What Am I Up To?

Not sure if you know this, but I really don't like Easter. IMO, it's the worst of all the holidays. As a child, I had to go to church on all three days (Good Friday, Saturday and Easter Sunday). The meal never appealed to me. There was always tons of cleaning up that somehow was delegated to me. And it inevitably fell in the week of my mother and sister's birthdays (and now my kid's). So there was already tons of hoopla happening and none of it was about me. Not to mention that the weather on Easter, in TO, always sucks. To wit: today, there's snow on the ground.

(Lest I hear about this on the flip side, I will disclose that my parents always got us excellent, little Easter-morning gifties and left a rhyming poem from the Easter Bunny to give us hints about where they were hidden. But, sorry, nothing could make up for the endless church-going.)

So I don't celebrate. Of course, it would be utter hypocrisy for me to celebrate, what with my not being a practicing religious person. But I don't even get into it culturally. Really, I prefer Passover as a holiday. It seems more lively, though it could benefit from a nice spiral ham :-).

Lest you think I never eat an Easter dinner, most years my best friend Hilary invites my family to her house, along with her family. Sadly, her aunt recently died (one of the long-standing wonderful participants), and this year, naturally, the celebration is being held very close.

The upshot is that I don't have a damn thing planned for this long weekend - unless you count my kid's 15th birthday dinner (which happened on Thursday), dinner with friends (that was Friday) and a big-ass chicken tonight (cuz Scott feels it's sad not to eat a roast of some sort when other people are doing the same).

As a result, I've been doing all the Kristin-things:

• I'm getting there with my skin care "brand". I've done a lot of work to improve my labels and, while there are many glitches still to correct, I'm on the right track.

• Made skin-care: Lotion A, Deodorant A (this time it worked!), Serum A (I go through this stuff). (I can't keep my potions in stock because everyone I know wants them. Makes me feel very popular, in truth.)

• Bought more freakin' ponte from FabricLand. While this isn't like me, earlier in the week, I decided to buy the additional amounts I required (to bolster amounts of left-over fabric, after making every possible muslin for McCall's 6844) without bringing swatches to the store. I've given all of the muslins away (they were VERY popular with friends) but I didn't want to waste the 1/2 metre remaining, of all the fabrics, when I could just buy another metre and have enough to make them all again (or something else, for novelty). How hard could it be, I mused, to remember which bolts I'd already purchased from? Well, apparently harder than you'd think. It's amazing how I messed up, given that there were only 4 blue fabrics to choose from. So I had to go back and buy more in the actual colours I have remnants of, and more in the colours I'd erroneously bought on Monday. Let's just say my plan backfired but I sure do have a lot of blue ponte in the stash right now.

• I finally implemented the alterations to the next version of McCall's 6844. One should always do this immediately after making the last muslin. I started the process but lost interest (having sewed all day prior to realizing that muslin 4 was also a bust). Yesterday I spent quite some time remembering what I wanted to do and implementing the changes. Lord, I do hope muslin 5 is the well-fitted final or I do think I'm done with this.

• I'm currently sewing McCall's 6844 muslin 5. Hope to have this done today...

• I'm also knitting sock 1 of Kristin's Simple Sock Recipe. Note: This has been in the works for a while but I can't knit for more than 10 minutes at a time without taking a break, so who knows when we'll see the finished pair. How cruel to realize that I cannot live without handknit lounge socks at a time when knitting binges cause pain.

So that's my weekend. But what about you? Do you celebrate Easter (or some sort of holiday on this long weekend)? Are you working on your special fun crafts? What's up with you? Let's talk!

Well Ain't This Sweet?

I used this recipe, which is well-promoted. I made half the recipe and I still could have assembled another of the large deodorant sticks given the amount I threw away.

I don't know if this is going to work, but I will say that the clean up is nasty. If I do this again, I'm buying a throw-away pot (that I can clean in a half-assed way and use only for deodorant-making).

The finished product is very firm, just like the store bought stuff, given that I used 2 oz of beeswax. I mean, this shit is basically a candle. I'm not going to lie - I'm skeptical about how it's going to wear because it has half a cup of oil in it! Furthermore, I realized after making the batch, that I used cornstarch in place of arrowroot. I don't own any arrowroot after having lived through a sink-clogging incident of massive proportions many years ago. For some reason, I blame this on the substance rather than the actual cause (that would be me, putting arrowroot down the drain). Note: I sense that this won't be an issue. In cooking, arrowroot and cornstarch are often used interchangeably.

At any rate, if it does work, this is yet another product I will NEVER buy in the store again. I currently use an all-natural spray that costs 10 bucks every 3 weeks (the way my kid douses herself in it). BTW, I don't feel it works well enough to warrant that price but I don't want to use drug-store stuff, given the evil shit it's made with. This handmade version costs 2 bucks and takes 15 minutes.

I urge everyone to consider making skin and body care - at least to give it a try. We spend an absolute fortune on this stuff - well, I do - especially for quality product. And, seriously peeps, you can make pretty well everything in your kitchen for a fraction of the cost. And it looks just as good. Actually, it can look better if you put some effort in. Not to mention that it isn't carcinogenic. I realize that we all have busy lives and we don't have time to pee, much less make artisanal body oil, but if you find this sort of thing enjoyable (and I really do!), then it's a perfect melding of need and output.

At this point, I've bought a bunch of silicones to reproduce my hair product (Moroccan Oil) and, once I figure that one out, I'm going to be saving ALL the bucks. Ahem, spending them on new bras.

Update: So, this morning I realized why the deodorant was impossible to clean up - and why it's rather challenging to apply: I halved everything in the recipe EXCEPT for the beeswax. So yeah, effectively this deodorant is a candle. Oh well, rookies be makin' rookie mistakes. Happily I was able to salvage the containers (pretty easy to pop candles out of plastic pieces) and I'll give it another go.

Other Update: So I put some of this on this morning (before removing it from the containers) as did my husband and we are shocked by how awesomely it works. Seriously shocked. He's actually going to keep the now stick-free deodorant in ziploc bag because he likes it so much. So natural for the win, I guess. 

Assembly Line

Can't tell you what I kick I get out of making skin care:

Those three iron nails (in the background) are 125 years old. When we did the third-floor reno, we found them in the walls.

• Neroli eye balm. This stuff is NICE. (Neroli hydrosol, apricot kernel oil, rosehip seed oil, emulsifing wax, vitamin E oil, carrot seed EO, lavender EO, ylang ylang EO, Germall Plus preservative)
• Grapefruit/Rosewood body oil
• Face Serum A

 It's so easy to give this stuff away!

I now make my own body oil, eye balm, face serum, hand cream, lip balm, arnica salve and calendula salve.

How much would I spend on that if I bought it? Just so happens I can tell you:

• Body Oil (Weleda) - $25
• Eye balm (L'Occitane) - $70 
• Face Serum (various) - @$70
• Hand Cream (various) - $20
• Lip Balm (Korres) - $15
• Arnica Salve (Thompson's) - $15
• Calendula Salve (Thompson's) - $15

Costs a fraction of this to make your own product and it's fun!

(Next up: Roll-on oil perfume, solid perfume and handmade deodorant.)

Product (And a Bit of Process)

I've had one of those phenomenally productive days. I went to the hairdresser, came home and made 2 different sorts of cashew milk (turmeric/nutmeg/ginger and salted cocoa). Secretly, I added some turmeric into the salted cocoa version. You can't taste it and, seriously, that shit is good for inflammation! (I won't bore you with pics of 3 litres of nut milk - I went a bit crazy - but it's been snowing since early this morning and a girl needs occupation.)

Then, cuz I was out of almost everything, I got to work on potions:

This represents 3 hours of work - and I could have done it faster if only I hadn't had a 4-time issue with this:

Lotion B: Neroli and Ylang Ylang

Hilariously, it failed again and again till Scott came down to marinate some steaks and I told him, exasperatedly, about how I couldn't understand my continual problems considering that I was following the recipe EXACTLY.  Whereupon he suggested that I was perhaps using the Fahrenheit reading on my fancy new thermometer, rather than the Celsius reading. Let's just say that was value-added advice. Problem solved!

Yeah, lotions are tricky. I've been researching the process and finally landed on this recipe. (Excellent site I know about thanks to reader Louisa!) You may recall I tried this once before with limited success. The more I read, the more apparent it became that I'd need to bring out the big guns.

Here's the thing: Lotions are a delicate emulsification of water and oil. That balance is tricky to find. It's easy to end up with watery grease - or something weirdly gritty. Not to mention that you don't fuck around with water/oil mixes. If they don't contain a preservative, they will go off very quickly. At which point, you have a germ infested soup that may look and smell completely fine. I cannot be gifting sludge - nor using it myself - so I've had to carefully consider preservatives.

I haven't sourced one "natural" preservative that actually works (according to the peeps who know much more than I, at this point). Moreover, a lot of the natural preservatives are more toxic than the synthesized ones, just to be difficult. I've landed on this one, for the moment. It doesn't contain polysorbates or parabens but, be assured, it's totally test-tube.

How do I feel about this? Fine. But it has clarified something for me: You can make an anhydrous product (one without oil - such as face serum) with little worry using "all-natural" (aka pronounceable / readily available) ingredients. You can't do the same with a lotion - not if you want it to last more than a week. Check out labels next time you're at Sephora or the health food store, for that matter. You will always find emulsifiers and preservatives in those products - no matter how natural. There are certainly versions that aren't toxic, but they're harder to find than drug store crap.

I'm disinclined to use lotions on any part of my body but my hands because I wash them constantly and I need readily absorbable product. My face and body (the majority of my skin surface) have always been hydrated with oil / oil-based butters and I feel better about this than ever. Don't misunderstand, my lotion is pretty damn good - and as natural as it gets, but a lotion isn't strictly speaking "natural". You can't eat it.

But on to other things...

Today I made conservatively $140 of awesome, high-quality product for free! Ok, ok, I've spent a bomb on the ingredients, over time - but once you stock up, it lasts and you get lots of loot that feels free. I upcycled all of my bottles (except for the lip balm pots). Of course, when I give gifts I'll use new bottles, but for myself, I reuse. Exception: Some bottles, shape depending, are really only for one-time use because you can't remove trace amounts of oil completely (once the product is finished). To reuse those bottles is to invite rancidity. So those go in the recycle bin.

What did I make?

• Lotion B (Ylang Ylang and Neroli) for a friend (little white bottle) 50g
• Lotion B for me (large blue bottle) 100g
• 3 lip balms (gifts)
• 2 Face Serum A - one in the blue skinny bottle, the other in the clear bottle (orange oil), each 20g
• Body Oil A - Grapefruit, Rosewood and Ylang Ylang (I really like YY), 110g

Not bad for a snow day!

Whatcha think?

Pretty Things That Smell Good

Today was rather a mixed bag on the potion front. I did manage to make a couple of successful products, but I threw out more than I cooked - and it's logistically challenging to throw these waxy, oily things away!

For starters, here's what I made:

Arnica Salve

It's a rather pretty salve of olive oil-infused with arnica from dried flowers. I simmered them together for 2.5 hrs (it called for 3) and then realized that my arnica was starting to burn. I think I caught it in the nick of time but next time, I'll use a bit less arnica and cook for 2 hrs. BTW, here's a book I found, from which I've made the lip balm and this salve - both successful. It's got the longest title ever but it's cheap as beans and the recipes are good so far.

Arnica, as you likely know, is a herb used in a variety of formats to diminish aches of all kinds, but especially muscle pain. I can't believe I found the flowers at my local, crazy, skin-care components shop. The store is like a vortex, utterly unlike anything I've ever seen. You can get lost in that tiny space for hours where they sell everything. And everything is affordable.

I added some marjoram, helichrysum and neroli to make it smell like something other than a cooked herb and it's actually a really balanced, pleasingly floral scent. It's potent but not overwhelming.

I also made a couple of face serums (sera?), which I modeled on this stuff here. (That product is excellent, btw, and you can get it at Cure.)

Rosehip Face Serum

Of course, I can't reproduce that proprietary product altogether, but I can do my own thing with most of the same ingredients. I subbed almond oil for jojoba because a) it's winter and faces need a bit more oomph from their creams right now (even if your skin is oily, like mine) and b) I had a bit left over after my lotion fiascos du jour and it was easier than storing a tiny amount of oil that would go-off fast sitting in a bottle with a lot of oxygen.

Essentially, in this 10ml bottle, I used @4ml organic sweet almond oil (bought in Mtl. in December), @5ml organic rosehip seed oil and 1ml vitamin e (in sunflower oil). For each bottle, I scented the oil with essential oils known for improving skin: rosewood, lavender, geranium and rose. It smells awesome.

In truth, the branded product is excellent and pretty well priced, for it's quality at @35 bucks. The homemade version, every bit as organic and with 90% of the same ingredients, cost 9 bucks - including the packaging (which is nowhere near as sexy as the shop version). Mine's a quarter of the price and I created multiples, by hand, in 10 minutes.

I can see I'm going to need a nice label...

In Case You Thought I Was Joking...

Kristin-made Skin Care

The recipe could have made 5 containers of peppermint lip balm, but I didn't know and I only had 4, so now I'm rubbing half set balm all over my legs and torso... Took 10 minutes to put this together and another 10 to clean up. Not to mention it smells and feels awesome. In a fancy store you'd have spent 15 bucks on it. Cost me about a dollar a container (and that was mostly the cost of the container).

And no, I will never buy lip balm again.

PS: This is edible (not that you'd want to eat locally-sourced, organic beeswax).

Alchemy

I have always loved potions - as I've mentioned many times on this blog. I was that teenager with an organic essential oil collection. Put something that smells good - and feels great - in a gorgeous glass bottle and I am sold.

I dabbled in making oils, lotions and scrubs in my early 20s and then I met my husband. He was not into bombardment by numerous fragrances as I practiced my witchy art. So, in the interests of solidarity, and because my life went on new trajectories in early adulthood, I left the chemistry behind.

However, I've never abandoned my love of self-annointing with all the things that smell divine. As y'all may know, I am at my most sensory when it comes to taste and smell. I'm that person who can tell you what grape the person at the next table is drinking. I'll tease out the secret ingredient in your special dessert, the one that no one else can put her finger on. Sure, the flip side is that I'm most likely to throw up semi-regularly, at the whiff of anything, when pregnant. But happily, it's unlikely I'll ever revisit that state again.

I consider myself exceedingly lucky to be as scent-sory as I am and, given how I'm motivated to find all the ways I can enjoy living in my body (especially in the last couple of years), I recently decided to take up my sorcery again.

It doesn't hurt that my kid discovered scented candles last year (hideous ones) and I observed that my husband doesn't have the heart to tell her to throw them away. Strikes me that, if he's willing to smell chemical sludge to keep her happy, my natural stuff will barely register. Note to self: I should take up toxin-free candle-making at some point in the near future.

At any rate, the other day I found myself at this shop I've never heard of, though it's around the block from me and it's been there for a while. Let's call it kismet cuz they sell all the ingredients for potion making - from the sustainably produced, ripe-nut shea butter (a canary colour I've never seen), to the locally made hydrosols and nut oils. Did I mention they also sell all the glass bottles that cost a bomb to ship and never seem to be available locally?

I do feel like I fell down the rabbit hole when I walked into this shop - it was like the most absurd skit Portlandia has ever conceived. At one point, the SA feigned shock at the fur hat (yeah, it was -20C, I was in fur from head to toe) that I was holding in my hand as I shopped. She thought it was a toy dog, apparently.

Somehow the experience took an entire hour and, at some point, I started talking with all the organic ladies about our birth experiences and methods of natural contraception. Two of the clients shopping with me were registered midwives in their spare time. Not one of us had experienced a hospital birth (with multiple children between us). If you've never been asked if you check your cerivcal mucous daily - by someone you don't know - you're really not missing out.

I was utterly bemused by the whole, nutty experience till I it occurred to me that I too had had a home birth and I practice a method of natural birth control (have done since my mid-twenties). Yeah, I'm a yoga person. Not to mention I was in that shop to purchase organic and sustainable precursors to natural skincare so that I could make it for myself in my own kitchen. Fuck. (Thank goodness I could sideline utter stereotyping on the basis that I was wearing commercially produced lipstick and fur.)

Cut to this morning, when I decided to experiment by making lotion. I will revisit this topic (and provide a recipe, once I've tweaked one that doesn't produce thinly-veiled grease). Let me just say that it was entirely fun, if only moderately successful. But, hey, lots of peeps can't even get their natural potion to emulsify on first try, so I don't feel as if I've failed. And, since potion-making is often merely cooking with edible ingredients you won't eat, I felt entirely liberated to experiment as I went. My thin lotion was ameliorated in a jiffy with some cornstarch from the cupboard. I used all of my intuition and chemical knowledge from cooking (the art at which I am most in my element) to produce a product I will happily use. Moreover, I can see many gifts - in the name of product-testing - for my friends in the near future.

So, today's questions: Are you some crazy, granola potion-maker? (Personally, I prefer to see myself in the vein of European apothecarist..) Would you ever give it a go? Let's talk!

Spell it Out

In a strange turn of confluence, I read Sunni's post, inquiring about the importance of customer service on the very same day I was following up with Amy Karol (renaissance woman and Etsy proprietor) about the whereabouts of my latest web-purchase love-on: Balancing Facial Oil.

Whoa, there's a lot going on in that first paragraph...

Here's the backstory:

• I love potions (as you probably know).
• I love supporting small business.
• I love Etsy.
• I love organic stuff.
• I love anything scented with rose and ylang ylang.
• I love Amy Karol's blog.

Put them altogether and you get this:


So I ordered the oil, and anxiously awaited its arrival.

Three weeks later I was still waiting. (Canada Post really boggles the mind...) When I emailed Amy to follow up, I got the promptest - politest - reply a) apologizing for the delay and b) indicating that she'd send a replacement the same day. That's some awesome client service - and it further inclined me (pending product quality) to purchase a potion for all my peeps this Xmas. To extend the good will, I suggested that we wait a couple more days to see if the parcel would miraculously appear. Stranger things have happened here. And, lo, 2 days later - it arrived!

Upshot: The product is potion-y goodness. Smells terrific. Feels awesome. Helps the planet. (I'm kind of making that one up, but go with it.) Perfect Xmas size, shape and function. Woohoo!

The thing I love most about it though - and this says so much about me, I realize - is that it is incanted with an actual spell to enhance my beauty as I use it!? This potion is actually a potion!!! Only on Etsy, people...

Let me urge you to purchase one of Amy's facial oils for yourself (it's a very reasonably priced indulgence that feels/smells great and it's not full of hideous chemicals) and/or consider buying these for your friends and family over the hols. No one is paying me to say this. I'm compelled by good product and good service.

Love Potion No. 5

Et finalement, I think it's fitting that we end with a high-end, tried-and-true French cosmetic that's been covering the asses faces of over-forties women for more than a decade:

YSL Touche Éclat, $50.00 CDN

They call it a concealer. I tend to use it, um, liberally. Which is why it probably isn't going to last the 6 months it's supposed to. I would totally recommend it. My mother and I both bought a tube (I'm a 1, she's a 2) and we each look refreshed and even-toned when wearing it. Note: There's a lot of good foundation out there now - I mean concealer. So you probably don't need to spend $50 bucks on this if you want a suitable product. Having said that, it's an extremely beautiful cosmetic that lives up to its claim. It's practically nanotechnology, peeps! (And it goes with your Akris resort.)

Love Potion No. 4

So, back to those beauty products I bought on the cusp of my (so far excellent) forties:

Juice Beauty Smoothing Eye Concentrate (approx. $40.00)

This is a brand I don't really know but I've been using the eye cream for a few weeks and I do enjoy it. It's not particularly scented (so as I can discern). It isn't goopy and it soaks in quickly but with some nice moisture factor. I really like it with the Clinique rollerball. To be honest, I sense that each gives the other ballast - or, at least, I'm invested in believing it!

The Juice manifesto concerns using organic ingredients and sustainable methods - two ideas I can get with, though I haven't researched the company fully enough to assure you that its claims are accurate.

I don't love the name or the packaging, and you know I'm influenced by packaging. I'll get back to you at the end of the bottle which, at this rate, is going to take 6 months to get through. So check off good value for the money.

Anyone else tried this brand?

Love Potion No. 3

Diorshow Blackout Mascara, $31.95 CDN

By all rights, potion 3 is a cosmetic. But I'm not going to let that stand in my way!

I'm one of those women who's always searching for the elusive eyelash perfector. In truth, my eyelashes are adequately long, so I am frequently told. I just like to plump them up a little. For drama.

According to the experts, when you plump you can either "thicken" or "volumize" (I know, the market-speak is iffy...) I tried to determine the difference between the two, and the best I can tell you is that volumizing is vaguely better than thickening. Don't ask me why. There was too much pseudo-science involved for me to commit it to memory. As luck would have it, Diorshow does them both.

I have a friend who insists that the best mascara is from drug stores. In her view, you get nothing more from paying $32.00 for mascara than for paying $7.95. In fact, the cheap stuff is more effective, in her opinion.

In my opinion, packaging counts. As does the fantasy encouraged by good marketing. So I'm the idiot who paid big bucks for eyelash volumizer.

But you know what? It's excellent.

No clumping (my peeve bar none), it does thicken (I mean volumize) and the colour is dramatic without making me look like a goth.

Could it be cheaper? Yes. But I just might buy it again.

Love Potion No. 2

Korres Wild Rose Brightening Serum

This one is the fave. I cannot tell you how much I love it - and how enjoyable it is to apply. In fact, naturalness be damned, I'm going to try the whole freakin' line.

The scent is beautiful (wild rose, but not pungent), the texture silky and dewy (but not greasy), the packaging lovely (and not glass) and the impact immediately noticeable. My mother tried it when she was here and she looked 5 years younger 3 minutes after one application. It makes my skin feel inexplicably plump all day?!

And it's Greek, which is fun and different. I mean, I've never used product from Greece before.

Its key ingredients are vitamin C from the roses (boring, I know) and extract of the baobab tree. Apparently it's proven to repair skin discolouration and fine lines (I'm just reading the package here). But in my anecdotal experience, it leaves the skin radiant!

The Korres Wild Rose Brightening Serum costs $53.00 CDN which is cheap at the price, in my opinion. And, if you're all into being natural (as I once was), it will fit the bill perfectly.

PS: Korres PR peeps - call me. I'll shill for you anytime. Esp. if it means free product!

Love Potion No. 1

All About Eyes Serum

I'll start my birthday potion review with this purchase because it was the non-negotiable one. I've wanted this product since I first started seeing the ads in magazines. I'm no great fan of Clinique, but I love me anything called a "serum" and the bottle is such a fun shape. Srsly - does it remind you of anything?! :-)

I checked it out a few times before committing to the $32.00 CDN price tag (yes, it is affordable), because I didn't want to be lulled simply by the gimmick.

In the end I was lulled simply by the gimmick - but I'm hardly disappointed!

The roller ball is fantastic. Icy cool to the touch and full of caffeine - who doesn't love that substance? - it will apparently de-puff, soothe and get rid of under-eye circles. It's scent-free and you can, they say, apply it over makeup (not that I've tried). I use it morning and evening after washing my face. It's one of 2 eye potions I wear daily.

Natch, using 2 new eye potions daily, and having worn another by L'Occitane daily for the past 2 years, it's impossible to tell what's doing what (if anything), but I find it totally enjoyable to apply the product.

Has anyone else tried it? If yes, what do you think?

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Sephora

On some subconscious level, it seems I've been waiting 40 years for the experience I had today. No, it wasn't life changing (unless it was). It didn't take longer than an hour. It certainly wasn't outrageous.

Today is the day I went to Sephora to buy lots of high-end product. Serious-ass "wrinkle outwitting" product. With little consideration for cost because it's my 40th birthday on Saturday and doesn't a girl have the right to buy herself a fancy gift in honour of that occasion? (Note: Of course I considered the cost; I'm a woman with a kid and a mortgage. I just set a reasonably high threshold!)

As a young child, reading my mother's Vogue, subliminally absorbing its sophisticated advertising, I stared longingly at the potions marketed to women 10 times my age. These ads glamorously advised that it was a woman's express responsibility - nay, privilege - to preserve her beauty into old age.

I grew up affluent. Many of my mother's friends, my own friend's mothers, were "groomed" within an inch of their lives. And by groomed I mean users of outrageously exclusive product (La Prairie etc.). Or clients of an excellent dermatologist. Or cosmetic surgeon.

Now, I'm getting on in years. In my day, that was the vanguard of "self-preservation". Of course, people in California have always been 20 years ahead of the curve, but everywhere else tucks and lifts and serums (sera?) were the tricks of the trade for the wealthy lady of a certain age.

We didn't have retinol or Botox or Restylane or back-scooping. Sure, we had La Mer - and secretly I tried that when I was 28, unable to restrain myself. But you need to be crepey-plus to benefit from that amount of moisture. Besides, once Lauder took over, I understand they devalued the formula with mineral oil. (Note to reader: That's gossip.)

Here I am now, about to step over the threshold into old-school "middle age", and I am officially entitled to the wrinkle-busters in their fancy glass bottles with droppers and pumps and ridiculous claims.

On entering the temple of unguents, I hooked up with a very good sales associate. She had a definite bias towards "natural" product, which usually I share, though today I was leaning towards the stuff with hard-core, medicinal ingredients. She'd suggest Fresh, I'd counter with Dr. Brant. She'd say organic, I'd suggest active ingredients with power to reduce signs of fine lines.

Eventually, she delicately inferred that she wasn't recommending those products to me because I don't need them. Of course I don't need them! I've been wearing potions for 25 years!

Those young 'uns. They are so naive.

(Please stay tuned for a write up on the products we could both agree on...)

Less is MOR

You know how I'm doing my little "no frittering" challenge, which I've extended until early June. It pertains specifically to clothing, nothing else, and I've managed to resist temptation rather impressively. Of course, it's easy to resist when everything else is theoretically on the table.

Today I had to go out to replenish my stash soap and hand cream. I'm certainly not thrifty with beauty products and potions. In fact I threw in a little new body wash.

I should mention: I'm feeling rather overwhelmed lately. I have some pretty big things launching soon at work. I have some significant responsibilities at home. I also have some goals I'm trying to achieve (on the work and life fronts) and I don't know how to find the extra energy required.

My creativity feels a little over-tapped right now, to be honest, and my posting may be a bit short or sporadic - or as active as ever. (You know how I like to fuck around with everybody's expectations.) I may not be as active a contributor on your blogs or as immediately responsive to your fabulous comments. It's not that I'm not reading - and loving your work - because surely I am. I just need to find some way to restore my equilibrium.

But back to the potions: My olfactory sense is particularly acute. I'm sure this is the origin of my 7-month vomit fest during pregnancy. I'm the kind of person who can tell what soap you use from 10 feet. I love scent - of course, except for that which I hate - particularly florals with chypre. My body chemistry metabolizes florals quickly, emphasizing musk. On some, florals are pedestrian. On me, they're sexy (go figure).

Happily, while at my potion shop, I came across this:

On first inhale, I was transported by its lush, almost overpowering bouquet. I should have picked out the ylang ylang instantly (I didn't).

It made me feel a little less stuck. A little more like I'm part of the air and the earth and the change of seasons.

I bought it and, every once in a while, I open the cap (it's a roll-on perfume oil) and smell the heady top notes.

What do you do to restore your sense of balance? How do you manage ennui?