SotD: Circassian

Hello Ninjas!

I graduated last night with my nails in their Blue-White glory. I expect that will be my next post so keep an eye out for a little nail art!  My husband and I both graduated last night, it’s really fun to be going up through the ranks together. Since I’m not much of a runner, this is one of the activities we can enjoy together. He’s really good at Ninjutsu which is a little unfair since I had to talk him in to it! I was hoping I’d better than it than him but shhhh, don’t tell.

Today’s scent is from Darling Clandestine. Circassian is one of the many samples I got from Caitlin’s great makeup de-stash of 2012 and I love it!

Circassian: Circassian is a warm chocolaty fragrance with intriguing notes of black coffee and amber and blossoms.

On Me: It starts of as pure chocolate. Now, with my messed up nose, cheap milk chocolate smells the same as dog food but this is high quality dark chocolate I smell. If you put this on a piece of paper and waved it under my nose, I’d probably ask to eat it! As is mellows out, the chocolate smell lingers but is accompanied by a touch of coffee and a good bit of amber. I really like this! I am not usually one for smells that are pure food but I can see myself wearing this in the winter and fall when it’s cold outside.

The Scene:

They had been on a few of their late-night dates since the amazing carnival experience. She was always daydreaming about him in class with a smile on her face. This time, she wanted to surprise him with a special day and the long weekend gave her the perfect opportunity to do it! She hummed as she packed the picnic basket with lunch foods and a special dessert she spent hours learning how to make. This was going to be a great day, she just knew it.

He was sort of nervous as not knowing what was going to happen today. All he knew was that she had asked him to meet her at the town park by the little waterfall. He smiled to himself as he thought of her and made a cup of mocha to bring her, knowing it was her favorite. Grabbing two travel mugs and looking at the time, he got ready to head out to the park.

Once she was all packed up, she loaded the basket onto the back of her bike and sat her little dog, Echo, in the front basket by her handlebars. Even though this was technically a date, she couldn’t stay with anyone who didn’t love dogs so she decided to make this a little test run for the longevity of their relationship. She ruffled the Papillon’s hair and set out for the park, still humming.

The arrived around the same time, both at least 5 minutes early. Still somewhat shy, they flushed when their eyes met then both laughed. He came over to her bike to say hello when he noticed the little dog on her handlebars. “Well hello little guy! What’s your name?” He asked while holding his hand out to the dog and avoiding eye contact. He didn’t want to cause the dog to growl so he was doing what he hoped was the right thing by letting the dog smell him on his own time. 

She smiled as he tried to make friends with Echo. At least he had an idea of how to approach a dog which gave him bonus points. “This is Echo, he’s my Papillon and my best friend. Say ‘Hello’ Echo.” When the dog licked his hand and nuzzled his palm, her heart all but melted and she smiled. “I’m glad he likes you, Echo is a great judge of character.” She started taking the basket off of her bike before he came over to take the basket for her.

“Where are we going with this? There’s a neat little clearing at the base of the waterfall where Echo can chase butterflies.” He waited for her to nod and get Echo out of the basket so they could walk over to the clearing. “I’ve always wanted a dog but my mom is deathly allergic, she gets hives and is miserable. I live vicariously through friends with dogs, they’re great.” He set down the basket and she started to put out a blanket for them to sit on.

“Echo was a gift when I was having trouble adjusting to middle school. He’s my longest friend and the best at keeping secrets.” She finished spreading the blanket and started to take things out of the basket. Echo went right over to him and pawed at his leg, asking to play. They ran a few short circuits of the clearing and came back to quite the picnic spread. There were sandwiches, chips, potato salad, water bottles, and what appeared to be a chocolate soufflé. 

“Soufflé! Oh wow, did you make that?” She blushed furiously as she nodded and poured a small bowl of water for Echo. “It took me a while to get it right but I remember you said you liked chocolate.” She looked up to see him smiling like a fool and looking for something in the basket. “We have to eat dessert first, that is too good to just look at while we eat sandwhiches! …Oh!” He went to the small bag he’d brought and took out the iced mochas. He handed her one and sat down next to her as she made them each a plate of chocolaty goodness. “Thanks, I guess since there’s no one to say no, we can eat in whatever order we want. I’m glad you like soufflé, and thanks for remembering I love mocha.” She took a sip of her drink and handed him a plate.

He leaned over to kiss her cheek which caused her to blush furiously. “You’re amazing.”

Zoya Lotus

Hello lovely Ninjas!

Tomorrow is graduation! I'll be going to my Blue-White belt so keep an eye out for a matching manicure in the future. Last time I did Yellow-Black I got a lot of compliments and hints that I should keep doing my nails to match my belt. Besides, it's day two of my manicure anyways which means I'm painting my nails tonight anyways!

This is Zoya Lotus from their spring 2012 collection, Tru. This is the cooler, more blue-toned purple twin of the namesake polish Tru. Zoya describes Lotus as " a very soft, dusty blue-toned amethyst purple with colorful shimmer that reflects pink, red and gold." Which is pretty much exactly right! I like the murky purple cream base of this polish because it makes the shimmers stand out more vividly than if the whole polish had a shimmer base... If that makes any sense? This is two easy coats of Lotus with Sech QD topcoat. It wasn't perfectly shiny like I've come to expect with Seche but I think that's because the volume of shimmers made this somewhat of a hungry polish. This was a lovely manicure regardless!

Lotus was provided by Zoya PR for my honest review.

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.

RBL: Piu Mosso

Hello Darling Ninjas!

Life is going pretty well these days. Now that I've figured out how to run the new systems at work, my stress level has gone way down. Studying for the GRE is kind of fun, I'd forgotten that I like doing math problems just to see if I can get the right answer. I need to brush up on my writing though, I need to get at least a 4.5 out of 6 on the essay portions of the test to qualify for the grad school I most want to get in to. Wish me luck!

Today I've got Piu Mosso from Rescue Beauty Lounge's Firebirds collection. This was gifted to me for Christmas by the wonderful Elizabeth who understands my penchant for pretty lacquers. PM is an inky blue cream shot through with bronze/orange shimmer. In the sunlight, the shimmer is easy to see but in the shade PM comes off as a sophisticated stormy blue. I got a lot of compliments about this color at work. If I was a little more heavy handed, I probably could have gotten away with one coat but I ended up doing two thin coats for perfect coverage. There are more pictures than usual of this one because the sun was no cooperating with my desire to capture the shimmer!

SotD: Pasticceria and Lilac

Hello Ninjas!

I hope this day finds you well. It's nice and sunny her in central NC and the slight breeze makes it just the right temperature in the shade. I've got another Scent of the Day post for you today though this one is without pictures.

Both scents I used were once again from One Hand Washes the Other and were sample vials that I ordered.

Pasticceria: An Italian pastry shop, the pasticceria has all the best dessert smells in the world. Marzipan, hazelnut, almonds, vanilla, cakes, assorted pastries, frosting, and of course, pure sugar. It's not edible, please don't try. 

*Lilac: This is a wonderfully lilac-y fragrance, not artificial and not TOO strong, just like the real thing. My bottle leaked a bit during shipping and when my package arrived, my whole front entry smelled of fresh-cut lilacs.

On me: The first scent I applied was Pasticceria. At first all I could smell was bright red maraschino cherries. Now, for me this isn't a bad thing, I adore those cherries! However, I don't know how most people would feel if I was to sit at work smelling like an icecream sundae. After a while, the smell mellows out on the skin and fades to a wonderful baked sweets smell. For me it smelled like sweet almonds and newly baked cookies. I added a touch of Lilac at my wrists to make the scene in my head complete. Lilac is a sweet floral smell that my nose can't apparently differentiate from Lavender but that's ok, it still smells good to me. 


The Scene:

She had been working all day in the bakery. As an apprentice, she spent most of her time doing nothing but kneading the dough for sweet breads. This was not what she had imagined when she pursued her dream of becoming a baker. In her mind, she was mixing the most exquisite ingredients from across the globe and producing aromatic masterpieces to grace the display windows in the front of the shop. Her teacher told her that would come in time... For now she was kneading with intermittent breaks to wash the dishes. 

He was a squire for one of the more lax knights of the town. In fact, it wasn't even a bad job with the easygoing knight who was disinclined to hand out punishment. The best way to make sure the punishments would be miniscule was to keep him well plied with sweets from his favorite bakery. On his way to pick up the usual order of a half dozen almond rolls and three cherry tarts, the squire was in a bright enough mood to pick a bunch of lilacs from a nearby tree, humming to himself as he walked. 

Just as she brought the most recently baked croissants to put int he front glass case, she heard the bells tinkle to indicate a new customer had arrived. With a well practiced but insincere smile, she looked up to greet the newest rotund face looking to add more sweets to their waistline. Shocked at seeing the young man standing there with flowers, she stammered over her greeting and dropped the pan of hot croissants on the floor with a *CRASH*. The irate baker rushed to her side, smacked her hard across the face, and sent her to the back for at least an hour of straight dish duty.

He was left speechless and slightly dazed by the scene that had unfurled. Shaking himself, he answered to baker's cross questions and gave the name of the knight he was picking up the order for. With a huff, the baker went to the back to retrieve the white paper bag containing the sweets and handed them over to the young squire in return for the usual amount of coins. As he left the store to the bells' melody, the squire darted around the side of the store just in time to see the apprentice emptying out the dirty dish water. Their eyes met and she flushed again, nearly dropping the bucket. He rushed to her side `to help her steady as she stood up, only to have her flush an even deeper red.  Seeing the welt on the side of her face, he stole a quick kiss to her cheek and left the lilacs behind her ear before he darted off to quell his knight's appetite for sweets. 

Ulta Into Astrono-me? and Indi-go girl

Hello Ninjas! I tested for my next belt today at work and passed! In two weeks at graduation I'll be moving up to a Blue-White belt! I'm excited because water is a whole new element which means a whole new set of moves. I've heard from a number of higher ranked students that water is a hard element to learn if you're not sort of a flowy personality already. I've been told I'll do really well in fire though! Ah well, this will be an adventure :)

 Tonight I've got two Ulta polishes I picked up when they were buy one, get one a while back. I've been lemming Into Astrono-me for a long time, I just love the murky cream polishes with vivid shimmer like Purplex and this one. This was a super easy to manage color, if I'd have been a little more heavy handed, I probably could have gotten away with one coat. Since I'm prone to thinner coats, it took two for perfection on this color. I added an accent nail of Indi-go girl which is the color my husband picked out for the manicure.

New tag: Scent of the Day!

Hello Ninjas!

I've seen this neat new tag being put on a few of the other blogs I follow and thought it was a neat idea! Scent of the Day is meant to be about the scent or combination of scents that the blogger is wearing (Or wore) during a given post. However, since I have a damaged nasal nerve, my ability to analyze smells is greatly diminished. It takes a strong scent for me to be able to pick out notes but I've recently found out that perfume oils are the best way to get that strength.

Today's combination is two scents from One Hand Washes the Other: Bitten and Toxid Lotus.

Bitten: The scent of an apple orchard after a spring rain, key notes are green apple, honey, rain, and just a nip of black pepper to shake things up.

Toxid Lotus: Everyone has a darker side. Another scent created for Manda of Toxid-Lotus.net, this one is like I Smell Like A Witch's older sister, you know, the one always in trouble for doing something devious. Blackened dark Musk, Red Wine, Damask Rose Absolute, Frankincense, Baby Roses, Myrrh, and a hint of White Amber.


I don't own a full size Toxid Lotus product yet but I did receive a sample with my recent order from OHWTO. It was still unreleased at the time but I fell in love with it! I wore Bitten in oil form on my pulse points and added a touch of Toxid Lotus on my wrists and neck to prevent it from completely overpowering Bitten.

With my limited sense of smell, this smelled like roses on a summer night as the sun went down wafting through an orchard. I love it! I have a rather vivid and wordy imagination when it comes to scents so my mind created a small scenario for this scent:

Their illicit relationship, while new, was raging with the heat of the summer's sun. Him the indentured farmer's assistant and her the mistress' new house girl. A tryst between them was not entirely forbidden but certainly not encouraged lest it distract them from work. Besides, they were of different worlds, one clean and pure, the other a man of the earth with knowledge of its bounty. Nevertheless, from the moment their eyes met, they kept meeting with increasing heat.

 One chance evening, she was picking roses from the garden for the lady's scented baths and he was out late picking the fragrant apples from the nearby orchard.  Chasing after apples from an overturned barrel, he caught sight of her in the garden. Startled by the sound, she pricked her finger on a rose's thorn with a hiss of pain. Abandoning the apples, he came to her, still smelling like the sweet fruits of his labor, and pressed his sleeve to the cut. After the initial shock wore off, they both realized they were touching and their heat began to rise. As the summer twilight cooled the air, their bodies fulfilled what their stolen glances promised and the sweet notes of roses and apples twined through the breeze.

So yeah... uh, sorry about the random take off into fiction world! Hope you liked my new type of post :) 

China Glaze Harvest Moon

Good Afternoon Ninjas!

After some consideration on the matter and a little reality check, I've begun looking at applying to Graduate School. I'm hoping to find a program in Mass Communication or Advertising at one of the local Universities so I won't have to move to continue my schooling. This is sort of exciting for me, and I know my mother is thrilled because she wants me to get "A floppy hat". That's what she calls the different, non-cardboard hats that graduates wear to their commencement ceremonies. So, if anyone knows of a good Advertising/Mass Communication Grad school in NC, I'm all ears!

Today I've got swatches of China Glaze's Harvest Moon for you. Harvest Moon is the polish for District 9 in the Hunger Games which handles all of the grain. HM is a bronze metallic foil polish that looks amazing in the bottle and on the nail. However, in person, this color didn't suit me at all. I don't know that is shows in the pictures but this polish just didn't sit right with my pinkish/olive skin tone. Alas, it was really fun to wear and easy to apply in two thin coats.

HITS no Olimpio Hera

Good evening Ninjas!

This week is my last week before testing for my Blue White belt! I'm super excited to be changing elements in Ninjutsu. Blue is our water element and a whole new set of moves to learn :) In honor of that, I've chosen to post one of my deep sea colors I recently wore. My husband picked Turquoise when I asked for a color and Hera was my choice since it was an untried holo from my recent Ninja Polish haul.

Hera is a wonderful turquoise jelly with a linear holographic finish. The color was build-able and was perfect in three coats. I love how this polish dries very shiny! It would probably be fine without topcoat but I wanted to color to last for a while. The color was actually a little bluer and brighter than my pictures were able to capture and the sun didn't want to come out and play when I was taking pictures. The pictures with the best linear effect are taken under a heat lamp for my snakes lol.

Crackle Rage

Hi Ninjas!

This weekend was fun! The weather was a little dreary but I enjoyed going wedding dress shopping with a friend from work and the sun came out afterwards. I had so much fun shopping for my own dress, I had no idea how fun it was to sit on the other side of the dressing room door :)

Today I've got a combination I wore a while back to extend to life of my manicure when I didn't have time to do a whole re-paint one night. I added a black crackle over my two coats of Orly Rage for a nifty cream on metallic manicure.These pictures were taken on a stormy day so I apologize for their quality!

Essie Resort 2012: Pink-a-boo

Hi Ninjas!

Today was my day off so I spent some time relaxing, a little time cleaning, and a lot of time at the dojo! I'm helping one of the students with her black belt demo for her test in July so I'll be practicing that with her each Friday until we get it perfect! This is super fun for me because I get to learn some advanced moves before I see them in a couple years when I'll have a brown belt.

Tonight I've got a super girly pink from Essie's 2012 Resort collection. I picked up Pink-a-boo and No More Film from this collection when I saw them at Ulta last month. I was in need of something simple and girl when my nails were nubs so I went for Pink-a-boo. This is a fairly sheer polish so even with nbbins I had to do 4 coats for decent opacity. Despite being a little labor intensive, this is a very pretty pastel pink color with a ton of blue and purple shimmer in it. My camera had trouble picking up the shimmer so you'll have to take my word that this is a beauty!

Zoya Meg!

Hello Lovely Ninjas!

So, the transition to the new software at work is not a smooth one... I haven't figured everything out yet and it's super stressful to have to deal with right now. Alas, I get to go in to work today and no only try to figure out the new system but there's also a belt graduation tonight! Eesh, talk about everything happening at once. Oh well, I'll make it! I might just need a large amount of caffeine to do so.

Today I've got Meg from the Zoya Surf collection. This is a super pretty polish and it's the one I used as the base for my guest post over at Toxid Lotus last Thursday. Meg is a great metallic apple green that makes me think of a chrome granny smith apple. The foil finish of this polish was excellent. Zoya describes Meg as "Light yellow-toned mermaid green with heavy gold and silver metallic shimmer and a sparkling foil finish" I have to say, I agree with them on this one!  Super easy application in two thin coats.

 Polish was provided to me by Zoya PR for honest review.