshadow Sex Kitten
• SMH Eyeshadow Warm & Fuzzy

I've never tried SMH eyeshadows before, and this seemed like a good excuse to dip a toe in.

From The Perfumed Court:

• i Profumi di Firenze Magnolia Purpurea - 1.5ml spray
• Lostmarc'h Lann-Ael 1.5ml spray
• Lalique Amethyst 1.5ml spray
• Hilde Soliani Vecchi Rossetti 1.5ml spray
• Boucheron by Boucheron 1.5ml spray
• Oriens by Van Cleef & Arpels 1.5ml vial (meant to get the spray - d'oh!)
• Jovan Musk Oil Vintage - 1/2ml vial
• Fendi Theorema - 5ml spray

Poison Apple Potions Alice In Wonderland

When you live in a little old terrace house, all the shelves are on a lean.

I've been loathe to talk up Etsy lately - they've gone to the dogs a bit, I think. One of the sellers I've bought from quite a few times has given me pretty lacklustre service the last couple of times I've ordered, and a Melbourne blogger told me she had drama with an Etsy seller she'd ordered from after I recommended them. Not only did she not receive her goods, but when she contacted them to ask about it she was completely ignored and had to go through Paypal to get her money back. WHAT THE HELL, MAN. You may run a "one person business", but the keyword there is BUSINESS.

Having said that, though it's been a while since I've bought anything from them, I've always had good customer service from Poison Apple Potions. In fact, a couple of times they have gone way beyond good customer service - they really do seem to care about their customers and make an effort to keep them.

A round up of some of the Valentine's scents for 2011

Random picture of BPALs that have nothing to do with Valentine's Day

THE MORBID THE MERRIER

El Corazon
Like the heart, fickle and a bit deceptive. A heavy, dark, smoky scent with a taunting core of sweetness.

Hasta la Muerte
The innocence of lily and carnation, sweetened with vanilla absolute, smashed and marred by an undercurrent of heartless black spice.

Paramour
Oh, romance. Or something like it. A dozen red roses, spilled wine, a hint of blood, and gunsmoke.

Histoire des Amoureaux
A little Eden, a little de Sade. leather, juicy red apple, a serpent slither of pepper and spice, green grass, and sweat.

Histoure du Professeur
Leather arm chair, starched white cotton shirt, dusty books, a memory of sweet pipe smoke and a faint whiff of brandy kept hidden in a desk drawer.

Histoire du Secretaire
Mile-high leather pumps, skin tight wool pencil skirt, stacks of filing paper, steaming black coffee, a mahogany desk and a hint of musky perfume.

Price:          $12USD
Samples:     Yes, in sets of 3, 5 or 10 and 3ml travel size Eau de Parfum spray.

ONE HAND WASHES THE OTHER

Be Mine
It's a spicy/fruity/vanilla smell, definitely on the feminine side, but I don't see why the right male couldn't pull this off. It's got florals and greens but not a ton- just enough to move it out of the "I smell like food" category. Be Mine is the smell of a thousand heart-shaped cinnamon red-hots sprinkled liberally on buttercream-frosted cupcakes, accompanied by a bowl of punch, cups of coffee and tea; all served at an antique wooden table laden with roses, jasmine and orange blossoms; the perfect Valentine's Day afternoon teatime treat.

Or, for short, it's a spicy vanilla scent with a fruity twist.

Price:          $10.52AUD
Samples:     Yes

POSSETS

Pink Cake
A frothy piece of cake hidden under a dense crust of butter and sugar flavored with the silliest strawberries you ever tasted! Very straightforward but somehow so moist it's a bit like a custard, but not quite. Maria, the Maltese cook and housekeeper has this recipe inherited from her mother and from generations back So very Very VERY good. It is said to be an aphrodisiac.

Pretty
Sweet, pure and desirable, Pretty is just that, divinely pretty like Isabella in the springtime. A whisper of mint flies along three white flowers (a combination of a hint of gardenia, freesia, and a drop of lily), all of this girded about with some dry vanilla (very dry and not the confection you are used to). This is a surprisingly sober fragrance for such a fluffy thought, but then again beauty is a sobering thing to come face to face with.

The Girls Love Leather
Yes! The Girls have discovered the fun of leather, the smell of leather, the sensuality of leather. Leather and honey. Wow. Just Wow. This is not just any old leather, this is the superb stuff which you find in the church shops of Florence, dripping with honey from Malta. Just the apex of the apiary. Yummmmm. Not for the faint of heart, not for the pure of soul!

More Possets Valentine scents here and here.

Price:          $10USD
Samples:     No

BLACK PHOENIX ALCHEMY LAB

Parlement of Foules 2011
For this was on seynt Volantynys day
Whan euery bryd comyth there to chese his mate.

Medieval romance and courtly love. White rose and soft resins.

Red Lantern 2011
A tribute to the opium den cum bawdyhouses of Shanghai in the 1930's.
Golden amber, blonde tobacco, Sudanese black coconut, rich caramel, black currant, white opium and delphinium laced with a sensual blend of Asian spice.

Burning Vulva
Vanilla-infused amber, leather, beeswax, cyclamen, oakmoss, peru balsam, orange blossom, red ginger, tonka, opoponax, myrrh, and black pepper.

Nude Woman Reclining
Calla lily, honeysuckle, Turkish jasmine, ambrette seed, galbanum, iris, and bourbon vanilla.

Nymphia
She Who Blesses Brides
White rose, apple blossom, spun sugar, mango, cucumber, freesia, coconut, and lavender.

BPAL has a ton of Limited Edition scents released for Valentine's Day. You can find more of them here, here, here, and here. 

**And be warned - these links lead to NSFW images of nooooodity.**

Price:          $20USD
Samples:     No

HAUS OF GLOI

Come Hither
Based off of traditional herbs and roots used in Hoodoo to draw and attract a lover, or entice the one you've already ensnared! Bourbon vanilla, tonka bean, cardamon, a touch of rose oil, Queen Elizabeth root, three threads of saffron and a touch of honey to sweeten the whole deal.  

Something Hopeful
Perhaps the first stirrings of the spring to come. Warm sakura blossom green tea with the tiniest droplet of plum juice, red mandarin and crystallized jasmine essence.

Who Needs Love
A mahogany box filled with chocolaty orbs, coated in crystallized coffee - filled with a pomegranate and raspberry filling. Who needs love when you have something this decadent?

Price:          $15USD (scents also available in various bath products)
Samples:     Yes

*All descriptions are the manufacturers' own.

Favourite Perfumes of 2010

Haus of Gloi Yuletide Sampler

As I mentioned in my haul post the other day, I ordered the Haus of Gloi Yuletide '10 Sampler in order to try out their Christmas scents. I don't need to explain anything about HoG, do I? We all know they make fabulous scented perfumes, soaps and scrubs, they have great customer service, they ship everywhere, etc. etc. Everyone's been raving about them lately - you can't have missed it. Anyway, here are my brief thoughts on the four perfumes in the limited edition holiday sampler.

Review: Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab Halloweenies 2010

I have to say I'm getting a little bit tired of BPAL's shipping shenanigans. When the Halloween scents came out I went in on a group order done through the Aussie BPAL livejournal community and it took two months to arrive. TWO MONTHS. It makes me a lot less inclined to bother when I can get gorgeous perfume oils on Etsy that take two or three weeks to arrive, even when they're made to order.

Anyway, for some reason recently I've been completely over foodie scents. They used to be MAH THING, but I'm just not into them now. For this reason I almost didn't bother with the Weenies - after all, Halloween scents by tradition tend to be very foodish. However, Noodles spotted a couple that she liked the sound of, and there was one that really jumped out at me, and it was free shipping because the group order was over $500, so... Let's face it, it doesn't take a whole lot for me to talk myself into buying something.

My two choices were The Shadowy And The Sublime and Boo 2010, and Noodle Arms wanted Pomegranate II and Ghoulish.

Pomegranate II
Pomegranate, white musk, lemon verbena, grapefruit, pink lime.

I hate fruit scents - if you've been reading for a while, you already know that. All fruity perfumes to me smell like cheap supermarket shampoo or bubble bath. I thought for a while that in Pom II I had finally found one I could enjoy. It opens with a sharp but pleasant citrus note, and underneath is a something more perfumy, presumably the blend of pomegranate and white musk. This was what I really liked, and I hoped that once the top citrus note faded, that's what I would be left with. Unfortunately it didn't last, and after 20 minutes or so, this morphed into a generic body wash fruit scent. Disappointing for me, but Noodle Arms loves it so if you're a fan of the fruity fragrances, don't listen to my moaning. I'm obviously in the minority.

Ghoulish
This season's Ridiculous Scent! Creepy like Creepy and as spooky as Spooky, this is the scent of a black cherry and coconut amaretto confection gently laced with saffron.

This sounded just hideous to me, but something about it appealed to Noodles, after she asked, "What's amaretto?", so it was her second choice. It's... not my thing. When I first applied this I got a sharp almond note that quickly gave way to a thick, syrupy scent of cherry advocaat. It mellows eventually to a smooth, almondy amaretto fragrance, and man... does it linger. I put it on first thing in the morning and I could still smell it late afternoon. Again, Noodles and Stefanie are both fans, so maybe it's just me being ornery.

Boo 2010
Eerie billows of spun sugar, fluttering white cotton, and sheets of cream.

Thankfully, the cream note in this one doesn't smell "turned" as some of the BPALs can (Diary Of A Lovestruck Teenage Cannibal, for example). However, it's not the gorgeous, warm silky note of say, Love's Philosophy either. It's very sweet and light, and there's a hint of burnt sugar in the background. It's like fairy floss, but fairy floss that's slightly overdone. I used to really love sugary scents, but I'm quite over them lately and this one doesn't really do anything for me at all. It doesn't last terribly long on me, either.

The Shadowy And The Sublime
A sudden and shocking insight into the vast, ineffable, overwhelming power of Nature, stirred by a vision or experience of perfected beauty and perfected terror, that changes the soul irretrievably. An epiphany: Moroccan amber, wisteria, ambergris accord, white rose, magnolia, white mint, angelica, bergamot, and myrrh.

This was the only one I really cared about. Anything that includes wisteria, white rose, magnolia... I'm there. It doesn't disappoint either. This is a gorgeous creamy white floral with no really dominant notes that I could distinguish. It's beautifully blended, with a medium throw and reasonable staying power. I wish BPAL would do more of these gentle florals, because they're obviously really good at it.

I sound a bit Bah Humbug about these, I know, but I think it's just because of the "being over foodies" thing. If you like foodie scents with the notes listed in these perfume oils, you will probably enjoy them. Unfortunately, if you want to buy them you have to spring for the full bottle - BPAL doesn't sell Imps of their Limited Edition scents. They go offline on November 23, I believe, so you don't have much time either.

Review: Vivienne Westwood Boudoir

Whenever I read something about a perfume that interests me, I add it to my wishlist on The Perfumed Court, and then when I come back weeks later to have a bit of a spree, I can't remember why anything is there. This was definitely the case with Vivienne Westwood Boudoir. I can't for the life of me remember where I heard about it. I looked at the notes - nothing jumped out at me. Why did I want to try this? However, I am a bit of a fan of Viv and her Very British Eccentricity, so the last time I did an order on TPC, I threw it in.

Notes: viburnum, marigold, orange blossom, orris, red rose, cinnamon, coriander, cardamom, amber, vanilla, sandalwood and patchouli.

Thankfully, I get no patchouli - I'm really not keen on it. I don't get any cinnamon, coriander or cardamom either - wouldn't that smell like a curry? Weird. I swear to you, the first thing I smell when I spray this on is sarsparilla. It's very odd, but not at all unpleasant, and it doesn't last very long - giving way quickly to a rich, creamy rose. Rose is iffy on me - it always amps, sometimes in a good way (The Garden Bath Fresh Roses), sometimes in a bad way (BPAL Come To Me). The rose in Boudoir is different from any other rose scent I have - I can't put my finger on why, but there's something else there tempering it. Something... green? I don't know - I've been sniffing away at my wrist as I write this and I can't pin it down. Maybe that's what the coriander is. There's a vanilla note in there too, but not your usual super sweet or warm Bourbon vanillas, this smells like a properly made, light and sweet Crème Anglaise. Or a fancy vanilla slice, the kind you get in David Jones.

It lasts for hours and has a lot of throw - this is a heady oriental floral not for the faint-hearted or those who work in very close quarters with other people. I love it so much I bought a full bottle, which is rare for me these days!

My current routine

This one has been doing the rounds again - I believe The Belle Lumiere kicked it off earlier this week, but you can also nose around in the virtual bathroom cabinets of Dempeaux, Jade Musing and love vulcanella.

Face

01. Cleanser
Morning: Olay Gentle Foaming Face Wash
Evening: Clarins Cleansing Milk
02. Toner/lotion
Clarins Toning Lotion with Iris
03. Serum
Morning: Alpha-H Liquid Gold Poly-Oxidant
Evening: Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair
04. Moisturiser
Morning: Nivea Anti-Wrinkle Q10 Plus Day Care
Evening: Paula's Choice Resist Barrier Repair
05. Facial mask
Paula's Choice Carbon Mask, Payot Masque Clarifiant
06. Exfoliator
Palmer's Gentle Exfoliating Face Scrub
07. Make-up remover
L'Oreal Gentle Eye Makeup Remover, Garnier Skin Naturals 2 in 1 Waterproof Makeup Remover

Body

08. Shower gels/soaps
Philosophy Vanilla Cake Batter 3 in 1
09. Body lotions/creams
Perfumatory Vixen Body Cream
10. Hand cream
Clarins Age Control Hand Lotion
11. Lip balm or lip treatment
The Morbid The Merrier Caramel Apple Lip Balm, Ophelia's Apothecary Buttercream Frosting Lip Scrub
12. Perfume
Van Cleef & Arpels First, Van Cleef & Arpels Collection Extraordinaire Orchidee Vanille, Jean Paul Gaultier Classique, Chanel Coco Mademoiselle

Hair

13. Shampoo/conditioner
Frederic Fekkai Glossing Shampoo, Terax Crema
14. Mask or other treatments
Moroccan Oil

Make-up

15. Foundation
Chanel Mat Lumiere in Cendre, Revlon ColorStay in Sand Beige (or Beige Sand?)
16. Powder
Chanel Poudre Douce in Mimosa
17. Blush
Milani Luminous
18. Mascara
L'Oreal  Extra Volume Collagene Mascara
19. Lipstick/lipgloss
MAC Syrup, ELF Liquid Lipstick in Bark and Pink Lemonade
20. Eyeshadow
NARS Ondine, Urban Decay Toasted, Benefit Creaseless Cream Shadow Flatter Me, NYX Shimmer
21. Eyeliner
NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil Slate

Review: Flourish Vanilla Amber & Woodsmoke and Vanilla

The great thing about having online friends who are also perfume junkies is that you hear about all these fantastic perfume shops you may never find on your own. (The bad thing about having online friends who are also perfume junkies is that you hear about all these fantastic perfume shops you may never find on your own.) It is the Girl With The Curious Nose who is responsible for my latest discovery (and everyone else's apparently - I'm seeing reviews and mentions of this Etsy store everywhere lately) - Flourish Bath and Body. I had a bit of a rave the other day about Almond Milk, and today I'm going to do the same about my other two favourites. (Yes, it's the same photo - you're getting stock footage. I had originally intended to review all three at the same time but I felt that Almond Milk deserved its own spotlight.)

Vanilla Amber has a gorgeous warm vanilla note - a tiny bit  sweet, but not "lollyish". The additional warmth from the amber makes this a scent you just want to curl up in. It's comforting and delicious, like a hot, sweet drink when you're sitting inside in a nice, toasty room and outside it's pouring rain. There's a little dash of spice sprinkled on top, but nothing overpowering. Vanilla and amber is a pretty common combination of scent notes, and this is one of the best versions I've ever smelled. If you're a fan of these kinds of scents, it's definitely a must-try.


Woodsmoke and Vanilla is quite masculine. You know that smell you get on your clothes when you stand around a bonfire? It's like that, only sweeter and deeper - like a bonfire made from a really complex, sweet-smelling wood. It's very interesting and unusual, and the smoky notes are quite strong, so it's not for the faint-hearted. I love it.


Overall, I'm really impressed with the Flourish vanilla scents - all three I have tried are just gorgeous. As with the Almond Milk, these two are definitely on my full bottle must-buy-as-soon-as-possible list.

Review: Flourish Almond Milk Perfume Oil

 A few months ago I made a comment on Facebook that someone should create a perfume that smells like a baby's head, because who doesn't love that smell? Well, someone went and did it. Almond Milk is a soft, sweet vanilla musk that makes me think of sniffing a freshly-washed baby (you know, minus that back note of baby chunder and poopy nappy).

At first I thought it was similar to Haus Of Gloi's Troika, but I compared them together today and Troika has a sharper almond note at the beginning and is not as sweet. It also reminded me of one of my favourite BPALs - the hideously difficult to find Love's Philosophy, and the vanilla base is definitely similar, but the saffron in that one adds a slight spicy edge that is not present in the smooth warmth of Almond Milk.

When Noodles was a baby, I would sit on the couch for hours holding her while she slept, just sniffing her soft little head. Now I'm doing that to my wrist while she sits on the opposite couch talking to her friends on Facebook about how laaaaame everything is.

In short, I love, love love Almond Milk and will be buying a full bottle of it ASAP. And possibly the body lotion to go with it.

Perfume Tag

Stefanie from Girl With The Curious Nose has created a perfume tag and you know there's nothing I like better than banging on about perfume, so I'm in!

1. Fragrance with the most memories attached?

Oddly enough, perfumes don't evoke that many memories for me - a) because for many, many years I was pretty much the only person I knew who had more than a passing interest in them, b) because I've always been fickle and never really had a "signature" scent, and c) because those that do have memories attached  tend to be both unpleasant scents and unpleasant memories - such as a horrid woman I used to work with who reeked of some cheap floral fragrance that I swear she went swimming in each morning. Nonetheless, two do come to mind. Whenever I smell someone wearing the original Joop I think of my gorgeous friend Dylan, who wore it in the early 90s, and was very patient about my persistent requests to sniff his neck. On some people that fragrance can be a bit meh, but on him it was just divine. The second is Opium, my first proper, grown up perfume after several years of Impulse sprays and The Body Shop White Musk. I can still vaguely remember my young self in my slinky black jersey dress with the plunging V at the back, high heels and proper seamed stockings, Marilyn Monroe platinum curls and red red red lipstick, thinking I was the bee's sexy knees with a waft of Opium surrounding me. Man, I had it going on. The perfume was brought back from the US by my then-boyfriend, a sweet guy I later dumped for a complete knob. Ah well.

Perfumes tested this week.

Last week I was a bit flat, though not so flat as the week before, so I did try to catch up a bit on my testing (though I only have a handful of randoms because I was also testing the Halloween scents from The Morbid The Merrier). So many perfumes - I'm only up to G! I have also ordered some samples from Flourish after reading Stefanie's review of them a couple of weeks ago. That was a bit naughty of me, because I really, really do not need any more perfume oils at the moment, but since I've been on a super tight budget for what seems like EVER, I hardly ever buy anything fun these days, and breaking out for something small every now and then keeps me sane.

Anyway, on to this week's testees...

Review: The Morbid The Merrier Halloween 2010

Recently I received four perfumes from The Morbid The Merrier's Limited Edition Halloween collection, and I have to say, I'm seriously considering going back for more. My only complaint about these is that none of them seemed to have a lot of staying power, although I'm beginning to think that's just me, because I'm finding that true of most fragrances lately. I wonder if it is the weather - it would make sense that perfumes wouldn't radiate in cold weather, I guess. So take that with a grain of salt, anyway. Other than that, I loved all of them.

Perfumes tested last week.

I had a really awful week last week - nothing serious, just a whole pile of dramas that combined made me miserable and in a foul mood for the whole week - so I wasn't in much of a mood for testing perfumes. I stuck mostly to my old favourites, but I did test a couple, so here are my (very) brief thoughts on those.

Perfumes tested this week

I had a bit of a protest day on Tuesday this week, because I was a bit tired of wearing all these really out there kinds of scents. I wanted something normal and perfumy. So I had a break for a day and wore Van Cleef & Arpels First. I won't even try to describe the notes for you - that link leads to a really good review of it. To me, it's one of those old-fashioned head-kicker perfumes that screams OLD MONEY. You know those rich old ladies in tweed or herringbone suits you see doing their grocery shopping in David Jones? This is exactly the sort of thing I would imagine them wearing. I love it. Anyway, on to the test subjects:

Perfumes tested this week.

I had this week off (back to work tomorrow - sad face), and I didn't do much of anything besides reading books and messing about on the internet, so I got quite a bit of perfume testing done. As I said last week, I am working through my untested perfume oils alphabetically, and I'm up to D now. Still a way to go!

Brief words about a few perfume oils I've been testing.

As I mentioned the other day, I have finally gotten around to updating my perfume lists, and now I'm getting back to testing the ones I haven't had a crack at yet. I'm working through the oils and indies first, and then I will move on to the commercial ones. I'm going alphabetically, as that seems to be the most practical way to do it. So here are a few brief words about what I've tested in the last week or so (I wear a different one each day to get a proper feel for them).

Blog flog

Two of my online friends have recently started blogs on their (and my) favourite topic - perfume. If you have an interest in such things, these blogs are both worth a read.

Su from The Perfume Diaries is a lover of perfume oils, and has started having a go at blending her own. I've been lucky enough to try a couple of them. I'm trying to drive her into bankruptcy by constantly recommending various Etsy stores to her. I'm such an enabler.

Stefanie from The Lip Print has branched off with a blog devoted specifically to all things scent-related called Girl With The Curious Nose. She is responsible for my discovery of Wiggle, The (sadly defunct) Garden Bath, and a host of other indie perfumeries. She's very knowledgable and uses all the proper words, like talking about "sillage", instead of saying, "this is quite a headkicker" as I would.

Both of these girls are interesting, entertaining and passionate about perfume, so check them out!

So many smells!

I just spent most of the afternoon updating my ScentBase, since it's been a while. I'm pretty sure I've left a few out as well, as I tend to have perfumes stashed all around the house.

And that's just the indies and perfume oils. I haven't even started counting up commercial fragrances yet. Eeek!

Lovely things in the post - hooray!

I swapped some perfume samples with the lovely Stefanie of The Lip Print this week, and she sent me a whole bunch of goodies to play with! She was also kind enough to include a heap of fruity scents for Noodle Arms. We are currently fighting over The Garden Bath's Lemon Chiffon. It's not really fruity - it smells like cheesecake, but Noodles insists that lemon is a fruit, therefore it is hers. I will just wait for her to go to sleep and hide it... MWAHAHAHAHAHA. Today I am wearing Cafe Biscotti by Wylde Ivy, and LOVING MYSELF SICK in it. I've never tried any of their fragrances before. Oh dear, all I need is new tempations!

One of the best things about the internet beauty community is that people are very generous with sharing the love. Awwwww.
Apologies once more for the rubbish photo - my ex has taken the camera today to get it fixed, but I will be without it for a couple of weeks, probably. Boo.