Day 17: My current top 10 in cosmetics

♥ Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab perfumes. There's been a couple of posts about them earlier in this blog, and my affection for these magical little bottles still hasn't budged. Poisoned Apple is a delicious favourite of mine. Both the names and the scents of these perfume oils are all wonderfully imaginative! Here's a description from the shop's site: "Our scents run the aesthetic gamut of magickal, pagan and mythological blends, Renaissance, Medieval and Victorian formulas, and horror / Gothic-themed scents."

♥ Eyelashes! The ones in the photo are from Red Cherry.

♥ DUO lash adhesive. Keeps the lashes on better than any other adhesive I've tried! The tube says that the adhesive stays good for 24 months, but exactly after 9 months I start to get allergic reactions and have to dose the usage of this product for a while. Reasonable consumption recommended for all sensitive skinned people. :)

♥ Urban Decay Primer Potion. It's like a micro-sized genie that makes your eye make-up stay put through the hours of night and day. One thousand and one nights might be too much for this genie, but a couple of bottles of this primer would probably do the job.

Extra note: Urban Decay was one of my fave cosmetic brands, but I just found out that it's been very recently sold to L'Oreal, which makes it impossible to purchase any more make-up from them as I don't wish to support the fiendish mother ship. I must admit that I shed a tear or two because so many of the best companies have changed their policies recently and it makes me so sad. So, if any of you dearies know a really great cruelty free primer, I'd highly appreciate the help! (Any experiences of Too Faced's primers?)

♥ Red lipstick! This one goes without saying. In the picture is MAC Russian Red.

♥ Liquid black eye liner, I use that a lot as I'm sure you've noticed. The specimen here is from We Care Icon.

♥ Freeman's facial detoxifying mask, Chocolate & Strawberry. Smells just as delicious as it sounds!

♥ Lily Lolo's Mineral Cover Up, #Barely Beige. It's an extremely light, pigmented shade and it makes broken veins and little spots disappear like a charm. Also works as a light eye shadow.

♥ Missha BB cream, #13. Wonderfully light porcelain shade that goes on evenly, doesn't clog pores and protects the skin, as it has a SPF 42.

♥ And last but definitely not the least; Virgin Coconut Oil. I'm the kind of a girl that uses it for everything, I don't care about the hippie stamp since I'm already almost as hippie as it gets. :D I use coconut oil as cooking oil, hair treatment, conditioner for lips and body, and I put in in smoothies or scoop it in my mouth with a spoon. It's super healthy inside out, such a magnificent 100 % natural product! Some say it even works as a deodorant, but I haven't dared to try that yet, haha.

The Order of the Black Phoenix

Naputtelin jo yli vuosi sitten postauksen Black Phoenix Alchemy Labin tuoksuista, mutta vasta kuukausi takaperin saimme puolison kanssa aikaiseksi tilata tuota pullotettua euforiaa. Puodin tuoksuvalikoima on valtava ja joka sarjasta löytyy ainakin yksi suuri houkutus, joten ei ihme että tilaaminen vähän venyi.
Viime viikolla paketti olikin jo rantautunut kotiin ja käydessäni viikonloppuvisiitillä Joensuussa (työskentelen siis viikot muualla) oli aika käydä suloisten öljyjen nuuhkinnan kimppuun. Sen verran lumoavia tuttavuuksia pullot olivat että kaksi uutta BPAL-addiktia ilmoittautuu, hyvästi vaan ne vähäisetkin kesätyörahat..

Mies tilasi itselleen Villain-kelmituoksun, taistelukentiltä hohkavan Antonyn sekä pari imp-koepulloa, omaan kokeiluuni puolestaan päätyivät Lumikista tuttu Poisoned Apple, Spellbound sekä joukko pieniä impejä, mm.White Rabbit, Blood Countess & Snake Oil. Yllätykseksi paketista kuoriutuikin aimo kasa ilmaisia näytteitä ja vaikka pari putelia löyhkää kammottavalta niin ei haittaa yhtään, niiden läträäminen käynee oivallisesti poltergeistien tai uteliaiden naapureiden karkoitukseen. Kaupan päälle saimme myös ihanan kummittelevan postikortin joka löysi heti paikkansa kodin seinältä. :>

Huumaavan omenainen Poisoned Apple sekä hunajan, mustan teen, pippurin ja vaniljan outo sekoitus White Rabbit ovat suosikkini tällä hetkellä. Hiukan tosin harmittaa etten tilannut Rabbittia isona pullona, pelkäsin että ruokaisa tuoksu syöpyisi ihollani karmeaksi myrkkykatkuksi mutta päinvastoin, puhtaat lakanat ja hunajainen teesekoitus tuoksuu ihanalta! Seuraava tilaus on jo vakaasti mietinnässä joten kotimme lemuaa varmaan pian oopiumluolalta/Intian basaarilta kaikkien haihtuneiden öljyjen jäljiltä. Varoituksena vaan vierailijoille :D

Onko lukijoista monikin tutustunut BPAL:iin? Löytyykö sarjasta jotain ehdotonta suosikkituoksua, vai onko jonkun muun valmistajan parfyymi mielestäsi ylitse muiden?

I wrote about Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab's perfume oils over a year ago, but it took us this long to get the order done since there's countless scents we wanted to try. Last weekend I was visiting home (I work in my old hometown during summer) and the package had finally arrived, hurray! My love ordered Villain and a battlefield-scented Antony along with some imp-bottles, and my order consisted of Snow White's Poisoned Apple and Spellbound, and a few imps like White Rabbit, Blood Countess and Snake Oil. I love the bitter apple scent of Poisoned Apple, and the hint of clean linen, black tea, honey and pepper made White Rabbit my other favorite, so next time I'll have to order a big bottle of that. And next time might come pretty soon since we're both already addicted to these treats! :>
   We also got a hoard of free samples (some of which smell so horrible that they can be used only to banish some evil spirits or nozy neighbours) and a haunting postcard that already decorates our wall. Do you have any experience of BPAL? And what's your favorite scent, from this series or some other brand?

Dancer in the Dark

^ Hupsis, hanskat jäi kuvasta :D

Olin viime viikolla niin uppoutunut kotona haaveiluun, uuden maalauksen työstämiseen ja sohvalle elokuvien kanssa lahoamiseen että alennusmyynnit valuivat taas miltei kokonaan ohi. Nähtävästi myöhässäkin voi tehdä mieltä lämmittäviä löytöjä, kuten kauan kaivatun lyhyen tyllihameen löytyminen hiukan yli kympillä! Tyllikerrokset kuohkeuttavat lyhyiden kellomekkojen helmoja juuri sopivasti ja tietysti hame käy itsenäisestikin asun osasta. Ballerinatyhjiötä on hauskaa täyttää aikuisiällä, lapsena urahaaveinaani kun oli pikemminkin Indiana Jonesin kuin siron tanssijattaren ammatti. (Seikkailija-arkeologiksi haluaisin kyllä vieläkin, tosin hameiden kera puettuna.)

Lahjakorttien avustuksella kahmaisin myös kosmetiikka-ja koruhyllyille lisäyksiä. Huumaavan addiktoivaa Love etc-tuoksua olen kuluttanut jo kolmen ilmaisnäytteen edestä, oli jo aikakin hankkia kunnon pullollinen parfyymia eikä nyysiä salakavalasti mininäytteitä. Tuo elvyttävä hiusnaamio oli toiveikas yritys pelastaa kuihtuneiden latvojen viimeisiä rippeitä, mutta pahoinpa pelkään saksien lähestyvän kutrejani lähiaikoina. Olisipa jotain elvyttävää hoitoa keksitty kouluinnollekin, kiinnostukseni tällä hetkellä pyöriviä kursseja kohtaan laahaa tällä hetkellä syvimmissä pohjamudissa. Asetin kuitenkin itselleni pienen täkyn, jos selviän tammikuun rutistuksesta niin helmikuussa odottaa erittäin mieluinen palkinto ;)

I've had so many better things to do (painting and rotting on our sofa) that I almost forgot to go to the sales! Apparently it's possible to make a few good finds even though you're terribly late. I found a puffy tulle skirt I've needed for a long time for shorter dresses, but you can also use it on it's own. I think it's ok to occasionally play a ballerina, especially when you rather dreamed about being Indiana Jones than a graceful dancer when you were little! (And I still do) 

Some cosmetic treats also made their way into my shopping bag, that perfume is highly addictive and after several free test bottles I finally bought a proper one. Oh yes, and school started today. I wish there was an easy cure for my total lack of interest regarding the courses I'm on at the time, but I'm going to try one thing. If I survive through the challenges of January, a very pleasant reward awaits me in February ;)

Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Olen aina ollut hieman nirso tuoksujen kanssa. Luottotuoksut pysyy vuodesta toiseen ja lähinnä käytänkin rakkaitteni lahjoittamia ihania hajustepulloja sekä myskiä ja ruusuvettä, nirsoilen kovasti eritoten julkkistuoksujen hypetyksen edessä. Parfyymipullot ovat usein hyvin kauniita taideteoksia, mutta nätin pullon vuoksi kalliin hajusteen ostaminen on mielestäni hulluutta, jos tuoksu ei muuten ole maata kaatavan ihana.

On kuitenkin yksi parfyymipesä, jossa käyn ahkerasti ja kuolailen persoonallisten ja makaaberien tuoksujen perään kieli pitkällä. En voi vastustaa niiden minussa herättämiä tunnelmia, mutta tilausta en ole vielä saanut aikaiseksi, vaikka mieheni kanssa sitä koko ajan mietitäänkin. Valikoimissa on hurjasti ihanuuksia mutta hieman korkeahko hintaskaala on vielä pidätellyt meitä. Valikoimasta vain muutaman tuoksun poimiminen on sitä paitsi ihan liian vaikeaa! :>

Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab tarjoaa vaihtoehtoihmisille taianomaisia hajusteita tylsän valtavirran vastapainoksi. Tuoksuista löytyy sopivia niin miehille kuin naisillekin, ja kukaan ei käske ettei niitä voisi sekoitella. Kukapa ei tahtoisi tuoksua Neil Gaimanin, Lewis Carrollin tai Edgar Allan Poen hahmoilta? Egyptiläiset jumalat, muinaiset hirviöt ja herkät keijukaiset vilahtavat yhtiön kokoelmissa, jopa Cthulhun muinaisen mädän tuoksun tai Alicen taikapullon liemen herkullisen maun saa ostoskoria klikkaamalla omakseen! Tässä pari herkullista esimerkkiä:

DRINK ME

There seemed to be no use in waiting by the little door, so she went back to the table, half hoping she might find another key on it, or at any rate a book of rules for shutting people up like telescopes: this time she found a little bottle on it, ('which certainly was not here before,' said Alice,) and round the neck of the bottle was a paper label, with the words 'DRINK ME' beautifully printed on it in large letters.

It was all very well to say 'Drink me,' but the wise little Alice was not going to do that in a hurry. 'No, I'll look first,' she said, 'and see whether it's marked "poison" or not'; for she had read several nice little histories about children who had got burnt, and eaten up by wild beasts and other unpleasant things, all because they would not remember the simple rules their friends had taught them: such as, that a red-hot poker will burn you if you hold it too long; and that if you cut your finger very deeply with a knife, it usually bleeds; and she had never forgotten that, if you drink much from a bottle marked 'poison,' it is almost certain to disagree with you, sooner or later.

However, this bottle was not marked 'poison,' so Alice ventured to taste it, and finding it very nice, (it had, in fact, a sort of mixed flavour of cherry-tart, custard, pine-apple, roast turkey, toffee, and hot buttered toast,) she very soon finished it off.
BPAL’s Drink Me is not for drinking. Please use common sense, and remember: perfume oils are for external use only.

WHITE RABBIT
Strong black tea and milk with white pepper, ginger, honey and vanilla, spilled over the crisp scent of clean linen.   
GLUTTONY

Thick, sugared and bloated with sweetness. Dark chocolate, vanilla, buttercream, and hops with pralines, hazelnut, toffee and caramel.

ABSINTHE

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. 

BLACK CAT

A very tricky kitty, indeed. Used most often as a key to bringing back the joy one needs to have in life in order for living to feel worthwhile. Brings back a sense of delight in simple pleasures, and creates a surge of childlike curiosity and a youthful sense of fun. This blend can also be used to reverse troublesome lesser crossings, create a playful air of catlike sexuality, and, because cats will be cats, it can also be used to throw minor, irritating or bothersome hexes, causing small amounts of chaos and disruption to your foes.

ULALUME

The skies they were ashen and sober;
The leaves they were crisped and sere -
The leaves they were withering and sere;
It was night in the lonesome October
Of my most immemorial year:
It was hard by the dim lake of Auber,
In the misty mid region of Weir -
It was down by the dank tarn of Auber,
In the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir.

Starry white lilies lend an eerie brightness to the deep black wooded scents of cypress and oak, layered with a touch of crushed dried leaves and the faintest aquatic note.. 

CTHULHU
If I say that my somewhat extravagant imagination yielded simultaneous pictures of an octopus, a dragon, and a human caricature, I shall not be unfaithful to the spirit of the thing. A pulpy, tentacled head surmounted a grotesque and scaly body with rudimentary wings... It represented a monster of vaguely anthropoid outline, but with an octopus-like head whose face was a mass of feelers, a scaly, rubbery-looking body, prodigious claws on hind and fore feet, and long, narrow wings behind. This thing, which seemed instinct with a fearsome and unnatural malignancy, was of a somewhat bloated corpulence...
A creeping, wet, slithering scent, dripping with seaweed, oceanic plants and dark, unfathomable waters.