About Me

My photo
Atlanta, GA, United States
Showing posts with label Mixology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mixology. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

YC Mixology, sales & coupons, Halloween, & Aveeno product review.

I posted in the past how I just LOVE my Yankee Candle Triple Mixology votive holder (apparently they have the same thing in white but call it the "Relaxing Rituals" votive holder) though I haven't been using it much lately.  It was put on the back burner as I had a lot of jar candles taking up space.  So I've been trying to burn through the jars that have already been started to make some room.  Possibly for new candles.

Now you don't need to own those votive holders for mixing scents.  Though I do find them very convenient & they come highly recommended by me because I love mixing, there are other ways to do it.  You could just burn 2+ jar candles or different votive/tea lights in different holders.  Place them near each other to have the mix stronger, or even further away from each other for a slight mix of scent or different scent experiences depending on where you are in the room.

I actually had a triple votive holder I got from Party Lite a while back that I never used, though it has been out for decoration the entire time.  I decided I was going to use this for my next mix.  It being autumn, I went through my votive box looking for some autumn scents & came up with this mix:



Many people don't think of grapes as an autumn fruit but they are!  I think these were good choices considering this time of year most people go overboard on the pumpkin & spices.  Not that I don't like those scents.  I do!  I just like to be different.  I do think the Vineyard was a bit overpowering of the 3 so if I go this route again, I'm not sure what I'd swap it out with.

I'm sure you've noticed in the last few years YC has been putting out some... well... different & odd choices for candles.  Their MMM, Bacon, for example, was NOT one of my favorites.  The scent was more of a sweet bacon smell & I choked on it after getting a whiff.  The other week I got a new YC catalog & I just love how they have their pages that you can sniff!  So I'm flipping through & see a new, odd scent that they have come up with.  Turkey & Stuffing!  It actually smells REALLY good!  Going through the reviews with the bacon candle, it seemed either a hit or miss if you liked the scent or not.  For the Turkey & Stuffing candle, the reviews seem to point out a lack of strong scent to it, not that the scent is bad.  The catalog gave an amazing scent of roasted turkey with perfectly herbed stuffing!  Only problem is that it will give you a hankering for some turkey & stuffing (or tofurky if you prefer) so it may be disappointing when you don't have a turkey dinner to nosh on after burning this candle.

We did end up checking out the candle in the store & the reviews are spot on advising of the lack of a strong scent. (Too bad!)  Since I had a B2G2 large candles coupon we ended up getting the Cranberry Chutney for our home and 3 others as gifts.  If you want the deal online, just enter the code CANDLES at checkout.

FYI, tomorrow starts their Veteran's Day sale & they will have $1 tarts & samps.  Also, if you have a YC store in your area see if they are participating in the Holiday Open House on November 9th, 10am-4pm.  They will have giveaways every hour & food!

~

I'm really trying to get in the fall spirit but it has been hard.  We finally had a week where the weather was cooling down but last week we were in the mid 60ºs!  I had ladybugs swarming all over my building & even saved one inside my home from the cats.

On Halloween it rained and the wind picked up.  65º and rain is better than 40º & rain, at least for trick-or-treaters.  I remember trick-or-treating in the snow once.  A few inches of snow actually.  We never get any kids here.  :(

My Halloween consisted of carving pumpkins & listening to some Halloween rock music with Chris.  Then we put on the Sabres game to listen to.  Milton had his Oskar & Klaus tie on & was (what we call) "helping" Chris carve his pumpkin.  We set the carved pumpkins on the table on my back porch facing the glass door so we could see them & lit a candle in them.  Chris roasted the pumpkin seeds & then blended some of the pumpkin innards to use in yummy pumpkin cream cheese muffins he made a few days later.  We ate some of the roasted seeds & drank apple cider while watching the glow of the jack-o-lanterns.  It was a good night.



~

So one of my BFFs, Colleen, has now started a blog of her own called Let's Stick Together.  She's a go-to for craftiness & also has a love, like I, for fine soaps.  (She also introduced me to my new addiction, Trader Joe's Chicken Pot Pie Bites!) Check her out!

http://letssticktogetheronline.com/

~ 

While at Target the other week I found an Aveeno product I wanted to try.  Skin Relief Shower & Bath Oil.  There was only 1 left, I had a coupon, & it smelled of almonds!  Target currently has a promotion with most Aveeno products where if you buy 3 you get a $5 Target gift card.  It was tempting but I decided against it.  This one would be enough for now.

http://www.aveeno.com/product/aveeno-+skin+relief+shower+-+bath+oil+.do?sortby=ourPicks&from=fn
The product advises to shake well before use.  In the bath it's recommended to use 1-2 tablespoons to running water.  If used in the shower, after cleansing, apply to skin, rinse & pat dry. 

This product is EXTREMELY oily.  Luckily I have treads on the bottom of my tub, but even with those, exiting my tub I almost slipped.  This is one of the oiliest products I have ever used & you will still feel greased up after drying yourself off.  I would recommend this for winter use or you will feel very sticky in the summer.  In the bath I tried it with 2 tablespoons & it seemed like too much.  1 tablespoon, or even just 1 cap full (what I used the 2nd time), was more than enough for me.

I mentioned, in the bottle it smelled like almonds, but there is no almonds or almond oil in it.  The 1st ingredient is mineral oil, then oat kernel flour.  When you add it to the running water the scent changed to something not very attractive.  It was on odd, damp smell that it gave off.  The reaction in the water was also strange as the oat flour created this oily, frothy, white foam in patches here & there.

Overall, even with my dry skin, I felt kind of gross and sticky after using it in the bath & I'm one of those people who usually doesn't mind using oily products.  After my bath I wanted to take another shower to scrub myself clean of it.  Maybe it would wash off better, or feel better on my skin if I used it as directed in the shower instead of the bath?  I'll have to try that later.  But, for $6 a bottle it's not a bad find if you have extreme eczema, psoriasis, or scaly skin.  Personally, I wouldn't buy this again.

Saturday, December 3, 2011

(most) Bath goodness has arrived!


Those are my new Yankee Candle samps that I am using for Mixology as of now.  Festive!  They are having a 30% off your entire purchase ending tomorrow.  Use code FF211 online or print this coupon for stores.  Can you believe they are already coming out w/their new spring fragrances!?

This weekend I need to decorate. Instead, what do I do?  I go shopping.  Today was more craft shopping w/my mom but I also put away & organized a lot of my gifts that I received throughout the week.  Out of all the stuff I snatched up for Black Friday, the only thing I am still waiting on is my package from Me Bath!  That's what I get for free shipping though everything else I ordered on the same day, earlier, or even LATER was already received by Friday.  Even my Lush UK order!  I already received that!!

So that start, this is everything I got in my package:


Don't mind the cat tower to the left & to my Betties & friends, don't inspect the photo too closely because there are some gifts in their for you.  Maybe later I will make a post w/everything I got but this is probably the best order I have ever had w/them as far as shipping & receiving.  So I saved close to $170 by placing the order through the UK & not through NA & most the bombs & melts are put in biodegradable plastic now!  Only a few bombs were still crushed in the package & 1 bubble bar, the Superstar, as it was one of few not wrapped up.  Still all salvageable.  Last year a bunch of bombs came crushed & the stupid post woman was all complaining because "powder" was coming from the package.  I had to go to the post after hours to pick it up & they even called my home phone because they were "concerned" about the package.  Ugh.

Now I also placed an order with Sephora.  I hate crowds & could have went into their store but I usually can get everything I want online & w/what I end up spending it always ends up being free shipping.  So, why leave my house & have to deal w/the bah-humbugs of shopping.  Oh you know they are out there, especially on Black Friday!!

Here are some things I got:

Tokidoki bag w/samples.

Fresh - Citron de Vigne Set

Everything else.

Dior - Addict To Life 500 point perk.

Milton wants to inspect the stash & get pets.

Tarte - All About Lips natural sugar exfoliator.

A lot of perfume samples that I will soon inspect & if I really can't handle something I'll usually give it away.  I can be pretty particular about my scents.  Mostly strong florals is what I cannot handle.  Like today when we went to this craft fair at this school, this one older woman was doused in some strong smelling floral perfume & I got a whiff of it & ended up sneezing almost the entire time I was there it was so strong!  Even some perfumes I like & own I end up sneezing a few times when I 1st apply it but then my nose usually settles down.  I'm a sucker for good scents.

I also really like how the Tarte sugar exfoliator top comes w/a mirror on it.  I actually didn't know the base held it closed, so when I opened it I got the surprise.  Cute!


Now I also got 6 wonderful smelling, small tumbler candles from Yankee Candle as 2 ended up being free but they are all gifts so I am not going to post any pics of them on here.

*


Today was a kind of amusing day.  I went to Barnes & Noble because my "secret santa" for our work exchange wanted a book.  Well, there were 3 things listed.

  • James Patterson Books (new)
  • iTunes Gift Card
  • Irish Hat

Ok.  So I have NO clue what an Irish hat is, & I would rather support reading a good novel than wasting $ on electronic songs where if your hard drive that they are on crashes you could lose everything.  I see a brand new novel by James Patterson but the list said book(S) & the new novel is close to $30 which is double the amount we are supposed to spend.  To make the matter worse, I got my own supervisor!  So I see the new, new novel but there are a million other novels by him & I'm getting confused because he didn't list the name of the book & put the "s" after the word book.  So the secret is out because I texted him & yelled at him for being too vague in his list & he texted back laughing at me telling me it is the new book & that he has all the others, & since it's not a secret anymore I told him I'd save the paper wrapping it.  Ha!  I did find it for our limit on Amazon & ended up getting a  the newest Keane CD for myself which got me free shipping.  Got it to all work out.

Speaking of Amazon, I placed an order w/them the other week & received all my items all at the same time except 1 particular thing that I was getting for myself & also for a gift.  2 of 1 item, so there is no confusion.  I checked online & the missing item said it was in stock & under my order it advised the order was placed & that was that.  I sent them a simple "What's up with that?" e-mail & w/in 24 hours I had a response apologizing & they gave me a free upgrade to 1 day shipping.  Needless to say the item is on its way & I should have it Monday.  They didn't even need to upgrade the shipping & I still would have been fine as long as they got the order going but it was great customer service online!  Very happy.

*

More good customer service came from Keurig this week.  Things have been hectic & I got my Keurig about a year ago as a giveaway from work.  Now I have been having a bunch of on/off trouble with the machine here & there.  It filling up cups too little or not enough on the settings I selected.  Once it wasn't even dispensing water & the program screen locked up.  Usually these always ended up correcting themselves & didn't happen all that often.

But last week Chris & I were sitting on our couch watching TV & all of a sudden we heard the Keurig machine start going & we can hear the water flushing out of the machine.  So we quickly go into the kitchen & unplug the machine.  Later we try plugging it back in again & the program screen is completely blank.  It has been broken ever since.  So I'm hoping again it may just correct itself & wait a few days, still nothing.  Start doing some research online & there are a ton of problems w/the machines being reported.

I'll be honest, I would never buy a Keurig.  I find the K-Cups to be very wasteful on the environment & I can wait a few minutes to heat up a little water if I really want something.  I'm thinking the product may not be under warranty anymore considering it was most likely purchased over a year ago & since I got it from my job I don't have the receipt.

So I decided to call them & advise of what was going on & do some troubleshooting.  The guy I got on the phone was very professional & friendly.  Had me do a few things that I probably already did a bunch of times before I called, he checked the serial # & said it was under warranty so they are shipping me a new one.  All I have to do is pay to send back some part that was in the old one as proof that I had the machine.  No problem.

I didn't think it was going to be easy.  I thought they were going to make me ship them the whole machine, or take it somewhere to be fixed.  That's what happened w/my Cannon camera that had a defect.  I had to mail them the camera & then they mailed it back to me.  I was ready to be frustrated but everything is working out well.

*

I hope to get back to posting some more daily baths & product reviews soon.  Done for now!

Milton enjoying the crinkly paper from my shipments.

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Autumn Yankee Candle Mixology


Oh how wonderful it is!  The frost this morning was beautiful.  The day was productive. 

So it ended with:

Not feeling like writing much more for now as I'm pretty exhausted from the day.  Getting excited for "Cyber Monday" but also getting ready to be let down.  Last year the sales for bath & body products were a laugh & the better deals still came, even to their sites, on "Black Friday."  We shall see!

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Yankee Candle Mixology - Tropical Fruit Salad

This is probably the best thing that Yankee Candle has ever come up with!  It's listed under their website as the Everyday Ceramic Votive Holder but what's so awesome about it is that it fits up to 3 different votive, or sampler (samps). YC has used the term Mixology on many occasions so there are a lot of posts on their Facebook discussion board with different mixes of votive candles.  I also found an amazing archive of mixology!

The site advises to use 2 or 3 of their samplers with the holder but I did 1st try it with 2 & would recommend to always use 3.  If you really feel like using only 2, use an unscented as a 3rd or another sampler of the scent that is less dominating.  Otherwise the wax all drains into the 3rd chamber & it burns through very quickly.

Right now I am near the end of my summer tropical fruit salad mixology which consists of:

Here is a picture of my current mixology at work.  What a nice warm glow.  How lovely!


Unfortunately I slept most of the day because I felt nauseous.  Time to pay bills, do crafts & then my bath.  Or maybe just my bath & some TV for now.

I think what really made my day was this card I received from Brown Betty today.  The Inside just read "LOL!" This was on the front: