Beth an' Ted of BPAL have had their squidling, Lilith Victoria, and of course there was a set of perfumes to herald her arrival. I am as much a fool for babies as I am for BPAL--I love babies, absolutely adore them--and so I got all three. Bad Mei. Well, I've been selling and swapping unloved smellies, so I figger it's okay.

Quick sniffs of Salon: Lady Lilith, Gladdener of All Hearts and Lilith Victoria initially indicate they're all winners; we'll see how they do on my skin, starting with Lilith Victoria, a forum-only scent (you have to be a BPAL.org member, and really, why wouldn't you be?):

Snake Oil blended with Dorian, plus soft vanilla flower, lily of the valley, lavender, and fennel.

For those of you who don't know, and really, why would you, Snake Oil is Beth's signature scent. It's a spiced vanilla that gets better with age. And Ted's signature scent is Dorian, described as "a Victorian fougere with three pale musks and dark, sugared vanilla tea." So of course their daughter's scent is a blend of the two with her own scent notes to make it her own.

In the bottle: This is sparking some indistinct memory I can't quite place. I smell lavender at the fore, which is not uncommon when it's in a blend; lavender is a pushy little plant!

Wet: This is really well-blended; it's hard to pick out the notes. Vanilla and tea, with the lavender keeping it sprightly. A tiny bit of fennel way at the back makes it playful.

Dry: This is really lovely. Now Dorian's musks are coming up, and the Snake Oil has completely tamed the wild lavender without overwhelming it. Then I get the tea, which has a faint tobacco to it. It's a pu-erh or Russian tea, smoked, not some namby-pamby orange pekoe.

This is a complex blend, sweet and oddly childlike without being cloying or babyish. It's just beautiful. I love it.

Along with the three bottles came six frimps, most of which I didn't have. One of them smells exactly like potting soil in a really good way, and one of them is perfect for No2 Daughter (bubble gum and cherry candy) but bears the unfortunate name of Jailbait!

In other BPAL news, I traded Glowing Vulva for bottles of Daiyu **and** Tiki Queen, my La Primavera room spray (which Sir hates) for Marae (which he likes), and I found partials of Clemence, Torture Queen and the Grindhouse for cheap. And someone who bought a couple of my imps threw in extra $$ because she turned out to be a reader! So yeah, good BPAL day! I'm diggin' this swapping/selling thing, I'm having fun and saving some $$.