Do you smell something?

I seem to always be looking for something new, to see or try.  I had been seeing people raving about Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab for a long time, but really had no clue what it was.  Maybe it's because I'm stuck at home and can't do much, or maybe it's because I had a little extra money burning a hole in my pocket, but I decided to check it out and see what all the fuss was about.

I went to the website and became immediately confused.  They have about a hundred million different scents that they create, and the descriptions are extremely long winded.  Not to mention that if you don't know what "spiced amber" smells like, having it and half a dozen other things that you don't know what they smell like in the mix doesn't help you decide very much.

I decided I needed an expert.  I joined the BPAL group on Ravelry and got connected with someone who must be independantly wealthy in order to be able to afford as much BPAL as she owns.  After several conversations a deal was struck and 8 'imps' or small vials of scented oil were merrily winging their way towards me.   I used the USPS's completely useless package tracker, and was able to discern that they arrived yesterday.  I managed to convince my husband to trek to the mailbox to get them for me by telling him I had ordered "presents" and implying that some might be for him.  It wasn't a lie!  They were presents..... for me!

He was very disgruntled when I opened the package, and said there was no way perfume was for him, then backpedaled and said, "Unless my present is having you smell nice, which is good." Sometimes his internal censor is a bit slow. Much to my surprise when I opened it, there were 12 vials, instead of 8, and my sniffer was quite excited.   Along with the vials a tootsie pop was included.  I haven't been brave enough to eat it yet though, as it smells like perfume.

After trying in vain to not get any on my fingers, I believe I managed to get an accurate-as-can-be smell of each of the 12 vials.  The smells were definitely contaminated by each other, but I was able to weed out only 4 of them that my nose did not agree to.  Now to spend the next exciting few weeks trying on smells and combinations of smells.  The good thing is that because I am home alone most of the time, if a smell is bad on me, the only person's nose that I have to worry about offending is my own.  I have decided that my favorite of this bunch is Eat Me.  I am going to have to save my pennies so I can order a whole bottle, and a bottle of it's sister Drink Me.  These are both of the "Mad Tea Party" set.  I find it totally ironic that my favorite scent is named after something in my favorite tale.