Muse Archives - Besotted

September 27, 2017

Penhaligons fragrance at Lucky Scent!

Bird Trivia: The collective noun for a group of peacocks (peafowl) is often known as a ‘party’. Peacocks can actually fly despite their long train of feathers. Their feathers are covered with microscopic crystals which gives them their brilliance.

Can you believe I plucked another bird inspired beauty product from the ether? No, me neither. I found these wonderful charming fragrances at the renown Lucky Scent, there is an owl, eagle, and cock as well, for the bird fancier in you. It is from Penhaligons ‘Portrait Saga’. They are incredibly charming all with a little ‘back story’. This is Clandestine Clara, ‘the illicit mistress to Lord George. And true to form, Clara’s fragrance could be described much the same way, as a boozy, smoky, smoothly woodsy feminine scent that’s not for the faint of heart, but is sure to command the attention of sophisticated thrill-seekers.’

We are thinking a little flock of some fine feathered fragrances could be just the key to feather your nest (or at least your vanity). Okay, I am almost done with the bird references, almost. We are doing this bird themed week in anxious anticipation of our soon to launch Rare Bird Fonts Foundry!

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Rare Bird Fonts

Penhaligons available at Lucky Scent

photo via luckyscent

Tristan B. is the co-creator of the world’s best + easiest product photography editing tool-Foto Rx | Shopkeeper’s Helper and one of the writer’s of this delightful blog.

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September 25, 2017

Blackwing Pencil

I have professed my love for Blackwing pencils many times prior, but since this week is going to the birds (in anticipation of our soon to launch Rare Bird Font Foundry!) I think they deserve another mention. I love these pencils not only for their aesthetics but for their performance. If you like to sketch on the fly and don’t want to cart around a whole pack of ‘B’ pencils with you, then a simple Blackwing could do you good. They do come in 7 degrees of hardness from 2H-2B, I like to stick around the 4B grade, it’s soft, but not too soft (Michelle drew these beauties, the sweet peas with a 4B). I also will use a harder lead for everyday writing. Blackwing also has a storied history where the likes of Hemingway, Steinbeck, Capote, Nabokov have been spotted with a Blackwing in hand. I don’t know about you, but a good pen or pencil makes a huge difference in my wanting to even start a project. Luckily, I always have a box of Blackwings around, there is nothing quite like a freshly sharpened pencil to get me in the right frame of mind to get down to business. And I can’t mention their pencils without mentioning their erasers, which are completely replaceable. What the what? What kind of genius design is that? Not only are they rectangle allowing for a more fluid and sweeping motion, you can choose your desired color? This little detail is just gold. For those that are in the social media loop they also make a pretty great photo prop. What is not to like about these beauties?

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Rare Bird Font Foundry

Blackwing pencils Black | White | Gray

Blackwing Instagram

Hemingway

Steinbeck

Capote

Nabokov

photo by blackwing

Tristan B. is the co-creator of the world’s best + easiest product photography editing tool-Foto Rx | Shopkeeper’s Helper and one of the writer’s of this delightful blog.

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September 24, 2017

Bird Love by Leila Jeffreys

We haven’t done one of our themed weeks in ages, so we thought with our impending launch of our Rare Bird font foundry we would dedicate this week to the birds. It feels fitting, right? This is a photo of the most wonderful book, by a most talented photographer–Leila Jeffreys. A gift from a most thoughtful friend (Michelle). I love Jeffreys back story how she started out as a garden bird-watcher and how her love morphed into a more serious bird enthusiast where she was helping ornithologists tag birds and then taking photos of the birds followed. It’s not just Jeffreys incredible and obvious talent that I am drawn to but her overflowing passion and dedication to her muse. To me Jeffreys has found the ‘dream’ subject, the birds as muse encompass so many of my own loves-animals, nature, science, photography and in the end, icing on the cake interior design.

Jeffreys will be in NYC exhibiting her flock at the Olsen Gruin Gallery come October 13th-November 12th 2017 with her Ornithurae Volume I exhibit. If you are in the area we think it would be well worth the visit!

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Leila Jeffreys

Leila Jeffreys Instagram

Bird Love by Leila Jeffreys

Olsen Gruin Gallery

Phase One Camera (what she shot with!)

Post image shot with:

Camera | Lens

Edited with Flatlay Presets (coming soon)

Tristan B. is the co-creator of the world’s best + easiest product photography editing tool-Foto Rx | Shopkeeper’s Helper and one of the writer’s of this delightful blog.

August 24, 2016

Creative Experimentation

Michelle and I are finally on the other side of our focus angst (we promise to share the step-by-step on how we got here). One of the most exciting results of this is that we have freed up a ton of mental bandwith and you know what? We are both feeling more creative than we have in years! I have to say being able to pour our creative energy into one thing instead of spreading it amongst a million little things has been an eye opener. I have always succumbed to my every interest and whimsy and they have been far and wide with no real connectors except for maybe me sharing them here on the blog with you. We have been doing a ton of experimentation with different techniques, just trying to think as outside the box as possible and not worrying if the results will be a success. Happily we have had a bunch of little victories and it makes us feel like we are ‘on to something’. We even have a new Foto Rx Photoshop action set that we think will bring out the inner artist in you, we can’t wait to share it! We just finished the first beta action on it today, we were giving ourselves high fives all around (in our new studio space that is oh, so very beautiful, thank you very much). We hope we are not being too evasive with you right now, we definitely will share our focus decision soon and we do hope that we can help others that are struggling as well to find that mental sigh of relief.

P.S. If you want to be the first one to know about the upcoming new FotoRx Photoshop action release (it will be a goody) and be privy to amazing freebies and tutes than sign-up here to be in the know!

P.P.S. We will be giving away free sets to a few lucky winners on our mailing list when it’s closer to launch date!

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June 6, 2016

Follow your muse | Inspired by florals

In our professional work running a creative studio Michelle and I make our living being creative, but lately we hadn’t taken any time to be creative for ourselves. Something I think both of us didn’t even realize until our ‘muse’ seized us and we were texting each other like crazy and I think I may have even wrote that I thought my head was going to explode I was so excited, which she promptly responded, ‘me too’. Michelle quipped that we should ‘follow our muse’ more often, and it quickly became a mantra of sorts around here this week.