Potion Master

So check this out. Catherine was just making a spray of this for someone's order, and she says, "You know, this scent is the epitome of wealth. It reminds me of shopping at Saks Fifth Avenue as a child, where I used to go with my grandmother to get my Easter ensemble every year....and this one time that I fell asleep on the floor of the fur department because it made me feel so safe." Isn't that a TRIP? Everyone get's Saks from this!! They MUST scent their fur dept with Tuberose, they must!

I wore this out, alone, to go to a sushi bar by myself for lunch. The waiter was a young Asian American fellow, late 20's, handsome, very hip and stylish with hair and dress...very capable and in control of himself by his appearance. Me = twice his age, overweight, definitely not dressed to impress. Yet this guy, he could not keep his eyes off me and acted like he'd been whacked in the head and forgot his name and where he was. I ordered my lunch - a sushi roll, miso soup and iced tea - and the waiter says, "I'm really sorry, but I'm going to have to charge you for this. Is that ok?" I looked up at him and just blinked. I didn't say anything, but of course I'm thinking, 'here I am sitting down at a restaurant, giving a waiter my order, and he's asking me if it is ok that I pay for my lunch? He's sorry that he can't serve me for free? Do people normally go to restaurants and expect to be fed for free?' So there's this beat where we are just looking at each other in silence, and then he says, "OMG, I JUST REALIZED HOW STUPID THAT SOUNDED! I'm gonna go get your tea." And he ran off. He seriously acted like he did not know what hit him and couldn't figure out WTH was happening to his carefully cultivated composure. It had a similar effect on another young man....I wore Aja layered with Vicars and Tarts for my plane trip home. I was at the counter checking in my luggage, and the counter guy, he looks to be in his late 20's or early 30's, very tall and slim, and with a heavy Southern accent I couldn't quite identify. Clearly, this guy had a very good and sensitive nose. Now, I had just been rushing into the airport with two heavy bags and my body heat was up, so there must have been quite the cloud of scent around me at that moment. Counter Guy starts off by saying how WONDERFUL I smell, several times, and how much of a welcome change this is from the normal perfumes most women "choke" him with when they get to his counter. A guy filling out paperwork about 6 feet away down the counter picks his head up and says, "You DO smell amazing". And I say, "Oh no! You can smell me all the way over there?! I must be wearing wayyy too much!" Counter Guy says, "No, no! It's wonderful!" and the other guy nods and gives me a thumbs up. Counter Guy starts moving his hands to cup the aroma in the air and fan it towards his nose. He's taking deep breaths and saying, "What notes am I detecting? Why do I love this so much? Why does this seem familiar" And I say, "pecan pie" because that's essentially what Vicars and Tarts is, and he's Southern, so I figure that's the scent memory for him....and I'm getting nervous, this guy with the amazing nose, that he's going to identify that smell of SEX underneath if I let him think about it too long. LOL. He's saying, "Pecan pie, mmmm, pecan pie...where did you get it?" "I made it, I'm a perfumer," and I dig out a card and hand it to him. He looks at it and he says, "AH! YOU'RE WEARING A LOVE POTION!" I laugh, and say that's the name of the company, but not the name of the perfume I am wearing. Now, as we are talking, he's still trying to do his job. He has to put a TRANSFER tag on my luggage because I have a change of planes. As he was attaching the FOURTH tag to my bag, I said, "Uhhhh, I think that's enough tags." He looks down startled, and exclaims "OH!" He had completely zoned out, and was now frozen, trying to figure out what to do next. I said, "Can I have my driver's license back?" He says, "Oh, yeah! I'm sorry!" and hands me back my business card. I say, "You don't want it? We make scents for men too." He shakes his head vigorously as if to clear it, and says, "No! I didn't mean to do that! I want the card!" And he takes the card back and gives me my driver's license. Then he says, "Well, you have a great flight now! It was a pleasure meeting you!" And I say, very slowly, "Can I have my boarding pass?" He's saying, "oh my god, oh my god" looking right and left, then grabs up my boarding pass and hands it to me. I thank him and walk away from the counter....I was laughing all the way to the gate. Hilarious. I had several reactions from women, all amazingly nice. Complete strangers stopping to compliment me. One lady I met in a restaurant lavatory, in her 60's, and she was saying how much she loved my blouse. She even pointed me out to her dining companion later and waved to me. Other ladies complimented me on either my clothes (trust me, nothing special) or my hair. And only one gal actually got it, that it was my scent that attracted her....but it took her a while to get there...it was like mental arithmetic. It was really funny. This was a girl who looked around 19 years old, and as she walked past me in the mall she turns and calls back to me, "I LOVE your hair! I love the color, what a great color! And your shirt! Oh! And how you smell! THAT'S IT! YOU SMELL AMAZING!" I said thank you and laughed. But I think how she reacted is kind of indicative of how this works on people. They find you "attractive" but they are not really sure why. Her brain worked it's way past my appearance in just a few seconds and she finally figured out that it was my scent that attracted her.

That's interesting, Anon. EoW is in fact a collection of vinegars, so your observation actually reinforces my opinion that this is a similar substance, found in nature. Cracking up at everyone's stories and observations. Thanks for the reports! I think there's enough up here now, I will share a couple of my own experiences in my next post.

Platypuss, that's a good question. I decided to put the blends that are designed to be used as sprays into spray bottles rather than droppers. For example, those who ordered TOPPER trials will be getting the exact strength and form they would if they ordered a full sized bottle - 2,500 mcg strength in a spray. (6 ml sprays) Individual molecules are really not a part of this promo - it's supposed to be blends only, but since it is not a difficult thing to do, I decided to fulfill the orders people sent in for individual molecules such as DHEAS, alpha and beta nols, Est, etc. I decided to fill all of these in spray form as the full sized bottles, should you order them, are also in spray form, and I want people to try these in the proper form that they would expect should they purchase a full bottle.

Full bottle and sampler sets for this month are now SOLD OUT! Individual bottles are still available, but Absinthe of Malice is down to only a couple of bottles and zero samples, thus, no more sets. Thanks and sorry! Mara

Naturally, I made the least of this one. I did not envision how popular it would be....I thought it would be received like a goth novelty scent....and it is far too complex to rebrew. grrr. Only a few bottles left.

Unfortunately, I do not believe that PayPal accepts visa gift cards at all because they are impossible to verify if the person using it is actually entitled to use it. They are all about verification....if there is a reason why something can not be verified, they simply refuse it. Sorry for the inconvenience!

I am so pleased that this makes you happy! When Blackcat wrote me originally, her story made me sob!!! I tried my best to make something worthy of their love. My trick to simulate a fur note was to add a tiny touch of very faithful animalic musk. The furriest smelling one that I have...I hoped it would convey that sense of warm furry doggy.

Argh!, I'm sorry Stacy, the creator asked to purchase everything that was left over of that one that hadn't been claimed so we do not have any more.

You got it, thank you!

Hi PS, you can pay whenever you want, but our last day of ordering for this YEAR is Nov 25th, we are closed all December due to relocating. Easiest way to pay, everyone, just go to the PE page and choose "additional bottle" for $24.95, and write in which perfume you have selected. If you need an invoice, please email CataLunaLPMP@yahoo.com. Thank you!

Got your reservations up to here, thanks everyone!

There are! I will update the first page. There are 4 of Lindee's Hamantaschen - which is a very faithful Apricot hamantaschen recreation. 2 of Olivia's Comfort & Joy - this came out wonderful. It's a warm and comforting gingery bakery scent with a hint of animalic musk to suggest the aura of Olivia's fur. 3 of Beth's Night Magic - this one was crafted as an incensy belly dancer-y night time scent....dark middle eastern and Indian resins of red musk, black amber, Mysore sandalwood, and black rose attar. Beth certainly knew what she was doing when she asked for this mix! Deep and sultry and exotic. 2 of QG's Aqualad, which has a fresh aquatic and herbal men's cologne kind of vibe. And I also have 1 bottle of Sugared Pomegranate as we did a small batch upon request, with the same label we always used. Happy to take reservations in this thread. Thanks!

It will go with anything that blends well with honey. Chocolate scents are an excellent choice. Anything vanilla heavy, cinnamon...there's so many of ours that would work. I wore it last with Vicars and Tarts.

Totally! I would NEVER have attempted to buy a home in California unless I needed to...and as I am not in the entertainment industry anymore, I do not need to. We are not going to be in Portland proper, just that metropolitan area, but on the Washington state side, just across the river from Portland and minutes away. The home prices are 1/3rd of that of California (200 grand = 600 grand). The rents, currently, are around a third less....what would cost you 1200-1400 per month in rent in L.A. is currently around 800-1000 in the area. I also checked the supermarket...around 1/4 less on the prices, and the gasoline is an entire dollar+ less per gallon. Property taxes on both sides of the WA/OR border are about the same. No idea about California because I've never owned anything here, but everyone complains, loudly. In Wash state, there is no personal income tax...in Oregon it's 11% I am told. AND, the weirdest new law was enacted in Portland within the last 2 years, in which vendors have to pay 10% tax off their international gross!!! That's even worse than California, the highest in the country, where we have to pay 11% sales tax for all sales that take place only within the state. But to enact a gross international tax is INSANE! Customers pay no sales tax in Oregon, but vendors are charged 10% gross?! I was rather shocked to find this out. My mom is in the money market business and she said it sounds like a 21% difference, but would end up being a 16% difference to our business, and that's a lot, as our business model makes our profit margin pretty low. We buy very expensive ingredients and supplies, and pay our employees very well. We do not have that much dispensable income. (If you guys knew how little I earn personally...lol...I make less than my employees and they all live better than me...but I am happy living a creative life surrounded by my cats, so that's perfectly ok with me!) So, on the weekends, there's the 'Portland Market' where artists who make their own stuff are allowed to rent booths. We are looking forward to this, as I had a shop on Venice Beach for 10 years and I miss meeting and talking to people like I used to. It's an incredibly artist-friendly, arts-supportive area. Eventually, we realize we will have to rent commercial space, but I currently love the family atmosphere of working that we have now. John and I have been friends for 20 years and we feel like brother and sister. Jessica and her hubby and 4 kids feel like family to us too, and, boy oh boy, I do hope they come with us!

LOL Hazel! That top picture is me right now, the 2nd picture will be December. Thanks for the good wishes everyone! Gosh, we are soooo busy! But no worries, we ARE keeping up. All 4 of us are here and putting in extra hours. We're working Saturday this week, and even Monday/Veteran's Day...we usually close for postal holidays since we can't ship but not this week! We want to get everyone their stuff ASAP this month. Our retailers are putting in huge orders to get them thru Xmas too...Victorian Trading Company put in a 250 bottle order and we have to get it out by Friday. I will be bottling allllll night long. Here's some hopeful news: Jessica and her family might be moving up with us!!!! Keep your fingers crossed! Jess's hubby is going to fly up with us when we go, and check the town out and see if he thinks it will work for them. That would be a dream for John and me. It's great when your employees love you as much as you love them!!!!

We have an unusually short month here...apologies, we are relocating....but we will make as many as ordered during the time we have. None of the phero trials are limited editions, they are all permanent stock, so we do not put a limit on them. Order as much as you want until Nov 25th.

During the month of November 2013, everyone who places an order of $25 will get a free 1.75 ml vial of Aja to test. Please report! Thanks! Some of you have experienced this wondrous ingredient before....it was a major note in Torrid Sorcery, one of our fastest selling perfumes of all time. Back then I was calling it "Veggie Honey" due to it's plant, rather than bee, origin. It smells very much like honey...almost exactly like honey...but some women who do not like honey on their skin seem to have better results with this. Here are my original notes that I sent to Luna and Halo: Aja ~ Nature's Copulins Named for the African Nature Goddess - this is a natural plant hormone that when concentrated smells strongly of honey and sex; it attracts bees, insects, birds and animals to the plants to aid in pollination. I personally think it acts similarly on humans, in a very similar way to EoW, and I want to test that theory. I want people to use it INSTEAD of copulins and see if it has a similar effect. On it's own, it smells like honey, but DIRTY honey...still, it may be a more pleasant alternative than EoW for many people. This was a prominent ingredient in Torrid Sorcery, and I was unable to get any more until recently. I'd like for everyone to test it as if it was EoW - so yes, cover with your perfume as usual, and report. Everyone with an order of $25 or more will get a trial vial free this month. This stuff is extremely interesting. It is used medicinally to combat cancer in humans. Apparently it can also, in powdered form, be snorted by humans to get high...thus the hoops I had to jump through to get a large supply of it. I had to assure my source that I was indeed a perfumer, not a drug dealer, and they insisted on adding a "denaturing" ingredient to my supply so that it could not be used as a drug...though do not fear, it is still 100% skin safe. So, on to my testing of it....John and Jessica are horrified by the smell of it in its powdered form....even stronger than EoW, if you can imagine THAT! However, once I've brewed it to proper strength and applied it to my skin, they both ADORE it. I watched John's eyes roll back in his head as he gripped my arm to his nose. It smells like sexy sun warmed honey on youthful girl skin. This stuff is STICKY. It lasts on the skin, for me, until I shower it off. Interestingly, it seems to get stronger the longer I wear it. It gets more and more sleazy smelling as the hours go by. However, it smells so good on my skin, I can wear it without any cover at all. I'm sure my results will differ from others with different skin chemistry, so I would like reporting from you to see how our results compare and if we can call this a 'natural compound with pheromonal properties'. HOLY MOLY, the results that I have gotten in the wild are amazing. I wore this all week while I was off house hunting and have some stunning stories to share, but I do not want to influence you any more than I already have. You first, then I'll tell mine. Let me know how it goes!!!

OMG, Calii, I always enjoy how sharp you are! Yup, I caught that little error and we'll just count it forward. And YAIS! I am planning to post about this in the AJA thread! It was a major ingredient in Torrid Sorcery! I was calling it "veggie honey" back then and could only get a small amount. I traced it back to an originating source and finally (jumping through many hoops) got us a larger supply. I will discuss it more in that thread, but good job, Sherlock!

WE ARE UP! GO CHECK THE FRONT PAGE! And PLEASE, if you find any typos or cart errors, please let me know. Thanks! Please take note of the ANNOUNCEMENTS on the front page. We are moving and the last day to order is November 25th...sorry for the short month! You can order the Pheromas Specials on the following page: http://www.lovepotionperfume.com/articles/Pheromas2013 This link is on the front page under Announcements, and also on the Gift Shoppe page in the uppermost section.

Thanks for the kind words, everyone! I am programming my little fingers off...I hope to have most done overnight, the hardest programming will be the phero trials and I will save that for last, of course, when I no longer have any brain cells left. FYI: I'm pronouncing Aja like Zsa Zsa, not Asia. I could be totally wrong, but linguistically it just feels right to me.

Thank you, Darlings!!! We are STRESSED!!!!!!

PLEASE READ THIS: http://lovepotion.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=8757

Dear Friends, Distressing news: We lost our lease in Los Angeles and must relocate by December 15th. Good news: I found a place for us, 1,000 miles away, in the Portland metropolitan area. Unfortunately, this means we will have to be closed for the entire month of December 2013. As such, there will be no releases for December. Those of you who have monthly subscriptions, apologies, you will of course receive your entire subscription but we will be tacking a month on to the end of your year. And I have turned off the Private Edition ordering page until we are up and running again. Our last order date of this year will be Monday, November 25th. Our last ship date will be Friday, November 29th. PLEASE do not try to order past Nov 25th, as your order will not be shipped until January. I believe that our Amazon and Artfire shops have "vacation" settings, so I will endeavor to turn those shops off while we move, but I fear that only an announcement on the front page will be on our actual site. The forum will of course still be up and running. You will still be able to reach Luna regarding any forum issues at wickedquim@gmail.com Heather in Customer Service will still be available via email at lpfragrancescustomersrvc@ymail.com. I am afraid that John and I will not be able to speak with you at our usual email address for several weeks, so please contact Heather and Luna for any assistance you may need. We aim to reopen January 1, 2014. We promise to make it worth the wait as we have some wonderful exciting surprises in store in the New Year. Please bear with us during this time of transition and know we will miss you as much as you miss us. Thanks for your understanding. Love & Kisses and Happy Holidays from the LPMP Team. xoxoxox Mara