Tournaments and Tinctures

[omorka]

. . . Well, not really tinctures. Oils. But it alliterated.

Went to the Twain tournament today. We were supposed to take 30 students plus an alternate. 5 (including the alternate) flaked on me, although three of them were at least together enough to let me know ahead of time. This morning, I only had 23 on the bus. Normally, this would mostly be irritating, but the missing ones were our Salutatorian-To-Be (who is also my Mu Alpha Theta President this year), China Doll, and Hyper. The students flipped out their cell phones and began punching numbers. Third got hold of Hyper, who answered the phone by yelling "Aww, SHIT" loud enough that I could hear it across the aisle of the bus. He got there in 13 minutes flat, bed to bus. The StB and China Doll, unfortunately, live farther away and, fortunately, care more about their appearance; they both said to go ahead and they'd meet us there. Fortunately, we had an unusually intelligent and articulate bus driver (I swear most of the Saturday driver team have IQs below 80) who grasped the situation after my explaining it once, and we were off.

It was not one of our best tournaments, to be blunt. We got a large number of place ribbons; don't get me wrong, it wasn't an embarrassing performance at all. If I'd had this from the kids I took to the same tournament two years ago, I'd've been ecstatic. (Well, that and AV not getting into a near screaming match over one of the US History exam questions.) But . . . these kids can do better. Freshprince's math team is like a brick wall, but we can compete in the same league as the Bent Tower ISD kids. I'm hoping for improvement between now and the Lizzie Seamstress tournament.

Oh, speaking of AV (last year's valedictorian and Mu Alpha Theta President), he dropped by the school on Friday. He gave me his e-mail address, so I think he's at least put the ugliness of the state of the club at the end of last year behind him. I haven't forgiven him, but nu, life goes on and he's grown since then. (I think he's literally taller too - he looks like he's gained an inch since graduation!)

starcat_jewel has recently been posting reviews of scents she's purchased or gotten from the manufacturer as free samples. I saw two of them, in particular, and decided to putter about with the ingredients described. Now, this is obviously not an attempt to recreate the scent, as I've not had the opportunity to whiff any of her samples; mostly it's me being loosely inspired by the described ingredients list.

First one: Purple Raven
1 t plain jojoba oil as the base
7 drops Sandalwood
9 drops Musk (synthetic)
5 drops Violet (synthetic)
7 drops Neroli
3 drops Lily of the Valley (synthetic)

This one was interesting. It's awfully citrusy when first on, but the neroli fades pretty quickly into the background. For the next few hours, it's all about the violet, but the other elements deepen it into something other than a standard floral, give it some background color. After three hours, it's sandalwood with floral highlights, and stays that way until the end of the day. The musk never really stands out on its own, but I'll accept that - I'm not fond of it as a single-note fragrance, anyway.


Second one: Golden Orchid
1 t vanilla-bean-infused jojoba oil as the base
9 drops Amber (synthetic)
8 drops Rosewood
5 drops Juniper
3 drops Pine Needle

starcat_jewel said this one was intended by the perfumer as a men's scent, which I should have heeded as a warning. It would make a perfectly lovely aftershave, or if I diluted it enough, men's cologne. On me, though, it's awfully butch. I think it's the juniper. I scrubbed it off before work, so I haven't given it a long-term test; if I can manage to live through the juniper assault tomorrow, I'll leave it on all day to see if it matures into something more reasonable.

Reading her posts has got me interested in purchasing some more oils, in particular rose otto (currently all I have is synthetic rose, and I think it irritates my skin). It's a shame, though, that some of my favorite scents - particularly patchouli - are off-putting to her.

Comments

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

After Owlcon, we'll need to get together where you can take a sniff at some of the stuff I've got. This should be much easier now that my car is working again!

BTW, I think the inspiration for that second one may be mildly aphrodesiac to me -- I was wearing it again yesterday evening, and things got interesting, IYKWIM. :) Have to see if the effect repeats. Also, I'd suggest backing down on the juniper in the blend -- I really don't pick that note out in mine at all.

Oh, and come by the table at Owlcon. I have a pendant to wave at you. :)

[greeneyes-rpi.livejournal.com]

That sounds so cool. You make me want to sniff things! ;)