This is Halloween, this is Halloween...

So in honour of Samhain, today's perfume had to be Pumpkin Nuit. The scent contains pumpkin, woodsmoke, caraway, sage & cumin.

A pleasantly spooky mix, its a deep mellow scent. My other half thinks it smells like sweets, I think it smells like pumpkin soup. But either way its nice.

Another warming scent, perfect for dark cold nights.

7.5

Today were off on an adventure by the sea, and then its the Boys Halloween party tonight.

Have a spooky one everyone!

A nice cup of Chai

We've had a lovely day by the sea, the Boy has been playing in rockpools and we've even had one of those old fashioned family photos taken.

Today's perfume was 'caramel chai' which is made up of caramel, chai tea, cardamom, nutmeg & gingerbread. It's a lovely gentle scent, very pleasant, but quite subtle, I had actually expected it to be a bit stronger.

Its quite warming and soothing, but almost too subtle, I kept forgetting I was wearing it, and could bairly smell it a few hours later! Which is really a shame, because it is a lovely scent.

7/10

Fly high little cinnamon bird

I'm currently running around in a mad panic, trying to pack, trying to sort out my costume for the Halloween party. All in all its a bit chaotic here this morning. As such I'm treating myself with this perfume. 

The scent is Cinnamon Bird, which contains Hay, saffron, cinnamon stick, cinnamon bark and almond milk.

It is gorgeous. The smell reminds me of those firey cinnamon jelly beans. Fiery but delicious. My son also thinks it smells like sweeties, and even my other half likes this one, it's his favourite so far!

Honestly I could just roll myself in this scent. Definitely one to wear if you're feeling blue and need cheering up, or you're gloomy because of the cold wet weather and want somerhing to make you think of the sun. 

10/10

I'm also feeling rather proud of myself for a knitting achievement last night, I managed the russian join on my leightweight shawl! Such a handy join, you can't see it at all, and no ends to sew in! Huzzah!!

Witchy powers!

After a delicious home made meal last night (with leftovers that will be reheated for lunch) the very bizare witchy dreams I had last night, and the fact I'm listening to the playlist Ive created for the kids Halloween party I'm taking my son to on Friday; Kitchen Witch felt like the apt perfume for today. The scent is a mix of Salted caramel, brown suger, bay, rosemary, thyme & smoke. Tasty.

It's one of my middle tier perfumes from the sniff test. When I first put it on the scent of the smoke seemed quite strong and over powered everything else, but the scent seems to be settling in now,  and I'm getting hints of the caramel, and the herbs. The perfume definitely invokes the scent of the kitchen, where a delicios feast is being prepared (with those herbs its actually quite earthy in a way, but with that tantalising wisp of smoke over the top). It's a lovely perfume, but I'm not quite sure its me.

6.5/10

Today is the my last day of work before a few days off. We're taking the Boy to Blackpool to see the lights tomorrow which will be fun. But that means knitting time will be slim, which is a pain as I really want to get the shawl finished! Best crack on now while I have chance.

Powdered Suuuugggeeer!

Ok, I know... That reference only makes sense if you've seen the Bad lip reading Walking Dead Video. If not, well you're missing out!
"The Walking (And Talking) Dead"

Today's perfume is 'Blackwood Suger' and I wanted to give this one a test drive today as a friend of mine fancies the scent so I promised her Id review it! It's one of my top 5 perfumes from the sniff test, and for good reason. The scent contains white & brown suger, ginger, clove, cinnamon & oakwood. It is inspired by
Shirley Jackson's classic Southern Gothic novel, We Have Always Lived in the Castle.

Its a really gorgeous smelling perfume, the ginger makes it seem warming and everything else just makes it smell extra tasty, with the oakwood keeping it from being too sweet. Definitely a scent you want to wear if you're feeling a bit low and need a pick me up.

Unfortunately it just loses a point because the other half isn't a huge fan, but honestly I blame his nose for being stupid rather than the perfume. Although, to be super duper fair to his nose, I am asking his opinion stupidly early while he's still half asleep! 

8.5/10

I had promised a progress picture of the shawl I'm knitting, so here you go. Honestly it doesn't do it any justice.  The yarn is super fluffy and soft, and has a glimmer of hot pink running through it that the photo doesnt capture. I'm really pleased with it.

Declaring Christmas!

Ok. I hate it when all the Christmas stuff is out in the shops before Halloween is even over.

But today's perfume makes me want to declare Christmas already! Its Cherry Kisses, another medium tier perfume from the sniff test, but my goodness now I'm wearing it, its absolutely gorgeous.  It smells exactly like those lovely Christmas candles I always buy by the dozen as soon as they go on sale.

The scent is made up of Cherry, Clove & Mixed Spices. It really makes me feel festive, I definitely want some of this to wear on Christmas day.

My son thinks it smells like sweeties, and my OH approves as well, so thats a thumbs up from all of us!

9/10

Im still plowing away on the shawl, I'll take a photo this evening as I'm just short of halfway now.

Get out your badger paws

Today's perfume is Honey Badger.

I ordered this one for the name alone, it felt like the perfect perfume to celebrate my Hufflepuff pride.

The scent is beeswax, coca, honeycomb, dark chocolate, black & white musk.

When the scent arrived I wasn't that impressed, and put it in my bottom two. But wearing it today I like it much more than I did. It's the opposite of yesterday, which was a disappointment.

This is also the first perfume my other half is liked, which gives it an extra point.

So, all in all, for name value, scent and partner approval this one gets 7/10. 

I'm currently knitting away, making a shawl for my Gran In Law. It's the first time I've used a lace weight yarn. But it's lovely and fluffy. I'll take a photo in a few days when I've got more done, but it's knitting up nice & quickly which is a bonus.

Constance and the hand made leg warmers

Today's perfume is Constance, it's one of my mid tier favorites. The scent is made up of Cookie Dough, bread, butter cream, butter, tea and sugar. Sounds good enough to eat right?

Unfortunately for me the scent is just too subtle, maybe its the scent of the tea in the mix, but I just don't really get the scent of cookies. I've had a cookie scented perfume before, from a different maker, and that was gorgeous, it really did smell like freshly baked cookies and I got compliments every time I wore it. This doesn't have that feel, which is a shame as I really wanted to like it more. I actually liked the scent more in the bottle than I do on me.

5/10 for me.

On the knitting front, I've got one Christmas present completed, yay!! Here are the leg warmers I've made for my Grandmother, she wanted some to wear while walking, so they're made from the lovely soft worsted weight llama wool I bought a few weeks ago. They are very simple, but supper warm and snuggly, and I think I have enough yarn left to make a matching gead band (If I have time before Christmas!)

*sniff test*

One of my treats to myself every now and then is artissan perfume. My best friend loves Black Pheonix Alchemy Lab perfume, and whenever I used to visit she'd drag out her huge collection of perfume bottles and let me try some on.

Unfortunately living in England BPAL perfumes are an expensive treat, as the shipping alone is pricey. So I started looking around for an artissan perfume seller closer to home and found a few which I tried out. Over the years I've found some I loved, and some I was utterly unimpressed by. But I think I have now finally found THE ONE!

The seller is Common Brimstone on Etsy, and lives in the UK so postage is cheap (thankfully) and she seems to share my taste in scents.  I decided to buy one or two bottles, but struggled to pick just one. So I decided to buy a sample pack of 10, and still struggled to get my choices down to 10!

But eventually I did, placed my order and sat down to wait... Yesterday my perfumes arrived up, and my do they smell nice.  To be honest, normally with a sample selection there's a couple that, when they arrive, you just don't like after all, or they don't seem 'you'. This time that isn't a problem, the problem is I like all of them!

After a lot of sniffing yesterday I finally separated out my Top 5: Oshun, Black Wood Sugar, Cinnamon Bird, Caramel Chai & Pumpkin Nuit

Middle 3: Cherry Kiss, Kitchen Witch & Constance

& the bottom two: Honey Badger & Bastet

But honestly its a very close thing, now I need to try out each scent and see what I think.

Today is the first scent, and one of my top 5. I had planned to save this one till later, but after an awful nights sleep last night I needed a pick me up!

The scent is called Oshun, which is apparently named for an Oshiri (goddess?) of love,  beauty of diplomacy.  An interesting mix, as is the scent, which apparently contains warm clove, amber, nutmeg, cinnamon, honey and pumpkin.

I really do love this one. Its warm, deep and comforting, without being too sweet or cloying. I want to wrap myself in it and snuggle in front of a fire with a good book.

9/10 (Honestly I'd give it full marks, but that seems daft on the first day!)

Oh and to keep it knitting related,  today Im trying out the socks I finished for the first time, they didnt need a sniff test though! ;)

The good, the bad, and the squishy!

A bit of a mixed bag last week.

I'm always a believer in starting with the bad news, which last week involved the news that my local favourite yarn shop (purl city yarns) is closing. Boooo.... :(

But this horrid news had an upside, which was that they had a huge sale on to clear their stock before they shut forever.

This meant I was able to do my Christmas Yarn order for a bargin price (well as bargin as you get for lovely yarn, which admitedly isn't really ever a bargin, but who cares, it's lovely!)

So on Saturday morning the postman delivered my lovely order full of pretty yarn.

Oh so pretty, and soooo squishy!

So I know have 6 skeins of  worsted llama wool (in 2 colours) I've never used llama wool before, but my goodness its soft.

I also have 2 skeins of lace weight mohair yarn, which is both gorgeous and squishy.

And finally a lovely self striping dk yarn.

*Sigh* yarn heaven!