Haus of Gloi Birthday

Recently, Haus of Gloi celebrated their seventh birthday. To mark the occasion, they came out with a collection of scents that all have Haus Amber as their base. For whatever reason, I'd never gotten around to trying Haus Amber, but I'd heard good things about it. I hadn't made an HoG order in awhile and I decided to treat myself to one of the 7 Birthday Ambers, a sample of Haus Amber to compare it too, and while I was at it, I picked up the only thing I was interested in from the Spring release, A Place In Space.

sixteen92 Summer 2016

Here we are with the first of this year's Circle releases, the Summer Collection.  This time around, the theme was 90's Girl Rock and Riot Grrrrl bands.  You guys don't even know how excited I was for this.  I didn't get very deep into the Riot Grrrl scene, but I had a close personal relationship with Tori Amos and Under the Pink,  It's one of those rare albums where I can't tell you the names of most of the songs because I put it on and I have to listen to the whole thing.  In order.  Tidal on the other hand is the CD I listened to when boys were stupid, or when I had a Sad or when I had a shit day at work and decided to soak in the tub with a pint of B&J and a plastic crown on my head.  To say that I was excited for this collection is like saying mountains are big.

I would have had this done awhile ago, but then I had An Idea.  The day I got these in the mail, my mom was over.  She immediately realized that the mailer on my desk had perfume in it and was like "I wanna try it.  No it doesn't need to rest, open it now, I wanna see!"  She initially tried Bruise Violet and Shadowboxer.  I decided to wait for her next visit and then make her try the rest, because, as always, her reactions were hilarious.

sixteen92 Spring 2016

I should probably have picked a more seasonally appropriate backdrop.

And thus have we come full circle with our 2015 Circle subscribtion.  Yeah, that was terrible, but I couldn't help myself.  Terrible puns not withstanding, the Spring Collection marks the end of this edition of sixteen92's The Circle subscription service.   This time around, the theme was Women of Shakespeare.  On top of that, being the last one, this shipment also included the promised Circle exclusive scent, All the World's A Stage.  

BPAL Crimson Peak

BPAL came out with a line of fragrances, polishes, and over at BPTP room sprays inspired by the movie Crimson Peak.  Scents inspired by a gothic broody ghost story with Tom Hiddleston's fine ass and Mia Wasikowska looking all blonde and ethereal?  Uh yes please.  I ended up getting in on the decant circle over at Deek's Decants because there were at least a dozen that sounded like they'd be right up my alley and -it being a limited edition collection-  full size 5 ml bottles are $30 a piece.   Sadly, I've yet to secure the services of a Perfume Sugar Daddy (if you're interested in the position, please send all inquiries to scentsandsensibilitiesblog@gmail.com), so I whittled my final list down to seven. I've had them for awhile now and I'm just getting around to testing them out.  Which was a really silly move on my part.  Spoiler alert: these were awesome.  

BPAL The Collected Poetic Works of Antonin Scalia

I absolutely love the concept behind BPAL's Scalia collection:

We’ve had myriad political figures throughout US history that have possessed acid tongues, but few in the modern era have provided such a constant stream of colorfully vitriolic superlatives as Antonin Scalia.

He is the federal court’s beat poet of indignation and right-wing rage.

For your pleasure, we present a line dedicated to SCOTUS’ reigning Sick Burn Champion, the cranky, flamboyant, inimitable Justice Antonin Gregory Scalia. Proceeds from every single bottle will be donated to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Trevor Project, and the National Center for Transgender Equality.

Gotta love that irony.  These originally came out when I was in the middle of a low buy, so charity or not, I couldn't justify picking them up, not even in decant form.  I was lucky enough to swap for a half bottle of Ask the Nearest Hippie and getting Ajevie decants of Mummeries And Straining-To-Be-Memorable Passages and of Jiggery Pokery.  

BPAL Halloween Part II: Pickman Gallery

And here we have Part II of my massive Weenies haul from Deek's Decant.  If you missed it, you can check out Part I here.  Today we're getting in to the Pickman Gallery scents.  

As you can see, I ended up picking up six scents: A Witch Riding A Dragon, The Sorceress, The Witches Sabbath, Depart Pour Le Sabbat, La Femme De Satan and Portrait of an Unidentified Man as Mephistopheles, which is a mouth-full.  

BPAL Liliths and Halloween 2015 Part I

I went a little BPAL crazy this fall, I must admit. It wasn't my fault though. What was I supposed to do with ALL the Liliths AND the Weenies coming out all at once? I must say, I think I exercised quite a bit of restraint. There were at least a half a dozen other scents that I really wanted. The problem is I got so many scent this time that I'm breaking it into two separate posts. Today we're going to do the lone Black Phoenix Trading Post scent I picked up, the Liliths, the Weenies, and the Dead Leaves. 

This time my enabling was brought to you by Brittany of Deeks Decants. This was my first decant circle with her, and I've already gotten in on two more. She's easy to work with, answers any questions you have quickly, and I really like her labels. Along with the name of the scent and it's notes, the back features a mini picture of the label art. 

This one is Magnificent Autumn.

Haus of Gloi 2015 Fall Release

I know, I know. HoG Yule is out, and has been for awhile. So why the hell are we talking about Autumn? First it was I didn't want to talk about what I got because I shopped HoG for my exchange partner during IMAM's Fall Exchange. I didn't want her to see and guess all the fabulous and good smelling stuff coming her way. While I was shopping for her, I snagged Blood Orange Marshmallow, a Bubbling Scrub in Pumpkin Queen, and a Vanilla Nag Champa Butter Bomb. Then, I snagged a few more Autumn scents in swaps. So we are talking about Autumn now because it is technically still Autumn, so there. 

sixteen92 Winter 2015

Sooooo I would have had this up ages ago, but my allergies decided it would be fun if I couldn't breathe through my nose for 5 days straight.  Fun times.  It didn't help that USPS held my Circle shipment hostage for an extra week.  I can't say as I blame them, since it smelled amazing before I even opened the package.  Also, it worked out nicely in that they got here in time for me to test them out on my mom again.  This isn't her first sixteen92 experience.  After smelling it, she made me buy her a full size of Goody Proctor and I've given her at least three of my freebie samples.  I think she has Black Sugar and Grimm.  It's been awhile so don't quote me on that. 

My Circle shipment consisted of the five Winter perfumes and a preview sample from the upcoming Holiday Collection of Candy Cane Mocha.   I was really glad I got that one because I wondered how it compared to Peppermint Hot Chocolate. 

NAVAlloween Part I

I've wanted to try Nocturne Alchemy for a little bit, but I never got around to it.  Then I was lured in by another decant circle.  I like decant circles: I get to try new things without committing to full sizes.  Also instead of agonizing over the full catalog, it's like: "This is all you get and you only have X amount of time to pick shit.  Hurry up."  I need a deadline or I'll hem and haw for ages.  I missed out on the last NAVA circle, which had Gardenia Crimson.  When I saw this was up and "add ons are welcome, leave a note in the box!" on the form and that I could get Gardenia Crimson as a sample still, I was all in.  

Besides GC, I picked up Black Crystalline Fig, Cemetery Ivy, Graveyard Dirt, and White Zinfandel.

Arcana Halloween 2015

Gods all bless decant circles.  I really wanted to pick up All of the Things from Arcana's Halloween release, but I couldn't afford to splurge on full sizes.  Thankfully, Angi of Ajevie's Circles ran a decant circle so I could pick up Most of the Things.

Summer LE Round Up feat. Arcana, Haus of Gloi, and sixteen92

I know it's a little late to be talking about summer scents.  Everyone is - yours truly included - all about that pumpkin spice, and the Fall/Halloween collections are coming out of the woodwork.  But, except for like three days this week, it's still been scorching hot and not Pumpkin and Apple and Resin Weather around here.   I've been going back and forth about even posting reviews on these three.   Then it went from Sweater In the Morning Weather back to I'm Sweating After Only 2 Minutes Of Driving With the Windows Down Weather.  And I also decided to do this so I can talk about My Awesome Customer Service Experiences.  AND I'm wearing Piscis Australis again today.  So you get Reviews About Summer Stuff.  Dealwithit.gif.

sixteen92 Birthday Collection

Y'all already know, I'm a giant sixteen92 stan.  Of course I was gonna be all over the birthday collection.  And bonus, it's cake!  Who doesn't love cake?  Bad people, that's who.  I decided to pick up a sample pack of all five of the offered scents, along with the new Supernatural Hair Serum and Detangling Spray.    

sixteen92 Spring Collection

*Picks up blog and blows the dust off of it*

Hey everyone.  I apologize for the lack of updates.  It's not that I haven't had things to post about (I sort of went crazy and Bought All The Things for my birthday back in March).  I've been scarce around these parts because my laptop died.  I've been using the Old Man's, which worked fine for us... until he got crazy busy with work.  Things have slowed down a bit, so fingers crossed that he won't be pulling anymore Gone At Dawn & Home Around 10pm shifts for awhile.  

Now that that's out of the way, on to the good stuff!  

That's these guys.

If you've been following along, then y'all should know by now I'm a huge sixteen92 fan.  They're my first and favorite indie perfumery.  With like maybe 2 exceptions, I've loved every scent I've tried from them.  The Spring Release continues the tradition of blowing me away.

Haus of Gloi Yule Release

Of course I heard of Haus of Gloi on IMAM because it's full of dirty, dirty enablers.  This fall I picked up a couple of samples in swaps, but until last month I'd never made an order from the Haus itself.  Partly this was because Haus of Gloi is wildly popular.  Since I've been paying attention, any time they put out a new limited release it sells out faster than you can spit.  Seriously.  When the Winter scents were first released, I took five minutes too long to decide what samples I wanted and had everything in my cart sell out while I dithered.  When they announced a restock on November 20th, I just tossed whatever sounded interesting in my cart and hit Checkout before I could get cart-jacked again.  



Despite the fact that HoG must have been drowning under a deluge of orders, I got my stuff quickly. I placed my order on the 20th, got my shipping notice on December 2nd, and it showed up on the 6th. I went back and forth between getting Wintervale and Snow Wolf. In the end I settled on Wintervale so I was really happy to see I'd gotten Snow Wolf as a free sample in my order!

Black Violet Winter Collection

I feel like I've been buried under an avalanche of Christmas cheer.   Which I have noone but myself and my brilliant idea to Crochet All The Gifts! this year.   The worst part is I'm not even done.

Me, for the past 2 weeks.

Seeing how it's actually Christmas, I won't see the rest of the people I have gifts for till next month, and I got another Black Violet order last night, I thought I'd take a rest and get back to the fun stuff: Talking about my precious precious indies. This batch I ordered when Black Violet opened back up the week of Black Friday.  I was going to wait for the sale because I wanted the Glamour Doll Eyes GWP.  Then Momotaro sold out of the Wildflower section and I panicked.  What I did manage to score was full sizes of Snow White Tea and Marrakesh, and samples of all 4 of her winter release scents, as well as a mini of Bavarian Apfel Cider from the fall stuff.  My free samples were a Komorebi Body Butter sample and a GDE shadow.

Black Violet Perfumes

Not pictured: Candy.  Because I ate it.

I'm pretty sure I'd heard about Black Violet Perfume Vault & Bathory before the big anniversary sale back at the end of September.  I hadn't even been planning on making an order.  Then I heard about the sale, and the gift with purchases and.... I sort of tripped and fell on the *Submit Order* button?  Yeah, I don't buy that excuse either.  Moving right along then.  My haul included a Detangling Mist, a five pack of perfume samples, a full size Body Butter, and my samples were the Celebration mini, a lotion sample, and the Shiro GWP.  But Mel, you're probably saying, You said you got a five pack of perfumes and there's six in that picture.  That's because I happened to get a swap with Ringmaster in it.