#Perfume Layering Tips for Beginners

[friedgoopmakercowboy-blog]

Craft a Fragrance That’s Unmistakably Yours! Do mass-produced perfumes leave you feeling uninspired? It's time to transcend the ordinary and embrace the art of perfume layering—an exquisite technique that lets you curate a scent that’s as unique as your essence. Why limit yourself to a single perfume when you can orchestrate a symphony of scents? Tag a fragrance enthusiast who needs to explore this olfactory artistry and comment below with your signature blend!

[thescentlibrary]

Understanding Fragrance Families: A Beginner’s Guide 🌸

Delving into the world of perfumes can be overwhelming for beginners. Fragrance families simplify the experience by grouping scents with similar characteristics. To help you get started, here is a little guide!

🌿 The Main Fragrance Families:

1. Floral 🌷

Description: Captures the essence of blooming flowers.

Examples: Rose, jasmine, lavender.

Best For: Romantic evenings and casual outings.

2. Fresh 🌊

Description: Crisp, clean scents reminiscent of nature.

Examples: Citrus, green, aquatic.

Best For: Summery days and energizing vibes.

3. Oriental 🌟

Description: Warm, exotic, and sensual fragrances.

Examples: Amber, vanilla, spices.

Best For: Evening events and special occasions.

4. Woody 🌲

Description: Earthy, deep, and grounding scents.

Examples: Sandalwood, cedarwood, vetiver.

Best For: Office wear and cozy winter days.

🕵️‍♀️ Tips for Choosing a Fragrance:

Test Wisely: Try on your skin; scents evolve over time.

Consider Personality: Match with your mood and vibe.

Seasonal Scents: Light for summer; warm for winter.

🤔 Did You Know?

Many perfumes are a blend of these families, creating unique, layered scents.

🌟 Takeaway: Understanding fragrance families makes exploring perfumes easier and more enjoyable. Experiment with each to find your signature scent!

[sneakers-and-shakes]

Beginner’s Guide to Scrapbooking

If you’ve always wanted to scrapbook but aren't sure how to start or feel intimidated or overwhelmed by the aesthetic scrapbooks you see online, this blog post will walk you through how to get started with minimal cost or investment.

There are a few ways to scrapbook depending on your motivation for starting. Is this something you want to do as a way to hold memories? Or just aesthetics? Or maybe a bit of both?

I think the easiest way to start is if you focus on scrapbooking memories since you will already have a lot of the materials you will need without needing to buy extra things like stickers or washi tape that fit a certain aesthetic.

1: Junk Journaling

Junk journaling is a pretty popular replacement for journaling but also a great foray into scrapbooking. 

The concept is simple: keep old receipts, ticket stubs, tags from clothes, or any other pieces of paper from the activities you do and tape them into an old journal.

In junk journaling the goal is just to stick everything in the journal as a way to memorialize the experiences.

If you’re trying to scrapbook though, you should try to be more intentional with the placement and aesthetics. Choose a handful of the most visually interesting tags, receipts or stubs and try to arrange them more artfully.

You can even try to make it more aesthetic by going in and coloring blank spaces with colored pencils as a replacement for colored paper, and drawing doodles as a replacement for stickers. 

Since most of the space will be filled with receipts and stubs, there will still be a 3D element to your scrapbook even if you’re coloring and drawing to fill up space.

This is also a great place to put any pictures or polaroids if you have any printed out.

By using what you already have, this method is a great way to get started with little effort while creating an end product that is like a trip down memory lane.

(I prefer to do this type of scrapbooking once a month as a recap of the month.)

2: It’s called a “scrap” book

Pretty stationary can be pretty expensive but there are a lot of ways to find “scraps” all around that you might not think of.

-Magazines/Ads: that come through the mail (junk mail) will sometimes have colored or fun paper. (A lot of American Express ads I get come in shiny envelopes that I like to keep for scrapbooking.) Magazines, of course, will have images you can cut out as well. 

-Cardboard boxes: (Cereal, Makeup, Perfume) A lot of products come in pretty cardboard containers that usually have some sections of color without any text. Perfume and makeup containers especially will usually have minimalist designs and a lot of nice colored light cardboard on the sides that can be used to fill up a background.

-Colored pencils/markers: I said this one already, but a great substitute for not having colored paper is coloring stuff in or adding small doodles. Even small hearts or stars can add a lot to a page even if you aren’t a great artist.

-Stickers: You can make your own stickers with tape but if you’d rather just buy some, the Dollar Store and Five Below usually have some cute stickers without the expensive price tag. Also you can use colored post-it notes as replacements for stickers!

3. Technique:

There’s no “right” way to scrapbook. Just put things in whatever way makes sense and sparks joy.

That said I’ll lay out some tips here for those who aren’t sure what does spark joy yet:

-It’s better to have a smaller notebook if you don’t have as many materials because it’s easier to fill up the space.

-Generally the goal is to layer with scrapbooking rather than spreading things out. Overlap your scraps of paper with other parts to give it that scrapbook feel.

-I recommend having double sided tape, though it’s not necessary. Using masking tape to tape things on is a replacement for washi tape and you can even add doodles with markers on top of the masking tape if you want to spice it up a bit. (Make sure to use permanent markers so it doesn’t bleed.) 

-It may help to have a theme so you can pick out what scraps to use. If you’re doing personal mementos like the junk journaling method, you can limit your page to a single month to narrow things down. 

-If you’re more focused on aesthetics rather than your personal life then choosing a song or an album can be a great way to create a more structured theme to your page.

    -.- 

And with all those tips I send you off and hope that they help in your scrapbooking journey! Please share your thoughts in the comments and let me know how your pages turn out!

I've added some example pictures below of how I scrapbooked the month of June!

[tanvimehra]

From AM to PM: A Beginner’s Guide to Scent Layering

Discover the art of scent layering and unlock the secret to making your perfume last all day long. This guide takes you through simple yet effective steps from moisturizing your skin and choosing matching body washes to applying light body oils and targeting key pulse points. You’ll also learn handy tips like refreshing your scent with solid perfumes and experimenting with scent pairings to craft a unique fragrance that’s truly your own. Featuring Decoy Luxury’s affordable and versatile collection, this blog empowers you to elevate your fragrance routine effortlessly, ensuring you smell fresh and fabulous from morning until night. Perfect for anyone looking to maximize their perfume’s impact without breaking the bank.

Read more...

[getyoungersblog]

Candle Making 4 You by Danica White: From Hobbyist to Candle-Making Pro in No Time!

Candles are more than just objects that light up a room; they evoke emotion, set the mood, and transform spaces into havens of peace and comfort. But have you ever wished you could craft candles that look stunning, smell heavenly, and rival those overpriced ones in fancy stores? What if I told you that candle-making could be your ticket to a creative, rewarding hobby or even a thriving business? Enter Candle Making 4 You™ by Danica White, a system designed to turn candle-making enthusiasts into master candle crafters. Whether you dream of making unique candles for yourself or launching a profitable venture, this program has the tools to light your path to success.

See More about "Candle Making 4 You" Here!

What is Candle Making 4 You?

Candle Making 4 You™ is a comprehensive, step-by-step guide that teaches you everything you need to know about creating exquisite candles. From the basics of candle-making to advanced techniques, this system leaves no stone unturned. It caters to absolute beginners and experienced crafters alike, walking you through the process of making tealights, layered candles, therapeutic candles, and even custom molds.

This isn’t just about learning how to make candles; it’s about mastering the art and science behind it. You’ll learn secrets the pros swear by, like blending scents that fill rooms with mesmerizing aromas, crafting spa-quality massage candles, and even designing candles tailored for special occasions. And for those looking to turn their passion into profit, the program includes business insights that can transform your hobby into a lucrative enterprise.

Click Here to Download PDF "Candle Making 4 You" eBook by Danica White!

About the Author

Danica White isn’t just a candle-making enthusiast—she’s a master of her craft. Her journey began as a hobbyist with a deep love for beautiful, scented candles. However, her determination to excel led her to years of learning, experimenting, and perfecting her techniques. She’s not just sharing her passion; she’s opening up her treasure trove of knowledge to guide others in their candle-making journeys. With Candle Making 4 You™, Danica distills her expertise into a program that’s accessible, fun, and incredibly rewarding.

Who is Candle Making 4 You For?

This program is for anyone captivated by the idea of creating candles, whether for personal enjoyment or as a business venture.

Beginners: If you’ve never touched wax or a wick before, fear not—this guide will walk you through every step.

Hobbyists: For those who already dabble in candle-making, this system will elevate your skills to professional levels.

Aspiring Entrepreneurs: If you dream of running a successful candle-making business, Candle Making 4 You™ provides the strategies, tips, and insider knowledge to get you started.

Benefits of Candle Making 4 You

This system is packed with benefits that make it stand out:

Creativity Unleashed: Learn how to design unique candles, from scented masterpieces to artistic creations in custom molds.

Cost-Effective: Discover how to source supplies affordably and even recycle wax for additional savings.

Therapeutic Value: Craft therapeutic candles using essential oils and aromatherapy techniques.

Business Guidance: Detailed insights on pricing, packaging, marketing, and scaling a candle-making business.

Bonus Resources: Gain access to bonus guides on selling on eBay, crafting incense, and even making soap and perfume.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

Comprehensive and beginner-friendly.

Covers a wide variety of candle types and techniques.

Includes business strategies for selling candles.

Bonus materials that add immense value.

Backed by a 60-day money-back guarantee.

Cons:

Only provides digital products.

Not opening offline stores, only available on the official website.

Pricing and Money-Back Guarantee

At just $37, Candle Making 4 You™ is an absolute steal. The value packed into this program far exceeds the price tag. Plus, with a 60-day, 100% money-back guarantee, you can explore the system risk-free. This guarantee shows Danica’s confidence in her product—and gives you peace of mind as you embark on your candle-making journey.

Conclusion

Candle Making 4 You™ isn’t just a guide—it’s an invitation to transform your creativity into tangible, beautiful works of art. Whether you’re crafting for fun, for family, or for profit, this program offers everything you need to succeed. Imagine gifting your loved ones candles you’ve made yourself or turning your passion into a business that fills homes with warmth and light.

The world of candle-making is waiting for you, and with Danica White’s guidance, the possibilities are endless. Take the leap, light your creativity, and let Candle Making 4 You™ illuminate your path to success.

Click Here to Download eBook "Candle Making 4 You" PDF by Danica White!

[bingehobby]

Creating Your Signature Scent: Homemade Perfume Recipes and Tips

There's something deeply personal and alluring about finding or creating your own signature scent. While commercial perfumes offer a wide range of options, there's nothing quite like crafting a fragrance that is uniquely yours. In this article, we'll explore the art of creating homemade perfumes, from understanding fragrance notes to experimenting with different ingredients and techniques. Whether you're a perfume enthusiast or a curious beginner, join us on a journey to discover the secrets of crafting your own signature scent.

Understanding Fragrance Notes: Before diving into perfume making, it's essential to understand the concept of fragrance notes. Perfumes are typically composed of three layers of scent, known as top notes, middle notes (or heart notes), and base notes. Top notes are the initial impression of a perfume, fading quickly after application. Middle notes emerge once the top notes have evaporated, providing the main body of the fragrance. Base notes are the final lingering scent, anchoring the perfume and giving it depth and longevity. By understanding the characteristics of different fragrance notes, you can create a balanced and harmonious perfume blend.

Choosing Ingredients: When it comes to making homemade perfumes, there's no shortage of ingredients to choose from. Essential oils are a popular choice for creating natural perfumes, offering a wide range of scents derived from plants, flowers, fruits, and spices. Some common essential oils used in perfumery include lavender, rose, jasmine, sandalwood, vanilla, and citrus oils like bergamot and lemon. Carrier oils such as jojoba oil, almond oil, and fractionated coconut oil are often used as a base to dilute and carry the essential oils, while providing moisturizing benefits for the skin.

Experimenting with Blending: The key to creating your signature scent lies in experimentation and blending different fragrance notes to achieve the desired aroma. Start by selecting a few essential oils that resonate with you or evoke a particular mood or memory. Experiment with different combinations of top, middle, and base notes, keeping in mind the principles of balance and harmony. Use a dropper or pipette to add precise amounts of each essential oil to a small glass bottle or perfume atomizer, and keep track of your recipes for future reference.

Tips for Perfume Making:

Start with small quantities: Perfume making is a delicate art, and it's easy to overpower your blend with too much fragrance. Start with small quantities of essential oils and carrier oils, and adjust the ratios as needed to achieve the desired strength and aroma.

Let your perfume mature: Perfumes often improve with age as the fragrance notes blend and mellow over time. Allow your homemade perfume to mature for at least a few days or weeks before evaluating the final scent.

Consider the season and occasion: The scent of a perfume can be influenced by factors such as temperature, humidity, and the time of day. Experiment with different blends for different seasons and occasions, tailoring your perfume to suit the mood and atmosphere.

Homemade Perfume Recipes:

Floral Delight: Combine equal parts of rose, jasmine, and ylang-ylang essential oils with a base of jojoba oil for a romantic and feminine fragrance.

Citrus Sunshine: Mix bergamot, lemon, and grapefruit essential oils with a touch of vanilla for a refreshing and uplifting scent reminiscent of a sunny day.

Woodsy Elegance: Blend sandalwood, cedarwood, and patchouli essential oils with a hint of lavender for a sophisticated and earthy fragrance with a touch of sweetness.

Conclusion: Creating a natural scent is a rewarding and creative hobby that allows you to express your personality and individuality through fragrance. Whether you prefer floral, citrus, or woody aromas, experimenting with homemade perfume recipes can be a fun and fulfilling endeavor. With a little knowledge, creativity, and experimentation, you can craft a perfume that is uniquely yours and evokes memories, emotions, and sensations like no other. So gather your ingredients, unleash your imagination, and embark on a journey to discover the magic of homemade perfumery.

[tipsycad147]

Going to a faery festival? Costume tips and ideas

by Michelle Gruben

One of the best parts of attending any festival is putting together a killer outfit. Faeries especially love fashion, frivolity, and the art of disguise. But budget, weather, and travel concerns can have any faery feeling less than magickal. Costuming for outdoor festivals is challenging, but it’s worth it when you get to run around with other faeries in a beautiful natural setting.

Are you going to Faerieworlds? Glastonbury? Or another faery festival or Renaissance faire? Here’s some ideas to help plan the faery costume of your dreams.

Inspiration

Maybe you already know what kind of Fae you want to portray. A fairytale godmother with a giant updo and a poufy skirt? A lusty satyr with body paint and a loincloth? If you’ve already got the character idea in your head, start by drawing out a few quick sketches. (Don’t worry—you don’t have to show them to anyone.) Drafting out a plan will help you figure out what costume pieces you need to obtain. There’s no need to be too practical at this stage—let out your wildest ideas out on the page.

If you’re stumped, try looking at books, movies, and past festival photos for inspiration. Keep a folder of your favorite accessories and ideas. Borrowing like crazy is totally encouraged: Victorian, Gothic, Steampunk, Disney, Renaissance, Medieval, Lolita, D&D/LARP, Hippie, Psychedelic, Rave, Circus, Gypsy, Ballet, Carnivale, Tolkien and Tribal fashions have all had a notable influence on the garb that appears at Faery festivals. Look up any of these styles to uncover a wealth of inspiration--then combine at will!

Budget

In a perfect world, we faeries could just close our eyes, wiggle our nose, and (poof!) be transformed into a fantasy fashion plate. But we live in the (sigh) real world where money exists (and costumes cost a pile of it. A ready-made getup from a costume shop or clothier runs several hundred dollars or more, plus accessories. You gotta stay within your budget if you want to have any money left over for your ticket to the ball.

Fortunately, it is possible to put together a worthy costume without spending all the gold in Middle Earth. Faeries can be a scrappy lot, and nothing in the faery wardrobe need be shiny and new. What you do need is time. If you’re going to be scrounging, adapting, and making most of your costume, start early (like, several weeks before). Plus-size and teeny-tiny faeries may need even more time than that to find clothing in their size.

Thift stores and even your own closet can yield great base garments for your faery costume. Gypsy skirts, vests, sundresses, tunics and tights can all be easily modified or embellished. (Big tacky prom dresses are a great source for yards and yards of tulle!) Craft stores have fake flowers, ribbons, and feathers galore. Fabric scraps can be become appliques, junk jewelry can be taken apart and turned into faery bling.

It helps a lot if you can sew. If you can’t, take a class or have someone show you the basics. Faery sewing doesn’t have to be perfect—the messier, the better, really! But it sucks to have something fall apart the first time you wear it.

If you go the DIY route, be realistic. Some costume pieces take a lot of skill and are worth every penny. A circle skirt is relatively easy for a beginner to sew—a corset, not so much. It might be worth it to splurge on a purchase that will save you a giant headache. Plan ahead and build it into your figures—shopping at the last minute is a sure way to blow your budget.

Big multi-day festivals like Faerieworlds give you the opportunity to create multiple costumes and wear a different one each day. There are also various themed events (like Good Faeries/Bad Faeries). Obviously, this can get really expensive and cumbersome for travelers. A new hairpiece, overskirt, or bodice can freshen up yesterday’s costume (or last year’s) if a whole new outfit isn’t in the cards.

Transportation and Packing

While admiring your new 36” wings in the closet mirror, you realize that you have to get them to the festival. Oh crap. Make sure there’s enough room in your vehicle or luggage to bring the costume(s) you’re planning to wear.

Fabrics like rayon, silk, and cotton voile are wonderful for traveling faeries because they’re lightweight, compact, and wrinkle-resistant. With any luck, you can just shake them out upon arrival and be ready to go. But other accessories aren’t so forgiving. Pack flower wreaths and headdresses in boxes (if you can) to prevent crushing. Small wings can be folded and packed between two layers of stiff cardboard. A mesh cover is great for keeping wigs in line. One more tried-and-true faery travel rule: Anything with glitter gets its own bag.

Lost luggage is pretty rare on commercial flights, but of course that knowledge won’t help you when the airline loses the suitcase with your Swarovski-encrusted bodice. Valuable or irreplaceable costumes should be carried with you at all times.

Being Prepared

Outdoor festivals come with a special challenge for costumers: The weather. Over the years, Oregon’s Faerieworlds has been held in weekend-long rain, scorching sun, and plenty of fair-weather days.

You can’t exactly have a different costume for each weather possibility. But you can plan to dress in layers and still look the part. Toasty leggings and an elf cape are good things to have if the weather turns chill. A stylish parasol is handy if you’re not a dancing-in-the-rain type faery.

In addition to rain and wind, your costume will probably come into contact with the following: Sweat, perfume, sunscreen body paint, copious glitter, mud, sticky children, intoxicated adults, UV light, animals. Oh well. Your costume will definitely be tested for durability by the festival. So will your feet!

Live music and dance performances are a big part of many faery festivals, so don’t let your costume be a buzzkill. Accessories like stilts, oversized wings and headresses may block the view of the stage and keep you from dancing. Have a plan for ditching them so you can join the crowd, if you wish.

In case of an emergency, you should have a set of human clothes, too. (I know! Boo!) You can leave ‘em in your duffel bag until it’s time to go home.

Last-Minute Faeries

Okay, so not everyone is able to spend months planning a festival costume. If you’re down to the wire, but you still want to look faery-fabulous, there are options. Lots of stores have off-the-rack clothing that fits the general vibe: Sundresses, bohemian-style skirts, blouses, tunics and leggings. Top it off with a festive wreath or garland and you’ll be fit for the faire.

If you’re still feeling drab and human, try another accessory. A bright hair color, horns, mask or face paint can help transform you into a Fae creature. These things can almost always be found within the festival gates. In fact, if you’re truly strapped for time, you could do all your costume shopping at the festival—the vendors will thank you for it!

Have fun at the festival, and don't forget to take pictures!

https://www.groveandgrotto.com/blogs/articles/going-to-a-faery-festival-costume-tips-and-ideas

[dumontperfumesbest]

How to layer perfume you already own

A good scent is capable to feature a final touch to your daily routine. However, there are various reasons why people wear perfume. Some people like to wear perfume because it boosts their self-esteem once they meet their loved ones and develop a way of interest through the pleasant aroma. While others like to carry a perfume because it promotes their individuality and sets them aside from the people around them. Dumont perfumes come up with a wide range of scents that provide you a selected reason why you wear the actual fragrance.

 Wearing the same perfume seems quite boring. That is why in-season buying a new cent can feel more fun. But without spending much on a new perfume here we have come up with an easy solution to layer the perfume you already own and save your time, energy, and money. Layering perfume is quite an intimidating task as it requires mind-boggling and combinations of various fragrances. In this article please share a few tips to share your perfume correctly that suits your mood and personality.

Focus on simple scents

For beginners, it is advisable to play with less complicated perfumes as they are easier to blend. For this purpose you should look for somea minimalist and subtle fragrance that likely to have only one to two notes in their titles like freesia, rose or vanilla at the blend so easily and give you a nice fragrance after blending.

[abutterflyscribbles]

Tiny People in Jars AU: Part 10

shoutout to @dainesanddaffodils @deluxetrashqueen @lunalocura for proofing this chapter!

(if you read, if you enjoy, plz reblog and comment!)

Part One/Two/Three/Four/Five/Six/Seven/Eight/Nine/Ao3

“I feel like something Brian Froud would draw.”

Marianne strained her neck, trying to watch Dawn fasten the back of a shirt around the base of the limp purple wings that had so recently taken up residence on Marianne's shoulder blades.

As promised, Griselda and Dawn had gotten some clothing together for Marianne. It was a relief to exchange her ragged jeans and compromised shirt for something clean and whole. Even if the new garments appeared to be made out of leaves.

There must have been some sort of magic involved that kept the leaves fresh and allowed them to be stitched and tailored like cloth. Marianne put on a pair of dark purple leggings that stretched just like knit fabric even though they gave off the faint perfume of flowers. The green tunic sort of thing was something like a belted leaf poncho that hung down to her knees and had some tricky fastenings in the back to allow for wings.

Dawn was doing up the fastenings and was not talking. Very loudly not talking. Which would have been easy enough to ignore if Dawn's silence radiated any amount of anger. But, no, it was a sad silence. The careful silence of someone afraid of offending with a badly placed word. Someone trying very hard to be tactful.

It made Marianne feel guilty and that in turn made her angry. As far as bad days went Marianne's surpassed anyone else's by far. She shouldn't be expected to have the emotional energy to deal with anyone else's woes. Unpleasant truths were clawing at the comfortable veil that had been drawn over her life, ripping apart everything Marianne had thought were rock solid. This left her with no time or inclination to humor the wistful hopes of a teenager.

Then again, a king dealing with a kingdom in chaos wouldn't have been expected to spare the time to offer comfort to a supposed fairy changeling that had stuffed him into a jar earlier on in the day. Bog really was just too awkwardly sweet for his own good. Marianne felt obliged to pass on a little of the niceness she had received and restore cosmic balance.

Mood somewhat lifted by a change of clothing, even if her wings were still trying to drag down her shoulders and her mood, Marianne made an attempt to cheer the princess up.

“Look, kid,” Marianne said, feeling new muscles pulling in her back when she strained to look over her shoulder at Dawn, “I'm not . . . I'm not mad at you or anything, okay?”

“Okay,” Dawn said flatly, finishing with the fastenings and stepping away.

Marianne fumbled for something kind to say that wouldn't bring up the lost princess business. She was sure if she had to hear one more word about that she'd scream. Dawn would look up at her with those big blue eyes full of hope and Marianne would feel like a monster for crushing that hope. Even so, the expectations prickled her temper and she would end up being horrible to the kid again.

“I'm . . . I'm sure Sunny is going to be fine,” Marianne offered, “I mean, he'll get the potion and it will all be . . . fine.”

“Sure,” Dawn agreed, still lacking her characteristic sparkle.

“And—and your dad will be impressed by how you've been handling this whole thing. I mean, getting the goblins to cooperate with you, that's a pretty big deal, right?”

“Yeah. Impressed. Sure.”

“Uh,” Marianne said, trying to provoke the conversation into continuing so that the strains of lovesick singing would remained masked, “Um.

Marianne pulled at the edge of the leaf tunic. It acted almost exactly like fabric. When she pinched it there was no bruising or stickiness of a crushed leaf, just the faint smell, like trees warming under the summer sun. Built-in perfume. Nice.

“I'm sorry if I was kind of abrupt,” Marianne tried again, “It's been a very long, very weird day and I'm six different kinds of scrambled.”

“It's fine.”

The stonewalling tactic had been used on Marianne before and she had an array of methods to deal with it, but most of them involved tackling the taciturn individual and either tickling them or putting them in a headlock until they begged for release and agreed to talk.

These methods had not been devised with a wilting fairy princess in mind.

“Uh, Bog invited me to stay here.”

“Oh?” a spark of life returned to Dawn's face, a gleam of interest in her eyes.

“Yeah, to learn glamour after this love potion is cleaned up. I mean, I would kind of have to stay anyway, really, to learn how to get right-sized again, but it's nice to have a clear invite. Maybe this heap isn't a four star hotel, but maybe it looks better when the sun is up.”

“You're going to stay?”

“Yeah, maybe. Yes. I'll be around for at least a few--”

Dawn sent Marianne staggering with a hug. They both would have tipped over except Dawn spread her wings and hovered with her feet kicked up off the floor.

“--days,” Marianne finished, trying to speak around the shoulder that was crammed into her throat.

“I can show you the fields!” Dawn shoved Marianne to arm's length, “and Sunny's village! You could come to the festival! It was supposed to be tonight, but I bet it was canceled because of everything and--”

“Dawn, I'm going to be staying here. In the forest. If I stay at all.”

“Oh, I know, but you can still socialize! You'll be Boggy's guest, not his prisoner. He likes you.”

“He doesn't like anyone,” Marianne rolled her eyes. Her face felt warm and she really wasn't sure why. It was probably the smirk on Dawn's face, “Especially not people who stick him in badly washed mayo jars.”

“Oh,” Marianne,” Dawn fluttered to the side as she flicked her hands to dismiss the idea, “You do that to everyone. It's just your way, we understand.”

Marianne sputtered out a laugh. “I went my whole life without collecting tiny people in jars, and then in one day I get three. Beginner's luck.”

“Think of how good you'd be if you practiced.”

“I'm trying not to make a habit out of it. With the exception of Roland. I'd like to get him in a pickled onion jar and lob it into a landfill.”

“I only understand half of what you're saying,” Dawn remarked, giggling as she floated around, fussing with Marianne's tangled hair, “but it sounds funny.”

“I'm a riot.”

“Now, don't you look just lovely?” Griselda pattered back into the room, a length of something bundled in her arms, “You could still use a comb, though, mushroom.”

“I've sort of given up on that,” Marianne blew a stray lock of hair out of her eyes after she shooed Dawn's hands away, “It doesn't seem to be worth the effort.”

“Your message to your dad was sent off, dear,” Griselda told Dawn, “And it looks like all the love-dusted folks have been gathered up. Patrols are still out but they haven't reported any new cases of love-sickness in awhile.”

“That probably means somebody got the potion away from the imp,” Dawn tapped her fingers together, “the question is: who?”

“And how's the antidote coming along?” Marianne added.

“Plum does things in her own time,” Griselda's wide face dipped into a frown, “Ridiculous little airheaded twinkling maniac and her useless potions. Oh, of course it works now when it'll cause a mess, but . . . hm. Never mind. She's working on it. There was a little bit of a delay because my boy had her make this.”

Griselda shook out the bundle she had been carrying. It was some sort of blanket or cloak made up of layers of flower petals. Dark purple petals overlapping like scales, rimmed with a slightly darker shade of purple.

“Hellebore petals,” Griselda said, “Had some stowed away. Anyway, my boy had Plum make a wrinkle for you. I had to haggle with her for an age. I said you'd give an IOU for it, sunshine, seeing as it's fairy business in its way. Couldn't get her to name a price that we here could pay.”

Griselda address the last note to Dawn who nodded, “That's fine. She probably wants to make sure she has a protector and patron once she's free. Dad will be happy to oblige. Boggy is so thoughtful!”

“A wrinkle?” Marianne asked, feeling uneasy that a favor done for her was going to be paid for by the fairy king. It felt like Griselda and Dawn were working on the assumption that Marianne really was the lost princess and they were humoring her declarations to the contrary. She would rather have been in debt to Bog and Griselda, if she couldn't be responsible for it herself.

Marianne looked at the offered assemblage of petals that was offered to her, reluctant to accept it, “What is it?”

“A wrinkle, dear. A wrinkle? You know, a wrinkle in the veil? Oh, just try it on, sweetheart.”

The “wrinkle” was like a sort of sleeveless shift that was open down the front. It was waistless and fell straight down to Marianne's knees, no openings in the back for the wings, so it just laid over them. It was nice enough, she supposed, but she couldn't figure out why it was apparently so special. Which was a relief, since that meant she could decline the gift and the debt to the fairy king.

“What's it supposed to do?” She turned in place to see the movement of the garment, “prevent wrinkled clothing or cause it?”

Marianne stopped in the middle of her second rotation, the hem of the wrinkle flapping around her legs. Something had changed, something . . . She spun around, trying to see her own back. She reached behind herself and felt shoulder blades, ordinary shoulder blades and nothing else, poking through the back of the wrinkle.

“Oh, that doesn't look right,” Dawn shuddered, her face tinged with green.

“They're gone!” Marianne spun around again, enjoying her reclaimed balance, “The wings are gone! I can move again!”

“You look all wrong.”

“Are you kidding?” Marianne bounced up and down on her heels, “I could do cartwheels. Move over, I'm going to do cartwheels.”

“Don't you dare!” Dawn grabbed her shoulders, “The room is too small!”

“Handstands, then. Something!” Marianne rolled her shoulders, “How don't I have wings?”

“Take off the wrinkle, dear,” Griselda said, flapping her hands to hurry Marianne up.

Marianne did, and the weight settled back on her shoulders, the wings returned.

“Wrinkles are tricky things, changing just a little part of you to be what it isn't in a world where it is. Probably no one could do one except Plum, My boy thought this might help since you were having so much trouble getting around.”

“I'll thank him when I see him,” Marianne put the wrinkle back on and did another twirl, “I will show my gratitude by respecting his personal space and not hugging him.”

Griselda snorted on her way out of the room, “My boy doesn't know what's good for him.”

“Boggy is so sweet,” Dawn said with some of her usual sparkle, though she was still trying not to look at Marianne's wingless back, “I don't understand why we've been so scared of starting up talks with him. Marianne, stand still!”

“I'm going to do cartwheels!”

“You cannot do cartwheels!”

“You sound just like my brothers. 'Marianne, you can't do cartwheels'. 'Marianne, you'll break something'. 'Marianne, this is the third time you've broken that arm'.”

“Third?” Dawn asked, eyes wide, “How many times . . .?”

“My family invested in rubber stamps so they wouldn't have to sign their names by hand every time I was in a cast. In my defense, it didn't look that far from the roof to the ground.”

Marianne ceased her spinning and dropped herself into a chair. She could sit in a chair again, just like a real person who hadn't been dealing with an otherworldly incursion in their kitchen. She was just Marianne  Gallagher who had more stitches than sweethearts to her name.

Except she wasn't.

“I was trying to fly,” Marianne said, remembering how she teetered on the edge of the porch roof, looking down at the smooth carpet of lawn. There had been an expectation in her tiny, baby brain that she would fly. Or that someone would catch her.

Someone with blue eyes.

Blue eyes always made her sad, a little wistful. Bog's eyes reminded her of that, but they were different from the memory that slipped out of her hands. It was like chasing a gauzy scarf in the wind. It shimmered in the air, rippling out of reach. Dawn's eyes . . . they were almost familiar.

“Dawn . . .” Marianne slouched down in the chair until she was almost sliding off of it.

“Sit up straight,” Dawn tapped Marianne's knees as she walked by.

“What, you afraid I'll wrinkle my wrinkle?”

Dawn giggled, swatting Marianne's knees as punishment for the joke, “Does everyone talk like you? Where you've been—where you come from?”

“There's a whole range,” Marianne gestured in an arc, “I fall on the mouthy end of things. My brothers, less so. It's my coping mechanism in times of extreme upheaval and weirdness.”

“It sounds like . . . like you have a lot of fun with your family.”

“Yeah. We did. Do.”

Teetering on the edge of the roof, teetering between two realities, watching a scarf dance in the wind. How long could she teeter before she fell one way or the other?

Marianne pushed herself up in her chair, her new outfit rumpled around her and the wrinkle wrinkled up beneath her. Distracting herself with the details of getting comfortable, letting the fresh smell of the leaf tunic and flower petal cloak surround her in a comfortable, outdoorsy perfume, Marianne asked the question like she would have dropped a pebble into a dark hole to judge by its rattling descent how deep the darkness went.

“What happened to your sister?”

Dawn looked sad over Marianne's phrasing of the question, and still somewhat queasy over Marianne's missing wings. She sat down, her wings falling effortlessly into place as she did.

“We were kidnapped,” Dawn said, starting the story off with a bang, “some of dad's political rivals took us to use as leverage. Well, actually, it was a cousin, a third or fourth cousin a few times removed. He wanted to be king and he was going to use me and you—me and my sister to make dad step down.”

“Intense,” Marianne remarked.

“I guess,” Dawn shrugged a shoulder, “I can't remember, I wasn't even a year old. Mar—my sister was just five. He had us taken and hidden, but his plan fell apart pretty quickly. All the people he was counting on as allies didn't really want to help him be king. He thought they would all rally around him.”

“Failed a perception check.”

“What?”

“Nothing. So, dear old cousin Back-stabber--”

“Luke, actually.”

“--decided that he wanted more than the simple life of moisture farming on Tatooine and decided to try his hand running the empire. Sorry, never mind, ignore me, keep talking.”

Marianne knew she was being unnecessarily snarky and wished she would stop. It was her way of controlling the situation, as was her habit. Sarcasm and quick jibes kept everyone else on their toes and too busy to press on with an attack against her. It was a tactic she had had much success with, most of the time. It was less effective when no one got your pop culture references.

“Then he tried bargaining to get off without being charged. Mom and dad wouldn't negotiate and sent everybody out to look for us.”

“They obviously got you back. What happened to your sister?”

“It was all kind of confused. We'd been kept at two different places and the people guarding us were under orders to do whatever they had to to keep use from being found. I was being kept near one of the elf villages, actually. The elves found the hiding place and sneaked me out. When the soldiers caught up they found me safe and sound, playing with Sunny.”

“Aw, you were baby best friends.”

“I cried when the soldiers tried to take me away. Mom had to come get me herself.”

“Awww.”

“That's part of why dad has always put up with me going down to the village. Not that he's ever going to let me again, not even with ten times the usual number of guards.”

“Wow him with your super diplomat princess skills. If you make a triumphant return, leading the goblin king by the hand, your dad might reconsider some views.”

“Not likely. He's going to chain me to a chair and chain the chair to the floor so that I can't scoot anywhere. And he'll never let me see Sunny again, not ever. Not that I want to ever see Sunny again.”

“Of course not.”

“But dad doesn't get to make that choice for me.”

“Absolutely not. So . . . while you were happily burbling over a borrowed rattle, what happened to your sister?”

It wasn't clear to Marianne what she was hoping to learn from this story. Maybe some detail she could point at and say, “aha! That proves it! It couldn't have possibly been me!”. Maybe find out that the princess had a distinctive birthmark that Marianne didn't. That was the usual method in these sort of melodramas. And Marianne could quite safely claim she had no birthmarks, distinguishing or otherwise. A sizable collection of scars, but none whose origins had not been documented.

Purple wings were all that Dawn had to go on, and Marianne refused to be convinced on such flimsy evidence. There had to be something that would explain everything. Something in the story that would prove . . . well, she was starting to feel a little beyond believing that she could prove she was purely human. But maybe there was something that would just . . . let her be her. That if she was a changeling, she was an anonymous orphan without family or ties that would pull her away from the world she wanted to belong to.

“They found where she was being kept, too,” Dawn continued, “Or they were pretty sure. They surrounded the hiding place—it was on the edge of the Dark Forest in the hollow at the base of a tree—and moved in to take Luke's accomplice by surprise.”

“How do you know all this? Seems like your dad wouldn't want your gentle ears dirtied with such sordid details.”

“Sunny's mom told me when I was older. Nobody at court would dare breathe a word about it around me. Lottie thought I should know and when I asked about it she told me everything.”

“Sunny's mom?” Marianne laughed at a sudden thought, “She's going to kill him for all this, isn't she? If she's anything like my mom, she will.”

“Oh, goodness, she will! I kind of hope I'm there . . .”

“Share the front row seats with me. I'll bring popcorn.”

“Why popcorn?”

“Wait, you know what popcorn is?”

“Why wouldn't I know what popcorn is?”

Marianne imagined a fairy eating an individual kernel of popcorn and wondered how they popped corn without getting concussed.

“Anyway, Sunny's mom told you everything?”

“The important things. She didn't give me many details, except that mom tripped over a guard in the dark when they were creeping up the tree. She smashed him behind the ear,” Dawn made a punching motion, “dented his helmet.”

“You're making that up.”

“Busted up her hand, but luckily she was ambidextrous.”

“I'm not left-handed,” Marianne muttered.

“So she could still hold a sword and lead the charge against Luke's men.”

“You are making this up.”

“Mom won, of course. There weren't enough guards to do more than slow her men down  for a few minutes . . . but it was long enough. One of Luke's people ran away and it was dark, but they thought he might have been carrying my sister, but . . .”

“He got away?”

Dawn wrapped her arms around herself and looked down at her knees. She spoke in a lower voice, hushed and serious, “He got snatched by an owl.”

“Oh. Oh.”

Marianne's earlier concerns about owls and other flying creatures of the night were justified and the confirmation sent a shiver down her spine. The shiver even felt like it traveled into the wings, outlining them for a passing moment. A fairy caught in the talons of an owl . . . wings tangled, maybe ripped, a baby in their arms . . .

“Yeah,” Dawn nodded, “Everyone kind of got scattered and they couldn't find the owl's nest afterwards.”

“But . . . why did you guys think she could be alive? Even if she wasn't eaten by the owl she could have fallen and been snatched up by something else.”

“Nobody knew for sure!” Dawn said hotly, “Nobody had actually seen Marianne! They found four more hiding places afterwards and decoy guards all over the place!”

“Okay, okay!” Marianne said, feeling bad that she had upset Dawn again, “So there's a chance she made it. Where did she end up, then?”

Dawn gave Marianne a flat stare.

“Oh. Duh. Right. Changeling.”

“Uh huh.”

“Give me a break, it's been--”

“A long day.”

“Shut up. It's true no matter how many times I say it. Why would they stash your sister with humans? And if her, why not you too?”

“I hadn't thought of that . . .” Dawn drooped a little, “That does stick out.”

A touch of excitement made Marianne's heart skip a beat. The scarf was in the wind, her fingers nearly on it, she was on the verge of finding out something that would put the world back to rights. The changeling princess theory was about to fall apart.

“But then why do you look so much like mom?” Dawn stood up and threw her hands out in a plea for answers, “Your wings? Your—your attitude? Everything I remember, everything people tell me, mom was strong, she was funny, and she was really kind! You're all those things too! You're a changeling! Nothing else makes sense!”

“None of this makes sense!” Marianne shot back, standing up too.

“It does so! It's got to! You've got to come back! You've got to come back and it'll all be okay! We'll have you back! The kingdom will be so happy, dad will be . . .” Dawn choked a little, “dad will be happy.”

He's not my father.

Marianne couldn't say the words out loud. Again she was caught between her need to scream her hopes until they became true and her unwillingness to crush this fragile little girl. Dawn had taken too many hits already that day.

“Kid . . .” Marianne sighed, putting her hands on Dawn's shaking shoulders, “We'll . . . we'll look into all this. Look for some answers. Two kingdoms are involved, I guess I'm not going to be able to just skip town. But, kid, please don't hang all your hopes on me. Please.”

Dawn hung her head.

“Look me in the eye, kiddo.”

Dawn lifted her head and looked into Marianne's eyes. “Okay. That's fair. But if you are my--”

“I'm your friend. I'll be hanging around awhile. That is all I can promise. Okay?”

“Okay.” Dawn offered a bright smile, still looking into Marianne's eyes, her usual brightness quickly eating away the sadness.

The wind changed. The fluttering scarf blew into Marianne's hand. She remembered edging along the gutter on the roof, looking down, looking for something. For someone. A familiar face that glowed with warmth, sparkled with happiness. Someone with eyes that were . . .

Marianne tore her gaze away from Dawn's face. She covered her face with her hands and refused to look at Dawn. She tried to throw the fluttering memory away. She didn't want it. She wanted it to dissolve again, this time forever. But the scarf had turned solid in her hands, wrapped itself in knots around her fingers, and she could not tear it off.

“Marianne? Marianne are you alright?”

The room was too small. There wasn't enough space in it with the memory filling the room from corner to corner.

“Dawn,” the memory squeezed Marianne's chest until the whisper came out, the question was asked, “What color were your mother's eyes?”

“Blue,” Dawn replied, “Dad says I have her eyes.”

The scarf was somehow attached to a heavy weight and Marianne tumbled off the roof, falling and knowing there would be no one there to catch her.

“You've got to stop doing this, tough girl.”

Bog was suddenly there, keeping her from tipping over.

“Doing what?” Marianne asked, blinking away the blur in front of her eyes.

“Not fainting.”

“I was not not fainting. I tripped.”

“While standing still?”

“I'm talented that way. When did you materialize out of the ether?”

“Just now. Just in time. Are you alright?”

“Fine. It's just been a--”

“Long day?”

“Shut up.”

Marianne took a deep breath and looked up to see if the room was stable. It was. It was also notably empty of any sparkling fairy princesses.

“Where did Dawn go?”

“There was some news and I sent her to talk to the messenger. I thought you would . . . you were looking a little . . . I thought you would rather not have her speculating any further about your identity for the time being.”

“Thanks. This identity crisis is knocking me off balance.”

“I noticed.”

“Shut up. You're horrible. You're the worse.”

“I hope you don't think that is a revelation for me.”

“I said shut up. You shut up, everybody shut up. I shut up. Bog . . . Bog is there any possible way I can get out of here? Right now? This minute? Have the tipsy glitter fairy slap some charm on me to get big again and just let me go home?”

“Not that I'm aware,” Bog replied, bewildered at Marianne's babbling and frantic pacing up and down the room. She couldn't stand still. She had to run. She had to run now.

Marianne kicked over a chair.

The chair knocked a piece off the wall. Dust sprinkled down from the ceiling.

Bog stood there, twiddling his fingers uncertainly.

Marianne thought over the benefits of kicking more furniture.

“I hate this place,” She said, teeth clenched.

“Oh?” Bog said, obviously stung by the statement.”

“Not your stupid Dark Forest. I'm sure it's absolutely lovely underneath the cobwebs and rot. This stupid, absurd situation.”

“What happened?”

“Nothing! Nothing.” Marianne scrabbled around for a change of subject. Anything to avoid talking, remembering. She settled on asking about the progress of diplomatic proceedings between fairies and goblins. The sooner that was settled the sooner Marianne could get everyone's full attention on solving the problem on making her big again.

“What was the news for Dawn? Her dad write back already?”

“Not as such.” Bog let out a tired sigh and massaged the back of his neck. His default scowl returned, dark as ever. Marianne was sort of glad that the shadows cast by his eyebrows hid how blue his eyes were. She was also sort of disappointed. Bog kind of had lovely eyes . . .

“An armed force of fairies and elves has crossed the border into the forest.”

“Oh. That stinks. What, they trying to rescue the captive princess? Didn't they get Dawn's note about how she has totally not been kidnapped?”

“Hard to say. The messenger hasn't returned.”

“Well . . . this isn't looking exactly terrific.”

“And the love potion is still unaccounted for. My scouts have lost track of the elf entirely. He's quite slippery, it seems. Plum needs to have that antidote at the ready before the elf or the preening fairy get here.”

Every new bit of news had Marianne's heart sinking lower. At this point it was somewhere in the pit of her stomach but she was sure it would get all the way down to her feet sooner or later.

“I guess I hope Sunny has the potion. The guy has learned his lesson.” Marianne said. But she imagined the pink bottle in Roland's hands and felt her heart slip down to her knees.

Bog just snorted.

“What's happening now, then? To war?”

“Not so long as I have their princess.” Bog's face pulled into a pleased smirk. It was ridiculously adorable how smug he got when he had the upper hand. It was like he was relishing a hard-earned triumph.

“Except you don't really,” Marianne pointed out.

“Technically, I do.”

“I thought the hostage thing was a joke.”

“She's not a hostage. Technically.”

“Don't get yourself twisted up in technicalities there, crunchy.”

“Don't call me--”

“Prickly?”

Bog's face twisted up in an even darker scowl. He even bared his teeth like he was working up a snarl.

It was also completely adorable how easy it was to ruffle Bog. He wasn't used to having people talk back. Except, Marianne supposed, by his mother.

“Look, if I have to I'll hold the princess here and only turn her over on the condition that the love potion is returned and they cease to trample all over my forest.”

“If that doesn't pan out?”

“I thrash the stuffing out of their tin armor and send them scurrying back home.”

“Straightforward. I like it.”

“Why does your approval fill me with unease?”

Marianne laughed. She hadn't expected to laugh so soon. For a towering pillar of spikes and prickles Bog was somehow reassuring to be around.

“You'll have to get Dawn to agree. If she doesn't then we're busting out of this joint.”

“Huh! You and what army?”

“I'm a one-woman army.”

“. . . true.”

“And I'm not handicapped anymore.” Marianne bounced up and down on the balls of her feet, feigning a few boxing-style punches at Bog. “You're hoisted by your own petard, giving me the coat of wrinkles.”

“I do appear to have made an error in judgment.” Bog chuckled, grabbing her fist when it swung by his nose. He held onto her hand and looked down into her eyes, probably disconcerted by the manic sparkle that must have been glittering in them. She felt out of control, running, running, running. She couldn't stop. Couldn't give herself time to think.

“What’s wrong--?” Bog began.

“I haven't thank you for the wrinkle,” Marianne pulled her hand free and spun away, the wrinkle flaring out. She almost stumbled, but managed to turn it into a lurching sidestep, “Sharp outfit, no wings, I feel human again. Kinda.”

Bog made a motion to grab her shoulder. He stopped himself and rubbed his hands together instead. “What happened?”

His voice was soft and kind. His eyes were visible again, a breathtaking shade of blue, lighter than the ones that haunted her, but similar enough to make her physically recoil.

Bog took a sharp step back, hands held up as if he were demonstrating that they were empty and his claws were out of play. It took Marianne a moment to realize he thought he had frightened her.

“No, no!” Marianne hurried to say, “You're fine! You're good. You're great. You're fantastic. It's not you. It's me. I'm a mess. I'm in worse shape than your castle.”

“Pardon?”

“It can't have escaped your notice that it's falling apart.”

Bog's gray teeth bared again as they scraped back and forth.

“Okay, wow, I am on a roll with the offending. Sorry. Please refer to previous statement of me going a disaster and disregard my opinion accordingly. I swear, I am too sober for this. But this castle is falling apart and so am I.”

“If it's falling apart it's because you've been throwing furniture into the walls!”

“Hey, it was only one furniture.”

“May I inquire as to why you are throwing things—singular or plural—and why your falling apart seems to have . . . accelerated?”

“Nothing. No reason. I'm fine.”

“I thought you just said you were falling apart.”

“Did not.”

Bog growled.

“Oh, go tangle yourself in a fly trap.”

“I can't tell if you're upset or just mad.”

“Mad like angry? Or mad like crazy?”

“Either.”

“Shut up. Maybe I am mad! Mad as in angry! My wedding fell apart because my boyfriend is a cheating, opportunistic pixie, I got shrunk when I wanted to be drunk, a fairy princess insists I'm her long-lost sister and she might be--”

Marianne hiccuped. Her throat had seized tight and the volume of her voice dropped dramatically. Tears rushed up into her eyes and started to spill over when she finished her sentence.

“--she might be right.”

There was an awkward pause that Marianne filled with angry sniffles. Bog shuffled and fidgeted. She couldn't blame him. He'd had to deal with her erratic emotions quite enough already tonight.

“Do you . . . do you want to hit something?” Bog asked.

“What?”

“I find it helps.”

Marianne looked over at the overturned chair. She nodded.

Bog opened the door and motioned for her to pass through it with a bow and wave of his hand.

“Dork.” Marianne sniffed.

For the first time in days Marianne felt sure of her footing.

The weight of the wooden practice sword in her hand was perfectly balanced. Her feet slotted easily into to pattern her muscles had followed so many times before. Gracefulness of movement was not something Marianne counted among her virtues, but she knew she moved well with a sword in her hand. And it felt good.

The throne room was nearly empty save Bog, Marianne, and a couple of squat goblins sitting on the steps in front of the throne. Marianne was fairly sure that one of them, for whatever reason, was licking pebbles. The two goblins were the only audience to witness a fairy changeling and a goblin king square up to fight.

Marianne put herself through a few stances to get the feel of the floor through her new boots and how the wooden sword rested in her hand. It felt ten times better than a baseball bat.

“You look happy. And a wee bit bloodthirsty.” Bog remarked. He cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders, shifting his hands into black on the wooden staff he had taken up instead of his scepter.

“I am going to destroy you, Bog King,” Marianne pointed her sword at him, “and take your gothpunk throne for myself.”

“Oh,” Bog casually spun his staff in the fingers of one hand. Marianne hated that he made it look so easy. “So that was your plan all along. Charm the king and depose him when his back was turned.”

“I've been found out. I totally want to take over a kingdom with no indoor plumbing or twinkies. Now that that's out in the open--” She took up a stance with the sword above her head, parallel with the floor, and her other hand out for balance, “--bring it.”

“I was anticipating something more along the lines of going through a few basic moves.”

“Okay, or that. If you want to be all reasonable and sane.”

“One of us has to be.”

“Says who?”

They went through the slow movements of a mock battle. Marianne had started off wanting to pummel something into a pulp, but the structured exercise leveled out her mood as she because too focused to let her thoughts stray to unwanted memories.

Like of crying. Of being a tiny child in her mother's arms but crying her lungs out. The arms that held her were strange. The wrong arms.

The blow Marianne struck was forceful enough to jolt her all the way up to her shoulders. Even her banished wings asserted their existence enough to give a ghostly flutter. Bog was taken aback, weapon still held up defensively.

Marianne lowered her sword. “Sorry.”

Bog tapped her exposed stomach with the end of his staff. “I suppose the intent of this exercise was to give you an opportunity hit things.”

Marianne knocked the staff aside. “Yeah, but not with, like, killing intent. Unless Roland was around.”

A few more blows were exchanged. Bog's wings flicked up and down with his movements and Marianne could tell he was trying his best not to lift himself off the floor. It made her wonder about the dynamics of a fight between two winged people. It would be a whole new ballgame.

“I went and rattled Plum's cage,” Bog said, parrying her swings with one hand behind his back, “She started to babble about riddles, but only until the princess looked as if she was going to cry. The antidote should be ready soon.”

“Great. You have my permission to dose me with it if any of that potion starts getting thrown around. Please?”

“Of course.”

Marianne held up a hand to signal a time out. The news unwound one of the tight muscles in her back and the release made her sag. She was going to be safe. No matter what, Roland couldn't charm her again. If he got so far as to force the love potion on her, she could count on Bog to administer the antidote.

The muscle in her back snapped tight again. Count on Bog to help her. Save her. How had she ended up in a situation where she needed other people to bail her out? Running away from everything had been an attempt to assert control over her crumbling life. She had lined everyone up in a neat row of jars and presided over them, their fates in her hands.

But, really, she had not been in control of anything since the day she met Roland and he had charmed his way past her defenses and wrapped a chain around her heart, trapping her. She was still trapped. Cut off from the people she had thought were her family. Shoved into a miniature world, shoved into a life that was supposed to be hers. And she hadn't been able to do anything to stop it.

Standing on the edge of the field, crying because she couldn't find the way back home. Wedged into a world where she didn't belong. Ripped out of it and forced into a space that no longer fit.

Marianne struck a series of blows so sudden and forceful that Bog could only say, “Whoa!” while he hurried to block and dodge. She charged. He defended. She blocked. He dodged. The foundation of his fighting style appeared to be strictly defensive. Marianne redoubled her attack, trying to make him fight back. Take her seriously. She was a threat. She was dangerous.

She backed him up the steps to the throne. Bog's wings were rattling, a dry noise. The wrinkle brushed around her legs with the whisper of fresh flower petals. She wished it was the crackle of splintering wood. Shattering glass. Of wood crumpling metal armor. She was not soft. She was not a buttercup or any other flower. She was--

“Tough girl,” Bog leaned back so far to avoid her slashing sword that he could have won a limbo contest. It beat Marianne how someone who wore armor 24/7 could be that flexible. “I thought this was just practice!”

“What? The mighty Bog King afraid of a challenge?”

“Hardly. I just wonder if you can keep up!”

Marianne's reply was a sharp shout. She brought her sword down hard enough that had they been using real weapons sparks would have flown. She was wildly mixing one-handed fencing techniques with two-handed sword moves. And she was making it work. No rules. No points. No holding back. Everything that had been simmering inside her bubbled up and boiled over until her arms screamed and her throat was raw.

No matter how many blows struck true nothing could get rid of those blue eyes of a woman that was buried at the very foundation of Marianne's memories. Blue eyes that were so loving that Marianne hurt. She didn't want the shreds of memory. They were edged with broken teeth and they tore her skin when she fought them.

Bog fought back.

Really, actually fought back.

Marianne was grateful for that. It put a smile on her face, the fact that someone was taking her seriously. Acknowledging that she was not only capable, but dangerous. His lopsided smile showed her that he was enjoying this fight.

Somewhere in the exchange of blows Marianne's anger began to flow out of her, caught in the current of competition. She started to show off. She jumped over the staff that tried to sweep her feet out from under her. She added flourishes, she spun. Bog imitated her footwork and stance and she laughed at it.

It might have taken a complete collapse of her lungs to stop Marianne if the wooden sword had not struck the side of the throne instead of Bog, wrenching the wooden blade out of its hilt. Bog pressed forward to take advantage of the opening. Marianne took a leap back, her wings fizzing with the need to lift her in the air. The staff splintered when it hit the patch of floor Marianne had just vacated.

Gasping for breath, the two of them stared at each other.

“Tie?”

“Tie.”

Bog dropped onto his throne, flicking his wings out of the way. Marianne sat on the arm. The sword's hilt was still in her hand.

“Feel better?” Bog asked, giving his broken staff an absent examination.

“Emotionally? Kind of. Physically? I feel like I have made something not unlike a mistake.”

Bog grumbled something unintelligible that might have meant something like, “Same.”

They wheezed for awhile.

“I remembered something.”

“Hm?”

Marianne fought to make her dry throat swallow so she could go on. “I remembered something about here. I think. I think it was my--” Her throat closed up. She couldn't say it. She couldn't say 'mother'.

There was a soft rasp. Bog had placed his hand on the arm of the throne, next to where her own hand was resting. The sight of those long black claws was comforting. It was hard not to put her hand on top of his.

“Dawn's right.” The words sent a wave of nausea up her throat and she had to swallow hard to push it back but still let the words out. “I think I'm the princess.”

The scarf of memory was wrapped around her throat, tight enough to choke her.

“I'm sorry.” Bog said, in that gentle way of his that he was so reluctant to show. “I know it isn't what you wanted.”

He put her hand on hers after a few false starts, expecting her to draw back.

She moved her hand so she could grab his fingers and squeeze them hard. She kept squeezing as she slid off the arm of the throne and turned to face him, enjoying the novelty of looking down into his eyes. She smoothed her hand over the armor on the back of his hand, following the pattern with her thumb.

Bog looked terrified.

“You've been great,” She told him, bending over his hand. There was some new feeling that warmed her chest and she clung to it, ignoring the mass of other emotions seething inside her. While everything else that day had been weighing her down, this feeling buoyed her up. Made her feel light. It was a nice feeling.

Also terrifying.

She wasn't sure what it was. It was like jumping without knowing how far it was to the ground. It was thrilling and frightening, leaving her in a moment of weightlessness, neither falling nor flying. The ground would rise up sooner later to slam into her unprepared feet, but right now . . . the feeling filled her up, leaving almost no room for breath. It spilled out of her, she couldn't stop it. She didn't really try. She just looked into blue eyes that were still new to her and unfairly gorgeous.

Even as she did it Marianne knew it was something not unlike a mistake. That did absolutely nothing to stop her from bending over and placing a kiss on the back of Bog's shaking hand.

[minaamauniverse-blog]

TIPS FOR BETTER SKIN AFTER MENOPAUSE

Skin Care and Menopause; Tips for Better Skin After Menopause

Hot flushes, dry skin, inflammation, and breakouts. Does this sound familiar? Menopause is a natural process in which mature women transition to the next life stage but with it comes with a multitude of unpleasant symptoms including a difficult to manage complexion. From seasonal influences to general cleansing and moisturizing tips, we look at the effect menopause has on the skin and here are tips for better skin after menopause.

Menopause and Your Skin

You may have experienced the ravages of menopause on the normal condition of your skin. With changes in hormonal systems, it leaves the dermal layers dry, inflamed and many older women have to deal with the sudden outbreak of acne. Not only does your skin have to deal with hormone influences but also environmental conditions. Increased skin sensitivity can make it increasingly susceptible to hot and cold weather. Research has shown the biggest changes in the skin occur after menopause in women in their mid-40s to 60 years. The process of aging is exacerbated while collagen production, elasticity, and cellular repair decreased. This makes menopausal women increasingly susceptible to damage, wrinkles and general skin irritation. The best way to care for your skin after menopause is to incorporate a healthy, beauty regime. Many products are on the market specifically designed to manage the adverse effects of menopause on your complexion but we believe a few tips for better skin after menopause suited to your skin tone, can help you choose the products to complement your skin health.

Incorporate a Diet High in Healthy Fats

Salmon oil, Flaxseed oil and sources high in Omega 3, 6 and 9 are recommended for women during and after menopause. The hormone changes and imbalances leave skin dry and inflamed. Many experience large red patches across facial and neck areas. By incorporating healthy oils and fats high in the Omegas, you provide the cells in the skin the extra support it needs to rejuvenate and replenish. Omega nutrients assist in reducing areas of inflammation and help restore an even complexion. It is also a great addition to your diet if you are suffering from acne because it is anti-inflammatory. Omega-3, Cognition, Heart Health, and Immune Support

Treating Acne

While not all women will experience acne after menopause, for those who do, it can be quite unpleasant. Having to deal with blackheads and spots later in life can be embarrassing and frustrating. Dermatologists specializing in the effects of menopause on the skin, advise on the use of non-drying skin care products. Salicylic acid is an effective ingredient against the odd pimple but for more significant acne including cyst formation, a hormonal prescription may be necessary. If you are affected by a severe bout of acne, contact your professional dermatologist who can advise on the appropriate plan of action and skin health maintenance. Salicylic Acid Daily Skin Care Set

Cleansing and Moisturizing

Cleansing and keeping your skin balanced with hydrating products not only assist in acne prevention but also helps restore a natural glow to tired skin. Your complexion can transform from supple to dull and problematic in only a short period. To determine the best skin care approach requires an assessment of your skin type and the major underlying problems you need to manage it first. The selection of products should be based on your skin type. Skin types include oily, combination and dry. Whether dry or oily, your skin needs a quality moisturizer with an SPF to be applied daily.

Products per Skin Type: Dry – Oil based, deeply hydrating moisturizerCombination – Non-comedogenic with hydrationOily – Oil-free and non-comedogenic If your skin is dry, it is important to use a moisturizing cleanser. Mild cleansers excluding perfumes and chemical additives are favorable for sensitive skin. Combination to oily skin may not seem to need hydrating, but removing the sebum with a cleanser or soap strips the skin making it dry and prone to excess oil production. Providing an oil-free moisturizer, will lightly hydrate the epidermis and minimize oil production responsible for acne. When thinking about the best way to handle skin care at this stage in life, following a few tips for better skin after menopause assists in purchasing the right products for your physical aesthetic and maintenance needs.

Incorporate Retinoid and Collagen Enriched Creams

Menopause causes skin dryness and also the loss of collagen, elasticity and efficient cell rejuvenation. Your complexion may appear dark, fine lines show more prominently and uneven tone causes an aged appearance. Retinoid creams containing high amounts of vitamin A. It supports collagen production and protects against the loss of elasticity. Using retinol A products help repair the cells more efficiently and may be used for an extended period according to its prescribed instructions. Natural Face Moisturizer

Invest in a Night Cream

Applying a moisturizer during the day is as important at night. While resting the cells undergo important repairs and replenishment. Assisting this restorative process can produce incredible skin defying results. Night creams must contain ingredients such as hyaluronic acid, antioxidants, and peptides. It boosts collagen, repairs skin at a cellular level and produces mild anti-inflammatory influences. Super Facialist Retinol+ Anti-Ageing Night Cream

Managing Skin Sensitivity

Along with the flushes and dryness associated with menopause comes skin sensitivity. Keeping the pH of your skin balanced better manages microorganisms and the elements needed to feed the cells. Using products that are not harsh can help bring your skin pH to its original balance can prevent many of the problems associated with pH.For the skin on your body that becomes dry, flaky and irritated after menopause, apply a deeply hydrating moisturizing containing coconut oil or shea butter. Many women use an organic coconut oil or olive oil moisturizing regime. It helps soothe inflammation and sensitivity offering your dermal layers the support needed to look beautiful.

With an assessment of skin care and menopause, these tips for better skin after menopause will help you appear lighter, brighter and more appealing. It prevents against damage and deterioration while incorporating specific skin care solutions to restore pH. Problems are addressed in professional consultation and products applied to enhance your complexion. With a combination of hydration, diet and the application of rich hydrating products, it is possible to achieve the healthiest results for your well-being. A Simple Guide To Menopausal Skin Disorders, Diagnosis, Treatment, And Related Conditions

Recent Posts THE EFFECT OF MENSTRUAL CYCLE AND HORMONES ON THE SKINGLOWY FACE AFTER WEIGHT LOSSHOW TO PREVENT AND TREAT DARK CIRCLES UNDER THE EYESBEST DRUGSTORE PORE MINIMIZING PRODUCTSNATURAL HOME REMEDIES FOR ACNE SPOTS AND BLACKHEADSTHE BEST FIVE CLEANSERS FOR ACNE PRONE SKINIS the 20’S THE BEST TIME TO START USING ANTI-AGEINGBEGINNERS MAKE UP TIPS FOR DARK SKIN TONE Read the full article

[tynatunis]

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by TYNA ARTS GARDEN (@tynaartsgarden)

Loved and Shared #bytyna @nem_art • • • • • Very soon this lady will be on her way to Berlin. Delicate like sweet french flower Jasmine, mysterious like a Persian perfume from Yasmin, and known since the ancient times like Greek garden flower Iasme and loved like a precious friend "Yasemin.". Quick tips for beginners... Layer away. Start your painting with a bottom base layer and continue to add to create dimension Music from A Young Russian musician Svyat Ilin 21:12. @svyatsoundz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . #studionem ●#art #artist #curator ●#impressionism#paintings#painter p https://www.instagram.com/p/B29yQ7SndKK/?igshid=t3g67n6ppc9w

[toddrogersfl]

5 fragrant New Year’s resolutions: new things to smell / see / do for 2019

It’s easy to get stuck in a bit of a scented rut sometimes – something we’re all guilty of! But we’ve decided now is the perfect time to blow away the cobwebs and start thinking about things we’re looking forward to trying, seeing and (of course) smelling this year. Which of these have you tried already, and what are you most looking forward to in 2019…?

1: Get social with scent The internet is, obviously, a wonderful thing (hello, we’re on it right now!) but it’s also good to remember to get our from behind our desks and away from a screen to actually interact with human beings occasionally. There’s absolutely nothing like discovering a group of people who share your passion, meeting up with them and realising you’re not alone. This is genuinely one of the greatest bits of our job – meeting all of you lovely people, and watching you form your own groups and friendships around our common love of fragrance! If you join our VIP Club, we promise you an entire year filled with fragrant opportunities…

– Exclusive perfume events – meeting top perfumers and founders of niche houses, exploring the history of a house with the very people who created it. Learning about ingredients, getting previews of new fragrances or simply finding out about new names our noses need to know…

– How to Improve Your Sense of Smell Workshops – sharing the top tips we’ve learned from the world’s best noses, changing the way we think about scent and discovering deep emotional connections. These workshops are some of the highlights of our year: fun, informative, down-to-earth and genuinely life-changing for everyone who attends!

– Exclusive competitions with fab fragrant prizes – including bottles signed by perfumers.

– An exclusive monthly ‘insider offer’ – just for our VIPs.

If you keep an eye on our Events page, we also list many other perfume events and pop-ups taking place around the country, so whey not make a pact to attend at least one this year and see how exciting they can be? You can make new friends, discover new scents to love and most of all, have fun with fragrance!

2: Be braver! There are very few people we know (apart from professional ‘noses’ really) who don’t have preconceived ideas about what suits them, and certain ingredients they tend to avoid. Even we can be guilty of it! It’s a slippery slope when you avoid things becuase you ‘know’ they don’t work for you. Taste change – ALL the time – as we get older (or wiser), and the more things you try, the more you become accustomed to liking and the more your fragrance palate expands.

Think you hate rose? It completely depends which type of rose is being used – fruity, fresh and honeyed, or deep, dusty and velvety – how it’s been harvested, where it’s used in the composition and what other ingredients surround it. The same goes for any ingredient you care to name – the new fractionated patchouli, for example, removes the ‘dirty’ earthiness that many naysayers associate with ‘hippies’ and kept them at arm’s length all these years.

We double dare you to seek out notes, fragrances and houses you assume you don’t like, and to just try them (again or for the first time) with a new nose and fresh attitude…

It’s not only about trying things you thought you disliked, but expanding your fragrant horizon at your own pace. How about branching out just a little bit – but still within your comfort zone – by seeing what six fragrances are ‘matched’ to one you already own and love? There’s suggestions for every budget, from niche and high-end luxury, through all-time classics and highstreet-friendly names you may have overlooked. Try our Fragrance Finder, get out there and give them a try. You might find a brand new fragrant love…

  3: Change it up We know there are some of you who still feel a bit odd about fragrance layering, but honestly, what have you got to lose? If there’s a Cologne you love that sits gathering dust during the colder months, bring it out and combine with a deeper fragrance to ring the changes and bring some freshness to your scented habits. We’ve several features dedicated to the art of fragrance layering (simply type into our search box to see more), but here’s the basics for nervous noses…

Always remember: perfume isn’t a tattoo – if you don’t like it, you can wash it off!

– Add power: ramp it up by adding more base notes like patchouli, labdanum, vetiver, woods or musk.

– Add freshness: look for citrus notes like bergamot, neroli, lemon, lime or ‘green’ notes such as galbanum, tomato or violet leaf, green tea, marine/aquatic accords (synthetic recreations of sea-like, watery smells) and aldehydes (often desribed as being like Champagne bubbles).

– Add beauty: find a scent too ‘harsh’ or clinical? Look to layer it with decadently velvety or lusciously fruity rose oils, the sunshine-bottled scent of orange flower, a heady glamour of tuberose or a luminescent jasmine; try an apricot-like osmanthus flower, the fluffiness of mimosa or the powdery elegance of iris/orris.

– Add sweetness: vanilla and tonka bean can ’round’ a perfume, making it swoon on your skin (and addictive to smell), as can touches of synthetic notes described as ‘caramel’ or ‘dulce de leche’, ripe fruits, chocolate or even candy floss. Try to add less than you think you need, as adding more is always easier than taking away, and a little of these can go a long way!

4: Keep a fragrance journal Writing down your thoughts about a new smell every day is surprisingly revolutionary – especially when noting your feelings at several points through the year about the same fragrance. It’s amazing how weather, mood and even what we’ve been eating can change the way we consider how something smells! This is homework we give attendees of our so-fun How to Improve Your Sense of Smell Workshops (see above), and even if you just jot down a few words about a new thing you smell (perfume, cooking ingredient, handcream, flower, bath gel… anything!) it gets your mind and your nose symbiotically linked, and truly helps ‘fix’ smells in your mind. Try it and see!

We love the scented notelets and journals available at Floral Street – a favourite being their Wonderland Peony Notepad / £12 (above) which makes every page a fragrant delight to fill in…

5: Make your own Nothing gives you a greater appreciation for a perfumer’s skill than having a go at making your own. Sound simple, right? Just take all your favourite ingredients, mix them up and hey-presto! Well, uh, no. Much like mixing all your favourite colours results in a brown sludge rather than the rainbow you’d imagined as a child, it’s fascinating to attempt to try and balance notes, or to enhance them… a true art form and a kind of modern alchemy we’re in awe of. But it is possible to have a go at making your own under the watchful eye of a professional who can help guide you – and oh so satisfying to come away with a little bottle of a scent you made yourself.

The following perfumers run sessions we’ve personally attended and rate highly, and each of them offer differing workshops based on your experience – from complete beginner to something more skilled. Go on, you know you’ve always wanted to… Make 2019 the year you made your own!

  Trained at the perfumery school of ISPICA, Emmanuelle Moeglin worked as a Scent Design Manager for global fragrance brands, alongside some of the biggest perfumers in the world, and now works as an independent perfumer in London. In 2015, wanting to open fragrance up to the consumer and demistify the world of perfumery, she started the Experimental Perfume Club. Choosing some of the most enjoyable elements of her training, she developed workshops to help people understand scent better – exploring the smells of individual ingredients, harmonious combinations, understanding the magic and science of fusing scents. There’s workshops available from Apprentice, through Expert Masterclass to Corporate levels, in a really down-to-earth and friendly atmosphere that encourages you to learn more.

Sarah McCartney – 4160 Tuesdays perfumer offer fun and more professional days, along with afternoon tea and a chance to get your hands on Sarah’s extensive personal collection of perfumes to smell, in her truly astounding Wall of Scent. 4160 Tuesdays are in the process of moving their HQ at the moment, but do get in touch with Sarah to ask when the next dates are, and they can also come to you if you’ve some friends or colleagues who are interested in joining in…

Those wanting to launch their own fragrance should seek out Karen Gilbert, who now runs a series of specialised courses – including making skincare products – for those wanting to learn more about this intriguing yet technically challenging world. She explains that ‘…it came out of years of students coming to my live classes where we make an alcohol based EDT, who really wanted to create for their own product line.’ With courses varying from online Masterclasses – perfect for those who find it difficult to travel – days of natural perfumery and intensive 5-day professional courses, there’s something for all levels of interest.

Don’t you think there are things you could change about your fragrant habits – even if it’s just getting out there and sharing your excitement with a friend, showing them around your favourite perfumery or letting them sniff your own collection of fragrances? Whatever you choose to do, there’s a whole year of perfume excitement to look forward to, and we certainly can’t wait to share it with all of you…

Written by Suzy Nightingale

The post 5 fragrant New Year’s resolutions: new things to smell / see / do for 2019 appeared first on The Perfume Society.

from The Perfume Society https://perfumesociety.org/5-fragrant-new-years-resolutions-new-things-to-smell-see-do-for-2019/

[garishing-sun]

You Can Grow Your Own Organic Garden With These Tips!

Organic horticulture is a great way to grow your own food at home and best husqvarna automower 315 relax at the same time. However, a beginner may find the whole experience intimidating. How should a novice gardener get started? All you have to do is read the following suggestions. Clay soil is hard and will also stick to a shovel, making it difficult to work with. Make your shoveling job easier by lightly coating a shovel with a layer of wax, then buffing the surface. Either car wax or floor wax will work just fine. This will make your task easier because the clay won't stick to the shovel. It will also keep your garden tool from rusting. You need to consider beginning the plants into pots. Then, you can plant the seedlings into your garden. This boosts the chance that the plants can survive to adulthood. In addition, you can shorten the intervals between your plantings. Your next crop of seedlings will be started and ready to be planted immediately after you remove your last crop from the garden. Slug-proof your garden with smart perennial choices. Slugs and snails are voracious eaters that can destroy a plant literally overnight. They gravitate towards perennials with smooth thin leaves, particularly on younger plants. Others, though, are disliked by slugs and snails. Those with rough leaves or an unappetizing taste will be less desired by slugs and snails. Achillea, euphorbia, helleborus, heuchera and campanula are good choices that slugs don't like. When winter arrives, you can save some plants by placing them in your home. This is especially useful if you have a particular plant that you love or was expensive. Dig carefully around their roots and place them into a pot. Seeds should be soaked in a dark area overnight. Place your seeds in a container filled with water. This way, your seeds are well-hydrated and can start growing with a head start. The seeds will have a better chance of surviving and maturing. Using pest-resistant plants or natural materials in your garden is a good way to keep pests away. Onions and marigolds can help to deter slugs. Insects also avoid shrubs and trees that are mulched with wood ash. Using these natural methods will reduce the need for potentially harmful chemical pesticides. Pest control is very difficult if you are dealing with your veggie garden. It's likely you don't want to spray pesticides around the vegetables you intend to eat. If you remain vigilant, you can control your garden pest population. In many cases, you can simply remove the pests from your plants by picking them off. Keep your pet out of the garden with old perfume or aftershave in the grass. This can make scents that dogs are attracted to, and make your garden less interesting in general for pets. One way to help your organic garden thrive is to leave an undeveloped area that is conducive to the wildlife around your area. The kind of birds and insects needed for pollination will be naturally present on your property and help with your organic garden.

When you plant a seed, take your time. Begin by adding moisture to the soil. Then, distribute the seeds evenly, and see to it that they have space to grow. Place them at a soil depth that is triple the length of the seeds themselves. There are some seeds that require light to grow, so they must not be buried. Coffee grounds can benefit many types of soil. Coffee grounds are filled with nutritional elements plants need, such as nitrogen. This nutrient is often lacking in home gardens, and adding it will give you taller plants that bloom beautifully. Use an old laundry basket to collect your produce. An old laundry basket makes an excellent strainer for cleaning your produce. After you have rinsed your produce in the laundry basket, the water will just drain right out the sides. Be careful with the amount of water that you're giving your plants when gardening. Roots need to draw in nutrients via the soil, and they cannot do this if they're flooded with water. Before watering plants outdoors, check with some weather stations to find out if it will rain anytime during the day. After reviewing the weather forecast, you can decide whether or not to spend the time and resources watering the garden. Now you can see how organic horticulture is so enjoyable. Having a properly grown garden can be fun and relaxing. With the tips presented above at the forefront of your mind, you can begin to grow delicious organic produce like a professional.

[tipsycad147]

Carmelite Water (Lemon Balm Wine) – A New Take On An Old World Potion

Written by Sass Ayres

Upgrade your glass of white wine with some herbal goodness! This lemon balm wine is a new take on an ancient cure-all called Carmelite water. And while it has long lost its reputation as a miracle potion, Carmelite water can still be enjoyed today just as you’d enjoy any glass of wine. But maybe you’ll enjoy it just a little bit more knowing it’s full of nutritive and medicinal herbs.

This recipe uses herbs like lemon balm, angelica root, clove, and nutmeg, but could also be made with just lemon balm. The choice is yours!

HERE YOU’LL FIND: What is Carmelite Water? About the Herbs in This Lemon Balm Wine How to Make Carmelite Water (aka Lemon Balm Wine) Tips, Tricks, & FAQs Recipe for Carmelite Water

I’m a sucker for ancient herbal potions. There’s something so intriguing about the old uses of plant medicines, something so full of mystery and magic.

I’m constantly humbled by the human process of figuring it all out before science was as advanced as it is today. Many of these old herbal potions survived times when science was even silenced as evil or sin. Can you imagine?!

Come storytime, tell me about how our ancestors lived in relationship to the plants and this planet. I’m all ears.

What is Carmelite Water?

Carmelite water is an alcohol extract of lemon balm and other herbs and spices. In a time before modern-day medicine and all the amenities of science, these herbal alcohol extracts were often the backbone of the medical system.

They often served as panaceas for all kinds of ailments, everything from digestive complaints to the plague and leprosy. A little sip could make all your worries go away, sending you on your way to a long and healthy life.

The Origin of Carmelite Water

Carmelite nuns in France developed the original recipe for this lemon balm wine in the later 1300s for King Charles V of France. With the enthusiastic support of the aging king, Carmelite water garnered a reputation as an elixir of life or miracle water.

While the exact original recipe of Carmelite water is somewhat of a coveted secret, the star ingredient is consistently lemon balm.

Also called Eau de Melisse (as in lemon balm’s genus Melissa), Carmelite water also contains a varying combination of other herbs and spices, including chamomile, sandalwood, cinnamon, mugwort, sage, angelica, and fennel. Most typically, Carmelite water contains a mixture of anywhere from 9 to 14 different herbs and spices.

Traditional Uses of Carmelite Water

Interestingly, Carmelite water was also traditionally used as a perfume due to its unique combination of highly aromatic herbs. It’s strong in scent and bold in flavor. Accordingly, Carmelite water was traditionally sipped in small quantities as you would a bitters cordial or digestif.

>>Wanna learn more about herbal bitters & how they can help your digestion? Check this out: The Beginner’s Complete Guide to Herbal Digestive Bitters

“It causeth the Mind and Heart to become merry, and reviveth the Heart fainting to foundlings, especially of such who are overtaken in their sleep, and driveth away all troublesome cares and thought…”

Nicholas Culpepper, 15th century English botanist & physician on Carmelite water

About The Herbs In This Lemon Balm Wine

This recipe for Carmelite water is a variation on a recipe from Mountain Rose Herbs. The original recipe calls for the use of cinnamon chips. However, as a nod to ancient tradition, this lemon balm wine recipe is really open for interpretation. In fact, you could skip the other herbs and spices, just use lemon balm, and call it a day!

As you’ll read below, the herbs and spices in this recipe come with a whole bunch of anti-‘s, including anti-fungal, antiviral, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory. It’s no wonder Carmelite water was once considered a panacea for all the ills of the times.

However, the collective nutritive and medicinal properties of the ingredients in this recipe lend towards a calming, anti-inflammatory herbal wine high in antioxidants that may also be beneficial for your digestion.

Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis)

This herb of happiness and sunshine is full of antioxidant flavonoids! Lemon balm is a beloved medicinal herb that not only tastes as good as it smells, but is equally as gentle as it is powerful.

In herbal medicine, lemon balm is often used to help soothe nerves, ease stress and anxiety, and even has anti-depressant properties.

Lemon balm is high in volatile oils (the smell good oils) that can help to support healthy digestion. Plus, it’s also known for its antiviral activity, especially against herpes viruses.

Angelica Root (Angelica archangelica)

Angelica root is a member of the carrot family and has been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine for thousands of years.

Its primary medicinal uses include helping to balance hormones and support the liver‘s natural detoxification processes. Furthermore, also considered a bitter herb, it’s an excellent tonic to the digestive system.

Coriander (Coriandrum sativum)

As perhaps one of my favorite culinary spices, coriander gets a lot of use in my household. Not only is coriander is a good source of minerals like copper, iron, and magnesium, it also has many medicinal uses.

Like lemon balm, coriander is also known for its ability to help support healthy digestion and soothe nerves. It’s high in anti-inflammatory antioxidants and has antimicrobial properties as well.

Clove (Eugenia caryophyllata)

It’s so easy to forget that many of our common herbs and spices also have such amazing medicinal properties. As another great source of vitamins and minerals, clove is such a great spice to include in our day.

Clove is also antiviral, anti-fungal, antibacterial, and pain-relieving. It’s full of anti-inflammatory antioxidants and like all the other ingredients in this recipe, clove is known to help support digestion.

Nutmeg (Myristicum fragrans)

And last, but not least, we have nutmeg. This ultra-fragrant spice is also incredibly supportive of healthy digestion, in addition to being anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and more.

How to Make Carmelite Water

Here’s a quick overview of how to make Carmelite water (aka lemon balm wine). You’ll find specific measurements and methods in the recipe card at the end of this post.

Equipment You’ll Need

Fortunately, this incredibly simple lemon balm wine recipe requires very little equipment. You will need:

Quart-Sized Glass Jar (like a canning jar or recycled jar)

Small Funnel (small enough to fit into the neck of the wine bottle)

Fine Mesh Strainer + Cheesecloth or Muslin -or- Nut Milk/Strainer Bag* (I use these strainers for everything! And here’s my favorite nut milk bag.)

4-Cup Glass Measuring Cup (or something your funnel can nest into)

Ingredients

1 bottle dry white wine, organic if possible

Lemon balm, dried or fresh

Angelica root, dried

Coriander, whole seeds

Clove, whole

Nutmeg, fresh grated or shaved

Fresh lemon zest

Method

This recipe literally couldn’t get any easier. Here’s the quick-and-dirty of how to make this version of Carmelite water:

Add herbs and spices to a quart-sized glass jar.

Pour in wine.

Infuse for 4 hours in the refrigerator.

Strain.

Enjoy!

Other Botanical Beverages You Might Enjoy

Pink Paloma | A Grapefruit Cocktail with Chamomile Tequila Wild Flower Vodka Mojito Ginger Mint Hot Toddy Calendula Lemonade (non-alcoholic)

Tips, Tricks, & FAQs

What is Carmelite water used for?

Traditionally, Carmelite water was used for everything! It was a cure-all herbal tonic. The use of fragrant herbs and spices also made it a great perfume back in the day.

Today, Carmelite water makes for a delightful sipper on a warm afternoon. Or sip on a glass before or after a meal for a calming, anti-inflammatory herbal elixir with digestive support.

Can I make lemon balm wine with fresh herbs?

Yes, you can! Using fresh lemon balm in this recipe works really well! I actually prefer using fresh lemon balm. Lemon balm (and many of the mint family plants, in general) can quickly lose its potency. If your dried lemon balm is old or has been improperly stored, you’re better off using fresh if you have the option.

To know if your dried lemon balm is still good, just look at it and take a whiff! If it has turned more brown than green and hardly has any delicious lemony smell, it’s time to toss it.

Can I just throw the herbs and spices right into the wine bottle?

Yes, you could. However, you may have to drink a few sips of wine so that they’ll fit. Plus, sometimes it’s difficult to get all of the herbs out of the slender bottleneck when straining time comes.

My personal preference is to infuse the wine in a quart-size glass jar. After straining out the herbs and spices, you can then use a funnel to help pour the infused wine back into the original wine bottle.

What if I don’t have whole spices? Can I infuse wine with powdered herbs?

You absolutely can infuse wine with powdered herbs and spices! However, I do NOT recommend it. Powdered herbs and spices can be incredibly difficult to strain out of liquids. Your lemon balm may end up with powder in it. And who wants to sip on powdery wine!?

If powdered herbs and spices are all you have, when straining, try using a coffee filter or a double layer of clean cloth to help catch as much of the powder as possible.

Where is the best place to find high quality herbs?

The first best place to find high-quality herbs is to either grow them yourself or get them locally from someone who does. However, I know that not all of us have that option.

You can find the spices in this lemon balm wine recipe at conventional groceries and local food cooperatives. If you have a health food store near you, you may be able to find dried lemon balm and angelica root there. If it’s an option, always opt for organic herbs and spices.

And once you’ve exhausted those possibilities, the next best place to get high-quality herbs and spices is from reputable online retailers. I’ve purchased so many herbs online over the years. Without a doubt, I can tell you that Mountain Rose Herbs consistently outshines the others. The quality of the herbs, vast selection, and awareness and ethics around harvesting and environmental impact make them my medicinal herb go-to.

Carmelite Water (aka Lemon Balm Wine)

Course: Drinks Difficulty: Easy  Quantity 3 cups  Prep Time 4 hours

This botanical infused wine recipe is based off of Rosalee de la Forêt’s Carmelite water recipe. It’s fragrant, dry, slightly astringent, & there’s just something extra special about its ancient roots. I particularly love Rosalee’s suggestion to get lost in reveries of mysterious and ancient herbal potions while enjoying a sip of this infusion on a hot summer’s eve.

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup dried organic lemon balm (or ~1 cup fresh lemon balm, loosely packed)

3 tablespoons dried organic angelica root

1 tablespoon dried organic coriander seed

1 tablespoon fresh lemon zest (~1 small lemon)

2 whole cloves

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg, freshly grated

1 bottle organic dry white wine

DIRECTIONS

Into a quart-sized glass jar, combine all herbs & spices.

Pour the wine into the jar, seal with a lid, & give the jar a shake to start the infusing process. Let the wine infuse for 4-5 hours in the refrigerator. (I do not recommend infusing for longer than 4-5 hours. The longer you let it infuse, the more medicinal the wine will taste.)

After a 4 hour infusion, use a fine-mesh strainer layered with several layers of cheesecloth, a coffee filter, or a nut milk bag to strain the herbs from the wine. Compost the herbs.

Return the infused wine to the jar (or use a small funnel to pour it back into the original bottle).

Enjoy within 3 days. This wine is best enjoyed chilled.

https://www.botanyculture.com/carmelite-water-lemon-balm-wine/

[hebosaurus]

Create A First Class Garden When You Use These Ideas

An organic yard is a passion you have. Exactly what do you have to do get started? The complying with article contains suggestions you can use to grow remarkable natural plants without spending a great deal of money.Plant some perennials in your garden that ward off slugs. Your plants can be ruined by slugs as well as snails overnight. These pests favor plants with thin smooth leaves. Plant some helleborus or euphorbias along with your other perennials. Some perennials are not favored dishes for snails and also slugs, particularly if their vegetation is hairy as well as tough, or tastes poor. Picking an unsavory seasonal, such as campanula or heuchera, will aid stop them from being eaten.Having healthy soil in your yard will certainly help your plants avoid insect pests. Much healthier plants are better in strength as well as resistance to ailment and pests. For the most strenuous and healthy plants, begin with top notch soil, and also stay away from chemicals. These can accumulate salts over time.When winter season shows up, you can save some plants by putting them inside your house. Your best option would certainly be attempt to conserve the very best or most hearty plants. Remember to be mild when digging up your plants; thoroughly dig far from the roots as well as gently place the plant into a container.If you want your garden to sporting activity blossoms in the spring in addition to summer season, plant light bulbs. These are hearty options, options that will award you for years regardless of the little effort that is associated with their treatment. Various types of light bulbs bloom at different times, so if you pick suitably, you can have blooms from very early spring to late summer.You could plant wheat lawn or cat yard near the plants that the feline consumes. Conversely, you can try putting mothballs, citrus peel or anything else with an odor that felines discover distasteful in the dirt surrounding the plants.Don't reduce your turf down by the dirt when you run the lawn mower. If you let your grass maintain some elevation after trimming, it will certainly be able to absorb more sunlight and also wetness resulting in a lusher, greener grass. When turf is reduced as well low the origins will certainly not expand as deep, as well as your yard could experience from brownish patches.It's easy to simply enter and begin gardening without idea, yet it is essential to intend your yard initially. By doing this, if you see your plants beginning to bud yet cannot remember exactly what they are, you can refer back to your strategy to revitalize your memory. This is additionally a terrific means to monitor all your plants.One excellent method to manage weeds is to steam them away. The best herbicide that you could utilize in your garden is a basic pot of boiling water. Just put out the water on the weeds being cautious to avoid any close-by plants. Boiling water kills weeds by damaging their roots . Weeds won't be able to survive, don't bother grow, with harmed weeds.Being a beginner gardener, you need to make sure that you comply with the directions carefully for device and chemical usage. Otherwise, you are most likely to have skin irritabilities flare up, which could be incredibly agonizing and uneasy. Constantly comply with product packaging instructions to guarantee your body's safety.Water your garden regularly and also smartly. Soaker pipes conserve time by sprinkling all of your plants at the same time, as opposed to individually with a conventional hose or watering can. Make use of low tide stress with your soaker hose to make sure that the force of the water does not damage sprouts and also seed startings. It could sprinkle the plants for 2 hours so that you could do various other things.To keep pets from disturbing your garden, spray some old aftershave, perfume, perfume or other strongly-scented products in the dirt or turf surrounding it. This can aid mask any aromas which bring in animals so family pets will certainly currently stay clear of the garden.To produce an attractive English yard use different plants as well as varying plant elevations in one flower bed. If plants have the same development height, the bed

will appear level and also not have much interest.You should consider what does it cost? light is available when starting your plants inside your home. If you live somewhere without strong natural sunlight, you could want to consider growing plants that prosper in lower-light settings. If the kind of plant does not assist, you can constantly make use of lights to help.When creating a garden compost pile, usage dried plant products and also environment-friendly plants in equivalent components. Examples of green plant material are spent blossoms, fruit and vegetable waste, lawn cuttings, weeds, and also leaves. For the dry end of the range, believe of things like paper as well as cardboard, sawdust, hay, and so on. Nevertheless, keep away from meats, manure from predators, charcoal and various other possibly harmful substances.If you are beginning your plants out in tiny containers, you must use a layer of potting dirt that is 3 times as deep as the size of a solitary seed. Realize that some seeds shouldn't be covered, as they need sunlight. Some usual examples consist of ageratum as well as petunias. If you are not sure regarding whether or not your seeds should be covered or not, attempt to review the bundle or discover the solution online.Hopefully these tips have actually assisted to prepare you for having a natural garden. Even proficient organic gardeners might have learned a thing or more. Hopefully, the suggestions provided in this short article will certainly assist you find out how make certain that your natural yard is a strenuous as well as lively one. doctorgardening

[dumontperfumesbest]

How to layer perfume you already own.

How to layer perfume you already own

A good scent is capable to feature a final touch to your daily routine. However, there are various reasons why people wear perfume. Some people like to wear perfume because it boosts their self-esteem once they meet their loved ones and develop a way of interest through the pleasant aroma. 

While others like to carry a perfume because it promotes their individuality and sets them aside from the people around them. Dumont perfumes come up with a wide range of scents that provide you a selected reason why you wear the actual fragrance.

Wearing the same perfume seems quite boring. That is why in-season buying a new cent can feel more fun. But without spending much on a new perfume here we have come up with an easy solution to layer the perfume you already own and save your time, energy, and money. 

Layering perfume is quite an intimidating task as it requires mind-boggling and combinations of various fragrances. In this article please share a few tips to share your perfume correctly that suits your mood and personality.

Focus on simple scents

For beginners, it is advisable to play with less complicated perfumes as they are easier to blend. For this purpose you should look for somea minimalist and subtle fragrance that likely to have only one to two notes in their titles like freesia, rose or vanilla at the blend so easily and give you a nice fragrance after blending.

Keep it in the same family

If it Chaka wardrobe we found that we are having different versions of the same thing like four pink jackets, 8 pair of Black jeans, 13 striped T-shirts and the number is going on. The same thing can be applied to perfume as well. Don't go on a guilt trip if you are having different versions of the same perfume rather go try to blend them and give a new Aroma to your preference. For example, if you want to carry a single ingredient, let us say Jasmine then try to combine multiple scents that feature Jasmine as the main note.

Pick teams

Firstly you need to bifurcate the perfumes according to their thickness and fragrance concentration. For this purpose, you need to categorize your scents into two groups. Those fragrances which are having citrus notes and rich in floral should be categorized in group A while those fragrances having powdery notes should be kept in group B. Now mix one scent from group A to another scent from group B to give a unique aroma and you can also layer more than and two of them and can be considered as a good starting point.

 The layering of perfume doesn't means you directly layer two or more perfumes on top of each other. You can customize your blending by applying a scented lotion or you can spray one scent on your wrist and another on your neck. For getting perfect blending experience don't hesitate to play around with various notes and experiment with the combinations. According to a rule of thumb, you should spray heavier scents first so that they don't overpower the lighter ones.

 The experts of Dumont say that fragrance layering is a very open-minded task and an individual can apply as many layers as he or she wants to exactly express his or her vision to reflect his or her personality through the aroma of fragrance carrying.