It’s Leap Year, and You All Know What That Means.

Right? You know what that means? If not, get this:

On the British isles, it is a tradition that women may propose marriage only on leap years. While it has been claimed that the tradition was initiated by Saint Patrick or Brigid of Kildare in 5th century Ireland, this is dubious, as the tradition has not been attested before the 19th century.

Wha’? I don’t even — it’s an Irish thing? This is from Wikipedia; naturally, I took that with a grain of salt and went off a’googling. Now, it occurs to me that the internet is just a massive self-fulfilling prophecy, in that information is taken from one place and put in another, because where else are we going to get our information, and everything you see on a screen is true. Right? I don’t know, it just hit me, that this is so, and made me wonder about the things we think we know… I’ve always been easily led, but today is the day I question everything.

From about.com:

St. Bridget’s Complaint
It is believed this tradition was started in 5th century Ireland when St. Bridget complained to St. Patrick about women having to wait for so long for a man to propose. According to legend, St. Patrick said the yearning females could propose on this one day in February during the leap year.

Plus the whole Sadie Hawkins thing started in a comic strip? Really?

I didn’t really get Lush’s Leap Frog Bath Ballistic. I mean, he smelled fantastic, and was made of all of my fave essential oils: jasmine, neroli, ylang ylang, sandalwood and rose. < Seriously, all of them in one place, I couldn’t believe it. He looked to be a good size, one that would keep fizzing until he melted, rather than fizzling out. LOL.

The Leap Frog’s particular thing is that he comes with a special message inside. Now, let me tell ya, there is nothing like the promise of a secret thing inside another thing to get me going. Or a prize of some sort! Lucky Dip, Cracker Jacks, piñatas — holy wow, watch me go for it.

The special, secret message, though, has to do with being a female and popping the question to the male? I have no use for such a message at this stage, but: I HAD TO KNOW WHAT WAS IN THE FROG. And if I got the special, secret message that’s supposed to help you go about proposing {???} then I would put it aside for future use. Maybe. I already been married, sistuhs, so, you know, no big deal.

BUT I HAD TO KNOW WHAT WAS IN THE FROG. I needed a bath, anyway. Are you the kind of person who needs baths? I prefer showering for cleanliness, but need baths for relaxing and unwinding. So, into the bath I went, with the Frog, who was as fizzy and fragrant as promised and although this was a scenario designed to create the relaxing and the unwinding, I was completely focused on the disintegrating Frog, waiting for the SPECIAL MESSAGE.

When it appeared, I couldn’t read it anyway because I had the candles going and I didn’t have my glasses. Did not relax or unwind much because I COULDN’T READ the special message that I HAD BEEN WAITING FOR.

<This is what I got!

Okay! I am down with this! I actually had a dream a couple weeks ago about a dude called Robert! WILL THIS SPECIAL MESSAGE COME TRUE?!?!?!

€3.50/£2.95/No sign of this in the US

Are you superstitious? Don’t go here.

Ooooh, Pretty: V Day from Lush

I love Valentine’s Day. People seem to get really angry about it? I think it’s all about perspective. If you feel like you have to go out and spend a bomb on a meal that would normally be kinda cheap, then yeah, you are going to be annoyed.

If you want to observe the event chez nous, then I can’t imagine a better accessory than this: PS I Love You, a box of sensual delights from Lush. From bottom left:

> Soft Coeur Massage Bar
> It’s Raining Men Shower Gel
> Silky Underwear Dusting Powder
> Sweetheart Soap

I have first-hand experience with the Raining Men, and it is gorgeous. I am also familiar with massage bars of the past, and have always found them to be fun and easy to use {TWHS}. Woo, I am losing the plot!

As far as the dusting powder is concerned… hmm. I’ve dipped into this sample, and I think it may be a goer. We’ve been warned off powders containing talc, which is a good thing because, hello, talc is related to asbestos and is completely toxic. I vaguely remember a time in which powder felt like an integral part of my post-shower routine; I’ve smoothed some this on and I don’t know, maybe. We’ll see.

What else? Oh, the soap. It smells like candy. I better put it in the soap dish before I take a bite.

Also: the box! This was the inspiration for the title of this post. I mean, seriously, so pretty. I will empty it, and reuse it, with pleasure.

So, if you’re a heart day fan, I can’t think if a better treat to ask for. Because you should always ask for what you want.

€23.50/£16.95/will let you know if this is avail in the States> it is! $34.95

Happy Face Day!

As in, I’ve decided today is face day, and also: take a trip in the way-back machine to get some quick reviews of face masks I have tried and tested. Below are the products reviewed:

Dermalogica makes yet another appearance! I am nothing if not consistent.

Haiku Review: Lush Exclusives

Many tiny scents!
An option for every sitch.
Staying power: low.

Okay, let me just get this out of the way: I am too susceptible to packaging design, and must express my deep loathing for the display font that Lush use. Oh, how I hate that class of scripty-brushy font!

But oh! how I love Gorilla Perfume Miniatures – EXCLUSIVES, a cleverly designed little box ‘o’ fragrance. The brown cardboard is sturdy and I wouldn’t hesitate tossing it into my handbag. Which I would have to do because the scents don’t really last all that long. This is a bother, but not a ginormous botheration, because you can bring it along because the box is so sturdy you can just toss it into your bag… see how that works? It is a little bit of genius.

Each of the eight scents have a genius touch as well. I don’t like all of them, which is normal, but the ones that I do like, I like unconditionally and unreservedly.

These are:

*1000 Kisses, which is sounds sweet because the name is sweet, but it actually has weight.

*B Scent, which goes perfectly with that sexy, sexy Ro’s Argan Body Conditioner I love.

*Cocktail, which: need I say more? Also: ylang ylang which = sexy.

*The Smell of Weather Turning, which OMG, smells exactly like a rain-washed forest. I adore this.

So, 50% ‘like’ for me, that’s pretty good. And it’s really not that big a drag to carry them around and to keep applying one’s scent of choice — something about dabbing on fragrance is unutterably sexy.

Lots of sexy in this post — Lush are on to something!

€24/£19.95/$24.95

Sisterhood of the Travelling Products: The Winnowing

Hmmm. Is this really any improvement a’tall?

Three lip things — there’s the Lush Latte yoke that didn’t make the last photo; one foundation {although I expect the Eau Thermale Avéne compact I’m reviewing will slip itself into a coat pocket}; one hair thing, one brow thing… a new thing {upper left} that came in the fabbbb Kiehl’s gift box that my sister-in-law gifted…

I don’t know, I guess this is a good edit.

The long shiny rectangular yokie is Clinique’s Black Honey Colour Surge Eyeshadow Quad, must share my opinion on that officially. Hint: it is excellent. The product, that is, although my opinion is excellent, too.

Well, I think I did do an okay job:

Yeah, fine. Oh, and I googled the Dermalogica Multivitamin Power Recovery Mask {bottom left} and they’ve redesigned the packaging. Yup, I knew it was old, but…

Sweet Sixteen: Lush’s Karma Line

When I first received Lush’s Karma perfume, several years ago, it came in a kind of… well there’s no way to say it nicely. The bottle was ugly. It was squat, the label was unappealing, and its presentation was very, very ‘meh’. I gave it a cursory spritz, somewhere around my breastbone, and promptly fell in love. Continue reading

OMGifting: It is Almost Christmas

… or whatever holiday you celebrate, it doesn’t matter — where did the time go?!? Sheesh! I’ve got some suggestions if you’ve got a bunch of Secret Santa/Kris Kindle/or this other thing I came across on the intertubes the other day: a Yankee Swap. As Wiki says in the link, it’s a North American thing, but not in my region, thanks very much. It may or may not involve stealing! Wha’?!

Well, that took my mind off the fact that not only is it no time at’all ’til gift-exchanging time, I am also probably way late with a feature like this. On the other hand, that is so exquisitely apt that I am impressed with its conceptual correctness.

Okay! Never mind! Last minute gifts that are amazing and don’t look last minute! Continue reading