Haul: Rosegirls February 2016

February 14th saw the first of Rosegirls' new opening style. Instead of the ability to buy custom chunks Jenny chooses 15 blends that you can buy in as many 8oz bags as you please. I figured why not let my return to Rosegirls be the first opening of this sort?

I placed my order on February 14th and it shipped on April 14th. Within the initial TAT Jenny quoted us. How fantastic is that, especially after how long the TAT was for their last customs.

How about we jump in and see what I got? I sure didn't remember as I was opening the box, and I'm pretty happy with what 2-month-younger-me picked out!

Stop & Chat: April 23 - Daegu Day 3

I woke up at 5:30 on Sunday. Why? I have absolutely no clue. I could have easily woken up between 7:30 and 7:45 and had more than enough time to get ready before we left for the day. Instead I found myself awake at 5:30 feeling absolutely wonderful. Now that I've synced up my Fitbit to my phone's app, I can see that while I had less than 6 hours of sleep, I turned/moved only twice. Considering my normal nights are full of 20+ restless moments, I would say that was a very great night's sleep.

Stop & Chat: April 23 - Daegu Day 2

Saturday we were up bright and early. M woke up around 5:30 so he could shower. I dawdled in bed until around 6:15, when I hopped in as well. While M and I were sleeping, J picked up another person who had come into Daegu. We made our introductions and ate breakfast, then grabbed our bags and hopped into J's car. Since J was the race director, we had to be there extra early to set up tables and get everything together for player registration.

Stop & Chat: April 22 - Daegu Day 1

This weekend was a big first for M and I. We traveled outside of our normal comfort zone by far! To recount this, I'm splitting up our weekend into 3 posts. That makes it easier to read, easier to write, and just easier all around. I'm still recovering so my brain can't think very goodly.

Haul: Lush Korea April 2016

Birthday weekend activities brought me to the Itaewon area. Of course that meant I had to visit Lush.

I had some specific things in mind - a hair cream, and a new shampoo, to name a few - but we of course picked up a few extra things. What did we pick up, do you ask? Why, let me show you!

Lush Veganese Hair Conditioner & Curly Wurly Coconut Shampoo

I've had both of these products for two and a half months now. In that time I've tried different methods of applying each product, differing amounts, in combination with different products, together, separately, and all on their own, all to figure out which properties each product had and how it applied to my hair. I'm almost out of the shampoo, too, so I figure now is a good time to finally write my review.

L3 Waxy Wonders - Pink Chiffon Ice Princess

Scent Description: Pink Chiffon, Pink sugar, sweet peppermint.

Date Poured: 12-11-15

Weight Melted: 1.2 oz

Location of Warmer: Guest room, in tealight warmer

Cold Sniff: 4/5 Pink sugar & peppermint! I couldn't quite pick up on pink chiffon here.

Warm Sniff: 5/5 Yummy! Again, pink peppermint takes the front here. I was able to pick up on that pink chiffon, though, which makes me very happy! Altogether this made for a beautiful minty blend.

Scent Strength: 2/3

Scent Throw: >3/3 This filled the guest room, entryway, hallway, kitchen/dining area, and part of the office.

Melting Power: 4/5 I got about 6 and a half hours of scent from half a heart.

Repurchase: Yes!

I've been having some great luck with the wax I've been melting! I'm loving it, though the pessimist in me says that this has to be balanced out by some duds in the future.

Vintage Chic Scents - Jackie O in Atlantic City

Scent Description: Strawberry peach snow taffy marshmallow birthday cake noel.

Date Poured: 2-9-16

Weight Melted: 0.6 oz

Location of Warmer: Living room, in tealight warmer

Cold Sniff: 3/5 A very sweet strawberry & peach blend with just a hint of what might be cake.

Warm Sniff: 4/5 I didn't pick up on the peach and forgot that was in this blend until I looked at the scent notes. I'm not sure about the snow taffy, either. I did, however, quite easily pick up on the strawberries & marshmallow birthday cake noel. Very delicious bakery blend.

Scent Strength: 2/3

Scent Throw: >3/3 This filled the entire living room, most of the master bedroom, hallway, kitchen/dining area, and office. Whoa!

Melting Power: 4/5 I got about 6 hours from a quarter of this rose.

Repurchase: Yes! I know not everyone gets stellar performance from VCS, but I've been fortunate enough to have really good performance from Kirby's wax so far!

L3 Waxy Wonders - Time Warp

Scent Description: Lemon Sugar/Pomegranate/Blonde Moment(raspberries, cranberries, iced champagne)

Date Poured: 12-16-15

Weight Melted: 0.6 oz

Location of Warmer: Guest room, in tealight warmer

Cold Sniff: 5/5 A lovely sweet blend with just a hint of lemon.

Warm Sniff: 5/5 Pomegranate mixed with raspberries and cranberries. No fizzy champagne that my nose could pick up on. Then just a very slight hint of lemon sugar.

Scent Strength: 2/3

Scent Throw: >3/3 This filled the entire guest room, entryway, hallway, office, and kitchen/dining area.

Melting Power: 4/5 I got about 6 hours from the itty bitty chunk of wax I melted.

Repurchase: Yes! If I ever melt through my immense L3 stash. The thing I have notice is each of Jennifer's wax chunks can easily be cut into 4 pieces with amazing performance. Now I just need to make sure I don't pick up an abundance of fizzy/tropical blends next time!

Sniff My Tarts - Cotton Candy/Watermelon/Lemon Sugar Type

It's the one on the left... somehow I never took a picture of this tart by itself.

Scent Description: Fresh strawberry, sugar, sweet vanilla/ripe, fresh, sweet watermelon/tart lemons, light whipped cream, sweet vanilla crystals.

Date Received: 3-7-2016

Weight Melted: 1.7 oz

Location of Warmer: Kitchen, in tealight warmer

Cold Sniff: 3/5 This was heavy on the watermelon with just a hint of lemon sugar. No cotton candy to be found.

Warm Sniff: 5/5 Oooooh, now this was a blend that surprised me. I fully expected the lemon to take over this entire blend. Instead it was a background note to a watermelon and cotton candy medley. This lemon was sweet and creamy, without that biting citrus note that lemons tend to have.

 Scent Strength: 2/3

Scent Throw: >>3/3 This filled the entire house. I figured I would get some intense throw because I was melting a fair amount of wax, but this extended throughout the entire house. Yum!

Melting Power: 5/5 I got 10 hours of scent, or about 2 tealight candles, from this wax. I'm impressed!

Repurchase: Yes! I know Donna and Amy are finishing up their customs order in the next month or so, meaning customs is coming up soon! I may have to sit their opening out. I'm concerned about shipping wax across the world in the heat of summer, and I have a fair amount of wax anyway. I'll have to see how I feel as the opening comes up.

Stop & Chat: April 17 & 18

Yesterday was another cleaning/lazy day. I cleaned some dishes, tidied up the house, and watched some TV. M worked all day so I didn't have much to do besides wait for him to come home. I had some leftover chicken & dumplings that I made last week. It's even better than the first time I made it!

Rosegirls - Grapefruit/Strawberry Jam/Cotton Candy Frosting

Scent Description: None available. Or more I'm incredibly lazy and don't feel like scouring the internet for these descriptions. :)

Weight Melted: 1.0 oz

Location of Warmer: Office, in tealight warmer.

Cold Sniff: 4/5 Very strong on the grapefruit, but depending on where I sniff I can pick up on sweet strawberries and a  hint of what must be RG's cotton candy frosting.

Warm Sniff: 5/5 Delicious strawberry jam with a splattering of cotton candy frosting. Woven throughout this scent is the grapefruit without the tartness. In love!

Scent Strength: 2/3

Scent Throw: 2/3 This filled the office, hallway, and some of the kitchen/dining room.

Melting Power: >2/5 I left the house at about 3.5 hours in to this melt and returned at the 6 hour mark. In that time the scent had diminished, so it lasted somewhere between 3.5 and 6 hours.

Repurchase: Yes! I quite enjoyed this, even if it doesn't have the longevity of some other RG scents I've melted.

Stop & Chat: April 12-16 - Lotte world

Wednesday was the last day of bowling for the bowling league. There was a lot of... I wouldn't say drama, but we had some difficulties with the same person I've mentioned before, N. In the end she was forbidden to come bowl on her team and I subbed for her. I did well! I got my highest score for a game ever - 135! The other two were okay, as well.

Haul: Lasting Scent Candles

Heeey, remember waaay back in February when I went on a mad wax buying spree? No? Oh. Well, this was one of those orders that I made knowing it would arrive around my birthday. Imagine my surprise when it arrived around my birthday!! LOL

I placed this order on February 13th and it shipped on March 30th. Pretty long TAT for some people, but I went into this knowing and counting on it being a while before I had this wax in my hands.

On to what I got!

Sniff My Tarts - Blackberry/Banana/Circus Concession

Scent Description: Pure blackberry without any perfume or candy tones/fresh ripened banana/cotton candy, caramelized apples, funnel cakes.

Date Received: 3-7-2016

Weight Melted: 0.8 oz

Location of Warmer: Living room, in tealight warmer

Cold Sniff: 3/5 A semi sweet banana and apple combination. The blackberry has a tartness to it.

Warm Sniff: 3/5 This took on a heavier bakery note as it melted. The banana stayed prevalent, and the blackberry died off.

Scent Strength: 1/3

Scent Throw: 2.5/3 This filled most of the living room.

Melting Power: 3/5 I got about 5 hours of scent from this tart.

Repurchase: No. It's an interesting blend and I will melt the rest of this cookie, but it's not something I plan to pick up more of.

Stop & Chat: April 6-11

Wednesday was bowling day! I wasn't asked to sub for anybody, but I was feeling stressed and figured I needed some of the positive atmosphere that comes with bowling. I baked a ton of chocolate chip cookies and brought those in. They were a hit! The bowling was fun. A lot of people were sick, and there wasn't much direct talking, but I'm more comfortable than ever with this group of women and am now able to participate in some of the teasing they do. It was fun, and I'm glad to've reached this point before the end of this bowling league.

Candles From the Keeping Room - Stiletto Blonde

Scent Description: White flowers, violets, hint of muskiness.

Date Received: February 2016

Weight Melted: 1.1 oz

Location of Warmer: Kitchen, in tealight warmer

Cold Sniff: 4/5 I quite enjoyed this floral musky blend.

Warm Sniff: 4/5 No surprises while this melted.

Scent Strength: 1/3

Scent Throw: 1.5/3 This filled the kitchen/dining area and some of the hallway. It never reached the office.

Melting Power: 2/5 I only got a little under 4 hours of scent from this tart.

Repurchase: No. It was a beautiful scent, but I was less than wowed by its performance.

Olde Primitive Treasures - Blueberry Muffins

Scent Description: Buttery blueberry muffins you'd swear came straight from the oven.

Date Received: 3-1-2016

Weight Melted: 1.2 oz

Location of Warmer: Living room, in tealight warmer

Cold Sniff: 5/5 I tell you, I'm hankering for blueberry like it's going out of style. I have to be careful that I don't overstock on this scent. It would be horrible to suddenly fall out of love with this scent and be stuck with pound upon pound of blueberry scented wax.

Warm Sniff: 5/5 No change while melted. A very authentic blueberry muffin blend.

Scent Strength: 2/3

Scent Throw: >3/3 This filled the entire living room, some of the bedroom, and some of the hallway. Lots of throw!

Melting Power: 4/5 I got about 7 hours of scent from one tart.

Repurchase: Yes! Assuming I manage to melt though all of my blueberry scents and need to restock :)

Band of Bloggers - Vol. 4/April 2016

April is upon us! The birds have returned, the Northern Hemisphere has warmed up, the plant life is blooming, and the Band of Bloggers are gearing up for another monthly post. Feel free to join us in this conversation by commenting below!

What product have you tried that has surprised you with its performance? It can be anything that comes to mind.

My Lush hair conditioner, Veganese, has greatly surprised me! It makes my hair super smooth and silky, doesn't weigh it down, doesn't strip my hair of oils or make it overly greasy, and a little goes a long way. I've had it for about two months now and I've barely used 1/5th of my 500g bottle. It's lasting longer than the shampoo I picked up at the same time. Also - it doesn't make my scalp itch! I may have found my holy grail of conditioners. *crosses fingers* The longevity of use I get totally makes up for the price tag, ~$34 USD. If you're in the market for conditioner and have thin wavy/curly hair that is prone to frizzyness, I would highly recommend you try this!

---------------------------------------------------

Please visit these Band of Bloggers blogs
and help support the blogger community!

Deb, at It's Always Something.

Julie, at The Redolent Mermaid.

Lauren, at Lolo Loves Scents.

Liz, at Furianne. 

Michelle, at Waxing About.

Sunnee, at Fragrance Obsessed.

Candles From the Keeping Room - Bunny Treats

Isn't this bunny adorable? I love his widdle paws and his ears and he just looks so happy, looking up at the sky! I especially love how the room smelled as he slowly melted into a puddle of wax, BUAHAHAHA! :)

Scent Description: A sweet blend of berries, wildberry and blackberry spun together with sweet frosting.

Date Received: February 2016

Weight Melted: 1.1 oz

Location of Warmer: Kitchen, in tealight warmer

Cold Sniff: 4/5 I love me some berry mixes. Even with the frosting, I wouldn't consider this an overly sweet scent.

Warm Sniff: 4/5 No surprises while this was melting.

Scent Strength: 1.5/3

Scent Throw: 2/3 This filled the kitchen/dining area, most of the hallway, and some of the office.

Melting Power: 4/5 I got about 6 hours of scent from this little bunny.

Repurchase: Yes! I think this is a lovely springtime blend and came in the perfect shape for the season. If I make another order while she's offering it I will surely pick some up.

Stop & Chat: April 1-5

Saturday was a video gaming day. M was asleep for most of the day due to his CQ shift. That night we did go to Garden Life and we found the Japanese restaurant T and I went to the very first time we went biking together. I, of course, got the same thing - spicy beef rice bowl. I have been a bit congested lately so I couldn't fully taste the food. Bummer, because I really really liked it before.

Candles From the Keeping Room - Blackberry Jam Butter Cookie

Scent Description: Like two sweet butter cookies, sandwiched into a sweet blackberry jam.

Date Received: February 2016

Weight Melted: 1.0 oz

Location of Warmer: Office

Cold Sniff: 4/5 I had some issues with this tart. It was two feet away from my OPT Lord of Misrule on the floor for about a week. It appears to've sucked up a fair amount of that scent. So now I have a 50% LoM, 50% blackberry jam butter cookie blend. Do I like it? Yes!

Warm Sniff: 4/5 While melting this still had a very strong LoM note to it, but it tapered off a little to let me appreciate the actual scent I bought. Holy cow that must've been one strong scent to seep into a tart bag that was a fair distance away.

Scent Strength: 2/3

Scent Throw: 3/3 This filled the entire office, hallway, and kitchen/dining area.

Melting Power: 3/5 I got about 5 and a half hours of scent from one tart.

Repurchase: In the exact blend my nose smelled that was created on accident? Yes! In the BJBC without any silly add-ins? Yes, as well! This was a happy accident.

Jaimie Lauren Cupcakery and Confections in Wax - Pretty in Pink

Scent Description: "Pink Sugar Type & Cream Brule'e"

Date Received: June 2013

Weight Melted: 1.3 oz

Location of Warmer: Kitchen, in tealight warmer

Cold Sniff: 4/5 I don't get anything besides pink sugar on cold sniff, but I'm a fan of PS so I'm a fan of this. :)

Warm Sniff: 4/5 There are those other notes. In the beginning there's a slightly bakery type note. Not bready but definitely bakery. Then pink sugar comes in, first blending with that bakery before drowning out any other note.

Scent Strength: 1/3

Scent Throw: 2/3 This filled the kitchen/dining area, hallway, and some of the office.

Melting Power: 3/5 I got about 5 hours of scent from 1/2 of this mini loaf.

Repurchase: Yes. While Pink Sugar ended up as the dominant and final note, I did enjoy what this scent did as it melted. I also see that Jen brought this blend back for her more recent openings. Nice!

Sassy Girl Aroma - Blackberry Jam Lemon Cookies

Scent Description: None available.

Date Received: 2-26-16

Weight Melted: 0.9 oz

Location of Warmer: Kitchen, in tealight warmer

Cold Sniff: 3/5 A rather strong lemon on cold sniff. I could still pick up on the blackberry jam, it was just very light.

Warm Sniff: 4/5 The lemon tones down to a nice and creamy undertone, letting the bakery cookie aspect raise its little snout alongside a sweet blackberry jam.

Scent Strength: 2/3

Scent Throw: 3/3 This filled the entire kitchen/dining area, hallway, and office.

Melting Power: 4/5 I got about six and a half hours of scent from this melt.

Repurchase: Yes! I'm really liking Julie's blends and wax performance! I hope all of the issues that she's experiencing with unhappy customers bringing drama to the Facebook group, people abusing the four hour cart hold system, and general website glitchiness resolve themselves soon, for everyone's sake. It's not fun seeing people complain left and right and watching Peggy and Julie run around putting out the flames.

Please bear with me as I get back into the hang of melting. I took a week or so off and I feel really out of the loop.

Stop & Chat: March 29-31

Tuesday was a busy day. You know what... every day has been a busy day. I'm still exhausted and I got something like 11 hours of sleep last night.