Adventures of a Tofu Slut

I am going to Winnipeg for real next week. No, seriously. I even have a ticket, although apparently once you're there they don't want to let you leave, because there were no seats* left on any flights out of Winnipeg on either Friday or Thursday. Oy, I say.

I am still computer-free on the weekends, so I will say happy advance birthday to the splendiferous minervacat! I hope you have an awesome day, love.

And to all the rest of you, good weekend wishes. I think I'm going for high tea on Sunday, which should be lovely. Hello, tiny sandwiches! I may or may not be around next week -- it depends on whether or not this hotel also has a fancy executive suite where I can pretend to be doing executive things -- but I'll be checking my email if you feel the need to entertain talk to me.

Meanwhile, some BPAL reviews for you:

Smut

What a great freakin' word. BPAL LOVES TEH SMUT! Three swarthy, smutty musks sweetened with sugar and woozy with dark booze notes.

I'm not sure how to describe this - it's just sort of warm and sweet, but heavy. And really strong on application. It works once it's dried down, though.

Swank

Simply cool, the essence of Lounge: the scent of a crisp pomegranate martini.

It smells the way Knudsen's black current spritzer tastes. No, seriously - fruity and sparkling, but not overly sweet. Not so much a pomegranate martini, as a pomegranate champagne cocktail. I like it.

Torture King

The King of Pain, the Famed Fakir. Frankincense and sweet clove, mandarin and bourbon, lemon peel and leather, grasses and smoke, lime and vetiver, ambergris and deep musk.

This is very changeable on me -- earlier it was like a light floral, and now I get mostly lime and bourbon. Interesting. I think I like it, but I'll probably have to try it a few more times to see if it's ever going to settle down.

*By which I mean, no seats that weren't executive class, which is approximately 7 times as much as the cheap class I normally take. Granted, the manager in Winnipeg is paying for this, but I don't think he wants me out there quite that much.

Loralei

A tragic heroine from German lore. In despair over a faithless lover, she threw herself into the Rhine. In death, she has become a siren that haunts that river to this day, luring sailors to their doom. Neroli, sandalwood, ylang ylang.

A heady, intense, rich scent, but one that unfortunately doesn't work for me. Too much ylang ylang, not enough neroli? I'm not sure. It's something that I can totally picture someone else loving, though.

Hellcat

A soft, sensual, luxuriant blend with a wicked bite: hazelnut, buttercream, honey mead, rum and sweet almond.

In the bottle and when it's first applied, this is almost deadly with the rum. Definitely something that has to mellow before you can be around people. Once it does mellow, though, I quite like it. The hazelnut and buttercream make a sweet, warm base, and then the sharpness of the rum is like an added bonus. Not a favourite, but worth wearing.

Succubus

Bat-winged, flame-eyed, and possessed of an unearthly, perfect beauty: the Daughters of Lilith, the Succubi, invade the dreams of men and lie with them in rapturous, unholy sexual union. The scent of their skin is bittersweet, dusky and terminally seductive. Mimosa, orange blossom, neroli and bergamot with a drop of sweet clove.

How can something that has such wonderful ingredients be so very wrong? Soapity soap soap soap. Boo.

Happy birthday wonderlanded and goblinshark! I hope you each have wonderful days on your sides of the Atlantic.

Today's BPAL: Perversion

The perfect scent to wear to your next bondage ball, dungeon adventure or sojourn to your favorite pleasure dome. Smoky rum and black tobacco with a whisper of steamy leather with a splash of crystalline chardonnay, layered over a sensual, sweet, and deceptively magnetic base of tonka.

Eh. I don't know about this. I like it on application, but dries down sort of strongly sweet and powdery, with an odd undertone. I'll have to try it again before making a decision.

And now, I get up! No, really. I'm going to stop reading Yuletide stories, and instead go clean the bathroom. Or have lunch. Mmm, food.

Tamora

Amber, heliotrope, golden sandalwood, peach blossom and vanilla bean.

Oh, god, this is so nice. Bright peach at first, then the vanilla creeps in. There's a little while, about 5 minutes after application, where the floral comes through, but even then it's tempered with the sweetness. And now, it's sugary fruit up close with a sandalwood aura and I can't stop sniffing my wrist.

Question: If I'm going to my boss's apartment for a staff Christmas party that I don't really want to go to, do I have to take a hostess gift? And what can I buy (quickly, because I have no time today) that isn't food or wine?

Now on to the interesting* stuff.

Today's BPAL: Bastet

Bast, Ubasti, Ailuros, Ba-en-Aset. Represented as both a domestic cat and a fierce lioness, she truly evidences traits of both. She is the Mother of All Cats, Goddess of Sensuality, Fertility, and a guardian and protector of women. She is also one of the Eyes of Ra, and in that aspect is an Avenging Goddess, seeking retribution and punishing enemies of her people. Luxuriant amber, warm Egyptian musk, fierce saffron and soft myrrh, almond, cardamom and golden lotus.

This is nice. Very nice. It smells almost like a mild cinnamon on first application -- warm and spicy, but not too strong. On drydown, the almond comes through a bit more, while the spices linger. I'm very pleased, other than the fact that I had a bit of an allergic reaction when I put it on my neck (I went bright red on that spot, and it was a bit itchy). I'll just have to be careful where I apply it; I had no problems on my wrists.

Yesterday's BPAL: Sudha Segara

Named after the primordial ocean of milk where Lord Vishnu reclines upon the thousand-headed Naga. Sweet milk and warm, healing ginger with a touch of golden honey and our blend of Ambrosia. (Gender neutral)

Mmm, pretty! It's sweet without being candy-like. Sadly it disappears almost immediately on me. In fact, this was also Tuesday's BPAL, but it faded so quickly that I couldn't write about it. Yesterday I put on much more, and it lasted through the morning, but by lunch it was gone, leaving just a vague sweetness. Too bad.

*To me, at least.

Yesterday we had a BPAL gathering, with many, many oils, some of which were even good. Not the free samples, though; the majority of them smelled like ass. But I think we all did fairly well with our actual orders. Out of the 12 imps I ordered there was only one that I disliked immediately, and maybe three or four others that I'm undecided about. Some of them are just lovely, though.

And now you know what I'm going to be talking about for the rest of the week.

So, today I am wearing Jester:

Huckleberry and red currant with the incisive bite of neroli.

I like it. I don't get much neroli, just heavy duty berry, but I love berry scents. Of course, I already have many berry scents, but it would appear that you (meaning I) can never have too many.

Since I did all my cleaning and shopping yesterday morning quick quick omg, what with the people coming over and all (and can I just say that damn I'm productive when I have a deadline), today I went out a-wandering in the snow, looking for a last few Christmas gifts. I went in this weird criss-cross pattern across the city, because none of the places I wanted to go were in a nice line, but it was still fun. (starfishchick, I found your garlic pickles etc. in this gourmet food store near our haircut place! It's called Mercantile, I think, and it's across the street and a little west of Balfour Books.) And now I am at home, and I intend to be completely lazy for the rest of the night. Right now I am watching this week's Alias and eating ice cream. Why does no-one like Alias this season, by the way? I'm totally enjoying it.

Enjoy your days, however much remain of them. I plan to enjoy mine!

1. I am testing the BPAL scents that chimerakitty sent me. I am fully multi-flavoured. At the moment Cerberus is the winner (mmm, chocolatey), but it seems to be a very changeable scent, so we'll see.

2. I had TWO packages in the mail today - my dvds from Amazon (Lost and Undeclared) and a "strikes suck" care package from canirl, with tea, chocolate, jewellery and a book. Awesome. I bet you wish you were locked out right now, too. (Or not.)

3. Of my two current jobs, working with mystery_diva definitely wins, even though printers are EVIL and must die. I can say this with authority since I've spent most of my time there printing pamphlets out. My other job is fine, but I'm not a fan of working 12-8. It kind of feels like winter already (other than the fact that it was so hot and gross out all this week) because it's dark when I leave work.

4. This is the first time I've been home alone for any length of time in a while. I should be doing laundry or cleaning the bathroom. As you can see, I'm not.

5. Did I mention that I met sarcasma and sanity_clause's wee kittens? They are adorable, and almost got distracted enough by the toys to not run in fear of my feet. So sweet.

6. I don't want to go to work tomorrow. I'm far too conditioned to having weekends off. And, in fact, to working only five days a week.

7. Now Cerberus smells like fruit, or candy, or something. Still nice, though.

8. I haven't talked about books in aeons, and I have a huge long list. The one thing I can say about walking the picket line is that it gives me lots of time to read, especially since I have mapped the path and no longer trip over the fire hydrant. I still don't recommend it, though.

9. Two weeks to Serenity! Eeeee!

10. I started looking at flights home for Christmas and then I realized that I don't even know what's going to be happening then. Maybe we'll still be locked out. But I have to wait in any case, because if I am back at work I have to put in for my vacation time. Of course, I can't do that until we go back to work. It's very complicated! I'm pretty sure it doesn't matter much, though - all the airlines are the same price, and think the days of sales for buying early are over. God, why is it so expensive to fly across Canada?

11. I would like an egg salad sandwich for dinner. Sadly, I have no eggs and no bread, so that's not going to happen.

12. I had grand plans to enjoy my evening off, but I'm already falling asleep. Damn. Sweet dreams, y'all.

Recently I braved the BPAL swap boards in an attempt to pass on some of the various imps that we've received and not enjoyed very much. It was amazingly successful, other than the fact that most of the respondees all wanted the same things. I think I had a couple of imps that have been discontinued. I still have a bag of stuff that no-one seemed to want, but I did get a few things out of the deal.

[Note to clarify: these are reviews of the ones that I received, for those who are interested. A post with imps I have to pass on is forthcoming, I promise.]

( Warning: reading the following may cause random acts of spending )

maitheas, I'm going to try White Rabbit one more time, and if it still doesn't last on me, I'll pass it on to you, ok? Assuming you haven't ordered your own already, of course.

I have come to the conclusion, after reading and failing to find answers to innumerable lyric memes, that the only ones I can ever get are either Canadian or from musicals, no matter how many of the songs I actually know. And usually too late. Also, Tragically Hip songs will earworm me, complete with Gord Downie, for the rest of the day.

( Amazing Race )

There's really not much else going on in the world of me. As long as I don't look at the wall of CDs on my desk I can pretend I'm not that far behind at work, I have no real thoughts as to what to bring to the staff party tomorrow, I'm boning up on my Messiah for the screech-a-long on Sunday, and OH LOOK IT'S LUNCHTIME. Thank pete.

How are you?

ETA: This is it, folks, the last BPAL review, at least until I put another order in -- which will probably be soon, considering it took 3 months to get here. Anyway, none of the samples really did much for me, but I traded a rejected imp of Envy for The Apothecary

Tea leaf with three mosses, green grass, a medley of herbal notes, and a drop of ginger and fig.

It's quite nice - sharp without being overwhelmingly green. And it lasts surprisingly well. I'll have to try it again before making a final decision, but I think I like it.

ETA again: Icon by kiltsandlollies! For me! Isn't she wonderful?

So Maybe I Don't Entirely Hate Christmas After All. I'm in a much more festive mood today, possibly because I've been ignoring all the Christmas CDs on my desk in favour of dealing with the raft of Grammy nominations, none of which involve the words "Santa" or "Holly". Plus I have a candy cane, and the possibility of a singalong Messiah. VOLKORNBROT!

Aaaaand there's probably no-one reading at this point who gets the reference. Nevermind.

Candy Is Dessert Too, Right? Today I smell like licorice, courtesy of licorice soap from starfishchick and Absinthe from BPAL.

Fall under the spell of our Green Fairy! An intoxicating blend containing wormwood essence, light mints, cardamom, anise, hyssop, and the barest hint of lemon.

Whoa, licorice. Which I like, but I'm sure would cause many other people to run screaming from me. Luckily by the time I left the house the anise had faded, and other things had come through, namely the cardamom and something green, possibly the wormwood and hyssop. I like it, but it's fading quickly.

Wednesdays Are The Best Day Of The Week. ( LOST )

Where's My Toronto Camouflage? There's some sort of event happening downstairs that involves tables of free food. I was going to go down and see what I could score, but I noticed, as I was leaning over the railing, that everyone was wearing black. I think my brown and jean look would have been highly suspicious. The perils of being a west coast hippie in the big city.

Love Is In The Air, Quite Clearly. Those of you who are posting such wonderful things about the people on your flist, it's really lovely. There isn't nearly enough gratuitous ego-stroking in the world.

Yeah, I Got Nothing. I'd be defriending me right about now, too. :D