Black October

Even in the middle of November I still relish post-Halloween mood. It came the most difficult period for me, when I barely see the sun and nature around me is painted in the mournful colors. At the same time I try to enjoy my melancholy and draw inspiration from it. Time for black silk blouses and Sylvia Plath lyrics.The best soundtracks for these days are Corpus Delicti, Fields of the Nephilim and Sisters of Mercy. And now I've also found fragrance that suited my despondency perfectly. It's "Death and Decay" by Lush. What a sweet goth name! 

"The pure scent of lily mingles with over-ripe tones of indole to give this fragrance a pungent, narcotic headiness. Let it transport you to a serene space where the fullness of beauty and its inevitable decay can be contemplated without fear. The message is one of meditation, acceptance and optimism delivered in a glorious, floral flourish"

Available in both solid and oil form. I am the proud owner of a small jar with solid perfume. Every time I open it and put on the skin, I feel a kind of decadent pleasure in the spirit of Dorian Gray. They certainly smell funereal, but at the same time incredibly calm. This is mature, wise and peaceful aroma. I'm just in love with it.  

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I wanted to share with you also a couple of trinkets from my Halloween:

1) Oh so lovely pumpkin brooch found on Ebay fields. It created me a holiday mood a week before the event.

2) My culinary masterpiece - a vegan sandwich "Frankenstein." Avocados, olives and tomatoes - the best combination for healthy and creepy breakfast ever!

Blessed me, my Darlings!

Аscension

Spring! All is full of sunshine and energy! And I do too. I madly want to create something, to write, to implement ideas. I feel purity and renewal. Now is a good time for all sorts of magic and rituals. And every spring I'm irresistibly drawn to the ground. I feel so much forces in myself  that I want to give them to someone else. And then I planting :) I love all kinds of plants: house plants, pot plants, garden plants.  I don't have much space at home for all the plants that I'd like to grow, unfortunately. But I have an old-old Spathiphyllum, poinsettia brought by one Christmas, cactus, and of course orchids. This is my permanent residents. But in times like these I like to plant flowers. I loooove the bulbous! Daffodils, hyacinths, lilies, amaryllis... This year I decided to grow aundersized irises. This is one of my favorite flowers. So gentle, refined and concise. Now my babies are 10 centimeters growth :) Moreover, the window sill is a great place for medicinal herbs. With due attention you can grow mint and lemon balm, thyme and rosemary, magic tulsi for health and tasty basil, lemongrass, and even parsley. Plant and prepare the ground better in accordance with the lunar calendar: in ancient times astrologers noticed the connection between the cycle of the moon and the development and growth of plants. Today is favorable date for planting, pretty witches! So let's decorate our homes with thousands of beautiful flowers!

Phoenix Of My Heart

Dear friends, I have accumulated a number of new cosmetic products, which I would like to share with you. Firstly, it's my discovery of perfume brand "Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab". I was given a lot of "imp's ears" for Halloween, and I hardly could find the time to try them all. My collection of fragrances called "A Picnic in Arkham". Oh, I love the dark world of HP Lovecraft! And of course I just had to taste something as weird as a perfume associated with his books! So, here is my top of creepy fragrances:

****  Al Azif

"A sinister, sinuous incense of summoning, a herald and paean to the Primordial Gods of Darkness, Chaos, Madness and Decay."

I put 4 out of possible 5 because this scent is more for men. The smell of coffee with a touch of oriental.

***** Arkham

"A shadowy, unapproachable forest of maple, birch, dogwood, cypress and pine softened by a garland of New England wildflowers: bergamot, columbine, rue anemone, blue violet, creeping phlox, bloodroot, toadflax, and pixie moss."

If this city really smells like this oil, it should be not so scary. Very light flavor with a hint of mango.

*** Cthulhu

"A creeping, wet, slithering scent, dripping with seaweed, oceanic plants and dark, unfathomable waters."

This is the worst smell of the whole line. Very sharp and not natural. It looks like Cthulhu enjoys air freshener.

**** Herbert West

"Aftershave, embalming fluid, and splatterings from a panoply of reanimation reagents."

I smell the tea and very light shade of flowers. As if he is  not possessed  reanimator but harmless old florist. 

***** Miskatonic University

"The scent of Irish coffee, dusty tomes and polished oakwood halls."

Warm and soft scent that I associate with cookies. It seems that the University is a stronghold of the goodness.

**** Nyarlathotep

"Brooding, yet electric: the scent of buried secrets, roiling nightmares, the essence of the Crawling Chaos, the Father of Knives and Locusts, the Hunter in the Dark. This is the blackest of ritual incenses charged with flashes of ozone."

The smell of the earth, weighed down by sadness. On the skin reveals notes of citrus. 

**** R’Lyeh

"A hellishly dark aquatic scent, evocative of fathomless oceanic deeps, the mysteries of madness buried under crushing black waters, and the brooding eternal evil that lies beneath the waves."

The smell of freshly sliced apples, mixed with something unnatural. Maybe a trace of air freshener from Cthulhu? 

***** Shub-Niggurat

"The lust incense of a corrupted Astarte. A blend of ritual herbs and dark resins, shot through with three gingers and aphrodisiacal spices."

My favorite scent! Apple, cinnamon, honey... Warm, enveloping scent. Looks like Shub-Niggurath is just ducky and often bakes at home an apple pie.

Please don't forget that these estimates are highly subjective, and everyone feels in flavors something specifically own. 

What else is new?I have already written about the fact that the care of the hair very important to me. So I discover new amazing brands with great joy. "Kensuko" is the last such opening for me. Shampoo of this mark perfectly moisturizes and nourishes the hair and has the consistency of cream. In addition, this eco-friendly brand! So I'm going to try a few more funds from "Kensuko". 

In addition, I switched to natural oils for my skin. Now I'm testing macadamia oil. It's too early to talk about the results, but I hope that this is much more useful than chemical creams. 
Ladies, I ask you to share with me your experiences in the use of oils: cosmetic and aromatic. What is your favorite flavor at BPAL? And what kind of oil do you use for face 

care

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Wonderful life

Sweet November outside. Last leaves have already fallen down from the trees. Strolling along the park in the morning I'm enjoying the last rays of the sun on my face. Whitish frost covers the grass and the ice has begun to constrain water. It seems that with the last flocks of birds my soul is  flying away. Soon  there will come  the endless black nights and I will enter into the period of melancholy and screeching halt. Inaction, passivity and unwillingness to do  or to change anything haunt me in the winter. So now, in a season that inspires me the most, I have to do the maximum! In plans there are articles, notes, long letters, and many other things that have long been waiting for me on the writing table. Autumn, don't leave me...

Soap Bubbles

Who among us doesn't love to receive gifts? :) But for me, there is nothing nicer than Halloween gifts! Me and my American friend Norman have a long tradition of exchanging festive parcels that day. This year he sent me an 8 pound box packed with all that could wish a Gothic heart! Among other enjoyable things there was an amazing vintage casket made in the form of a Hemingway's book. 

What was inside of it became for me an object of the real mania! And in fact this was just a soap! Who would have thought that the soap can be so creative, interesting, unusual?! And smell like holy heaven! So I can't resist and not to introduce to you Nature's emporium soap company. 

I was gifted with 3 kinds of this paradise  pleasure: Thunder moon, Golden pumpkin and Sugar bar. I will tell about them in order. 

So #1 Thunder moon

It refers to the collection of ethnic flavors and associated with the Native American myths. Invigorating as the July Thunderstorms, this soap is a sure energizer. 

Cocoa Butter & Shea Butter. Essential Oils of Juniperberry, Cedar and Lavender. 

#2 Golden pumpkin

This is my favorite! It smells so incredibly delicious that I don't want to let it from my hands! Warm Vanilla, Spicey Cinnamon & Honey combine to make this a romantic Autumn bar. 

Handcrafted with Saponified Olive, Soy, Coconut, Sweet Almond & Castor Oils. 

Cocoa Butter & Shea Butter. Oils of Vanilla, Cinnamon & Honey.

And finally #3 Sugar bar

If the previous was the best in its smell, this one is undoubtedly the best in design. Just look at this traditional skull and a great combination of colors. Celebrating our Ancestors the way of the South West, the Sugar Bar featuring art by Sarah Hart! This Bar smells so sweet you will want to eat it! Just like Sugar and combined with Coconut & Palm Sugar ~ it is sure to make your shower a true TREAT! 

The House of Usher

Last weekend I visited the place where I spent my summer vacation in childhood. This is cozy cottage on the edge of the village, on the border with forest. You know, it's a very strange feeling to come back to where you have not been for many years. In my memories remained a quite idyllic picture: a large wooden house, apple trees around, the path to the lake, surrounded by fragrant  rosehips. It was so painful to see that the house stands empty and abandoned, and the land around it is overgrown with tall grass. Lots of beautiful trees are cut down and tracks asphalted. Place loses its magic and forest spirits leave it... We walked a lot draped in plaid along the magnificent lake with blue water and a little rain felt sad just like me, creating a special lyrical atmosphere. I would love to go back to the time when I was so small and the world was so large and unknown.

Audrey's dance

Recent days have been associated with a lot of work, reading, various searches. My work now has two directions. The first is  University. Second - the newly opened by me and my beautiful friend Irina Internet shop with pin up, retro and gothic clothing. We named it "Cherry shop" and this is our cute logo:

Communication with customers, order processing, design of Internet space - all it takes a lot of time. But it's very interesting and I do not notice how my day flies by! Unfortunately :) Beautiful people and beautiful things - this combination inspires me to great deeds! 

However, in the evening, when I find myself at home with a loved one and together we prepare a vegetarian supper - I rest for real. My evening is now once again filled with masterpiece of David Lynch. Of course I'm talking about Twin Peaks. This is my favorite movie and I can watch it countless times. Color, staged frames, nature, characters and their strangeness - all combine to create an unreal world of dreams. Oh, how I wish one day to visit this town, to admire its waterfall and to taste famous Norma's pie with a cup of black coffee! But among other things, one of the main ornaments of this film is the music of Angelo Badalamenti. He managed to create an incredibly sophisticated musical canvas and it's an integral part of the whole. For the past few days in my head sounds composition titled Audrey's dance and I see how delightfully elegant and sexy is dancing my favorite  heroine in cafe "RR". 

So I feel like involved in the life of this strange and magical town, where evil spirits live in the forest. I'm as Laura Palmer, doing something good in the day time but at night the dark forces overwhelm me. Maybe I should go to work in the One-Eyed Jack?)

It's not necrophilia if you're dead too

Too much light! I love the sun, but the first rays of spring, so bright and hot, make me hide in the shadows. The first thing I do when I get home - close all the curtains to stay in the dark and get rid of the pain in my eyes. One crazy thought has arisen in my head - can I become a vampire?:) This is my biggest dream since childhood, hee-hee :) It inspired me to watch old gold films with my favorite classical heroines: Morticia Addams, Lily Munster amd Vampira. Nevertheless, my appearance of the last days is more suitable for Elvira ;) What do you think, what kind of image is more like for me? V~V

For the rhythm of our blood

My good friend from U.S. sent me a big box of wonderful books. I long couldn't reach them, but finally  Nick Bantock's book "Venetian's wife" literally mesmerized me. It is incredibly beautiful graphic novel about "а Renaissance Explorer, a Computer, and a Metamorphosis". The story is very sensual and full of references to Hindu mythology. So it's no surprise that this book attracted me! The entire novel consists of letters between a museum researcher, Sara Wolfe, and N. Conti, a centuries-old ghost trapped within the confines of modern technology. Conti hires Sara to track down the pieces of a peculiar art collection, and Sara discovers more of herself — and her destiny — in the process. Bаntock is a great graphic artist, and small pictures accompanying the text are really peculiar and charming. The story about art historian is so close to me that the book has left a lot of pleasant impressions. My house is full of statues brought from various trips to Asia and marvelous incenses, and books such as "Venetian's wife" carry me back to the narrow streets of India and make me purr like a cat ^^.

The velvet blade of apathy

Phew ... Yesterday my thesis was finally approved at a meeting of professors at my university. Now I feel kind of devastation and sadness. The fact is that I merged with my research work and study, and I'm scared to imagine that all this will be over soon. Although, may be it's spring acting so on the unbalanced people :)  Just in a week the darkness left my city, and here is so much bright sunlight now... How can you not have arisen psychosis! 

But the best cure for a girl is shopping :) I have long needed spring shoes and I saw this lovely couple in time. They are made in retro style of fake leather and suede. And of course the photos can't convey how cute they look on the legs ^^. What is important for me, they remind of Audrey Horne's shoes  from Twin Peaks, my favorite heroine. 

If we are talking about shopping, I can't hide my admiration for the new facility for hair from Diego Dalla Palma. This is a wonderful shampoo and conditioner. I bought them in a spa hotel during a trip to Mikkeli. At the moment this cosmetic line has become my number 1. It strengthens the hair and makes it silky, just magic!