Flash Sale this weekend!

I'm having a Flash Sale at the perfume shop this Saturday, 22nd June (assuming I can get the app to work...)! Everything at Common Brimstone will be 20% off for one day only. That's all 5ml vials, all sample sets, and all individual samples. Everything!

I'm so, so happy with how well my little venture has been going since February and since so many people here and else where on t'internet have Tweeted and liked and Facebooked to spread the word, I figure it'll be nice to say thank you ^_^

The Great Honey Badger Giveaway

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you'll know I'm road testing potential new perfumes for the shop this week. Today it's Honey Badger, a blend of beeswax and cocoa absolute with a teensy bit of dark chocolate, a dash of honeycomb, and a base of white and black musk. I LOVE IT. The dark chocolate and beeswax notes pop out first, and it melts down to a sweet honey-musk finish that's not too saccharine. I want you all to try it, so...how about a giveaway?

 Just "like" or comment on this post and I'll draw a winner on Wednesday 19th June. The winner gets a 5ml bottle of this exclusive, yet-to-be-released scent. Easy!

And hey, spread the word, because if I hit 50 or more likes on my Facebook page in this time, I'll do something else fabulous for you all!

3 Days of Silence

I can't believe it's only been two days since this story broke. I think Edward Snowden has raised a lot of questions and worries, and for a lot of people confirmed a lot of theories and fears. I'm really not politically savvy enough to drill down into all the ramifications of the NSA leaks, so I won't even try. You can definitely find out plenty without me. But what has that got to do with 3 Days of Silence?

So yesterday I saw Crunchy Betty post about this on Facebook, and the idea of going on a digital detox for a few days was appealing, but fleeting. And then she blogged about it today and the idea really took hold. Not just as an impromptu protest against all this surveillance and 1984 paranoia, but as a break from the constant influx of internets in my life. The first thing I do every morning is check my emails on my phone. I catch up on Twitter and Facebook while I'm drying my hair. I read the news or ebooks on my phone on the bus to work. At work I'm constantly online, answering emails, researching, and doing things I'm not really supposed to be doing from a work computer. At home in the evenings I'm chatting on Facebook, browsing the Etsy forums, gaming, and generally immersing myself in the web.

That's, you know, a lot of time at a computer. And I started thinking of all the things I keep saying I have no time for, that I definitely would have time for if I had a couple of days computer-free. And all the things I used to do before I had internet access and how I filled my days before Twitter and Cracked.com. And I think now especially, when I'm feeling low and struggling with my sense of self, disconnecting from the digital world and spending some time outside of cyberspace might be really nice and useful.

So I'm going to do a "lite" version of this, since June 24th is a work day for me and I don't think my boss would be too pleased if I just ignored all digital communication for a day. But June 22nd and 23rd are my Silent Days. No phone except for emergencies, no internet, no TV. I'm going to read and make perfumes and scribble in notebooks. I'm going to see what I can make out of dried hyssop and green tea leaves. I'm going to dig out my rune stones and Tarot cards and re-learn some things. And if  it comes down to it, I'm going to poke my cat for entertainment.

He's usually pretty good value for money.

A Belated Pay Day Deal

So much for blogging here once a week...Well, I am trying to remedy that. I've been experimenting with dried herbs recently and I might put together a few blog posts on things you can do with chamomile, lavender, and thyme, if I find time.

But for now! Here's your Pay Day Deal for the month. Yes, it's late. It should have been last weekend, but I was at the seaside with a spaniel and a dachshund, so it's this weekend instead. Between today and Monday 3rd June, Pin-Up is on offer at a 20% discount!

This is my ultimate girly fragrance, blending cherry, strawberry, rose, parma violet, vanilla and baby powder for a sweet, uplifting scent. It's proven to be one of my most popular perfumes so far, so now's your chance to grab it cheap and see what all the fuss is about.

Alchemy Report: Bank Holiday Edition

I really need to try to blog here more often. Once a week shouldn't be too much effort, given how much nonsense I talk in the average day. Anyway! I have been busy in the kitchen today. I have a ton of new fragrance oils, essential oils, and absolutes waiting for my attention and a long, long list of blends I wanted to try out. Some are second or third attempts at older blends, some are custom requests, and some are brand new ideas.

I'm trying a slightly different blending method at the moment. Normally when I make a new perfume oil, I mix together the requisite number of EOs/FOs/absolutes in a 10ml bottle, add carrier oil, and leave it to age. If it comes out how I wanted, this is fine, but if it doesn't, I have to scrap the blend completely and start over. Today I decided to leave out the carrier oil and just mix the EOs/FOs/absolutes in smaller quantities than usual. This gives me plenty of scope to tweak the formulas if I'm not happy with them, and since some of the absolutes I'm using now are really expensive, this is a more logical way forward. More often than not, the way a blend smells when you first make it and the way it smells a week later is very different, so having to completely scrap a mixture and start again can be quite wasteful.

So what have I made today? Loads of stuff! A friend had requested some pregnancy-safe perfumes, so I have a couple of pure EO blends aging for her, one for relaxing and one for mood-lifting. I've been on a real foodie FO kick lately, which has resulted in blends including carrot cake and hot chocolate, toasted marshmallow and candy floss, and white tea and lemon pastry. And as summer approaches, I'm looking for those perfect tropical perfumes - pomegranate, passion fruit, pikaki, dragon's blood, cananga and coconut all got an airing today. And then there are the maverick mixes, like beeswax and cocoa absolute with honeycomb and a duo of musks. Are they all going to be good enough to get into Common Brimstone's catalogue? Dunno yet, but I have high hopes!

The other thing on my to-do list today was hand cream. I stopped buying commercial hand creams a while ago, but hadn't got round to trying out a homemade replacement. Then the warmer weather (finally) kicked in over here in the UK, the air conditioning at work sprung into life, and suddenly my hands are dry and I dislike this immensely. So! I found a recipe that I already had all the ingredients for and gave it a go.

First step - ingredients. This is a nice, simple blend of beeswax, mango butter, coconut oil, and essential oils. I used:

4 tablespoons of beeswax

2 tablespoons of mango butter

8 tablespoons of coconut oil

5 drops of lavender EO and 5 drops of lemon EO

This looked like a ridiculous amount of stuff in my little saucepan, but once it was all melted down, there was just the right amount to nicely fill an old travel sweets tin. Like so:

Then it's just a matter of waiting for the mixture to set. Because I have a total inability not to shake and poke things like this when they're meant to be setting, I made the hand cream before starting on my perfume-making, which distracted me long enough let the cream set. Like so:

Ta-da! Homemade lavender and lemon hand cream. Totally easy, totally free of unnatural content, and totally lovely on my hands! I'm taking this to work to combat the air-con. I can't get over how easy it is to make your own beauty products like this. Now I'm used to doing it, I can't imagine ever going back to commercial products. There really is no comparison, and it's so fun and satisfying to make your own. I have another travel sweets tin to use, too...Might have to make another tin of cream for at home!

Your Pay Day Deal this month...

...is The Lotus Eaters. Inspired by the beguiling, brief references made in Homers Odyessy. The Lotus Eaters were a race living on an island off the coast of North Africa, who lived on the fruits and flowers of the lotus. Eating these exotic blooms caused people to fall into a deep, blissful sleep.

My interpretation isn't narcotic, but it is dreamy - pure lotus absolute blended with sandalwood essential oil and a rainforest fragrance, topped with tropical mangoes. And between now and Monday 29th April, it's available at a 20% discount! So why not treat yourself to a touch of paradise? 

The holiday is over...

...which is good news for you guys, because the shop is re-opened and I've added five new scents to the catalogue. Wander over to check out Oshun, Rose Jam, Hedgerow Tea, Beatrice, and Fox Maiden. And I've decided to keep Selkie as a permanent addition to the shop, so don't worry if you didn't get a chance to pick it up as part of the St Patrick's Day limited editions!

The next Pay Day Deal weekend will be 26th - 29th April and I'll be adding the next batch of new scents in early May. I'll also be putting together my first newsletter, so remember to sign up if you want news, coupon codes, and freebies!