Goodies Given and Gotten

Today was my friend's birthday, to which she gave a Hobbit theme and the title "Feast of Starlight". Making potions and scents is a standby for me when it comes to gifts --- especially when I'm not sure what else to give, what will be received well or found useful, or when I'm short on time. My friend is a passionate, romantic sort who leads with her heart (unlike this one here, who wears barbed wire around hers, and leads with the head and soul instead!), so I chose a blend that I hoped would be both romantic as well as fresh and uplifting for spring.

I ended up with this little phial of liquid buttery light. Tangerine is a very orange-yellow oil, hence the color of the floating layer. Three quarter-teaspoons of vodka added and the rest filled with water provided a menstruum. This, I told my friend, is a scent blend you shake well first, and then spray on.

Now, normally I'm a purist: I like to blend my own stuff. But when pressed for time, why reinvent the wheel? I chose a blend from the online grouping below. Alas, essential oils are hard to measure if they come out of the bottle in sloppy drops, so even my formula isn't precise --- or replicable. Snape would no doubt be horrified at both my lack of innovation and precision, but you do what you gotta . . . and it wasn't like I was in danger of losing my eyebrows.


Spring Passion:

4 drops Ylang Ylang
2 drops Patchouli
2 Tangerine
2 Frankincense

I wrapped the bottle in a little pink tissue paper as a gift. No time for a label! (Again Snape reaches for his meterstick --THWAK!)

Getting to the party was beastly. I got an outfit from Goodwill, along with a nice find: a Slytherin blazer (you think I'd buy something like that brand-franchise-new?! Hell no!). But by then I was late, and later still getting wine from the markets --- though I did find my favourite Chocolate Shop wine.

By the time public transport got me to the party four hours after printed start time, I was freezing, starving, and in serious need of caffeine and nourishment . . . only to find the food and cake had all been eaten. I barely held off a total breakdown. As in, fuck, just shoot me now. Who has fun at a party with no food? And me wearing all this awkward dangly jewelry and stuff on my head, for once having put on a pretty face instead of a standard Severus resting bitch face! But as soon as I got some soup and moscato in me, plus some crab cakes my friend heated up for me, I started feeling "up".

Best of all, friend Mae brought the runestone sets her partner makes. I took a liking to both a cheap set and an expensive (based on price of gemstones) set, so I bought the cheaper set and voiced my continued interest in the other.

I used to be quite the young runestress, appropriating Mom's old Ralph Blum ceramic set, learning all their names and meanings. But when Berkana got chipped, I got discouraged. Now I look forward to working with the runes again! These diamond-shaped stones feel good in my hands, and the odd green tones match my stone blade and the colors I'm weaving into the Severus Animus Remedii icon. Snaky green for a serpentine mage. I made the runes my own by touching up their gilded engravings with a piece of fine sandpaper, then cleaning them off and shining them up with, of course, my nose and temple grease. True Snape style, that.

Unusually pretty face, with embellishments, but I'm still not smiling.

Lots of recipes for supposedly romantic essential oil blends! I do wish essential oils weren't such a money sink; perfumery is definitely something I want to pursue once my income allows for it. As of now, I can be only a mere dabbler.

I found this funny meme online, where witchy memes proliferate of all sorts. People's answers were hilarious. I promptly wrote: Chocolate Shop wine, Snape naked (a photo will work), and a sign reading, "Lots of little bottles --- FREE!"