SotD: Satyr

Hi Ninjas!

Sorry this post is sort of late, I had a busy weekend with the In-laws in town! I got some amazing gifts from my Mother in Law which included the new Naked 2 palette and THREE Layla Holographics. I can’t wait to swatch those for you :) I also went and saw Wicked today which was awesome! I did all green makeup and nail polish for Wicked because Elphaba is my favorite character, naturally. On to the scent!

Today’s scent is Satyr from Haus of Gloi. Unlike OHWTO, I am not privy to the perfumer’s thoughts when these smells were made. Despite not knowing the maker personally, I adore this perfume! This was a sample vial I got from the wonderful Caitlin of Shiro Cosmetics when she was de-stashing all of her sample smells. This was only one of an amazing haul of scents! Enough to keep me stocked with writing material for months!

Satyr: Absolutely fiendish creature! And quite frolicsome: Italian blood orange drizzled with blackened vanilla.

On me: Satyr starts off super fruity. This is a definite blood orange scent, not lemony but also not plain orange. Plain orange smells like rubber to me, so I was pleasantly surprised at the great way this smelled. The smell mellows with a much sweeter vanilla note that has a cloying citrus tang at the end. I love it!

The Scene: 

Since their first joining in the orchard by the rose beds, they had not had many chances to spend with one another. She suspected someone had tipped her mistress off to their dalliance when she was no longer allowed to cut the roses for the vases. That did not mean that they never saw each other; there were still heated glances and stolen kisses when they were alone. It was never enough to satisfy either of them after their mind-altering first encounter. She was thinking fondly of that first night when she was summoned to her mistress’ bathing chamber.

He couldn’t get her out of his mind. They’d barely seen each other since that night but every time they touched, their flame was only fanned brighter. There was no way their dreams would be fulfilled, it was absolutely not allowed for a lady-in-waiting to marry, much less have a relationship with, a field hand. Mulling over what gods he would have to bargain with to be allowed just another night in her arms, he went to the hot springs to scrub the dirt from his hands.

Her lady wanted a scented bath and she was to pick not only fragrant flowers but peel blood oranges to refresh the skin. Skeptical of this latest fad of bathing with fruit, she went to the kitchen for fruits and carried the basket with her as she made her way to the springs. With any luck, the servant boy would be there to carry buckets of water for the lady’s bath; else she’d have to carry the many hot buckets herself. 

He was nearly done with the raw soap he’d gotten from the master farmer’s wife, he was satisfied that most of the grit has been washed from his skin. After drying his hands, he stooped to pick some of the strange flowers that grew near the springs. He knew they were an orchid of sorts but he did not think they were native to this land. Regardless, they were in high demand by both perfumers and bakers for their creamy sweet scent. Perplexed, he picked up the orange that had rolled into his boot and looked for the source.

She was annoyed; she’d kicked over the small stool the servant boy was meant to be sitting on. He wasn’t there and she’d have to carry the water herself, not to mention balance the oranges she had brought along. The kick dislodged one of the oranges near the top of the pile and rolled down the sloped path to the spring. Chasing after it, she found him, looking confused and holding an orange, on the path. They finally found a moment alone…

Incredible luck! He thanked the stars that she was the source of the mysterious fruit then set both the orange and flowers on the warm rocks along the spring. Their oils started mingling with the heat and each other, lending a seductive fragrance to the night. He went to her, taking the fruit from her hands before embracing her with a heated kiss. 

She pushed him back until he was sitting on the rocks near the spring, giving her a better angle. In her fervor, she accidentally pushed him in to the spring! Falling in right after him, they came up sputtering for air and laughing happily. The scene was so absurd and a great contrast to the previous moment, they locked hands and she laid her head on his chest to listen to his heart.

“We’ll never get a chance to be alone. Someone has told the mistress not to let me bring the flowers anymore.” She looked forlornly up to him.

He leaned down with a soft kiss and brushed a lock of hair back from her cheek with his thumb “We’ll find a way. If she requests as many fruit baths as the other ladies, you’ll have more chances to come down here with fruit, and me.” The last was whispered in her ear before he nibbled her neck, causing her to squirm.

“I imagine she’ll want to have at least as many baths as the other ladies, if not more so she can look the youngest. She is incredibly vain and…” Her words were cut off by his lips as they embraced with a purpose once more. The only thing to be heard was the sound of crickets’ singing and the soft swish of water around their bodies.

AEngland Avalon and Essie Shine of the Times

Hello Ninjas!

My Inlaws will be in town this afternoon! I'm so excited to see my MIL, she's awesome :) Want to hear a funny story from yesterday? Well, it's not really a story but it was an amusing event that happened when I went dogsitting. I let Mr. Becket out of his ex-pen upstairs and opened the door on to the back deck so he could go frolic.  Since he has a huge yard to play in, I was looking off the deck, seeing where he would run to first (I usually throw toys off the deck for him to fetch) Well, instead of going to play like he usually does, he lifted his leg and PEED ON ME. I've heard people tell stories of getting peed on but had a hard time picturing it.  So yeah, got peed on, had to hose myself off and carry on with my day. I can check that off my bucket list!

Today I've got an incredible combination of colors for you. This is two coats of AEnglands gorgeous Avalon which is a deep red-based purple with reddish shimmer. On top of that is one coat of the multichrome flakie Shine of the Times from Essie. Not many words are needed, just look!

SotD: Raspberry Gingerale

Hello wondrous Ninjas!!

Work is going well this week. I haven’t made it on the mat to train yet and I don’t know that I’ll get to until next week. My wonderful Mother In Law will be there for the weekend along with some other members of my husband’s family so I’ll be busy! Hopefully we’ll get a chance to go to the archery range on Friday; apparently my MIL was in an archery league when she was in college. That totally explains why my husband is a natural with a bow!

Today’s beautiful scent is another one of One Hand Washes the Other’s solid perfumes: Raspberry Gingerale. This was a scent I got as a free sample with one of my previous orders. I adore this scent!! Needless to say, I went ahead and put a full sized solid in my next order. My husband is a big fan of this one because it smells very fruity when it goes on. I’m fairly certain he’s a fan of anything that smells like a food he would eat.

* Raspberry Gingerale: Ripe red raspberries floating up and down in a pitcher of freshly-poured gingerale, thanks to help from millions of fizzy pinprick bubbles. A touch of blackcurrant adds a syrupy sweetness to the blend without weighing it down. A bright and lively scent!

* On me: First nose for RG smells very very fruity. I adore this; it’s a warm raspberry smell with very faint vanilla/ginger undertones. As this mellows down, it becomes more of a warm ginger sugar scent with a faint strain of raspberry underneath.  

*The Scene:

 

The baker had sent her out to pick raspberries for the seasonal tart to be offered this week. Although it was meant to be a task to get her out of the bakery, she really enjoyed being out in the sun with the fragrant berries. The grove wasn’t hard to get to; she made good time if she tucked up her skirt and frolicked through the field. Far from prying eyes, she was free to do as she wanted. No one could tell her to stop humming or pull her skirt all the way down over her shoes in modesty here; she could revel in being young and alive. 

He hadn’t stopped thinking about the baker’s apprentice since he tucked the lilacs behind her ear last week. Since he was a squire, although a lucky one with a kindly knight, he wasn’t free to pursue the girl without telling the knight where he was going. As kind as he was, the knight did need his squire most hours of the day for running errands, keeping his armory spotless, and making sure any summons could be answered immediately with a well-armed knight. The squire was daydreaming as he was shining the knight’s helmet when the knight called for him from the Great Hall. 

Running to answer the call, the squire nearly tripped over his own feet at the sight of the baker in the hall discussing something in great detail with the knight.  “We need you to run out to the berry fields. I’m to have noble guests tonight and they have taste for raspberry tarts.” While the sentence was simple enough, the squire wasn’t sure why this concerned him; he didn’t usually procure ingredients for artisans. With a huff, the baker threw a basket at him and spoke crossly, “Take this to my apprentice, tell her to pick thrice the amount of berries and hurry back. That cow may yet get to bake something with the size of this order.” 

She was almost done picking ginger for the sugared candies that were the baker’s vice when she heard a rustling across the field. It was him. Her heart stopped and she started furiously un-tucking her skirt from her boots to cover her knees and she stopped humming. By the time he made it over to her. She was blushing furiously and trying her hardest to wipe her hands on her apron so she wasn’t muddy as he arrived. 

She was blushing, and trying very hard to change her appearance as he walked up. She’d looked lovely, humming and smiling in the sun as she worked to delicately free the ginger from the soil. Without the watchful eye of the town, she glowed with happiness and was even more beautiful than he remembered her. His words came out cluttered as he tried to convey why he interrupted her harvest. “Th-The baker sent me….More berries… Three times more, this basket… Hurry back.” Well, that was humiliating. He blushed profusely as he set the basket next to her and turned around to leave.

Slightly stunned by the shortness of the interaction she cried out, “Wait, which berries?” 

He almost jumped when she spoke, surprised. He turned around slowly and took a breath. “My master is having guests. They will need more raspberry tarts. Thrice the amount of raspberries and be swift with it.” That sounded like a command from his own lips! “Um, I could help you pick if you want…”

Thrice?! She wasn’t even sure if the groves held that many berries this early in the season and she certainly wasn’t sure she could find that many ripe patches before the sun went down. Exasperated, she picked up her ginger and went towards the nearest berry bush, calling back to him, “Well hurry up, there’s probably not even enough to fill the order! And be careful, berries are delicate. Don’t squish them or you’ll stain the basket.”

Stunned at the demand, he picked up the basket and followed her to the grove. The bushes were prickly but she was deft at freeing the fragrant fruits from their stems without getting pricked. She had to pause and teach him tricks to avoid getting stung by the thorns but soon they were filling the baskets at a steady pace. Side by side, shoulders sometime brushing and causing a blush, they finished their gathering before sundown.

Smiling, she thanked him as she packed the baskets for a swift run back to the bakery. She gave a small nervous giggle as she blushed and kissed his cheek before running across the field. 

Once again left without words, he watched her go as he pressed his hand to the place her lips had landed. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he leaned down to pick up his discarded vest, safe from berry stains. Her basket of carefully cleaned ginger was sitting there, full and abandoned. A twang of anger and fear went through him, remembering the way the baker had slapped her for dropping the croissants. With quick movements, he wrapped the basket in his vest and took off in the direction of the bakery to make sure the order was properly filled.

Essence High Spirits

Hello lovely Ninjas!

This week is weapons week in Ninjutsu. Since I'm graduation to the water element next week, I'm technically allowed to use the blue-belt weapon in class this week! Water uses a hanbo which is a 3 foot wooden staff. I'm excited because it's a change from the rubber throwing stars (Shuriken) I've had the chance to use the last 9 months! Anyways, on to the polish!

I picked up High Spirits one of my trips to Ulta about two months ago. I love green nail polish and I didn't have anything that was olive drab with silver shimmer. This is a pretty pretty polish that reminds me of the base color in RBL's Halcyon. Inspired by Halcyon and not able to fork out the money for it, I wore High Spirits with two different shimmer coats by Orly over it. I did two coats of High Spirits with one coat each of Orly Fifty-Four and Love Each Other. I wish the shimmer had turned out better in these pictures, this was a very pretty combination :)

SotD: Carnivale

Hello Ninjas!

This is my first auto-post; we’ll see how it does posting itself! I’m going to be busy on Saturday between work and a dance recital for a friend’s little boy. I’m so excited, she asked me to help with his makeup because I like makeup and she looks just fine without it so she doesn’t bother. I wish I had that kind of luck :) So, this will be posting while I help them prep for the recital and do my ninja thing!

EDIT: It didn't work! I'll figure it eventually.

Today’s Scent of the Day is Carnivale from One Hand Washes the Other. This is one of the scents from her Private Stock perfumery section which means she came up with the blend with her vast imagination. Let me just tell you this is an awesome scent! I guess I have a thing for foody scents because Carnivale smells delicious to me.

*Carnivale: Cotton candy, orange soda, lemon snow cones and vanilla ice cream all come together to evoke memories of the sweetest part of childhood summer nights.

On me: In the clam shell (solid sample container) this smells strongly of vanilla to me. On the skin it’s a wonderfully tart mix of lemon and orange right off the bat. After mellows down, Carnivale is the epitome of an Orange Creamsicle. I love the way the orange settles in and shares the spotlight with the vanilla.

The Scene:

Midnight at a closed down carnival isn’t exactly the most romantic time to visit. He wanted to do something out of the ordinary though. This was their first date and they were both shy so crowds weren’t the best way to go. With a little help from his friends from summer-school, he managed to get enough people to run her favorite rides and a snack stand just for them. As he led her, blind folded, through the gates of the partially lit fairgrounds, the smell of cotton candy and orange soda wafted through the air.

She was shy, painfully shy. She was that girl that would do extra homework in English class so she didn’t have to read out loud. Listening to music was her easiest way to handle walking through the halls at school and her small group of friends didn’t exactly welcome ‘outsiders’. That didn’t really matter though, he had finally noticed her. Even though she spent most of her time trying to meld into the wall, he noticed her during art class when she painted a scene of a brightly lit Ferris wheel. The assignment was to paint one of your fondest childhood memories and she’d always remembered summers visiting the carnival with her parents fondly. He’d murmured something about his friends working at the local summer fair and they started a conversation about their favorite rides and foods. 

It had been years since she’d been to a fair but she’d know the smells and sounds of it anywhere. The sickly sweet foods, the raw dirt that made the walkways, the grease to keep the rides from squeaking, and the soft hum of the hundreds of lightbulbs lighting the way. Before he even took off her blindfold she was smiling.

He was nervous as he led her through the gates. His palms were sweating and he had to make a conscious effort not to stutter his words. Though he didn’t think she would mock him for it, some of his crueler peers often made a spectacle of his classroom answers.  Once inside the gates, he removed her blindfold and was gifted with a radiant smile. At such unfiltered happiness, he couldn’t help but blush and stammer a quite note about what rides were actually open. She hopped up and down a couple of times before grabbing his hand and staring off in the direction of the snack stand. Soon he was smiling so wide his cheeks hurt and he let go the breath he forgot he was holding. They picked up one of everything from the stand: a candy apple, an orange soda with two straws, a pink cotton candy (her favorite), and a funnel cake sprinkled with powdered sugar. 

She couldn’t believe her eyes, even though the entire fairgrounds weren’t lit up, it was beautiful. She hadn’t been so happy since her elementary school days, before her parents split up. Determined to put it out of her mind, she took it all in. The snack stand was well stocked, despite being manned by only two people, and he was getting her anything she asked for. Eating the cotton candy and taking sips of the orange juice as they walked, she made a beeline to the Ferris wheel. A smiling attendant opened a car for them and didn’t make a fuss about the snacks going along for the ride. As the cars began to rotate, she was nearly tingling with anticipation of reaching the top of the ride.

He wasn’t good at small talk but she was drawing a quiet conversation out of him. They talked about school, their favorite class (art), and all but consumed the snacks when they made it to the top of the ride. At the top, the car stopped while the music went on, and she looked out over the fairgrounds. Though he was incredibly nervous, he slowly reached for her free hand…And she let him take it! She turned her head with a blushing smile and rested her head on his shoulder. As they looked out at the night sky, their kindred spirits rose to the moon while the talked and laughed the night away.