Dulcissime

First up, BIDNESS.



THE SUMMER BOX IS LIVE!

Arcana Perfumes & Soaps will contribute an exclusive 5ml perfume oil.

Cherie Anne Designs will contribute a 2 oz package of her famous glittering tea! She creates teas that actually glitter in your cup using special sugars. Truly magical!

Dreaming Tree Soapworks will contribute a duo of moisturizing delights. The first will be a 2oz lotion in one of her best-selling scents, and the other an exclusive tinted lip shimmer balm!

Leesha's Lacquer will contribute an exclusive full size thermal color-changing nail polish! Themals are like mood rings for your nails!

Merle Pace Arts will contribute a trio of art cards (with envelopes) for all of your note-writing needs!

Sihaya Designs Jewelry will contribute a piece of magically-inspired hair jewelry.

I'm also releasing SEVEN candles for pre-order, which can be ordered individually, or added to a box purchase. ( Scent description under the cut. )

In other news, I just got back from Spoutwood. Three days of intense vending work, dancing in the rain with Transcendence, being damp and cold, and hanging out with Charles Vess, Twig the Faery, and the Faerie Mag crew.




Twig in her Sihaya Designs wing earrings.
She's fan. SQUEE.



The inimitable Charles Vess and Stardust.
( Pics of me/ my makeup / my outfits under the cut. )

As for the festival itself, I was so busy, I didn't see too much of it this year. The weather was damp and cold, so I was swathed in many layers of wool by the end of it. I danced Transcendence's sets barefoot, midriff out, on two days where my breath fogged. I was very grateful to not have camped for the weekend, and for the small mercies of a hot shower and a warm bed at the end of the day. This year's roommate was Lisa/Trinket, and it was good fun getting to know her better.

As for purchases, I kept them spare, because mama is on a financial planning budget. I got a small rune pendant and two growlers of ginger beer.

Favorite food addition: hands down the grilled cheese place. They had one called the Mad Dash that was AMAZING. Cheese + ham + apple butter + mustard. It doesn't sound like it'd work, but it worked SO WELL. I also got my annual Busy Bee glittery cupcake.

This was definitely a year that it felt more like work than fun for me, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I made money. That's good. I strengthened friendships and business contacts. I tried to handle frustrations gracefully, with varying degrees of success, but that's a post for another day.

Overall, it was what it was, and it wasn't bad. Just-- some what dampened.

This week going forward is custom orders & getting unsold talismans on the site. And then making more!

It's been a while since I've done a substantive life-update in long-form. As more and more people move from LJ, it's been harder to keep in the habit of writing. In short, things are pretty good.

Work: It's the busy season. I've been working up a storm. The Halloween update just went live last Friday, which is terrible timing (nobody checks the Friday before a holiday weekend), so I'm going to try to do more promo this weekend.



I need to get with the Faerie Magazine People and ask about their next order so I can plan out my timeline for Holiday stuff. Speaking of, I am IN the Autumn Faerie Magazine-- or at least some of my moss jewelry is. Woot.

NC: Annual trip to the Outer Banks came and went. It's always so nicely quiet down there in late Sept/ early Oct. Unfortunately, it always falls during my busiest season. I worked through most of the days Jason was on the beach. The bright side to this is that my temporary office space was in the crow's nest of the beach house, and the views were spectacular. It had a reclining chair, so I ate breakfast and read a book and listened to the ocean in the morning.

There were lots of delicious seafoods eaten, girlie nail-painting time with my sister in law, and hanging out on the beach at night.

Cats: Nox had a major checkup on Saturday. He's gained weight, although not as much as we thought he did (he may be trading muscle for fat, idk), and his ultrasound came back good. Waiting for the results of his blood panel over the long weekend was torture. Monday was lost in anxiety attacks. Abby came over to watch movies with me so I wouldn't be alone and at the sole mercy of the brain weasels.

The doc called mercifully early this morning-- white blood cell counts were slightly low (an expected results of his steroid use) and his platelets were also low (an expected result of his chemo pill). The vet assured me that this is "part of the process" and not a cause for panic. We're taking him off the chemo pill for three weeks, and then will re-do the bloodwork. I have been doing... ok with this. I keep reminding myself that our vet is an excellent vet and has always been very honest with us about everything. If he says it's normal/expected, then it is. Still, my little dude has cancer, and that never really gets easier for me. The last few days have been hard, and I have felt a little fragile. But he's not manifesting many symptoms of sickness, and he's still pretty happy about all of his favorite things. He's also been extra snuggly as the weather gets cold, and has been all about the hugs and kisses. I love this cat so much.

Faire: I made it to faire twice this season, huzzah. The first was the weekend of my birthday, and I had not been partaking in wine for over a month. Three glasses, and I was quite drunk. Surprised the heck out of me, my lord. So yeah, we tapped out by 4:30 because I was like "nope, I need to go be unconscious, thanks." Diana and I went this past weekend, which was a much better time. The weather was glorious and slightly crisp. We got to watch Casey's Guinness World Record Attempt (and success), we ate things on sticks, and we watched pub sing as darkness descended.

Walking around with Diana, who is incredibly attractive and also having of the fantastically-colored hair, we got a lot of photo requests. Which-- that's always something I've found odd about faire. Not odd bad, but just... odd. I mean, photographers documenting the general faire atmosphere is one thing. But for years, I've had perfect strangers ask to take pictures with me, which is just so strange to me. Why would you want a photo with a perfect stranger? And someone who is not one of the faire's actors/performers? I don't get it. Generally, I say yes, because quite frankly I find it much less bothersome than people who try to photograph me without asking / without my knowledge, but it is still something I don't think I'll ever understand.

As for costuming, for my birthday I splurged on a new corset from Moresca. My first overbust in like six or seven years! I am sad that the gold part is not more yellow (so my initial idea for costuming TOTALLY didn't work), but I raided my dance skirts collection and found two outfits that work quite nicely! ( Outfits! )

Jason: and I have been doing a ridiculous workout regimen, T25. I am a few days behind because of the update and the day lost to anxiety, but though the scale doesn't seem to be shifting too much, my clothes feel more comfortable. I'm having more of an issue with the restrictive diet in the season of pumpkin flavored everything. Very hard to resist all of the delicious seasonal baked goods.

This weekend is our 5 year wedding anniversary, so we're going to Gettysburg for foliage watching, historical stuff, and a ghost tour.

Hocus Pocus: I am handling this mostly on FB, but in case you are not a FB person (and also someone I know IRL), the Hocus Pocus gathering is going to be Sunday the 26th. Second movie will be Cabin In The Woods.

So, that's it. It's a mixed bag. I'm stressed. I could use more hugs. But there are good things happening, too.

Tired of cropping my fivehead out of HD makeup shots, I went ahead and got bangs. Last night, I hated them. The settled a bit overnight, and now I think I'm in love.

...because I realized my hair and makeup and earrings all matched and I needed an updated pic anyway.

I have long wanted to try the perfumes offered by Roxana Villa of Illuminated Perfume. I absolutely love her aesthetic-- it's so dreamlike, and I love that she offers beeswax-based solid perfumes, and some of the beeswax is from her own apiaries. It's a truly unique product, start to finish.

It was SO hard to whittle down what I wanted to try from her offerings, even though her catalog is nowhere near as extensive as most artisan perfumers' that I follow. In the end, I settled on Vera, Aurora, Page 57, and Vespertina. I ordered through her Etsy shop.



( Photographs of the sample pack I received. )

So, as you can see, the packaging is exquisite, even for samples. Which makes sense, as these were not inexpensive samples. They came packaged in a lovely burgundy velvet drawstring bag, and a vellum envelope sealed with wax held individual cards for each of the scents, as well as two about the product themselves. The samples were in little pink plastic pots, with color-coded, bee-stamped wax seals. The whole set is very well coordinated, and had a very luxe, very intentional feel. You really feel like you're getting something special when you open the package (which came within 48 hrs from across the country, I might add!).

But how do they smell?

( Reviews! )

Overall, these are lovely little perfumes. They do stay very close to the skin, so if you are the type who likes to wear scents but not bother others who may be sensitive, this could be a good option for you. I also like that the artist has several lockets available for those who would like to wear their solid perfumes. As for me, I like the compact, but it is rather pricy.

When choosing these perfumes, I deliberately did not pick the one I was most drawn to, Aumbre, because I think at this point, most of the perfumes I choose to keep and wear regularly feature strong amber notes. Now that I've tried some of the other offerings, however, I may just have to go back for it. Because I am weak, obviously.

For things that are not smellies-related, I have been working on some custom wings and offerings for a local boutique that is very interested in them.

SHINY.

I turned around and my studio candle looked like this. Seriously, not a prop. It just... did that.

Apparently, I'm now in charge of forging the One Ring. SHHH, tell no one, Precioussssss.

Just a bit.
( There is a serious crap-ton of nail polish under this cut. )

And there you have it: my monster nail polish collection. However! I can honestly say I have worn EACH of these polishes in some way (alone or layered) in the last year. I work with metal and have to change my polish on average every three days.

Favorite Brands: Essie's cremes. Zoya's shimmers. Nicole by OPI for glitter.

Overrated Brands: I can't say overrated per se, but I find that Butter London's polishes chip quickly on me. I know that's not a common sentiment. But they are very expensive, so I only purchase them when there's truly unique color I want to try.

Favorite Polishes: Ozotic 505, Essie A-List, Essie Eternal Optimist, Essie Go Overboard, Zoya Adina, Zoya Faye, Nicole by OPI Nicole's Nickel

Polishes On My Wishlist: ( Wishlist. )

Sihaya Designs is now functionally done until the new year. I'll be mailing out orders as they come in, but my insane MAKE ALL THE THINGS machine has ceased. I want to play with some new pigments later this week. While it's teeeeechnically for work, as an artist, it feels more like play.

I also want to do big silly posts about nailpolish and such. I also want to show you our tree and holiday decorations. Soon, soon. Right now, I'm enjoying being burrowed under a blanket with peppermint hot cocoa and not feeling as though I have anything pressing to do.

So, until I post, here's a picture of my hair, as promised.



It's all sorts of My Little Pony, innit?

Faire: Went to faire the day before we left for NC. I was still feeling very ill from the week before, dehydrated and lightheaded and overall just lacking in energy. A benefit of this is that I needed to stop and rest much more than I usually do, so I saw more shows. I took in thatliardiego's 4pm show at the Boar's Head, the Barely Balanced acrobats, Squire on the Wire, the Rogues, Cu Dubh, and bits and pieces of lots of others. One glass of wine was too much for me and made me want to yak. I had to pass over many of the tasty fried stuffs in favor of bland fare like pretzels. While I wanted to be there, I also wanted to be home, in bed, asleep. Also, dancing three songs with Amy & Brooke at the end of the day was a spectacularly bad idea and I should have known better. Ah well, we are very tentatively going to go the Saturday of the last weekend. I would like to, but with NC just past and Gettysburg ahead, finances are tight. We'll see.

Outer Banks:

( The vacation that wasn't. )

The Update: I finally got the Halloween update up in the wee hours of Thursday night/ Friday morning. I was working on a serious sleep deficit. For one, about a quarter of my written copy was destroyed in a file issue. For two, it was a lot of work, and I was going to bed around 4am, only to be awoken at 7:45am by hammering upstairs. (Which is still going on today... the upstairs neighbors with the toddlers moved out. They left us Godiva chocolates to thank us for putting up with toddler noises.) Add to that, I had several rush orders from one of the jewelers I work for. But the update is up, an I am pleased with it. Today will be packing orders and getting them out in a timely manner.

siGHt: Friday night (after having gotten three hours of sleep the night before and working an extra shift at Terra Firma), I powered through and went with Jason to see siGHt, Deviated Theatre's 50 minute ghost story "dance opera." To be honest, I didn't know what to expect. They started off with three "rising artist" pre-show openers. A gorgeous silks aerialist whose muscles had muscles doing a dramatic narrative piece, a younger group of girls doing modern dance to "Sail," and a phenomenal group of child tap dancers.

As for siGHt, it was absolutely breathtaking. There's not a lot I can say without spoiling it other than it was creepy, sad, beautiful, and cathartic. The spirits were so unbelievably spooky-- somewhat influenced by Asian ghosts, I thought-- long hair covering the face, ethereal white nightgowns-- and the way they moved, grasping desperately and jerkily, combined with their frenzied whispering and breathwork was a skin-crawling effect. But the dancing was so synchronized and well-executed that it was beautiful, too. There was also an absolutely wonderful child dancer who was on stage for almost the entire 50 minutes. As for the other two characters, I can't particularly say much without giving it away, but they were wonderful, too. If the show ever runs again (this was its second run), I would love to see it again.

Hocus Pocus: Yesterday, I hosted a few friends for an annual viewing of Hocus Pocus. J & I went out and got lots of fun seasonal touches from Target and Pier One, plus new curtains and a rug, while we were at it. The apartment now feels super cozy. We ended up watching Hocus Pocus, The Woman In Black, and then The Decoy Bride, a charming Kelly MacDonald / David Tennant romcom, to wash out the spooky. It was good to see friendly faces and overdose on gourmet cheese and snacks.

I also used up my one-day store of Martha Stewartness and made cupcakes:



( More pics, including my Autumn altar. )

Kittens: Olive has been an angel since we've been back from NC. She was ALL OVER Anna & Amy yesterday at the party. Mim ate way too much kibble and is now on a diet. Nox is worrying us a bit because he just hasn't really been interested in eating. Rather, he eats pickily and is constantly looking over his shoulder while he does. He's had to be coaxed the last few mealtimes, and Jason spent this morning hand-feeding him chicken. He's not running a fever, no vomiting, no litterbox issues. He seems a little bit more sleepy than usual, but not worryingly so. We're gonna keep an eye on him, and if he continues not to have much of an appetite, it's to the vet with him.


As for me, I want to sleep more today. I have 2 more pearl stringing assignments to complete, and a bajillion orders to pack. But I think I need a nap first.