questions about BPAL

[salixbabylon]

do they retail with anybody? their website confuses me.

how are you supposed to now what the scents are like? just guess and order imps? that seems ludicrous to me. is that really their business plan?

perhaps i should report this at my "Real Life" lj and see if I know anyone who buys them who would let me come over for a smell...

Comments

[abluegirl.livejournal.com]

BPAL is confusing! I thought about purchasing some of their scents, too, but ultimately i couldn't justify buying scents when i had no idea what they smelled like first.

I might still get some one day when i have a bit more disposable income. :)

There's forums on LJ and off the BPAL site which give some good guildines on what BPAL scents to start with. But yeah, the guessing and ordering imps does seem to be the main way to do things. :/

If you do decided to get any, i'd be happy to hear about it. Am v. interested in BPAL. :)

[salixbabylon.livejournal.com]

i couldn't justify buying scents when i had no idea what they smelled like first

Exactly! I rarely wear prefume at all, so I'm more just curious than wanting to buy and wear.

I'll let you know what I figure out. :)

*puts on sweetly-scented pimp hat*

[telesilla.livejournal.com]

BPAL is way confusing. They only retail out of two shops, one in the LA area and one in Rhode Island of all places. What I did when first got into them was make a list off the retail site of the scents that interested me and then I went over to the forum and started reading reviews.

The thing that really helps is that they do sell samples and that there's a brisk trade in samples on the forum and ebay. So while you do have to take a bit of a financial risk, it's not as high as ordering a full bottle of something only to discover that something in it really doesn't work with your skin.

When we manage to get together, I'll bring my BPAL. Not only have I got the stuff that works on me, I've also got a bunch of imps--samples--that don't.

You know what? Give me a minute here to pull a list together of the stuff I have that didn't work for me and if it turns out you're interested in any of them, I can send them your way. I've learned that it's insanely cheap to mail imps.

Re: *puts on sweetly-scented pimp hat*

[telesilla.livejournal.com]

Seriously, if you want any or all of these, let me know. They're all the little sample sized vials.

Bordello
Danube
Dragon's Eye
Euphrosyne
Gluttony
Hurricane
Jabberwocky
Juke Joint
Penitence
Phantasm
Siren
Snake Oil
Tamora
Tiger Lily
White Rabbit
Wolfsbane

Re: *puts on sweetly-scented pimp hat*

[salixbabylon.livejournal.com]

I read through all the descriptions (finally - sorry) and aside from a few that sounds like they might be too fruity for me they all sound interesting.

I don't want to put you out about the cost, though - so let me know what you'd like to do.

Re: *puts on sweetly-scented pimp hat*

[telesilla.livejournal.com]

Seriously, I tend to be really "pay it forward" with Bpal. I've gotten a lot of free imps from a couple people--including the Lab, they always throw in freebies with your order--and so I usually feel funny about flat out charging people for them. And the postage will maybe be a dollar or two so that's just kinda silly. *grins*

All I need is an address and I can send them out tomorrow or Saturday. :)

Re: *puts on sweetly-scented pimp hat*

[salixbabylon.livejournal.com]

*laughs at the pimp hat*

I'll check out the forums. I'm mostly interested in "what does it smell like" - I don't wear much perfume ever because a lot of time scents make me sneeze.

But then I made some perfume oil at a local Perfumer's Apprentice Shop and am wearing what I made every now and then... And I love the names/text/images at BPAL.

Mostly, I just want to sniff. (That sounds dirty, doesn't it?) But I'll look at the descriptions of the imps you offered and let you know if anything sounds like a good bet. Otherwise, we'll definitely be in Sacto for Thanksgiving and a few days - will you? I'd love to hook up for coffee or something.