The Jaccomarchiadus

Thu, 09 Aug 2007 17:01:57 GMT

Humans vs. The World

In Flanders fields no flowers grow:
The poppies, too, are dead.
The weathered crosses sag askew,
All larks have long since fled.

A desert burns where it was green,
The sky is bright and bare.
This Global War-ming none can win,
We've poisoned sea and air.

This made one in two test subjects laugh. I'm slightly worried about that....

Thu, 09 Aug 2007 17:00:03 GMT

Have not fallen off the face of the Earth. Nor off any other part of Terra's anatomy, come to mention it. Still on limited net access, though, so, in brief:

I have a new job! Putting up with nonsense from the Recurring Temp Job was finally rewarded, as they now mess me about on a contracted basis.
This may be considered good news. Mostly.

I have found somewhere to live, which is just as well, as my parents are handing over the keys to their flat tomorrow. Most of my stuff is there; books and clothes are unpacked (priorities...) and everything else is still piled in boxes. I will have to face it all after work tomorrow and get the place fit to live in. Or at the least, get everything off the bed.

My sister has moved to Oxfordshire. I miss my niece.

...I think those are the main points.

Sun, 27 May 2007 01:35:19 GMT

PSA

A open note: due to an unfortunately protracted house-moving, I will lose my home internet on the 29th, and have no idea when I will get it back.

So if you need my attention for any reason - before next Tuesday would be a good time to tell me so.

Sun, 27 May 2007 01:25:03 GMT

So, Any Dream Will Do - I will never after tonight believe that the Cabbage Patch Doll knows what he is doing. (Er, Andrew Lloyd Webber, that is. Dad came up with that a couple of weeks ago, and it stuck.) Not that I had much faith left by this point in the contest anyway, but really, the judging criteria seem to get weirder by the week.

How, after the number of times Ben veered off tune - and that's just tonight, forget his previous disasters - can he possibly be a better potential leading man than Craig, who is admittedly a poor actor, has hit his vocal limits and simply does not have it in him to improve any further, and is a bit bland to boot, but can at least carry a damn tune? Which is rather the point, no?

I called it weeks ago, and now that we're down to the semi-finalists it's pretty damn clear that only two of them count, and one of them isn't quite right for the role of Joseph; Lee might as well be given the dreamcoat now.
Although someone ought to offer Keith a different role, because he was born to perform; I want to have an opportunity to go and see him sing live in the future.

Saturday night is going to be boring after it's over.

#
Oh, and for the record? Tonight's Doctor Who didn't totally suck. I'm looking forward to part two, in fact; maybe it's connected to the fact that several of the guest stars are stealing the show.
Martha is brighter than Rose - which is not hard - and does not drive me to verbal sniping every five minutes, but I find her a bit boring, so overall only a small improvement.
I don't think I like S3 so far any better than I did S2. I have given up expecting to ever love new Who; merely liking it is difficult much of the time, and I still miss Christopher Eccleston.

I wish the show would stop cannibalizing itself; it can't be that hard to find ~~new~~ different plots. Not when they tend to be such stupid plots anyway. (I'm not bitter about the Daleks' recent reappearance, no, not at all; they only turned the one thing I still loved about Who into a travesty. With a silly headpiece. Ignore that strange sound, it is merely my teeth grinding.)

Wed, 23 May 2007 00:34:43 GMT

Saw a snake today, and finally understood a description I read years ago, in the Pentecost books by W. J. Corbett, of a "snake with orange earmuffs." The shade Corbett used may be an exaggeration of the markings, but I love the image - and it's definitely of a grass snake, like this one. (Once again: yay for Google's image search! It would have taken a lot more work to get that information out of our branch library's somewhat limited reference section.)

I'd been for a walk with my parents and the Storm Goddess, and just as we left the park, we saw the snake heading away from us, across the hot tarmac, in a quick, ripply motion - no idea where it thought it was going, but it didn't seem like a good idea; that area gets used as a car park, and a lot of dogs come through there too. (Funnily enough, on the same walk we'd already seen what we at first took for part of a cast skin. Dad picked it up and looked at it, and then passed it to me, and my first thought was, "Uh, hang on, that's too heavy..." and then when I looked inside one end there were little bones in it. Thanks, father; you give me the nicest presents! It was only a small piece of the total length, and we didn't see the rest of it; we don't know whether it could have been attacked by a predator or if perhaps it had an encounter with the ride-on lawnmower they use in the park. Not a good sign for the live snake, either way.)

It was small, about eight or nine inches long, and it didn't have the black markings down its sides that most of the photos of Natrix natrix show, but the collar markings were unmistakable. After we all stopped to look at it, it headed straight into our shadows, and then skulked down beside my father's shoe, trying to hide from the sunlight; when he moved, it managed to slip under my sandal, and curled itself up, completely hidden.

It's a long time since I've felt that lucky. It's a little absurb how trusted it made me feel, to know I was standing there with a snake sheltering below the arch of my right foot. So I felt mean when I uncovered it; with its body looking flattened and malleable, as though it could fit through and size or shape of cranny that it cared to. I could see it breathing, a small section of its length expanding and contracting. We didn't want to leave it there, so I tried to slip a book underneath it so I could take it back to the grass, but it just coiled up more tightly; Dad lost patience, picked it up by the tail and carried it back into the park. I hope it found somewhere safe to hide.

This was precisely the kind of day when one ought to have a digital camera. I would have liked a picture of it to show my brothers; can't be helped.

Thu, 17 May 2007 10:23:40 GMT

Okay. I admit it: BPAL really is an addiction.

I emptied most of my collection out of its box last night, while trying to find three particular imps for a swap, and - good grief, it's hard to believe I've been collecting for less than six months. I can't have worn more than a fifth of the scents I've acquired, either.

I am banned from buying any more BPAL, starting now, and lasting at least until I've tried the majority of my hoard. Making that resolution public is the only way I'll stick to it, so here it is.

I think I'm about to get really into swapping, next...

A swap/sales post will be posted before the end of the week, should anyone be interested in keeping an eye out for it.

Mon, 14 May 2007 20:52:06 GMT

In Japan, they have recently released garlic seafood Pringles.

I just thought you should know.

^{(See? See? Browsing eBay totally counts as research!}

Mon, 14 May 2007 13:17:23 GMT

Mph. Just thinking aloud, here, with unconnected dots; feel free to ignore.

Wikipedia on Pale Fire

Resemblances are the shadows of differences. Different people see different similarities and similar differences.
Nabokov, Pale Fire

Dowling on the identity of the narrator in Pale Fire

Brian Boyd's foreword to Nabokov's Blues

Shade and Shape in Pale Fire; by Brian Boyd - I want to read more of his work. I'm not sure yet whether I accept this theory, but it's very interesting, and nicely argued.

It wasn't at all relevant to what I wanted to find out, but how could one not love this? Kickshaws and Motley - if, in an academic essay, you can make me laugh at your footnotes, you have just gained a fan.

It's a long time since I've been this desperate to hang on to a library book a little longer, but Pale Fire has to go, as someone else has requested it and *cough* it's already several days overdue. I think my brain is telling me it's past time to find a course of some kind to sign up for. I miss studying.

Oh, and this, which I'm committing to memory as a marvellous example of ways in which one should not approach literary criticism: Arrogance and stupidity in one package; how efficient!

Thu, 10 May 2007 23:17:55 GMT

Meme via cluegirl: the soundtrack of your life.

1. Open your music library
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don't lie.

*eyeballs heading* What sort of film comes with an obligatory fight scene? And a school dance? My life has apparently just been transplanted to the US, and I suspect it of having perverse teen comedy tendencies.

Y'know, I've tried twice to write a commentary to this, and it only makes it worse. I'm just going to sum up the film afterwards.

Opening Credits: Stop And See Me, from Weird Romance

Birth: Tears of Pearls, by Savage Garden

First day at school: Picture, Sheryl Crow & Kid Rock

Falling in Love: I'd Lie For You (And That's The Truth), Meatloaf

Fight Song: You Give Love A Bad Name, Bon Jovi

Breaking Up: Ready For A Fall, P.J. Olsson

School Dance: Never Gonna Give You Up, Rick Astley

Life: Where Is Maria? Ferron
My life is a Greg Brown cover? Who knew?

Mental Breakdown: I Am Stretched On Your Grave, Sinéad O'Connor

Driving: Amaryllis, The Flash Girls

Flashback: Minutes, Elkie Brooks

Wedding: Nobody Does It Better, Carly Simon

Birth Of Child: Desperado, The Eagles

Final Battle: Watch The Woman's Hands, Paula Cole
So the battlefield is, what, feminism? Or maybe human rights? Interesting.

Death Scene: Save Me, Queen

Funeral: The Poet Game, Ani DiFranco
And my death is also a Greg Brown cover. Well, at least that has a pleasing symmetry, even if the theme is somewhat obscure.

Ending Credits: Sheridan and the Vorlon mystery/Goodbye/Caylin introduced, from the Babylon 5: Walkabout soundtrack.
I think I've just proved that I'm a geek to the end.

In conclusion, I was an unwanted child, which led me to becoming an alcoholic and embarking on destructive love affairs by the age of five. It is probably not, in fact, a teen comedy. It may (or may not) be significant that it begins and ends with songs from musicals.

Overall, my life was somewhat thematically confused.

- Hey, is it me, or have I read something very similar to that line given as a character's epitaph somewhere?

Mon, 07 May 2007 22:44:04 GMT

Severin - Dry black teas, Earl Gray, and leather.

In the imp: Lemon? Oh, not another one. I was hoping the dry black teas were going to dominate, but it's all Earl Grey. The Dormouse was all lemon on me too; I want tea without lemon, blast it!

Wet: Oh...lemon, but a subtle lemon. That's a new one. Honestly, this is the nearest thing possible to a savory citrus that I'd enjoy wearing.
Something else, also subtle, is creeping in, and it's too faint for me to say for sure that is the leather, but it's good. Really good, actually.

Drydown: No, it's not lemon, but something similar to it; I'm definitely getting the difference now it's settling down. I wouldn't have identified the other note as leather without the description, but I do think that is the other thing that I can detect, and the two work together really well. They are also playing nicely with my skin chemistry.
No doubt about it, this is sexy. My brain codes it as unisex; once Severin had adjusted to my skin, it occurred to me that it would be very nice on a guy, but I'm perfectly happy wearing it myself as well. It's not at all harsh, and it's certainly the least sweet scent that I have felt completely at home in.
My only complaint - I wish it were a little more powerful, but it's a faint scent and is fading already.

Dry: Alas, it's gone, but it was incredible while it lasted. That was about the first time I've tried one of the Lab's oils and felt as though I understood what that scent was meant to convey, the kind of mood and associations it was intended to provoke.

Verdict: Not nice at all in the imp and when first applied, but after two or three minutes... it's bewitching. God. How long before I've got the funds to place a Lab order? I really want a bottle of this.

It's just this kind of surprise that makes BPAL such an addictive experience. I got Severin on a whim, and if someone had described it to me, I would have avoided it. And missed out on what might be my favourite GC to date.

Sun, 06 May 2007 12:04:37 GMT

Gingerbread Poppet - the description for all three years is the same: Warm, cozy gingerbread spiced with nutmeg, clove and cinnamon.

2004 - This. Is. Love.
Seriously. If I ever invent a time-machine, I'm going back to 2004 to buy a dozen bottles of Gingerbread Poppet.

It smells, at every stage, like a Starbucks gingerbread latté, and if I had more than a half-used decant, I'd probably wear it every day. As it is, I save it until I really need a mood-booster, and I will mourn it when it's gone.

2005 - This is arrived yesterday, and I was hoping so hard, but this is not love. It's nice, and given my cinnamon fixation I ought to love it, but... it's not the 2004.

*giggles* I just realised it's like comparing wine vintages!

It's fainter and not as full and rounded; dryer and spicier, and a little less sweet.

My sister prefers the 2005. Go figure. Nope, rephrase, Buttercup prefers the 2005 on me; I don't think sure she'd wear either one.

Sat, 05 May 2007 14:13:41 GMT

Aargh! The stupid, it - is me, actually. In my recent BPAL soap post, I mentioned my dislike of Villainess soaps, because of the weird chemical tang many of them seem to have.

I confess to having made a mistake there. All but one of my Villainess product tests so far have been small samples, which have been cut off a bar and shipped from the US in small ziplock bags. And since there were a dozen different ones, labelled in black marker written directly on the plastic bags, I left them in the ziplocs so I could identify them - which wasn't as sensible an idea as it seemed at the time.

Villainess soap absorbs the smell of plastic ziploc bags. Plastic + the soap itself produces a very odd fragrance indeed, which lasts until the soap has been thoroughly rinsed in water.

Villainess soaps still aren't quite my cup of tea, but they are not actually unpleasant, as I first thought.

My bad. Sorry.

Fri, 04 May 2007 13:05:13 GMT

I read SlaughterHouse Studios (or LJ syndication here), because it often makes me rearrange my thoughts in a way that I would not have otherwise considered. It's like my brain is a snowglobe that's just been gently shaken, and though it's all the same pieces of glitter that are falling down, they come down in a new pattern.

This post is one of those mind-shuffling posts.

Things are swirling around in my mind, connecting to things they had been separate from before. I think a poem seed may be germinating.

As a not entirely unconnected point, on Monday I went to bed long after everyone else, and found a fork on my pillow. Even when you can work out the culprit and at least half of the reasoning that went into the act,* it is still disconcerting to find something so out of its place.

Particularly when one finds it the hard, cold, and stabby way, by not turning the light on, and sitting on it.

* I mean, I knew it had to be my mother, returning my fork that the family borrowed because they didn't have enough, but - why on the pillow? One of life's little mysteries. My mother, that is.

I wish that blogging about my mother didn't remind me quite so much of cat-blogging.

Thu, 03 May 2007 22:04:37 GMT

Snout Event: a photoset of an - event - in London, which was apparently about, or against, climate change. I wish for more accompanying text with the photos; nevertheless, it is fantastic.

(Thanks, Brother #2. How do you find these thing?)

Wed, 02 May 2007 00:06:09 GMT

The left mouse button just fell off. &%$O^$&!!

Tue, 01 May 2007 23:16:38 GMT

This could get lengthy; forgive me, I'm ~~gloating~~ savouring an experience.

In front of me is an opened USPS box.

On the bottom of the box, under the expected contents, is a sticker, a magnet (Baglione's Heavenly Love and Earthly Love. I do enjoy Google's image search function!), and a discount coupon for Sick On Sin.

There is a layer of bubblewrap, the kind with bigger bubbles, each one as wide as a fifty pence coin - the sound when they are burst is correspondingly louder, a very satisfactory pop indeed.

Inside the bubble wrap is my first BPTP order. Let me remind you here that I'm in the UK. From my initial email to request a shipping quote, to the arrival of the parcel, took eleven days. Impressed yet? I am.

The order is four soaps. Each different type has its own design of paper; they are wrapped with precision, each edge sharply folded. Three of the papers are covered in writing or diagrams or a picture in warm brown hues that are ruddier than sepia; one is simply coloured in rich, textural shades of red. Miskatonic University, Snake Oil, Dorian, and Carnal. The MU is my favourite wrapping, because it amuses me as well as being aesthetically pleasing; I had seen a description of it beforehand, and was looking forward to reading it for myself - I'm assuming, hoping, that the labels will peel off cleanly so I can get at the text underneath.

I have tried two of the eponymous scents and knew I would like the soaps, and gambled on the other two. The Carnal soap is the only one I can't smell distinctly when I sniff the wrapped bar, and I'm hoping that when I unwrap it, I'll be able to detect the fig note that my skin ate in the perfume. I definitely want to try Dorian as a scent now, and while I'm less sure that I'd like to wear Snake Oil, it's nice as a soap. The Miskatonic University - this one I could have identified without the label, its fragrance clear and strong through the wrapping. I doubted, but it is exactly the same as the scent; I don't smell soap, and I don't smell that weird chemically tang I get off Villainess' soaps.

They arrived yesterday. They are gorgeous, and I can't quite bring myself to open them. I don't want to spoil the paper, or the anticipation. Now I understand the thread on the Forum that discusses the prolonged rituals of soap opening; every so often I take the USPS box off the shelf, just to sniff the wrapped bars, to admire the care with which they are packaged, to re-read the labels.

I haven't even used the stuff yet, and I'm telling you, it is crack.

So, anyone else tried any of the Trading Post's soaps?

Mon, 30 Apr 2007 22:54:31 GMT

Squirting Cucumber - Yikes! A spurt of wet, grassy greenness.

In the imp: Can't argue with the description, that's definitely green! Cucumber and maybe just a touch of damp grass. It's pleasant.

Other opinions: Buttercup says it's old broccoli.

Wet: Urk. Now I'm getting green vegetables that are past their best. She might be right, it's manky old broccoli.

Drydown: Broccoli *and* cucumber.

Dry: And it's gone. Can't smell a damn thing after two hours.

Verdict: Nope. Nice in the vial, vile on my skin.

Australian Copperhead - Snake Oil with acai berry, amber, cardamom, neroli, and smoked vanilla.

In the ~~imp~~ bottle, for BPAL makes me rash: Acid-sweet. Like the berry equivalent of lemon drops.

Wet: Yum. The smoke is coming out. Dunno quite what else I'm getting, but definitely smoke.

Other opinions, passed on in second-hand reports: Dad thought it smelled like Red Bull, apparently. I don't know if that's good or bad.

Dry: Smoky, smoky berry-flavour sweets, and something I don't know. Nice.

Verdict: It fills a room fantastically; I could smell it clearly in my bedroom for two days, but it doesn't last well on my skin. Pity; it's a really interesting and rather moreish scent.

Postscipt: The snake bites! The second time I wore it, it burned my skin. That's the first time I've had any trouble with applying BPAL neat. Oddly enough, it's okay on my wrists, but not on my earlobes.

Verdict 2: It got posted out in a swap this morning.

Sun, 29 Apr 2007 19:40:04 GMT

Hi, my name's astromachy, and I'm ~~Josephoholic~~ ~~a sucker for cheesy music talent shows~~ a fan of Any Dream Will Do - any fellow addicts out there?

Please, come and ~~squee over~~ talk to me about last night's episode!

Sun, 29 Apr 2007 19:13:19 GMT

Meme via purpleprimate

you are mediumaquamarine
#66CDAA

Your dominant hues are cyan and green. Although you definitely strive to be logical you care about people and know there's a time and place for thinking emotionally. Your head rules most things but your heart rules others, and getting them to meet in the middle takes a lot of your energy some days.

Your saturation level is medium - You're not the most decisive go-getter, but you can get a job done when it's required of you. You probably don't think the world can change for you and don't want to spend too much effort trying to force it.

Your outlook on life is brighter than most people's. You like the idea of influencing things for the better and find hope in situations where others might give up. You're not exactly a bouncy sunshine but things in your world generally look up.

the spacefem.com html color quiz

Cyan?

(Oh, siblings #1 and #3? You're seeing the funny side of this, right? I am!)

Cyan is good. I can live with that.

^{*coughs* I edited the spelling in the results, because it was hurting my brain.}

Mon, 16 Apr 2007 14:04:13 GMT

I will talk about something other than BPAL sometime soon! Not right now, though.

Black Rose - A blend of roses, with a touch of amber and musk.

In the imp: Unsurprisngly, rose, thought that's more subtle than I expected, and perhaps musk. I'm still not sure what amber is supposed to smell like....

Wet: Hey, what happened to the floral? It vanished straight away. What's left is a green smell, herby, and soap.

Dry: It took a couple of hours before I got just a whiff of rose back, overlaid on the herb.

Verdict: Nope. It's pleasant in the vial, but not me.

Hamadryad - Seven dry woods with mossy lichen and a gentle breeze of forest flowers.

In the vial: It's, um, probably really good for clearing the sinuses. Very medicinal.

Wet: Similar to Vicks VapoRub. Mother agreed, but said there was something even closer, later identifying it as TCP.

I can't say what it does in drydown; I washed it off.

Verdict: Apart from yuck? I cannot reconcile this with the lab's description - I do wonder if it's a very old imp, and the oil has gone off.

Sun, 15 Apr 2007 00:09:12 GMT

Carnal - Bold, bright mandarin paired with the sweet, sensual earthiness of fig.

In the vial: Yep, that's mandarin. I think I'm getting an undertone of another citrus underneath, though; lemon? Can't smell any fig.

Wet: I love the way it's not just ornage, it's definitely mandarin. It's a more sugary version on my skin.

Dry: Candied mandarin. No fig detectable at any stage.

Verdict: Nice. However, it doesn't last long and it isn't very strong. I want to try some more BPAL with a mandarin note.

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 03:09:18 GMT

Baghdad: Amber, saffron and bergamot with mandarin, nutmeg, Bulgar rose, musk and sandalwood.

In the vial: A freshness first, then spicy warmth a moment after. This is odd. Not unpleasant, but an uneasy blend.

Wet: Strong cinnamon, and a herby sort of arid greenness. It's a dry scent.

Shortly after: And the cinnamon softly and suddenly vanished away. All gone. Nope, wait, it's coming back.

Dry: The cinnamon dithered a lot, and finally stayed, in a more subtle form. A trace of something else with it - cardamon? And that faint, contradictory dry-fresh note, which smells sort of the way I imagine freeze-dried lime might.

(This is so not helping anyone else, right?)

Verdict: Not much throw, and it doesn't last very long on me either. It's a surprising one; I don't dislike it, but it doesn't ever quite gel into a coherent scent.

Miskatonic University

In the vial: Oh. My. Gods. *closes eyes* You know how you walk through a large supermarket branch, and if you're lucky they might be bringing a new batch of bakery stuff out, and you can practically get a sugar high just from walking past and breathing in deeply? That's the heart of Miskatonic University. Only it's not just sugar, it's butterscotch. Rich, strong, sweet butterscotch.

Other Opinions: Mother sniffed the bottle and made Take-it-away-Now! gestures, and coughed, then informed me that it'd probably attract wasps.

Wet: No, no, no, damnit, it's morphing - instead of butterscotch I've got distinct butter and sugar notes, and the butter's winning. It's turning into buttery popcorn and coffee.

Drydown: It's back to a blend rather competing notes, anyway. It's caramel-ish now, with the occasional waft that does smell more like a much-diluted version of the scent in the bottle.

Verdict: It's toothsome in the bottle; I do wish it stayed the same on my skin. It lasts reasonably well, and those around me will attest to the power of the throw! *grins*

Wed, 11 Apr 2007 11:53:39 GMT

Serendipity! I bought a partial bottle of Miskatonic University from someone on sinandsalvation, without thinking to ask if it was the current version.

It arrived today, and the second I took the tape off the bottle, I could smell it, and it's definitely the older formulation. It's butterscotch, and I am in love.

Squee!

And I need a BPAL icon.

Mon, 09 Apr 2007 12:13:54 GMT

Wouldn't a line of perfumes based on Revolutionary Girl Utena be cool?

Mon, 09 Apr 2007 03:50:00 GMT

BPAL ate my brain. It's amazing how much time I can spend obsessing over the relative merits of scents I have no intention of trying. 'Specially when it's much more fun obsessing over the ones I have bought!

I'n not getting much better at identifying notes, but I have learned that I prefer warm scents to cool ones, my skin chemistry amplifies more than one sweet note, and while I don't mind foody scents in general, chocolate is a world of no.
*
Saturn: Discipline - Crystallization - Control - Constriction - Banishing Destruction - Sowing Discord - Death - Reverence - Endurance.

In the bottle: Oh, heck. Buying a bottle of this unsniffed may not have been my best idea ever. Um, I have no idea what's in it. I can't even pin it down to a general kind of scent - it's not foody or floral or woody, but whatever it is, I don't recognise it. And I'm not sure I want to, either. It's very strong and serious.

Wet: Oh, it's getting sweeter. Still can't identify anything in it.

Unsolicited Opinions: Mother says toast (toast??) and Dad says candles.

Dry: I hate to admit it, but I think Dad's right. I'm getting burning candles, candle scented with something indefinitely sweet. I have to say, it's nicer than that description makes it sound!

Verdict: I assumed Saturn would be a cold scent, and it's warm, warm, warm. It's a keeper!

Madame Moriarty, Misfortune Teller: Red musk, vanilla bean, pomegranate, patchouli leaf and wild plum.

In the imp: Wow, that's bold! Smells like... nothing I want on my skin. And *sigh* I have to admit that, again, I've no clue what the notes are.

Wet: Nope, I was right, I didn't want that on my skin. Or in the same room, for that matter. Bitter, pervasive; I still don't recognise anything.

Unsolicited But Sincere Opinions: Buttercup hates it.
Mother hates it - "You pong like a Catholic church!" (accompanied with a guess of frankincence).
Brother #2 hates it - "Smells like misfortune to me!" Quite.

Dry: A slight undertone of black currant? But I don't know what the stuff over the dark fruit note is.

Verdict: My new least favourite scent: it's nastier than Nuclear Winter. I have trouble believing this flatters anybody, frankly, but it's horrific on me.

Velvet: Gentle sandalwood warmed by cocoa vanilla and a veil of deep myrrh.

In the Imp: I was hoping that the fact it said cocoa meant it would be less sweet than a straightforward chocolate one. Well, I haven't got a chocolate one for a comparision, but this is pretty sweet, and I was an idiot to let the pretty name sway me into getting this one, because I did know it probably wasn't me.

Wet: And - of course! - it's getting sweeter. This is really not cocoa, it's cheap, saccharine-sweet chocolate.

Dry: Chocolate-scented candles. Exactly that: we had a load of them come through the warehouse for Mother's Day, and we'd sniff all the different sorts, so I'm quite certain. I reek of faux-chocolate candle.

Verdict: Nope. Velvet doesn't work on me. The concept isn't me, either; even if it were a less cheap and nasty chocolate smell, I wouldn't want to wear it.

Al-Shairan: Clove, peach and orange with cinnamon, patchouli and dark incense notes.

In the vial: Sweet spices. Mostly clove and a little cinnamon, and a tiny bit of something I'm unfamiliar with. (Which does not narrow it down much!)

Wet: Cloves! And that something I know not.

Dry: Just clove left, I think.

Verdict: It fades very fast, and that makes me sad, because it's really nice. Warm and balanced, the sweet and spicy tempering each other. If it lasted longer, I'd buy a bottle; as it is, I want to find something similar with more staying power.
*
I never guessed how much wearing perfume can boost your mood. BPAL is crack, and I'm never going to be able to say I don't wear perfumes again. This stuff is amazing!