Does it make scents?

Hey There!

It's time to find out what my house smells like! Well, it's time to find out what it did smell like in the month of July. I didn't have too many new scents going on but they were great scents.

I have been loving my Bath & Body Works Wallflowers. I have purchased new wallflowers for new portions of the house (haul to come soon). I used three of them this month. I used a Watermelon Lemonade, Pineapple Mango and Coconut leaves. Watermelon Lemonade and Pineapple Mango are regulars for my house. I love those scents. Coconut leaves is new. I like it but I'll probably try some others next time.

I only burned one new candle and finished up an old candle. I tried out a Guava Colada mini candle in my bathroom. It was very nice. I loved the tropical smell and it made my tiny, little bathroom smell great but, it didn't really have great room throw. Maybe it was because it's a mini. But, for the room that I used it in, it was good. I'd purchase it again.

I finished a large Target candle - Sweet Spun Sugar. It is my favorite candle of life! I love this candle. I never get tired of this scent. It's like a burst of cotton candy. If you haven't sniffed this, you are making poor life decisions. Start making better one's today! Get to your local Target and pick up one of these.

I switched out a car scentportable this month. Remember that Watermelon Lemonade scent that I told you I liked? Well, that was what I was rocking in my car. And, yes -- my car smelled amazing -- For about 3 or so weeks. The website says it should last twice as long. Maybe you can get a 4th week out of it but I didn't get much more than that. I have several more so I'll test them for longevity too. No worries though. At $2.50 each (when you purchase 4 at a time), I'd still keep purchasing them.

Has your house smelled as good as my house this month? I know it sounds like a Bath and Body Works haul but have you tried any of these products? What do you think about them?

And, please excuse the photos I've been posting lately. I haven't found a good place to take pictures just yet. I'm still working on it. Bare with me please!

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things - Candles

Hey There!

I don't have to tell you about my love of candles, do I? It's not like you are new to my blog, are you? Well, in case you are new, I love to have a great smelling home. There is nothing better than a fresh and fruity smelling house (except maybe a sweet, baked good smelling house). And, I'm not going to bake every day so I have to rely on plug ins, melted wax  and candles to achieve this.

In case you haven't guessed, my favorite type of candle is normally a food scent. Sweet candy scents, baked goods scents, heck a fully loaded baked potato scent would be ok (Wait....take a minute and think about that. Someone needs to go and work on that now. That would be awesome). I just enjoy a house that smells like I've been in the kitchen all day (instead of sitting on the sofa watching television or out shopping).

I try to always have scents that match the season. Right now I am burning 2 different brands of apple pie scent and finishing a Pecan Waffle candle from Wal-mart.  A few weeks ago it was Heritage Pumpkin and Banana Nutmeg Bread Pudding from Bath and Body Works. All summer it was Sweet Spun Sugar from Target. You get the point. Candles change my mood. They make me happy and they make the day brighter (literally if you are using a three wick!).

A co-worker asked me where I get my candles from. So glad you asked!! I know that everyone loves Bath and Body Works and Yankee Candles but there are sooo many other places to get candles. T.J. Maxx, Ross, Marshalls, Home Goods, etc are great places to get nice candles. Wal-Mart and Target also have fantastic candles. Specialty stores are nice to pick up fancy candles for spoiling yourself or buying for gifts. And, you know when your co-worker's kids are selling items? Well, I've discovered that the candles in those catalogs are usually pretty good.

And yes, I love to give candles as gifts. There are people that don't buy candles for themselves (Can you believe it? Me neither!). With the holiday's coming up, it's fun to add a mini candle to another gift or give a large candle and a smaller gift. My family is so use to getting candles with their Christmas presents, when I don't give them candles I hear about it. And when they come to visit, if I'm not burning a candle, they wonder where I'm going.

If I'm at home, I'm burning a candle. If I'm home and awake for longer than an hour, I need to get the smell good going in my house. The flicker of light on my dresser top or the smell of goodies as I walk to the kitchen makes for a pleasant home. And who can resist a bubble bath with a sweet smelling candle (or two or three) reflecting off of the mirror?

So give me a great smelling candle with a nice room throw and I am one happy girl!

Does It Make Scents?

Hey There!

Yes, I meant to write it that way. I can’t spell worth a darn but “play on words” is my middle name (well, not really, but you get the point).

If you’ve been with me for any length of time (or seen my Instagram feed) you know how much I love candles. A good candle can put me in a great mood. A bad candle can tick me off! I spent October trying to get into the fall spirit and I think the candles drug me there kick and screaming. I spend quite a bit of cash on candles (smiles sheepishly). Almost, as much as I spend on makeup…well, ok, that went too far.

But, I do love my candles. And to prove how much, I’ll tell you what I was burning during October.

I have a candle warmer that I used to melt the unburnable parts or my scented wax cubes. Better Homes and Gardens makes some scented wax cubes for Wal-Mart that I just love. You see that Vanilla Cookie Crunch scent up there? After melting that for 30 minutes I kept wondering if my neighbor was baking cookies. I mean I seriously thought about going upstairs and asking her for one (we do know each other like that). Then I realized it was the melted cubes. You really need to pick up a $5 warmer from Wal-Mart (or catch them for ½ price at Michaels) and try these.

I have touted my love of Target soy scented candles. They are $5 for the small size (shown here) and $10 for the 3 wick sizes. Every now and then Target will put them on sale for $4 and $7 but not often. I normally stick to Sweet Spun Sugar (cotton candy HEAVEN!) but this time I tried Iced Limoncello and Heritage Pumpkin. Limoncello was fine but not great. It was just a normal lemon smell. Heritage Pumpkin will make you smack your mama! It smells so good. You know what I did – yep, bought a 3 wick candle. I ONLY purchase 3 wick candles if they are on serious sale or if the scent is that darned good. Heritage Pumpkin is that darned good. It smells up a small room or a small space in a big room.

Next to and on top of the Target Heritage Pumpkin are my Bath and Body Works candles. I have a small Pumpkin Cupcake and a large Sea Salt Maple Popcorn. I usually get the mini’s when they are 3 for $10 and rarely purchase the 3 wicks but Sea Salt Maple and Banana Nutmeg Bread Pudding were half price and I couldn’t resist. I haven't burned Banana Nutmeg Bread Pudding yet but the Sea Salt Maple is sooooo good. It gave my Target Heritage Pumpkin a run for its money. The Sea Salt Maple is so potent that after about an hour’s burn, I had to cover it up. Two hours later, I STILL smelled it! Such a great candle – I am going back for one more!

The 2 pieces of plastic are the small Yankee Candle votives that I purchased from Bed Bath & Beyond. I picked several but so far I've burned Salted Caramel and Kitchen Spice. My history with Yankee Candles is that they aren’t worth all the hype. These are 2 of the ones that I picked up using 20% off coupons. I wasn’t impressed with either of them. Absolutely no room throw and even when I was right up on the burning candle I couldn’t smell them. I know that other folks really love them but what smells good unlit doesn’t translate. About a year ago I just had to have the Vineyard Grape scent. I paid about $10 for it and was sorely disappointed. If you were right up on it, it smelled great but if you walked 3 feet away, nothing – not a gosh darn thing! I gave YC a second chance because one of my YouTube ladies loves it but it just doesn’t work for me.

So there you have it. That's what's burning at the beach house. At this very moment things are smelling all pumpkiny. What's burning in your house right now?

Empties!

Hey there!

We have come to the end of another month and I have brought to you my trash. I know, it just sounds so crazy to talk about what's in your trash BUT I love reading Empties blogs and Watching Empties videos so I figure 2 other people must like them too. So, here you go.

Let's start in the bath tub, shall we? The bubble bath shouldn't be any surprise to you. I have two Avon Bubble Baths (2/ $10) - Cucumber Melon and Warm Vanilla & Fig. The Cucumber Melon is blah, whatever but the Warm Vanilla & Fig is really nice. I have repurchased this one many times and yes, I have a spare.

I only have 1 Bath and Body Works Shower Gel ($11 ea at the time of this purchase) which is weird. But, I've had a lot of shower gels to try this month so I haven't finished much, I've just tried a lot. This one is a warm, spicy smell and is really nice. Not sure that I'd repurchase because B&BW come up with so many new shower gels you don't have to buy just any ole' one. You can only purchase the ones you love. I like this one but I don't love it.

On one of my many Ulta trips in April, I picked up a Be Happy Coconut Grove Cleansing Shower Gel. It was one of the 3 / $10 items that they had. Ummm, this one was crap. It did smell coconuty but it didn't lather and I had to use 1/3 of the bottle in order to get enough in the towel to go wash my body. I will never try this brand again. I promise!

Staying in the tub, I picked up a Pedi-Scrub Foot Buffer with Lavender Tea Tree Oil. My mom and I saw them in Marshalls for $3.99 and we thought it couldn't hurt to try it. It's nice. Once side "cleanses and moisturizes" and the other side scrubs your heels. Again, it was nice. I had no real complains but I had no real positive feedback either. It's basically a loofa made exclusively for my feet. If I see it for $2, I might think about it again but otherwise nah. No real plus behind it.

The bathroom is ground zero for candles. This month I have loved Target Sweet Spun Sugar ($5) and Bath and Body Works Pink Bubble Gum (3/ $10). I mentioned them both in my May favorites. I also used up a B&BW Providence Garden candle. Meh. It smelled ok but I probably won't buy it again. (BTW, I forgot to take a snapshot of the empty containers).

And the last tub item is the Bic Soleil Razor (3 for $4.99 - I'm sure I had a coupon of some sort or got them at a discount on a Target end cap). Nothing special. It was on sale. I like it.

For hair care I have an Organix Brand Luxurious Moroccan Argan Creme Conditioner ($7.99 but I always buy during BOGO free at Rite Aid). I love this. I really do. It smells wonderful and glides through your hair and after leaving it in my hair (under a conditioning cap) I have soft, bouncy hair. This brand is a staple in my house. I have stopped buying anything else. If you see something else in my empties it's because I'm trying to use it up. I'm in love and the honeymoon is far from over!!

You see 2 Philosophy Hope in A Jar ($10, Sephora) containers. One is regular and one has SPF in it. I don't like either of them. I purchased and tried them before the holidays and I am finally getting around to trashing the containers. I gave the regular one a 2 week try and the one with SPF a 3 day try. No thanks.

There are 2 facial wipes in this month's empties. I have a pack of CVS Brand Age Defying Towelettes ($4.99 but I'm sure I purchased during BOGO 1/2 or BOGO free). They were fine. I used them to remove swatches on my hand or makeup mistakes in the morning. I also had Simple Radiance Cleansing Wipes. I actually got these free when I purchased the Simple eye makeup remover. I didn't notice radiance but again, I used them for swatches and makeup mistakes. I probably won't purchase either of them again.

CVS Premium Cotton Rounds ($3.59 for 100 in this case - I always stock up when these BOGO free. They do that every quarter or so). Holy grail cotton round. I love that these are quilted on one side and smooth on the other. They don't tear up when wet. I go through a pack each month. I do have plans on trying something new (and more expensive) in the upcoming months but not for my eyes. I will still have these unless my new item is just beyond amazing (which I can't believe it is). More on that next month, maybe.

The final 2 GWP items from Lancôme have been tossed in the trash. I tried the Bienfait Multi-Vital Night Cream. It was super greasy and smelled weird. I tried to use it on my elbows and heels (always try to use your products up for something!) but it left grease marks on my clothes and sheets. In the end it wasn't worth it. I just had to toss it. I also tried the Advanced Génifique Youth Activating Concentrate. It did absolutely nothing. It was a waste of time really. I'm sad to say that almost nothing was good in this past GWP. Oh well.

I tried the Enregin Time Released Action Eye Cream from the Dollar Tree. I tried this several months ago. It didn't do anything good or bad. It was only a dollar though so no real loss.

And last but not least -- people I tried to like this! So many people do. It's the Studio 35 Beauty Brand (from Walgreens) Alpha Hydroxy Face Cream ($8.99). I used it for 2 months and the only thing that it did for my face was irritate it. It made my face red and itchy for about 15 minutes. I didn't like it for my face. You want to know where I did like it? My heels! It works beautifully on my heels. Would I buy it again -- for my heels? No. I have products for a third of the price that I use on my heels.

And there you have it folks -- my trash! LOL. These are the products that I used up in May. Spoiler alerts for June? Well, candles (of course), bubble bath and shower gel, cotton rounds and well...just wait and see!