Review of Tommy Bahama Scented Candles

I haven't had any luck finding a nicely scented candle that I really liked...until Dale bought these
Tommy Bahama Classic Tin Filled Candles for us

Candles tend to smell nice when I sniff them...once I light them it's a different story. Either it's not fragrant at all once lighted or it smells a bit different. I find this to be the case with many cheaper candles so I avoided scented candles for years. Now that I've found scented candles I love, here's a review on them.

For the Tommy Bahama kiwi lime scented candle - it leaves a mild fragrance in the room. The scent is a bit sharp because of the lime. I think this is nice for variety since sometimes I'm in the mood for a certain scent, but this is not my favourite of the lot.

I prefer the Tommy Bahamas Pineapple Cilantro scented candle over the Kiwi lime candle. It has just enough tartness to the scent yet a bit of sweetness from the pineapple. It's a very unique nice scent and I would repurchase this one again

If you're a huge fan of The Body Shop Satsuma scent and you're searching for a candle having that scent, I think you'll love the Tommy Bahama Maui Mango scented candle. I find the two very similar and I do like it for variety, although it is not my favourite of the bunch

The sales lady did mention her favourite was the Tommy Bahama coconut mango scented candle  

I must say, this time I whole heartedly agree with the sales rep

It smells sooo nice and it's fragrant 

Dale first lighted this candle while we were at Deerhurst and whenever I smell this candle, it just reminds me of so many warm memories ;) But really, the vanilla in it helps with that

So I highly recommend the Tommy Bahama coconut mango scented candle if you like a cozy, warm, calming scent

It's definitely my favourite scented candle so far (and that's a first!)

Although the candles look a bit small they're good for 32 hours, which is quite decent

The quality of all the Tommy Bahama Scented Candles are great. None of them smell synthetic or cheap. 

As a note, be careful how you put out a tin candle since a lot of hot wax can accumulate in the tin

Do not blow out the candle because you can blow hot wax onto yourself or others

Use a candle snuffer or a clean metal spoon to put out the candle safely

Do you have a favourite scented candle? 

What other ways do you add fragrance to your room(s)? 

Or do you prefer no fragrance?

Review & Swatches: Hard Candy Lipstick & Plexi Gloss, Rimmel Royal Jelly Gloss

The products I'll be reviewing in this post are:

Left to right: Hard Candy "Rush Hour" and "Fire Alarm" Painted Lady Lipsticks, Hard Candy "I Want Candy" Plexi Gloss, Rimmel Royal Gloss in "Sweet Lust" and "Pink Taffy"

Dale got these all for me when we went to Walmart

A lot of people don't know, but Hard Candy Cosmetics use to be sold at The Bay cosmetic counters years ago at a much higher retail price. I recall paying just over $30 after tax for one Hard Candy lipgloss as a teen :S  Times have changed for the better here as the lipsticks and glosses were around $6 CDN each I think

The swatches of the Hard Candy "Rush Hour" and Hard Candy "Fire Alarm" lipsticks are pretty true to the colour of the swatch

I'm wearing the Hard Candy "Rush Hour" lipstick 

And here I'm wearing the Hard Candy "Fire Alarm" lipstick

I love the pigmentation of both lipsticks. They apply smoothly. 

And I think the packaging is cute - especially with the ribbon at the bottom of the tube. 

The swivel base for the lipsticks is slightly a bit stiff (it's not as smooth of a turn as say, my Estee Lauder lipsticks or MAC lipsticks), but considering the affordable price, it works and hasn't gotten stuck 

I highly recommend the Hard Candy Painted Lady lipsticks if you find a shade that you like :)

Onto a review of the lip glosses 

The swatches from left to right: Hard Candy "I Want Candy" Plexi Gloss, Rimmel Royal Gloss in "Sweet Lust" and Rimmel Royal Gloss in "Pink Taffy"

I do not recommend the Hard Candy "I Want Candy" Plexi Gloss 

It's sticky, there is no pigmentation in the lip gloss (so it's like any other lip gloss), and worst off it tastes like Benylin to me. 

It's funny because Dale picked this gloss for me since it was the last Hard Candy Plexi Gloss on the stands - so we figured it must be great to be nearly sold out. Wrong. 

But at least I got one thing right! For the Rimmel Royal Glosses, I saw a few highly rated reviews on them (particularly that they are not sticky at all and taste yummy) and picked them up based on that.

I can honestly say they live up to the reviews and I highly recommend the Rimmel Royal Glosses if you're looking for a high shine lip gloss that tastes pleasantly sweet and is not sticky at all. For the two colours I got, although they look different in colour in the tube and in the swatch, they look like regular clear gloss once worn. 

What are you favourite lipsticks and/or glosses at the moment? ;)

OOTN & FOTN

It was so nice to catch up with friends on Friday night (thanks Rob!)  ;) 

We went to a club called Bar244. 

I really liked the music - lots of dance music! All drinks are cheap at $3-$4. I think the only turn off for me was the young crowd - it felt like a throwback to high school ten years ago. Okay, that would be cool only if I was ten years younger LOL 

Ah well, still had a fab time with friends and that's what counts :)

I haven't done an OOTN and FOTN post in a while so here is one for you (now you know why I was late ten minutes Rob haha)

I coloured my own hair earlier this week with L'oreal Feria #45 Deep Bronzed Brown.

If I stay within 1-2 shades of my natural hair colour, L'oreal Feria hair colour has never let me down. And even though my hair is a long length, I only need one Feria box dye

The eye shadow I have on is mainly MAC Nehru which I did a post on a few days ago here

The lashes I have on are my favourite pair! It's my trusty Ardell 107s and I've done a post on them here 

I layered two necklaces: one is Hello Kitty and the other is from Charlotte Russe 

I wore the Guess Kayla dress, which I'm not surprised to see they are sold out of

My purse is Steve Madden (I loveee the studs on this bag)

My heels are the Patent Uber Covered Platform Pump in Nude by Charlotte Russe (patent + nude + high heel = love at first sight for me! I have a shoe haul post coming up by the way)

These are the side slits in the Guess Kayla Dress. 

And these are all the accessories I had on last night :)

Not mentioned already is the Charlotte Russe bracelet to the far left.

The Bebe cuff bracelet (under the high heels) 

Both rings are from Forever21

My watch is from Guess

Do you like seeing these type of posts? 

If so, I will try to do them more often....

And how is your weekend coming along? :)

Skincare Haul & Reviews

These are some of the skincare products that Dale bought for me in the past month - so sweet of him ;)

This is a quick re-cap of what I think of some of these products. 

For the products that I did not do a write up for, I just haven't used them long enough (2+ weeks straight). 

I Love...Strawberries & Milkshake bubble bath & shower gel

-the scent is nice. It's more on the mild side - but I can definitely smell the strawberries and the creaminess to it (the milkshake part I guess?)

-lots of suds! Great for a bubble bath or even a shower gel if you love lots of lather

-it is a tad bit drying on my skin. I need a more moisturizing shower gel than this one. But this is great for a bubble bath once in a while. So I do recommend it as a bubble bath

-they sell this at Shoppers Drug Mart for fellow Canadians

 Nivea Good-Bye Cellulite  

-Dale picked these up for me as a surprise and I have gone through 5+ tubes of this in the past

-one thing I really like is the perfume scent. Other than that it's just okay. I have already reviewed this product here

-I currently love my Sanctuary Spa Covent Garden Sculpting Anti-Cellulite Treatment more than this Nivea product (Dale initially bought me the Sanctuary Spa Covent Garden gel during our London England trip at Boots. Since then, he ordered a shipment of the creams for me through the company website as I don't believe it's sold at stores in Canada) 

I initially discovered this Fruits & Passion Cucina Coriander & Olive Tree line of products at my older sister's place.  I absolutely love the hand wash from this line! Dale knows how much I love it so it was so nice of him to surprise me with the set & another back up hand wash :) The scent is much more of coriander than it is of olive oil. Thank goodness because the one time I used olive oil on my hair as a deep oil treatment, I could not stand the smell of it and had to rinse it out almost right away

The Coriander & Olive Tree Deodorizing Fragrant Kitchen Spray and Coriander & Olive Tree Regenerating Hand Cream are both great. The scent is just amazing and consistent throughout the line of products. And yes, the hand cream as well as the hand wash are moisturizing (they don't trigger my last lingering bit of eczema). Plus, the hand wash removes any unpleasant lingering scent on your hands that you often get from preparing certain foods :)  Bonus!

Burt's Bees Coconut Foot Creme 

-I love Burt's Bees products because all their products I have tried have been compatible with my sensitive skin. Plus, they use natural ingredients and few chemicals

-I love their coconut foot creme! It is not synthetic smelling at all and the scent is just so yummy. I love the thick consistency of it. It's very moisturizing. I slather it on & put socks on before bedtime

The Body Shop Vanilla Body Lotion 

-I must have mentioned this at least two other times in my blog, but I LOVE The Body Shop Vanilla lotion. This is purely for the scent. I have tried numerous vanilla lotions which have all smelt synthetic to me compared to this one - I don't even experiment with other vanilla scented lotions anymore. If there's any scented lotion that gets me in the mood, it's this one. Not that I need a lotion for that :P 

-the moisturizing properties of the lotion is of course, like 99% of other scented lotions - it just doesn't come close to my HG Aveeno Daily Moisturizing lotion. So what I do is I mix half of The Body Shop Vanilla Body Lotion in the palm of my hand, and mix half of my HG Aveeno Daily Moisturizing Lotion (review here). Voila - a beautiful warm scent and long lasting quality moisturizer in one!

The Body Shop Vanilla Bath & Shower Gel 

-I like it, but it's not a must in my skincare routine like the vanilla body lotion is

-unfortunately it does not suds up as much as the I Love...Strawberries & Milkshake Bubble Bath & Shower Gel

-it's not a moisturizing shower gel. The scent is not as "warm" as the vanilla body lotion if that makes sense. So I really could do without this product

The Body Shop Almond Body Butter

-again, I love this just for the scent. It's a bit oily even after it's been rubbed into my skin. So as I mentioned above, since nothing comes close to my HG Aveeno Daily Moisturizing Lotion I use half of the Aveeno mixed with half of this scented body butter. This is how I apply any scented lotion by the way. And by doing this, it also makes my skin a lot less oily since I'm using less of the body butter

The Body Shop Guarana Lip Butter

-I had not heard of the guarana berry until Dale got me this lip butter. I don't even think I know how to pronounce the word! :S

-omigosh this stuff tastes so yummy! I think I ate most of it haha 

-it is moisturizing although not HG status for moisturizing. This one will be one of my favourites just for the flavour though 

*****

If there is any product you see here which I did not write a review for & you'd like me to review it, please let me know and I'll work on a review for you :) 

FOTD & Swatch: MAC Nehru eye shadow

I've had MAC Nehru eye shadow for a couple of weeks and it's been a staple for me :) That's saying a lot since I'm quite particular when it comes to eye shadows.

MAC Nehru eye shadow in the pot

This is a matte finish and although it looks like a regular black matte shadow, there is a blue-gray tinge to it that I love. If you love a smokey eye, I highly recommend checking out this shade

You can definitely build up the depth of colour with this one or use it lightly

Here is a quick swatch of the colour (one swipe)

MAC Nehru eye shadow swatch

And here's a look with me using the eye shadow 

Any new makeup products that you're loving lately?

Guess, Bebe and Michael Kors

I just wanted to share with you a few things I got in the past month that I really love. 

These are all gifts from Dale ;)  I definitely count myself lucky.

The bracelet is really pretty! I tend to edge towards big statement jewelry and Dale chose this bracelet out for me - it's the Guess Rhinestone Heart Mesh Bracelet 

I would say the only downside to the bracelet is the small lobster clasp. It seriously takes me too long to get this clasp on if I have fake nails on LOL 

Even Dale with short nails had to take a couple of minutes to put it on for me

Here is what the wristlet wallet looks inside:

Dale chose this Guess wristlet wallet for me and I love it! I like how it zips all around, there's many card slots, another zippered slot inside as well as a coin zippered slot on the backside. Plus the wristlet part is detachable. 

Just a typical bandage skirt. Dale got this for me at a Guess outlet store - we both loved the turquoise colour

The next three items I personally chose out at Guess. I bought them using the gift certificate that Dale gave to me :) Thanksss so much Dale!

This is the Guess Misha Jacket. 

I really like how soft the faux leather is. It's a very flattering colour and cut. 

I also really like how there's two front pockets on each side - one that's zippered and one that's buttoned.

It looks great with a pair of jeans :)

This is the Guess Kayla Dress and omigosh I snatched this dress off the rack as soon as I spotted it LOL It was the last one in the store too!

I love the side slits on this dress - it's my 1st dress with side slits. It's sexy but not over the top

These are the Guess Daredevil Jeans 

I actually went into Guess looking for destroyed blue denim but the only destroyed denim they had were these. They don't look like much in the picture and when the sales associate handed these jeans to me saying they were super comfy, I thought, "mehhhh." But I tried them on and you know what? These are sooo comfortable! They're not jean material -it's twill. I wish they were skinny and not bootcut, but that is the only negative thing I have to say about these (which is a personal preference). If you like bootcut and don't mind it destroyed, I highly recommend this pair. 

This is probably the prettiest coat in my closet now :) 

Dale got this Bebe lace coat for me when we went to Buffalo together last month. I absolutely love it as I'm a sucker for lace.

It is a bit dressy and I wish I could wear it in the daytime, but I only wear it in the evenings (not to nightclubs though) 

The back of the coat is really nice too with the ribbon detailing

I should mention that there are no pockets on this coat though

And the bag I'm wearing two pictures above is this large black patent Michael Kors shoulder bag

OMG I loveee this shoulder bag! The black patent, the weaved handle, the size....

Dale actually really liked this bag too (I don't think he was too fond of the previous Michael Kors satchel he bought for me)

Michael Kors has some really stylish bags and I also love their style of watches

Let me know what you've been up to lately :) 

It's Worth the Drive to Buffalo

Do you remember the ads for The Old Hyde House? 

(sheesh I just googled it and I can't believe it's still in existence - I thought the place was out of business) 

Well, you probably only know what I'm talking about if you live in Ontario - but the company slogan is "It's Worth the Drive to Acton". Personally, I don't think it's worth the drive....

but, when I think of Charlotte Russe shoes, all I can think about is "It's Worth the Drive to Buffalo" LOL

It's even worth the shipping across the border into Canada + taxes on them if you ask me

I thought my last shoe haul would prevent me from getting more heels, but I was actually inspired to get more - because Charlotte Russe came out with some new ones onilne with my name on them!! :)
(I mean that sarcastically - they really haven't named a shoe Karen yet LOL)

I have these in red as well as in taupe (you can view them in my previous post here)

But these Charlotte Russe Peep-Toe Booties with Side Zipper are super comfortable and sexy! OMG it is not easy to find that combination together in heels especially at such an affordable price
By the way, the online picture surprisingly isn't very nice - it looks like grey fabric online but in real life it looks like my picture above - a black suede-like finish.


The next three pairs are the same style of shoe - it's the Charlotte Russe Patent Peeptoe Slingback Heel which I already have in black, royal blue and olive green. I love love this style of shoe. OMG it's absolutely worth it if you want to get a pair of patent peep toes for $30...and like many stores in USA there seems to always be some kind of sale going on at Charlotte Russe (like Buy One Get One $15 or 50% off)

I find it difficult to resist anything in nude colour - especially if it's nude patent
These heels are no exception. They are just as comfortable & easy to walk in as the peep-toe booties.

Personally I like the nude more than the white heels, but I got the white one as well because the price is affordable and I like it ;)

OKAY! If you get only one pair of the Charlotte Russe Patent Peeptoe Slingback Heels, this is it. 

OMG the red is such a gorgeous shade. And it will absolutely jazz up any casual outfit with jeans. Plus, you can definitely dress this one up. 

Overall I'm really surprised that the Charlotte Russe Patent Peeptoe Slingback Heels haven't sold out online for the most part - many sizes are still available in the various colours. 

On the other hand, the next two pairs did sell out really quickly online. I admit I have an awful habit and check the Charlotte Russe website almost everyday so I was lucky to place an order in time - and I love these!

This is the Charlotte Russe Floral Platform Sandal with Buckle in pink. A lot of the sizes sold out within 2-3 days, and the link for the heels is no longer even up on the website

These heels scream "spring! summer!" (am I losing it?! LOL) especially with the bright floral print and cork platform/heel. 

Notice that these heels are by a different brand - they're not the Charlotte Russe brand. The brand is carried by Charlotte Russe and it's called "Liliana" so perhaps if you really want these heels you can try searching online using the brand's name.

For shoes at Charlotte Russe, the difference I find between the Charlotte Russe branded shoes and the Liliana branded shoe is that the Charlotte Russe branded shoe is slightly better quality. But the main difference is that Charlotte Russe heels run in full sizes while the Liliana brand run in half sizes. Personally I'm the same size for Guess heels as I am for Liliana brand heels (size 6.5 for me) while for Charlotte Russe I scale down a half size (size 6 for me).

 I love the small rhinestones along the buckle ;)

And needless to say, you know me when it comes to heels - so I got the Charlotte Russe Floral Platform Sandal with Buckle in black as well ;) These do wear very well, fit well and they are very comfortable. 

I'm really happy with the quality and style of all the heels in this post. 

What is your favourite brand for shoes? 

Nail Polish Swatches & Reviews: Claire's Icing, China Glaze, SH & Orly

There are so many things I want to post, but I have been kept busy

Thank you for being patient though - I will try to update blogger more regularly again ;) 

As promised two posts ago, here are swatches for some of the nail polishes Dale picked up for me last month. 

The first swatches are from a limited edition set of Icing Nail polishes from Claire's

There is no name for the set nor for the individual nail polishes.
Note that the bottles in the set (12 mL each) are a tad bit smaller than the standard 18 mL nail polish bottles

So from left to right here are the swatches (all the swatches are two coats, no top coat)

This magenta colour has a really nice iridescent sheen to it

I like this blue-green colour more than I thought I would :)

This blue nail polish dries matte

I really like how bright this orange shade is....it reminds me of palm trees and tropical weather ;)

This colour is really why I wanted the set - the bright purple looked so pretty in the bottle. The formula came out thinner than expected though

Although the Claire's Icing Limited Edition nail polishes do not have any names, the regular sized individual nail polishes do have names.

Here is Claire's Icing nail polish in "Laura's Fave"

I was on the hunt for a nice turquoise-blue nail polish colour....and the colour of "Laura's Fave" caught my eye when I was walking past the store!
It's a nice colour but I wish it was more opaque...so it might be "Laura's Fave" but it's not Karen's Fave LOL


The next nail polish was along the St. Patricks' Day themed shelf

This is Claire's Icing nail polish in "Green with Envy"

This is two coats...but I find that three coats gives a nicer finish

This was my St. Patrick's Day manicure of the week with three coats
I really like it! It took me half a day to get use to it since I tend to be more demure with my choice of colour with longer nails...but it grew on me quickly and I'll be wearing this even during the year

Overall it was my first time using nail polish from Claire's. And they're quite good. There wasn't any streaking that could not be covered after two coats of nail polish, and the only one requiring a third coat was the green glitter one (for intensity preferences). The colour has lasted me 3-4 days without major chipping, and that's pretty decent wear for me


*********

Here are several other nail polish swatches from a few other brands

This one is China Glaze "Innocence"

I really do not understand the great reviews on this nail polish colour
I personally think China Glaze is slightly overrated (sort of like MAC eyeshadows)
Basically, this is any other light ballerina-ish pink colour - I can find at least two others like this at my local pharmacy drug store for half the price. I thought the formula would be slightly more opaque....but what really bothered me was how long it took for this nail polish to dry. It seriously took much longer than other nail polishes to dry.


Next up is China Glaze "Flip Flop Fantasy"

Unlike China Glaze "Innocence", I do recommend China Glaze "Flip Flop Fantasy" if you're looking for a hot pink colour. There just isn't a hot pink colour nearly as bright as this one (that I could find), which is nicely opaque with two coats and applies well. Dale picked out this colour - good one Dale ;)


The following two are nail polishes are from Sally Hansen's Insta-Dri line

If you know me, you'll know that it's difficult for me to resist anything of nude or taupe colour - that's high heels, dresses, tops, lipgloss, lipstick and even nail polish....

This one is Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in "Quick Sand"

I should have read some reviews prior. I must say that the negative reviews regarding the brushes for this line of nail polish is quite accurate as you can see

Honestly, if you're going to design a nice wide brush (like OPI) please ensure the opening of the bottle is substantially wider than the brush width!!!

For some reason the formula for "Quick Sand" sadly comes out looking like sand on my nails each time I've used it. I keep getting a ton of air bubbles for this nail polish colour. I'm not sure if it has something to do with this particular nail polish formula since the following nail polish is also from the Sally Hansen Insta-Dri line and it applied very nicely

This is Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in "Sonic Bloom" 

With the exception of the strange combination of a wide brush and small nail polish bottle opening, I quite like "Sonic Bloom". The formula applied very smoothly.

I find that the Sally Hansen Insta-Dri nail polishes dry just as fast as the Claire's Icing Nail polishes. In fact, the China Glaze "Flip Flop Fantasy" dried a tad bit faster than the Sally Hansen Insta-Dri polishes....so I do not agree with many reviewers that said the Sally Hansen Insta-Dri polishes dry much faster than other brands


The last one for this post is Orly in "Passion Fruit" from their Hot Neons collection

This was my first Orly nail polish and wow! I'm really impressed with the formula and I absolutely love the rubberized handle on the brush:

If the rest of Orly nail polishes are anything like this one in terms of formula, application and even the rubberized handle, then this might very well become my favourite brand of nail polish. I know China Glaze gets a lot of love, but sometimes the formulas are not to my liking. And yes, the OPI nail polish brush is quite nice, but I found the Orly one great to work with too. We shall see!

Do you have a favourite nail polish brand? 


What have you been up to lately?? :)