Candles by Victoria!

It's a beautiful autumn day here, and I'm cleaning my house up a bit. Maybe I'm crazy, but when I clean up, I love to light candles. It keeps me motivated. I have recently found the PERFECT candles for this. If you guys have watched pretty much any Youtube beauty guru, I'm sure you're already familiar with these candles. The company is called Candles by Victoria, and when I first heard about them I thought...no candle could possibly smell that good. This must be a cult. Seriously, I'm pretty sure these candles have reached cult status among the beauty community. But, with good reason. When I got my order, I completely understood what all the hype was about.

To begin with, this company is so cute. It is ran by a lady named Victoria Elliot and her family. If you check their Facebook, Twitter, or Youtube, you will definitely see what I mean by cute. You can just tell that this woman has an immense amount of love for her company and her customers. They also carry over 600 scents, which is absolutely crazy. But, I love having options and knew that there would be something I would like.

Now, onto the review. I placed an order in the middle of October and it was shipped the next day, which is awesome. The shipment can take 7 to 10 days, the site stated, but mine went out much quicker. My candles came soo well packed, it was almost ridiculous. Everything was completely intact, wrapped in bubble wrap and covered in packing peanuts.

These are the 16 oz jars. They're $12.50 on the website and they are HUGE. I tried to get scents that I knew I would love in these because I knew they were the largest ones.

Bathtime with Pooh-(yellow) This is a dupe of Lush's Honey I Washed the Kids soap. I have to say, this dupe is awesome. It smells almost identical to the soap. Perhaps a bit more powdery, but still nice. If you've never smelled the soap, it is like a sweet honey mixed with toffee. It's not really a bakery scent though. It's more of a clean, fresh honey scent. Even though I like this one a lot, I don't burn it often. Like I said, it's more of a clean scent, so it's perfect for a bathroom, and I don't burn candles in my bathroom often. I tend to forget about them. : /

Pink Sugar and Coconut-(pink) This one is my favorite out of the whole order. It's supposed to be a duplicate of the Pink Sugar perfume mixed with coconut. I've never smelled that perfume, but I do have Britney Spear's Fantasy, which I've heard comes pretty close and I love that. I was actually looking for a candle that was similar to Bath and Body Works Brown Sugar and Fig(which she does have and I did order). The Brown Sugar and Fig is was my all-time favorite perfumey scent, but this beats it out. To me, it smells sweet, like cotton candy mixed with sugar and strawberries. Then, there is a coconutty, creaminess that evens the scent out. It's absolutely amazing. Even though the scent is very soft and feminine, the throw is surprisingly great.

This is the 8 oz. candle that I ordered. These are $7.50 on the website. There is also a 9 oz. jar that is only a dollar more. The 9 oz. jar has a cuter shape to it, so I will probably order a few of those next time.

Banana Coconut Cream Pie-(yellow) I was a little dissappointed with this when I first got it, because it didn't seem to be very strong. I read somewhere that the candles may need to cure for a bit, since Victoria makes them fresh with each order. So, I set this one aside for a few days and then tried it out. Wow! That definitely made a difference. This is a creamy banana and coconut scent that I just can't get enough of. If you like bananas and coconut, then you cannot go wrong with this one.

How stinkin' cute are these?! These are the 4 oz. jars. They're only $5.00 on Victoria's website and they are just adorable. Perfect for a small room. Even though they are small, they are very fragrant. One of these can easily scent my entire bedroom or bathroom. Actually, the 4 oz, 8 oz, and 9 oz jars all have the same size opening, so they basically all have the same scent throw. I have to say, these burn forever. I lit one in my bathroom the other day and completely forgot about it overnight(See? I told you). By the time I realized this, it had burned about 12 hours and only burned down less than an inch. Awesome. These are great if you think you'll like a scent, but don't know if you'll like it enough to commit to a large candle.

Carmalized Pralines-I've heard so many reviews on this, and everyone seems to love it. I am no exception. This is just great. It's caramely and super buttery, a lot like BBW's Salty Caramel, only better. Salty Caramel tends to be sickly sweet. This is filled with caramel, bakery goodness and has the same slightly salty scent, but there is a little bit of added nuttiness that evens the scent out. I love bakery scents, but I'm not a huge fan of spices. This one has absolutely no spice to it, so it's perfect for me. This is the one that I left burning. I've also burned it a couple other days and LOOK! It's barely burned down.

Peace-(Yellow) I really wish I would have ordered this in a larger candle. It is so good. It's a duplicate of the Lush Olive Branch scent. I love that smell, but I was thinking there was no way that Victoria could make an exact dupe of it, since it's such a unique scent. However, she is absolutely amazing and I was wrong. This smells exactly like it. It's such a complex scent that's it hard to describe. To me, it smells like orange blossom and lemon and vanilla. There are a lot of notes, but this is one you would just have to smell.

Lemon Vanilla-(Yellow) I am loving all these yellow candles! Good job Victoria. You must have known yellow is my favorite color. This candle, however, I'm not loving so much. It's good, just not great. The scent is kind of plain, but I don't know what I expected. It smells like Lemon and Vanilla, just like it is described.

These are scent shots. I didn't take a picture of all the scent shots that I got, because...well...that wasn't necessary. I just gathered a few to give you an idea of what they look like. These are 2 oz. pieces of wax that you melt in a tart burner and they cost $2.00.  I love them. I have to admit, I purchased a tart warmer solely to try out Victoria's scent shots. I've never owned one before, but I'm sure glad I purchased mine, because these little things are awesome. They're so fragrant and one will scent a large area.

Lemon Pound Cake-(Yellow) This is more of the scent I was looking for in Lemon Vanilla. It's very lemony, but sweetened with a bakery note. This one is buttery and creamy and STRONG. Seriously, I put a fourth of a scent shot in my warmer and I couldn't take it. I had to turn it off and open the windows. The smell was divine, but my head just couldn't take it, so my mom took it off my hands. She loves it, and if you like strong scents you would too.

Pumpkin Chocolate-(Brown) I actually order Pumpkin Cheesecake, but was sent the wrong one. I'll forgive Victoria because I like this a lot. I would never have thought to order this, because it sounds disgusting. The scents actually work really well together. The pumpkin scent in this is like smelling a can of pumpkin, not that cinnamon/clove mess that you sometimes get when you're looking for a pumpkin scent. I think that since the pumpkin isn't too spicey, it evens out well with the chocolate.

Leesha-(Brown) I'm not an apple fan, but I'm a fan of xsparkage on Youtube so I figured I would give this a try. It's named after Leesha, and the scent is supposed to be Dutch Apple Cruch mixed with Caramel Apple. This one was a little heavy on the spice for me, and I wish the caramel was a little more pronounced. I still liked it, though. I think I'll try just the Caramel Apple next time.

Me Tarzan, You Jane- (Brown)This one actually is the dupe of BBW's Brown Sugar and Fig. I'm glad I didn't realize that til after I ordered the Pink Sugar. I like this, but I don't love it. It smells very similar to the perfume, but the Brown Sugar note is stronger in this. The perfume is a little lighter and well....perfumey. This one could almost pass as a bakery scent. It smells like figs, caramalized brown sugar, and coconut milk all mixed together. The throw on this one was probably the weakest too, which is another reason I didn't love it.

Amber Romance-(Brown) Another dupe. This is smells just like Victoria's Secret Amber Romance. It's heavy on the Amber and floral and has a light hint of Vanilla. This is definitely a bedroom scent. I like it, but I'm not sure I want my whole home to smell like it.

Goldilocks-(Yellow) This is supposed to smell like the Lush Porridge soap. Honestly, this was the only one I was dissappointed in. To me, the soap smells smells like a delicious baked treat. This smells like citrus and menthol. I don't like it and I couldn't even give it to my mom. She had the same feelings about it.

Marshmallow Campfire-(White) This was, surprisingly, one of my favorites. I didn't really think I would like this. It doesn't smell like a campfire to me. Think a nice burnt, sugary marshmallow mixed with the most amazing perfume you've ever smelled. That is this scent. I wouldn't say that this is in the bakery category. It's just sweet and perfumey. I will be getting a large candle of this scent very soon.

Pumpkin Pear Strudel-(Brown) This one smells like pumpkin, pear, and a hint of brown sugar. It's really nice. I don't even like pear, but this scent is so well blended that the pear works.

Black Licorice-(Navy Blue) This was a free scent shot. Bummer. I hate black licorice. If you love that scent, you would like this.

Tiffany-D-(Light Blue) I don't watch the Youtube guru this was named after, but if she smells like this I need to follow her around everywhere. I love love love this. It's a mix of watermelon, honeydew melon, cotton candy, and vanilla. It's such a light, fun scent. I really cannot say enough good things about this. I want a million candles in this scent.

Finger Lickin' Good-(Brown) This is a dupe of Yummy, Yummy, Yummy body wash from Lush. I've never tried that, so I can't compare. I heard it smells like strawberries. This does not. To me this smells like when you walk into the Lush store. It's soapy and sweet and a little overwhelming. I'm not sure how I feel about it.

Bubbling Butterscotch Sundae-(Yellow) I love butterscotch. I love ice cream. How could this be bad? It's not. It's smells like butterscotch. Just like the hard butterscotch candies that grandmothers notoriously carry around. I was hoping for more of a salty smelling butterscotch. After I had burned this for a while, it had a powdery undertone, which I ddn't love so much.

Meadow Dance-(Green) This is a really green, florally scent with a hint of fruitness. It smells clean. It's not something I really like, just because I'm never a fan of flower scents. This was one I could tolerate, though.


Overall, most of the scents I ordered were superb. Candles by Victoria is an awesome company and the prices are great for the amazing quality of the products. Go to the website and check it out.  http://www.candlesbyvictoria.com/


Sorry this is such a ridiculously long post. I think I'm subconsciously trying to avoid cleaning. But, I better get back to it.

Nyx Review

I have a review for you guys! Surprise surprise...right? Anyway, I'm really excited to review this because it is the very first product from NYX that I have ever tried. Apparently, I live under a tree. I've heard so many other people rave about NYX products that I had to try them out. So, I picked up some of their Ultra Pearl Mania pigments. I have to say, I'm really impressed with this product. I thought that these pigments would have the same quality as ELF eyeshadows. They do not. The quality is soo much better than ELF. The pigmentation is out of this world. My photos from my crappy camera totally do not do these awesome shadows justice.

The three colors I got were White Pearl, Lilac Pearl, and Very Pink Pearl. On my the swatches, the white is on the left, the lilac is in the middle, and the pink is on the right. In the top picture, it goes the opposite way. The bottles are tiny, as you can see. I wasn't upset about that though. These shadows are so pigmented, I'm sure I'll only use a small amount at a time anyway. The colors are very shimmery. If you're not into shimmer and sparkles, stay far away from these. I realize that my crappy swatches are really no help, but you should google this to see better ones. The shadows really do have great pigmentation and beautiful colors. The only gripe I have is that the bottles are not user friendly. You cannot really fit a makeup brush into the top, since the bottle is so tiny. So, you have to tap a little bit out and dip your brush into it. It's a hassle and a mess, but I'm willing to deal with it. The price is pretty reasonable too, which makes me think I'll be ordering and reviewing more ELF products soon.

It's Halloween!

Hey guys! It's past midnight here, which means it's officially Halloween. I haven't had much time lately to do anything with moving, school work, and being a momma, but I'm so excited to take my Little Miss trick-or-treating tomorrow. This will be the very first year I get to go with her. It's sad, but I had to work the last three years on Halloween, and her dad has taken her. This year, however, I finally get to be there! I think I may be more excited than she is. She's dressing up as a candy fairy. The hubby and I are going to be Batman and Robin. We got these costumes for a party we went to Friday night, so I'm trying to convince him that we need to wear them again tomorrow when we take Bella out. They're so stinkin' cute. I would hate to only get to wear them once. Of course, I guess it depends on whether he wants to, since I would look pretty ridiculous as a Robin without my Batman. If he agrees, I'll post some pictures so you can see our beautful faces. :)

Bella is going to visit my mom tomorrow morning, and Cody has to work, so I may just blog the day away. I always have lots of ideas of things I'd like to blog about. I always feel too rushed to actually sit down and write though. Oh well, the wonderful world of motherhood will do that to you. On that note, I'll leave you with some eye candy. I sure do make pretty babies.

Apartment Storage

I was thinking today about how much I will miss my apartment when we move to our new house. Although we've outgrown the space, we've made some very fond memories here. I'll start off by saying my apartment small. Lovely, but small. It's 1000 square foot overall. Between the cat, the dog, the baby, and Cody and I, we are simply running out of space.

It's funny to think that we actually have too much stuff. When my husband and I first moved in together after finishing high school, we had a bed and three boxes. Literally...that was it. Our lives combined fit into three boxes. Over the years we've collected some luxuries, like furniture and silverware. For the wedding, we received so many lovely home-related gifts. I am proud to say we have come a long way since then, and this place is looking pretty spiffy. We even have extra stuff...stuff we don't have much room for. It's delightful. Since our apartment is so small, I thought that I'd share with you some of the ideas I use for storage.

Storage bins

I love these. They're a perfect way to keep things organized and cute. I have these everywhere in my apartment. My linen closet is filled with them. I use them to hold anything from makeup products to my styling tools. They come in any shape, size, or color you could want, but these three are my favorites. These are in my coat closet by the entrance. One contains laundry detergent, fabric softener, etc..and the other two are full of candles. (Eek!) These are especially good for holding your little ones' books or toys. They're cheap too, and you can find them pretty much everywhere!

Ottomans

Ottomans provide a ton of extra storage for extra blankets, sheets, and other linens. I don't really find these visually appealing. It's hard to find a place where they don't look awkward in a room. We do have a brown leather one that we use as a coffee table, however, that I like a lot. It's large and sits right in front of our sectional couch. It's not the most beautiful coffee table you've ever seen. It does provide tons of room for storing our extra throws, however.

                                   

                                                                        Shelves

I love shelves. Seriously, I have like a million knick-knacks and useless things that are perfect for shelves. Not only are shelves practical, they add a sense of depth to a room. I have floating shelves in my bedroom. Those are adorable. Thinking about it we have at least one shelf in every room in our home. The pictures from above are from our kitchen and bathroom.

I would also suggest buying furniture that can be multi-functional or provide storage. I have a friend who lives in a teeny tiny apartment. She has a very simple desk that can be used as a dinner table if she has a guest or two over. She simply has to pull out a couple ottomans she stores under her bed, and we all have seating. Another item I love are the beds with shelves in the headboard or drawers underneath the bed. Those are idea for small spaces.

I'm not a master interior designer by any means, but these are just a few, simple ideas that I thought may help someone moving into a small space or looking to organize their small living area. Hope you liked it!

                                                                

Oh Lush.......

One of my all time favorite companies is Lush, a company that produces fresh, handmade cosmetics. Lush products are mostly natural, and I love the idea of supporting a company that strives to use natural, organic ingredients in their products. It's probably a company that you'll hear me talk about quite frequently, but today I want to tell you about my absolute favorites from their Christmas line. That's right! Christmas line. Is it that time of year already? Well, it's coming  up and Lush recently released an awesome collection of items that I love and some that I am dying to try. I haven't tried any of the new products released, but these are some of my favorites that I've enjoyed in previous years.

http://www.lushusa.com/shop/products/bath-shower/bubble-bars/gingerbread-house

First off is the Gingerbread House bubble bar. This is so obviously visually pleasing. Look at it! It makes me want to squeal with delight. It's like Christmas in a bubble bar. If you don't know what a bubble bars are, you crumble them into your bath water as it runs and they create huge, lovely-scented bubbles. Some even change the color of your water. Gimmicky, I know, but these little babies are packed with essential oils that make your skin seriously soft. Love them. This particular one is my ABSOLUTE product from the Christmas line. It may even be my favorite product from Lush. The orange part smells like ginger, but not gingerbread. It's more of an earthy, pure ginger than a bakery scent. The white part on type smells just like Cool Whip to me. It's a very light and creamy vanilla-ish scent. The two combined create a light, dreamy scent that will soothe anyone. The Gingerbread House bubble bar turns the water a light orange/peachy color. All Lush products are a little pricey, but I can easily use this one 3 times, which makes it a great deal for me.

http://www.lushusa.com/shop/products/bath-shower/bath-bombs/cinders

This next product is a bath bomb called Cinders. You place bath bombs in your bath water and they fizz as they release awesome scents and essential oils into the water. Cinders smells like Apple Cider to me. It's very spicy, unlike Gingerbread House, which is more subdued. I smell a lot of cinnamon in this one. This is a great Holiday scent, and the best thing about this is the pop rocks on top. As the bomb fizzes away and deteriorates, the pop rocks make a lovely popping sound, which is supposed to be reminiscent of a crackling fire. If I close my eyes, I can definitely imagine it. The popping continues long after the bomb is dissolved. Very soothing. You have to keep an open mind with this one. It does turn the water a yellow color. People reviewing on the Lush site complain that sitting in yellow water makes them feel as if they're sitting in urine. Yellow is my all time favorite color, so I like to think of it like I'm sitting in sunshine. It's much more uplifting than the urine theory.

Both of these bath products will leave a light, colored film in the bottom of your bath. At least they do for me, but it's nothing a light swipe with a wet cloth can't clear up. They're both great, and I would suggest either one of these products if you're looking to try Lush or looking for a good product from their Holiday line. Not only will they make your bath water and entire bathroom smell amazing, they scent also clings to your skin after your bath. Seriously, go check out the site. I could look for hours and hours. In fact, I think I'll go take a peek right now.

My October Birchbox

My October Birchbox came in the mail today!. For those of you who don't know what a Birchbox is, it's a subscription mail service that you pay ten dollars for every month. In exchange for your money, they send  you 4-5 deluxe size beauty samples each month. Check out the website at birchbox.com. It's a pretty neat concept.

Anyways, I was especially excited to see my October box in the mail, because it was early this month! Score. This is what my box looked like this month.

They always have the cutest packaging! I really look forward to seeing these in the mail. It's like a special gift for you(minus the fact that you pay for it but thats besides the point). The boxes are always very well packaged, and I've never had anything break. Sorry, if the lighting in these pictures sucks. I can't find my favorite camera.

This first product is by Laura Geller. It's called Spackle-tinted under Makeup primer in the color Bronze. I was most excited to try this, because almost 99% of face primers I've tried break me out. I'm not sure why, but it always seems to be the case. This one seems promising though. It's supposed to be hydrating and feels more creamy than oily, unlike some others I've tried.We shall see. The color seems dark in the tube, but when I rubbed it in, it blended very well. The little notecard Birchbo includes says that it works on all skin tones. This tube is .5 oz and the regular 2 oz. tube retails for $25.

Next is a product by Orofluido. This is a beauty elixir It's supposed to be a hair treatment that contains argan oil, linseed oil, and cyperus oil. This feels super oily, like every other argan oil product that I have ever seen. What I loved about it, however, was the super delicious scent. Birchbox describes it as amber-vanilla. I think that's spot on. To me, it smells exactly like Victoria's Secret's Amber Romance scent. This is a small sample. .17 fluid oz. to be exact. The regular size sells for $29.99 and is 3.4 oz. Even though this sample is small, I think it will last me a while. I put the teeny tiniest amount on my daughter's hair after I blowdried her hair tonight, and it made her hair slightly oily. Only a VERY small amount is needed to make hair super soft.

Again, I apologize. These are the worst pictures ever. But, you could see this, you would see that it's the Befine Lip Serum. I really like most of the Befine products I've tried. This was probably by favorite product from the whole box. It's super creamy and moisturizing. It feels really buttery and smooth when you apply it, almost like petroleum jelly, but creamier. It doesn't have any smell, but that's okay with me. I'm really looking forward to using this in the winter months, when my lips are notoriously dry and cracking. The duo of this and another item sells for $25.

The next horrible picture is of the AHAVA Rich Cleansing Cream. This is supposed to be gentle and non-drying. The description reminds me of the Philosophy Purity face wash, which I absolutely hate! I got a sample of that a few months back and thought I would love it. I was unpleasantly surprised, however, when that broke me out worse than anything EVER. Seriously, it was horrible. (You would think from reading this post that I break out frequently, but I promise this is not the case.)  Hopefully, this one will be different. It's creamier than the Philosophy one, and I've read rave reviews on it. It seems pretty promising. This sample is .68 oz, and the full-sized product is 3.4 ounces and costs $30 in stores.

This one actually made me laugh when I first saw it. For some reason, I thought it was a feminine hygeine wash for your girly parts. Ha. Actually.............it's a delicate detergent for your delicates. This product comes from a company called The Laundress.  You can use it to handwash your delicate clothing pieces or use it in a washing machine. Even though I laughed, this was kind of a neat surprise. I've very particular about how I wash my delicates, since some can be SO expensive, so I'm excited to try this out. This package washes one small load of laundry. I'm not sure how much is in a regular size of this laundry detergent.

That's it. In my opinion, I got some pretty good products to try out this month. I love my Birchbox, and even though sometimes I don't love every product, it's still usually worth it to me. (If not just to feel special by getting my very own package in the mail every month.) If you're interested in ordering a Birchbox, check out the site. You can order yearly or monthly, which means you can cancel your subscription at any time if you're not digging it.

Big News

I'm the happiest girl alive right now! I have a new husband. I'm getting ready to graduate from college...AND....we just bought our first home! That's right...we are officially homeowners. I cannot tell you how exciting this is. After what seemed like years of looking, we have finally found a perfect house for our little family. We're redoing the floors, painting, and some other small renovation right now, but we should be able to move in by the end of the month.

I'm so anxious to finally have our own place. After years of living in rentals with white walls and beige carpeting, I am so excited to have a place to make our own. Attempting to get my hubby to sign off on some of my ideas, however, is not exactly easy. I want to paint our kitchen cabinets white. My husband thinks painting wood is a mortal sin. He says I'll ruin the perfectly good cabinets if I paint them. Perfectly good? Perfectly ugly and orange-ish is more like it. Trust me...they're far from perfect. And everyone loves white cabinets. I mean look at this.

How adorable is that? I guess he just doesn't see my vision. I've been googling white cabinets all week long, and I have found lots of serious inspiration.

My adorable hubby also refuses to paint stripes on my daughter's wall. He says it would take too much time and effort, especially when we'll probably be painting it again within a year or two. What a party pooper.

I'll keep you updated on the ongoings with our new home and the outcome of the decorating feud. I'm sure Bell and I will win out sooner of later.