BPAL’s Atomic Luau Lounge.

Those that know me and my obsession with BPAL know I have a tendency to go overboard when the Lab releases their huge holiday updates. The April Fool’s update was no exception, and I’m glad that I didn’t go nuts when the Lupercalia update went up in honor of St. Valentine’s Day.

First off, here are the March Lunacies, which have been sitting around in their box FOREVER.

Sugar Moon 2008, which smells DIVINE, and Hamami.

And the April Lunacies.

Worm Moon 2008 and April Fool.

From the website:

++ ATOMIC LUAU LOUNGE
In the spirit of Polynesian Pop and Tiki Culture, we present Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab’s Atomic Luau Lounge: the Exotica Collection.

Tiki Culture became a phenomenon in the late 50’s, likely inspired by Hawaii’s admission to the union in 1959 and by the memories of World War II veterans that were stationed in the South Pacifi. Tiki enthusiasts were influenced by a panoply of Polynesian themes, and they embraced pop renditions of island artwork, dress, and music, revamping them with a distinctly campy Western flair.

This is our tribute to Donn Beach, a true Pisces if there ever was one. Light the torches, bust out the leis, and bust out the Martin Denny LPs! Without you, Donn, we wouldn’t pu pu platters to gorge on, or Zombies to chug!

My husband is addicted to all things tiki, and I have to say that I’m getting into it, as well. So it was only fitting that I blew a huge chunk of change on the Atomic Luau Lounge perfume oils!

The rulers of the lounge, Tiki King and Tiki Queen!

Blue Fire, Golden Wave, Moana, Screeching Parrot, Rangoon Riptide, Te Po, and Upa Upa. They’re all booze-based scents. One sniff, and you’re trashed off your ass!

Of course, every order comes with tons of goodies. A postcard and a small batch of imps came with my March Lunacy order, and the pen, postcard, label, imps, and tropical umbrella came with my Luau Lounge order!

I now officially have more BPAL oils than I know what to do with. I think it’s high time I bought myself a scent locket so that I can wear them much more easily! I think I should invest in some financial reporting software to keep track of all of the money I’ve spent on BPAL oils. Because seriously?

The amount of money that I’ve spent on those small bottles of oil is STAGGERING!

Cocoa Pink.

I first heard about Cocoa Pink from my friend Judith on one of the bath and body swapper forums. She kindly gifted me with some samples from CP when she sent me my Lush UK group order goodies, and just on the smell alone, I was hooked. Judith RAVES about Cocoa Pink, and I have to admit, I’m starting to feel the same way.

After much harassing, I broke my no-buy to order up some goodies. I placed my first order (I’ve already got a second order on its way to me, and my dear friend L. also got some stuff for me in between my two orders!) on Valentine’s Day. I had signed up for their newsletter, and they sent out emails letting people know that the shop was going to be opening back up for business on January 31. I decided to wait until February 14 because I’d heard there were going to be some special edition Valentine’s Day scrubs available, and I didn’t want to place two orders within the space of a couple of weeks.

My box showed up on March 15. Needless to say, if you’re impatient and can’t handle long turn-around time, I wouldn’t order from Cocoa Pink. As it is, I’m a patient person, and the TAT for me was just fine. the box actually showed up unannounced, as I didn’t get a shipment notice.

I have to RAVE about the packaging. Inside the Priority Mail box was a pretty pink bakery box, tied with a brown raffia ribbon. On top of the ribbon was an old time “wax seal” with the CP initials embossed in it. The presentation of my products alone was more than enough to make me a satisfied customer. If there’s one thing I adore, it’s pretty packaging!

Inside the box, everything was wrapped up carefully in pretty pink tissue paper, and the empty spots (not that there were any!) were filled with brown and pink crinkle shreds. SO DAMN CUTE.

Let’s talk yummy here for a minute, shall we? Milk & Cookies Lavish Bubbles sugar scrub and Pink Sugar Noel Lavish Bubbles sugar scrub. The best part about these two? THEY’RE IN FLIP-TOP CONTAINERS! Hello, e-tailers? Scrubs in flip-top containers are and EXCELLENT idea! The Milk & Cookies scrub smells incredible.

Cocoa Pink’s versions of shampoo and conditioner…Princess Poo and Shine Sweetie. Both are the large bottles at 10 ounces, and the large bottles come with a pump. The Princes Poo is Monkey Poo - Bananas! and the Sweetie is Harajuku Bananas. Yes, we have some bananas today…

Anti-Frizz cream for my foul hair in Vanilla Bean Noel. This stuff smells awesome! I also got a jar of their ultra intensive hair conditioner called Soulmate. When I first saw the name, I thought it was something for your feet! Wouldn’t you? Of course, I had to buy it…my hair needs all the help it can get, and the Buttercream Frosting scent pretty much sealed the deal!

Stinky Whip! I just wanted to give this a try, as I’ve heard some good things about it.  It’s supposed to be great for sensitive facial skin, which is something I certainly have! I bought a small pot of it to test it out, and it doesn’t smell stinky at all! It’s whipped shea butter, and it’s actually kind of like the stuff I used to make myself a few years ago. And boy, was that stuff a pain in the butt to whip up!

As if I don’t already have enough perfume stuff that I don’t use…I HAD to get a bottle of their Cupcake Glittery in Pink Frosted Cupcake. It’s sparkly! I’m supposed to somehow resist that? My arm is all glittery right now!  (Unfortunately, even as much as I wanted to love this, there’s a strawberry note in this and it’s WAY TOO STRONG.  Strawberries and me don’t get along very well AT ALL.)

Tucked into the box were two nice sized free samples…Princess Poo in Couer de Vahine and Soulmate in Pink Scentgasm.

Needless to say, I’m VERY HAPPY with my first order. So happy, in fact, that when Ilona (Cocoa Pink’s owner) brought the new site online and did a restock on April 29, I promptly placed another order.

Cocoa Pink’s new website is utterly adorable, although when I placed my second order on April 29, the site was lagging rather badly, due to the traffic. Ordering can be a bit of a chore. But the site is SO DAMN CUTE I can forgive them!

There was also a bit of an issue with my current order, and my dealings with customer service were taken care of quickly, and their customer service ROCKS!

Yeah, I’ll be ordering from Cocoa Pink again!  Can’t you tell? 

RV’s store rating?

Scattered To The Four Winds.

I am THISCLOSE to having my new computer up and running. I’m just getting the last bits of software installed at this point, and fighting with the new card reader that I bought. It reads my DSLR’s microdrive just fine, but it seems to have a nervous breakdown when I try to read my SD card from my point and shoot camera.

The hardest part is putting all of my “soap” files and folders back in their rightful places. If only it were as easy as finding out information on natural acne treatments, I wouldn’t be about ready to tear my hair out.

As of right now, I can’t find a lot of my e-tailer descriptions, along with a ton of photos that I already had edited and ready to go.  I’m trying to do things differently with this machine…I’m trying to keep things as neat and as orderly as I can, and not have all of the files I need for this site scattered to the four winds.

It’s quite a chore, I can assure you of that.  Right now, I’ll just be happy if I can find the pictures that I dumped off of the SD card before I took my old machine down!

The Olive Branch Shower Gel.

Lush’s description: Sultry liquid shower bliss to bring peace to hectic bodies. Not fruity or flowery or frilly, instead this shower gel subtly calls to the Mediterranean. The Olive Branch has a welcoming warmth to it, with organic olive oil to soften your skin, an infusion of vine leaves, sea salt and the fresh juice of mandarin oranges. Clean and neutral, for boys or girls, morning or night, this shower gel cleans and relaxes bodies with unassuming sophistication. $25.75 16.9 fl. oz. bottle.

I swear, I’m such a sucker. The Olive Branch has become one of my new favorite shower gels. I am absolutely in love with this stuff.

Now, this isn’t your normal every day type shower gel. For one thing, it needs to be shaken before you use it, as all the yummy goodness in the bottle separates between uses. This is also a thinner than normal shower gel, and if you use too much on your bath pouf, it’ll leak right through to your shower floor. This is one shower gel you won’t want to waste!

Sometimes, when a shower gel is a bit thin, you don’t expect it to create much lather at all…this lovely shower gel is certainly the exception. The Olive Branch creates mounds upon mounds of soft, fluffy white lather, and rinses away cleanly, leaving you feeling squeaky clean, and without any of the dryness of most normal shower gels.

Let’s talk about the scent. It’s DELICIOUS. Warm and inviting…perfect to help soothe the ravaged soul. It’s an exotic scent, reminiscent of a trip to the Italian coastline…you know how it is…you just got some fabulous hotel deals for a trip around the world, and one of your stops is a gorgeous historical hotel in Italy overlooking the coastline. It’s got the perfect view of the water and the smells just envelope you…

Not that I’d know that, mind you. The scent just brings that sort of visualization, you know what I mean?

Hi, I’m cheesy. But I LOVE the scent of The Olive Branch.

But you know what? Even my husband likes this. He likes the scent, and he’s actually thinking of switching over from his usually shower gel (Lush’s Tramp) to this. It’s a scent that’s perfect for both sexes.

I need to get myself another bottle SOON, as I’m almost out.

RV’s product rating?

Hello, Sugar!

Boy, am I ever glad that I left the state this weekend. Because honestly? If i’d been around, I probably would’ve gone to my website host’s house and beaten the crap out of him.

All of my websites and my email was down from Thursday afternoon until this afternoon.

NOT A HAPPY CAMPER. Not one little bit.

Of course, Mom and Dad’s home cooking kind of made me forget everything. Good Lord, I’m going to need a serious dose of Leptovox to get rid of the weight I gained while I was there.

Mom and I did some SERIOUS shopping on Saturday while Dad was left at home to cook dinner.  The women go shopping while the men do the cooking!  Anyway, Mom and I hit up Bath & Body Works, and I spent a TON of money, but most of it was for my Mom.  I bought her a ton of stuff and killed two birds with one stone…Mother’s Day AND her birthday, which is on May 24.

We then headed over to Yankee Candle, and the girl at the register actually went out of her way to help me.  I had a $15 off a $45 order coupon, but of course, I left that at home.  She dug one up for me and let me use it!  Plus, she was super-friendly, and their store smelled DIVINE, unlike the Yankee Candle near where I live, which smells like a horse’s ass.

Lovely, I know.

So, my pretties…once I get my brand new computer up and running and get all of my editing software installed, I shall regale you all with new reviews and all kinds of fun things.

For now, let me leave you with this…Bath & Body Works has a new series called Hello, Sugar!  It’s lemons and sugar.  I HATE LEMON SCENTS.

I AM IN LOVE WITH THIS.  Y’all need to check it out.  It’s delish!

Time To Get Away.

I am headed off this weekend to go visit my parents. I desperately need to get away. Things have been piling up…housework, computer problems, work, car issues…you name it. My head’s about to explode. I am going to watch hockey with my Dad and go shopping with my Mom. I am going to sleep in on Sunday and eat an actual home-cooked breakfast when I finally do roll my fat butt out of bed. Mom and I are going to go check out an elliptical or two, as both of us would like to get one. We will then go clothes and shoe shopping to make us feel better.

I am tired, overworked, and underpaid. I’m being pulled in many different directions at the same time. I am SO GLAD that as of today, the husband and I only have 11 more days until we go on vacation.

Oh, and you want to know how much of a sucker I am? I haven’t even done the first review of my first Cocoa Pink order…and I’ve already ordered more stuff. Buh-bye PayPal balance!

Techie Talk.

I am so dead on my feet, I should get some life insurance quotes and buy myself a policy before I drop dead so that hubby can support our three cats.  Lordy, it’s been quite the week!

My camera is sitting here staring at me, mocking me.  I have a ton of pictures to upload, but I might hold off on that, as I’m going to be taking my computer apart, probably tomorrow.  I’m in the middle of building myself a new computer, and I really don’t want to save anything else to either of the hard drives, just in case something goes screwy with my nightly backup.  I don’t know how long it’s going to take me to get the new computer up and running…this will be the first computer that I’ve totally built from the ground up by myself…with some help from a good friend…and I’m taking my time with it, because I’m scared I might screw something up.

In the meantime, I put a bunch of my Lush stuff up for sale over at the LiveJournal swaps community, and already I’ve sold most of the stuff.  It’s a good thing, because I’ve spent a ton of money lately on parts for my new computer!

Hawaiian Waters Ocean Bliss Soap.

The Bubble Shack’s description: You’ll feel like you’ve taken a plunge into the deep turquoise waters of the Pacific after bathing with this seaweed packed bar. With over 50 skin-loving nutrients found in seaweed, your skin will thirst for our Hawaiian Waters Ocean Bliss Bar with green tea, rice flower, cucumber and ocean air. $6.50 per bar.

These soaps are truly a work of art. I totally love how the colors blend and swirl throughout the soap. I also LOVE the fact that Bubble Shack’s soaps come in boxes…it makes it so much easier to store them!

I’ve been wanting to try the Bubble Shack’s soaps for quite some time, so when I placed that big Soap Box Company order back in December, I knew I’d have to toss a few bars into my shopping cart. This little beauty was one of the four Bubble Shack soaps that I ordered.

Now, either my sniffer is way off or something, but this lovely bar certainly doesn’t smell like ocean air. It kind of smells like wet wood…not altogether unpleasant, but certainly not what I was expecting.

(I went back and re-sniffed the soap after a few uses.  It’s lost the wet wood smell, and I AM starting to get more of an ocean scent now…)

Still, the soap is gorgeous…and I’m not one to really let the scent of a product bother me overmuch…unless it’s spicy. Then it’s going in the garbage!

Anyway, it’s amazing how easily this soap lathers up. One swipe on my skin and it produced a nice amount of soft and fluffy lather that rinsed away cleanly and left my skin feeling good. There was no typical dry feeling that you usually get after using some soaps. This soap just left my skin feeling soft and refreshed, and squeaky clean!

RV’s product rating?
(How can I go with five stars when I said the scent was weird? Rather easily. I have a feeling that it was just a one-off kind of thing. All of my other bars of Bubble Shack soap smell divine. Oh, and it’s my website. I can do that if I want to! Heh.)

Stressed.

There are workmen across the street at this one piece of commercial real estate that was sold a couple of months back. It’s a high-rise building…everything from the 7th floor all down is all commercial spots, and whomever bought the building kicked out all of the old tenants to make room for new ones.

The workers have been banging away at the outside of the building since last week. Every time they back up a truck, the backup warning beep goes off.  And it goes off ALL THE TIME.  Today, though, it’s done nothing more than grate on my last nerve. I have a throbbing headache, and all I really want to do is get out of my office and escape to my apartment so that I can light one of my stress release candles and forget about just how much today has SUCKED.

I can has pretty sniffies to help calm my brain, plz?

Working For The Weekend.

I am so buried under things at work that it’s starting to carry over into my home life. We do work for some of the largest hospitals in the area, along with some clinical laboratory services, numerous different nursing groups, and all kinds of other medical things.

I’m working on a book now that’s so involved, I was dreaming of it last night in my sleep!

This upcoming weekend promises to be exhausting, as well.  Hubby and I have so much stuff to do.  The house is a mess, the kitchen still needs to be put back together, and I have two memory cards to transfer pictures off of.

The sampler boxes sit unopened, scattered around our apartment.

BUT!

I promised Judith that I would at least post up my Cocoa Pink haul…and my plans are to sit down Friday and take care of it!

Let me sum it up simply about Cocoa Pink…if you’ve never ordered from CP before, go over and take a look at all of Ilona’s delicious goodies.  Then order.  You WON’T be disappointed!