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.