welcome to camp telophase

Right! So, who's going to Anime Expo? BPAL will be there with 4 exclusive scents all of which sound awesome to me.

I'm still in my search for whatever-it-is that I'm allergic to in Phantom Time Hypothesis* and at the moment I'm looking at the gumdragon or, as it's better known, tragacanth (or gum tragacanth), a common binder used in baking and other food prep that is known to cause respiratory problems such as nasal allergies and asthma.

So far I haven't been able to find any online for less than $5 plus OH DEAR GOD YOU WANT HOW MUCH FOR SHIPPING?!** Anyone out there have any, know of someone who has any, etc. who can get me a small amount for testing? I'll pay for it plus shipping, provided it's reasonable. :)


ETA: Also the lignum aloes mention in the description, which is another name for aloeswood/agarwood and which is, I note after searching, bloody expensive. Anyone have any lead on that, or some BPAL The Ecstasy of St. Theresa, The Maltese Cross of Sanctus Germanus, or The Dodo, all listed as containing agarwood, that you're willing to let me buy a sniffie of for testing?


* Yes, I asked the Lab if there were any common allergens in it. No, they have not replied.

** $5 would be a reasonable price. $4.75 + $7.25 shipping is not.

The perfume I posted sadly about on Jan 1st is BPAL's Phantom Time Hypothesis, which I, unfortunately, love. It's a limited edition, so at least it won't sit there, tempting me, every time I go to the site.

I have no idea what component it is that hates me now. The description reads: A traditional Medieval perfume that never existed: balm, benzoin, damask rose, gumdragon, lignum aloes, orange water, ambergris, and vegetal musk., but (a) that won't be all the components in it, because they don't want people copying their perfumes, and (b) I have no clue if BPAL follows the practice of some perfumers and lists notes that appear in the perfume out of combinations of other notes, and not from the actual component, i.e. if you combine A and B and C and the result is rather close to D, you might list D as a note, even though you didn't put component D in there.

The allergy came on with an odd (to me) symptom: you know how when you go outside on a freezing day, breathe in, and your nose hairs freeze? It was that sensation. In the middle of a crowded restaurant. And my nose started running. The next night, when I realized at a party that the symptoms went away after I got home and showered but came back even worse - lots of sneezing, and majorly runny nose as well as that prickly feeling - after I put it on again, I connected it with the perfume.

So, oh well. I'm reeeeeeally hoping that it's not a common component like benzoin or ambergris*, because that's going to make my own perfume-making hobby rather ... interesting. I plan on doing sniff tests of various perfumes and perfume components I have in order to narrow it down so I can avoid it in the future. It may take some time, as it doesn't seem to come on immediately after applying the perfume, but a while later.

Also, I managed to put a shirt on today that had traces of the perfume still on it, and I didn't realize it until I was sniffing and sneezing in a morning meeting. Luckily, it was faint enough that it wasn't bothering me near as much as it was this weekend, so I got through the day with occasional sneezes, a half-stuffy nose, and some those prickly feelings inside my nose.




* Probably a synthetic in this perfume: the real stuff is damn expensive. But I could be wrong.

I dropped a chunk o' change on sample vials of perfume oil from vmperfumes, and now have a bunch to try out. :)

( Review of Cathedral )

( Giant list o'samples with descriptions )

My "bpal" tag is now being pressed into use as a general perfume tag until that far distant day when I get around to redoing my tags.

Got my four Chaos Theory VI: The Amber Series bottles today!

( Read more... )