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?