Smellies!

[thessalian]

Right; that's better. My LJ is a paid account for another year. Woo-hoo! (Though I'm appalled at how much the British pound has fallen in the last few months. Geesh.)

And now there is contemplation of BPAL imps. My issue is the same issue as many BPAL addicts - so many scents to choose from, so little cash. And I know there's communities that do trades and blah de blah but I'm really not into perfume in general or BPAL in particular to make it a thing I yak to people for days on end for. No slur on the people who can make perfume appreciation an actual hobby; it's just not for me. I'm not really into talking about top notes or whatever; I just want to wear a nice perfume from time to time and maybe get some ideas on the next aromatherapy experiment, you know? So I'd feel a bit of a fraud on any of the forums or whatnot for BPAL fanatics.

Which means I'm going to have to be choosy, because I can afford a set of six imps and that's it. At least some of the field-narrowing is done for me, because some of them (like the Neil Gaiman ones - woe) just don't get sold in imps and various others are only in the full set and I don't frankly want them all. However, this still leaves a lot to choose from, so I'm going to have to focus on one series and leave it at that. And since all of them have at least six I want, I'll have to build up a wish list, one series at a time.

I'll start with Excolo, which seems to be god-themed:

Eris: If you think I'm not going to want an olfactory representation of the Goddess of Discord and Chaos, you've got another think coming. *g* Seriously, it seems a nice light scent, which I tend to go for in a perfume, and likely won't have that sort of weird talcum-dusty afterscent that Violet Ray seems to. (Not that I don't like it - just violet-scented talcum powder seems to be the lingering effect of that perfume and I'm not used to it yet.)

Grandmother of Ghosts: Another light high-note one, with a bit of white musk to earth it. That'll be interesting, to say the least - it's not my usual thing so it'll make a nice change.

Hi'iaka: This one kind of reminds me of the first perfume I ever sought out, and have never seen since I moved out of New Jersey, so I'm looking forward to that one. Both are on order - GLEE!

Kali: I'm not entirely sure about this one, as it seems like it might be a bit heavy, but you never know.

Mania: Another one I'm not sure of, as it may come off kind of sweet, but again, worth a try, as it's got a bit of grapefruit to sharpen it up somewhat.

Nemesis: This one strikes me as a really weird combination, so I'm more curious about this one than anything else. Not sure if it's on the list of the six I'm going to purchase this time around, but certainly one on the list somewhere along the way.

Pannychis: Not sure about the cardamom, but it seems worth a shot. On order - GLEE!

Pele: Not even sure what muguet is, but...

Queen Maab: Never entirely sure what to make of anything with rose in it.

Sophia: Rose again, but the rest sounds nice.

The Kindly Ones: All three strike me as a good shot, though Megaera and Tisiphone win out over Alecto (irony, irony).

The Zorya: Another set of three in which all three sound nice but two win out over one - in this case, Utrennyaya and Zorya sound a lot nicer than Vechernyaya. Zorya's now on order - GLEE!

So for the six I intend to order this first time ... argh this shit is hard.

Eris
Hi'iaka
Mania
Sophia
Tisiphone
Zorya

We'll have to see how all that goes.

[Edit: It doesn't. BPAL only ships to the US. Bugger having it shipped to a friend for them to ship to me just so I can get perfume. Pity's sake, have we never heard of international shipping? Next stop for self-treating: ThinkGeek.]

[Edit to the edit: Apparently that only applies to credit card purchases. BPAL does not make it easy for us on our small soggy island to get perfumes. And frankly, I'm not entirely keen on spending nearly as much on shipping as I do for the perfume itself. Eh, well, never mind.]

Comments

[tithenai.livejournal.com]

They do ship internationally; it's just that their credit processor doesn't process orders outside the US. From the FAQ:

"Do you sell internationally?
YES! Unfortunately, due to the limitations of our current credit card processing system we can only accept PayPal for any orders placed outside of the United States, Canada included.

As you know, on May 14, 2007, the USPS shot their international Priority shipping through the roof. At that time, we had to make adjustments to our shipping grid to reflect the spike in shipping cost. After a huge amount of experimentation, pestering postal workers, and talking to USPS reps, we have found a solution for small to medium orders.

The rescaled shipping is thus:

One 5ml = 1 item
Twelve imps = 1 item

If you purchase 12 items or less (in any combination of imps and 5mls), these are the shipping rates:

$11 to Canada
$13 to Western Europe & Australasia

If you live outside these areas, or are placing an order larger than 12 items, please email us for rates."

[tithenai.livejournal.com]

Also, I can vouch for Pele being AMAZING. Muguet is a lovely white flower, more like unto gardenia than jasmine, to my nose.

Off the top of my head, the Excolos I've tried are Coyote (gorgeous, exactly what the description's like, dry and deserty), Yemaya (alllllll melon, doesn't work on me, turns to bubblegum), Skuld (amazing, all honey with a touch of ripe red fruit), and some of the Aztec ones that I can't remember how to spell without looking 'em up.

[thessalian.livejournal.com]

Ah - perhaps they ought to set things up on their checkouts a bit better, then, because it seems that unless you email them a specific order, there's no way of paying other than by credit card, with all the restrictions thereon. While perfume is nice and all, I'm not sure I want to go to this much trouble for six tiny imps of it.

Oh, stuff like Tezcatlipoca? I'm a little disappointed they haven't tried to render Quetzalcoatl, to be honest. Plus they need more of the loa. *edit for somehow lost word...*

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

Psst.

The CBLDF sells the Gaiman BPAL imps.

And we ship to the UK. ;)

[thessalian.livejournal.com]

Oh, awesome.

Note to the CBLDF, however - what about the Stardust ones?

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

Dunno if we'll get the Stardust ones. We're pretty much at the whim of what BPAL wants to send us.

I'll let you know if we ever get them, though!