Candle Lust

Left to right: Slatkin & Co candles in Homemade Cookies and Frosted Cupcake (from Bath and Body Works) and Ecoya candle in Wild Frangipani

 

I loves me some luxury scented candles. I mean, I REALLY love them. If I had a load of money and enough room, I'd fill my house with them. Recently, I came into possession of three awesome candles:

First up are the two candles from Bath and Body Works; Homemade Cookies and Frosted Cupcake. Sent to me by my awesome friend Alyssa (as B&BW doesn't ship outside the US), these candles are perfect for someone who loves baking (like me). Both candles smell like yummy baked goods, all sweet, creamy and vanilla-like. And after browsing the selection of other candles on the site, I have decided that I need to make a trip to America and buy all the other candles I like the sound of.

The other candle is Wild Frangipani from the Australian/Kiwi brand Ecoya. I had a hard time picking which scent I wanted, as I have four favourites: Wild Frangipani, Vanilla Bean, French Pear and Sweetpea and Jasmine. I ended up picking Wild Frangipani, as it's a lovely, summery, tropical scent, so it's perfect for the current season (spring/summer). Had it been Autumn, I probably would have picked the warmer French Pear. The particular candle I purchased comes in a beautful jar with a wax seal on it, and it would look lovely sitting on a coffee table.

RIP Yummy Yummy Yummy and Chox Away

I am a very sad bunny. Why? Because two of my favourite Lush products, Yummy Yummy Yummy shower cream and Chox Away soap, have been discontinued.

Yummy Yummy Yummy has been a favourite of mine since I recieved a small bottle of it in a gift set. It's rich, thick, creamy and slightly scrubby, with a delicious strawberries and cream scent and lots of moisturising ingredients, so it made my skin feel super soft and smooth. I've already got a new favourite shower gel, the jasmine and honey scented Flying Fox, but it's not the same.

I've already mentioned Chox Away in my Auckland Haul post; I have since tried that chunk I bought, and part of me is now wishing that I had saved it instead of used it. It smells like the Mange Too massage bar and Honey Trap lip balm (my favourite), and has a lovely creamy lather (although it's not quite as creamy as Honey I Washed The Kids).

I can only hope that Lush brings out another shower gel and soap that are just as good, if not better. In the meantime, I'm going to stock up on as many bottles of Yummy Yummy Yummy and chunks of Chox Away as I can. If you'd like to try either of them, try ebay or swap with other Lush fans on any of the Lush forums.

Cute Cookie Charm!

Oops, I haven't posted for almost a month again. I blame being sick for that.
Last month, I purchased a cute little heart shaped cookie charm from a friend on deviantART.com, =kamijo. When the parcel arrived, inside was this little cutie:

Look at the texture! And the icing!

It has a cute little star stamped on the back!

What it looks like then worn:

I believe that there sre still some of these available, and they come in chocolate and vanilla (the chocolate was my favourite). Go and get one!

Lush Halloween/Day of the Dead Goodies

Hello all!

Since it's Halloween, I figured I should share with all of you my thoughts on the Halloween/Day of the Dead goodies I picked up at a Lush Halloween party I attended yesterday.

Left to right: Calavera bath ballistic, Lady Catrina soap and Calacas shower jelly

Each product has the same scent of neroli and lime.

I have unable to use the bath ballistic due to the fact that I do not have a bath, but the shop assistant told me that it makes the bath water turn several different colours before finally turning it green. The Lady Catrina soap looked rather festive in the shop (before it is cut up, it looks like a giant purple hat covered in flowers of various colours), although, as you can see, I didn't end up with a very colourful piece. Perhaps I can get the shop assistants to cut me a more colourful piece the next time I go in...

The final Halloween/Day of the Dead product (and the one I have been looking forward to getting the most) is the Calacas shower jelly, which comes in three different colours (green, yellow and orange) and looks like a sugar skull:

Happy Halloween everyone!

Hair Care Routine: L'Oreal Elvive

Hi again!

I decided that to make up for my lack of posting recently, I'd write a little review about my hair care routine.

Left to right: L'Oreal Smooth-Intense conditioner, shampoo and masque, and Re-Nutrition night serum

Before using these products, my hair had a tendency to dry out and go all frizzy, particularly this one patch of hair at the back of my head, which seemed to be dry, frizzy and crispy feeling all the time, even if I cut that part short. Normal supermarket shampoos and even some salon brand ones made this even worse, and no amount of conditioning would fix it. However, after one wash with the shampoo and conditioner, my hair remained soft and smooth until the next time I had to wash it, including that stubborn patch at the back! Using the masque produced even better results.

To top it all off, applying the night serum to my hair (it can be applied to both wet and dry hair) resulted in my hair being almost perfect when I woke up the next day, with hardly any knots in it! If that wasn't good enough, it was absorbed almost straight away after I applied it, and it didn't weight my hair down or make it greasy!

An additional bonus? All of these products are under $20! Now I can have more money to spend at Lush and MAC.

Orly Sweet Collection and Top2Bottom

Derp, I haven't updated in over a month.

Anyway, I promised that I would update if I got any of the nail polishes from Orly's Sweet Collection (mentioned in my last post), so here we go.

Left to right: Pixy Stix, Gumdrop, Cotton Candy, Lollipop, Snow Cone and Lemonade

As you can see, I got each colour from the collection. Strangely enough, Lemonade (a pastel yellow) was the most popular of the whole lot.

So far, I have tried Gumdrop, Pixy Stix and Snow Cone (which I am currently wearing). All of the colours have a shiny cream finish with no shimmer. So far, I have noticed that they dry quicker than other Orly nail colours, and that some of them require only two coats to get full coverage instead of three.

So far, my favourite out of the whole collection is Gumdrop (a turquoise blue):

Each nail polish comes with a mini lip gloss in a matching colour and scent:

Left to right: Cotton Candy, Lemonade, Snow Cone, Pixy Stix, Lollipop and Gumdrop

Before and after applying my Sweet Collection polish, I apply Orly's Top2Bottom Top and Bottom coat:

This stuff is an excellent money saver, as it can be used as both a top and bottom coat. It also prevents the polish from damaging the nails and adds lots of extra shine.

Well, that's all for now. Hopefully the next time I post, it won't be this time next month. ^^;

What I'm Loving Right Now: Candy Nail Polishes

Spring is upon us (well it is if you live in the Southern Hemisphere like me), and now is the perfect time to bring out brightly coloured nail polishes to banish the last of the Cold Weather Blues. Normally I choose to paint my nails with dark, vampy colours, such as navy blue, violet or red. At the moment, however, there is something about candy shades that I love right now. I'd love to buy all of the colours from Orly's new colour collection, "Sweet". Each polish comes with a mini lipgloss in a matching colour. Cute! You can find the collection here.

Another sweet collection is Up & Away by China Glaze. They have a bigger selection of colours in this collection, but I don't think this brand is available here (unfortunately). Their collection is here.

In addition, Revlon have released three new candy coloured shades: Minted (a mint green), Peach Petal (a peachy pink) and Lilac Pastelle (lilac, as the name suggests). You can also find a variety of candy shades among other nail polish brands, including OPI, which is one of my personal favourites. Hopefully I will be able to get one of the Orly polishes, although ideally I'd like to get the whole lot. If I do get one (or all), I can guarantee that I will review them here.

Until next time! ♥