|
|
Thursday, August 17, 2006
|
|
| |
For a contest I entered recently:
Step 1: Color some melt-n-pour base to the same pink as the logo. Let set. Trace design onto soap, then carve out letters with pocket knife since you can't find the X-acto:
Step 2: Embed the pink soap letters in a layer of plain white melt-n-pour, to hold them steady and symmetrical:
Step 3: While mixing lye and water and allowing to cool in the fridge, begin whipping coconut and olive oils in the mixer until they resemble whipped cream.
Step 4: Add lye to whipped oils, freak out as it all deflates and looks like a failure. Continue making batch of regular cold-processed soap anyway, just in case.
Step 5: Pour batch of regular cold processed soap into mold, and once firm enough to hold things up, insert the slab with "Craft:" written into it up against one side of the mold.
Step 6: Calm down as batch of whipped soap starts looking less failure-like.
Step 7: Top cold-processed soap with whipped soap, reserving a little bit to color pink for a swirl. Frouf it around like whipped cream. Sprinkle with pink cranberry seeds, purple blueberry seeds, and blue poppy seeds.
Step 8: Next day, remove from mold.
Step 9: Carefully slice away thin layer from side of slab, revealing the "Craft:" logo inside.
Result: Looks like fudge, but it's SOAP! With "Craft:" written in it! Yay.
2:56:29 PM 
|
|
|
|
|
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
|
|
|
|
Thursday, June 29, 2006
|
|
| |
Scent of the Day
Today I'm wearing Lea Extreme, by St. Barth.
Notes:
Almond, vanilla, light musk. Some say they smell a chocolate-y note in it.
This is a stronger (and discontinued) version of St. Barth's Lea. If you are a big fan of Jergen's Original Almond-scented lotion, this is heavenly. The first whiff on the skin was exactly as if I had dabbed vanilla extract straight from the bottle. Following closely on the vanilla's heels is a beautiful almond note, truly almond, not crossing the line into cough drop cherry for even a moment. It was also very honey-like on my skin. Great, creamy ground almonds plus soft honey plus real vanilla. Delicious and delicate. I really enjoyed it a lot, but it had no staying power at all. Four hours later there isn't a trace left, and I was careful to touch it to my clothing to help it stick around. Very much a shame because even I, not especially crazy for the Almond scent, was diggin' it. This would, however, be a perfect summer scent for hot days, because it won't keep blasting you until you have headache and queasies from scent overload. All in all I like it a lot, although I'm not sure I could cough up the money for a bottle of this stuff. Still, if you're a big almond fan, this is the stuff.
3:34:13 PM
|
|
|
|
|
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
|
|
| |
Burberry London
Today I'm wearing Burberry London.
Notes:
Clementine, Honeysuckle, English Garden Rose, Tiare Flower, Jasmine, Peony, Veil of Musks, Indian Sandalwood, Patchouli.
top notes: rose, clementine and honeysuckle.
Rose? Honeysuckle? I didn't sense them anywhere. However the clementine note was beautiful, although by the time the alcohol had dried it was virtually gone.
heart notes: tiare flower, jasmine and peony.
To me, this is what dominates the fragrance. And of this part, the Jasmine is the most dominant of the dominant. Reminds me very much of the teased-up, breathy bodice-ripping florals of the 80's...all three flowers so equally overwhelming that it's hard to separate them from the general, muddied fog of "FLOWERS RIGHT HERE!". It is right on the verge of being headache-inducing for me, and I kept catching whiffs of this aspect that reminded me strongly of the floral heart of the famous yellow Giorgio signature perfume.
dry down notes: sandalwood, veil of musk and patchouli.
Again, never found them. The floral heart comes on within minutes and stays for a long, long time, but I never get a hint of any sort of wood, musk or earthiness from patchouli. So far, impressions of Giorgio played hide-and-seek with moments of Estee Lauder's original Beautiful, back and forth. This is an overblended, overwhelming flowery mud, for me. If only the fruit had lasted.
As with all of my perfume reviews, Your Mileage May Vary. It may smell entirely different on you, or your nose might receive it in a very different way. My experiences are just mine, and are no substitute for experiencing them for yourself. Remember my biases, and please read the reviews with this in mind. Hopefully they will be entertaining, anyway. My biggest hope is that you'll get to the point that you can read me ranting and raving about something I absolutely hate, and you'll be able to tell by the words I'm using that this is likely to be something you'll love, and you give it a try and find out it's wonderful for you. That would be perfect, in my opinion.
So...what are YOU wearing today?
2:05:01 PM
|
|
|
|
|
Monday, June 26, 2006
|
|
| |
Scent of the Day
I'm wearing L'eau D'Issey Pour Homme, by Issey Miyake. Yes, the Pour Homme version. L'eau D'Issey is a serious departure for me, being one of those "watery" fragrances that I tend to disdain, and the female version is just too, too, too. (not to say that the female version is watery also, because it's not. it's a floral thing. it reminds me of a Jessican McClintock dress, in scent form.) The male version has a bit more oomph to it in my opinion, perhaps due to the basenotes of Tobacco Amber and the stronger topnotes of various exotic citrus which help give a backbone to all the wispy, frail, delicate things.
Top Notes
Yuzu (Japanese Citron), Cypress, Coriander, Mandarin, Clary Sage, Fresh Verbena.
Middle Notes
Blue Water Lily, Nutmeg, Saffron, Bourbon Geranium, Ceylonese Cinnamon.
Base Notes
Tobacco Amber, Musk, Indian Sandalwood, Haitian Vetiver, Cypriol
This reminds me in some ways of Calvin Klein's Escape, same airy-watery qualities, though this has a bit of sharpness from the citruses and the bourbon geranium. First whiff is almost like a lemon version of Tang soft drink crystals, but then the Bourbon Geranium raises up on a soft bed of Water Lily. The Cypress and Haitian Vetiver keep this from being too cloyingly sweet and too wisp-on-the-wind, the Yuzu lends a bit of a succulent green-ness to the water. I don't really detect the spices, although I can imagine that they are also grounding the waters and greens. For a wet day like today, it feels almost like camouflage to go outside in this scent. I feel a part of the elements, I feel chilled and wettish in a refreshing way, like the beads of sweat on an iced glass of herbal tea. At the same time there is a skin value, thanks to the amber and musk, which allow the scent to become a part of me rather than an alien element on top of my skin. Frankly, I'm surprised this is sold as a men's fragrance. It's really on the verge of too femme for me.
So...what are you wearing today?
(i love this game)
1:11:00 PM
|
|
|
|
|
Sunday, June 25, 2006
|
|
| |
Happy Scrubby Clearance Stuff
Okay, I have 10 7 5 3 (All gone, sorry) Happy Morning Scrubbie Chunks that are leftovers, that I need to get rid of. These are big bars, almost twice the size of a normal bath bar, and they are 100% olive oil and very well-cured, rock hard so they will last a long time and be very mild on the skin. The problem? Two things:
1) I now have boxes for my soap, and these huge chunks don't fit.
2) They have been curing for about 4 months, and the natural essential oils have faded, so they have almost no scent left to them.
They're still really good soap, actually they're in the prime of their life since they're very well aged but still have several months before there's a chance of the oils going rancid...potentially much longer than several months, if they are stored properly, which means in an open-air, low-humidity, cool environment. They'll just keep getting better and better for the skin, the lather will keep improving, and they will get harder and longer-lasting under these conditions.
Anyway, I have a handful left and need to get them out of here to make space on the shelf for other stuff. I'm letting them go for $2 each plus shipping. If anyone wants some, let me know and I can e-invoice you, or you can mail a check or money order, or you can call me and I can take credit card info over the phone. Pretty much any way you want to do it, I'm set up for it. Just let me know.
12:51:45 PM
|
|
|
|
|
Friday, June 23, 2006
|
|
| |
2-day catch-up here, since I got really busy yesterday and couldn't finish.
Thursday
I tried out Ananas Fizz this morning, but it's not agreeing with my system. Pineapple? Yes. *Fresh*? Um, no. On my skin, it is overripe pineapple. If there is any "fizz" to it, it's the bubbling of early-stage fermentation. It was delicious and lemony on first whiff, but drydown on this girl is not so good.
I got to the store and ameliorated things with an application of my own Blue Lotus & Neroli combination. It's floral enough to calm down the sourness.
I'm sad. I was really ready to love Ananas. The name by itself is wonderfully whimsical.
Apparently I'm not entirely alone in finding it less "fresh" and more "rotten"...while some people find it heavenly and indeed might want to drink it, I've found a few others who refer to it as "mulch" and other such things. I guess, as with most things, it depends upon both the nose and the skin of the beholder.
A sparkling and exotic cocktail, pink grapefruit, bitter orange, lemon rind, rum, rose, Reunion Islands Victoria pineapple, coconut milk, lychee sap, cedar, vetiver, and vanilla. The success of this fragrance recipe - this original sparkling and smooth delicacy is so refreshing it makes us want to drink it!
Family : Citrus, fruity, woody
Blend : pink grapefruit, pineapple, golden woods
New Soap Babies today:
MisterX Angry Skin Soap
Not much to it here...had to immediately slice it for faster curing, since it's already sold.
Strawberry Smoothie (I'm happy with how my swirls came out this time)
Check out the side view...
Osage Orangewood, special order with lots of scrubby orange peel inside
Yuzu, which somehow got vanished from my site, but I've put it back now.
Then there are my Goat's Milk and Coconut Milk soaps, made with a true soap melt-pour base from GloryBee Foods (base is coconut, olive, sunflower and castor oil soaps, plus sorbitol...no chemical surfactants.)
Jungle Gardenia:
Fruit Slices:
The bottom is scented with Mango, then a layer of Peach, then a layer of Strawberry, then a layer of Raspberry mixed with Key Lime.
Then we have Cranberry Musk:
Smells REALLY GOOD - fruity-floral atop of a warm skin musk.
And don't forget Oat & Goat:
This smells *very* yummy. It's full of scrubby oats as well as hydrolyzed oat protein for moisture retention in the skin. Lots of goat's milk in it, and it's scented with a "Milk and Honey" type of fragrance, very clean and fresh but still creamy and sweet.
In other news, I beat my head against the webpage for most of Thursday until I got it pretty much done. I'm still going to do a total site overhaul, but this will do for now. I still have to write Eau De Parfum descriptions, since my EdP's are more complex mixtures.
I ended up closing the shop early because I failed to coordinate effectively and had too much to do. Had to take Lorelei and her boyfriend to a movie at 5pm, which was actually at 5:30 only they swore it was 5pm. Then I had to run and get wrapping stuff for ianlyzu's birthday prezzie and get that done. I hope she wasn't too disappointed at the modesty of her present...I have a feeling I'm not going to be able to compete with the level of decadence she's probably used to. Hopefully I can make up for it by being entertaining to laugh at. :)
We had dinner at Outback with ianlyzu and her family, and jintenn76 and chipperi. I was actually not very hungry because I didn't eat lunch until about 5pm so once the Bloomin' Onion was gone I was pretty much done. I munched on misterx's rice and such from his entree and really, that was plenty for me. However that meant that my eating thing was all screwed up so when I got up this morning I was DYING OF STARVATION and it took me a minute to figure out why my stomach hurt so much, since normally I have no appetite until around noon or so. Stupid body. I wish I were a disembodied head. That would solve so many problems. Well, maybe not.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Friday
Okay, I went ahead and put the soap site live this morning, with the updates I'd done. Everything is there except for the descriptions for the Eau de Parfums, and I'll work on those today. I can only sit at the computer so long at a stretch before it makes my back hurt, my butt hurt, my legs go numb and my brain get cranky. So I'll do little jaunts on there, putting up the perfume descriptions, and in between I'll work on the back room of the shop and on boxing orders and such.
Today Lorelei is going to the water park with the Boys & Girls Club. As much as she complains about that place sometimes, they *do* have a lot of interesting field trips. I'm basically just bringing her there on field trip days so that she can get to go do a variety of different things instead of sitting in my dark office and eating junk food and watching TV or playing video games all summer, or sitting at home in her darkened bedroom and playing Sims2 all summer. Next week she gets to go horseback riding and she also gets to go whitewater rafting, both for cheaper than I could buy gas to take her myself, so it's a good deal even if she thinks the people who run the place are grouchy. She needs to learn to deal with grouchy people, anyway. The world is full of them, might as well figure out how to cope with it.
My coffee is buzzing the hell out of me. I better go get a shower and some food. Oh, I also have to bring an order of soaps to the Natural Foods Market to refill the shelves. They've been so good to me there. I need to call the lady at Atlantis and see if she wants more soap, or if she's pissed at me for opening a store across town from her. I hate confrontation, but I need to deal with this. Honestly, I had *no intention* of opening a store of my own at the time that I approached her about wholesale. But I doubt she'd believe me. How many people just go "Whoops, I have a retail store!" all of a sudden like that? But it's true, that's what happened. Still, I don't know if she'd believe it.
Shower now. I have to use Lorelei's, as we're doing drain treatment on the other one. I don't want to use Lorelei's. Every time I go in there, it pisses me off to see what an animal she is. I found her brand new, $250 glasses on the floor in the bathroom this morning. She didn't even realize that they were on the floor, which is even worse than leaving them there deliberately and at least *knowing* they are there so that maybe you won't step on them. Grr. I told her that if I saw her glasses in such an irresponsible place again, I would take them away and eBay them, since they obviously don't mean much to her and I might as well get some of my money back. I'm such a bitch.
Today's scent: Jean Nate (what a splash!), with some Lily of the Valley powder from Woods of Windsor, and a little bit of Anna Sui's Sui Dreams body lotion. Oh. Plus a little dab of lemon verbena oil on my wrists. :)
And you?
2:28:26 PM
|
|
|
|
© Copyright
2006
Melanie Teegarden.
Last update:
8/17/2006; 2:59:12 PM.
|
|
