Review: Sugar Pie Scents' Sampler

Sugar Pie Scents offered a sample a few weeks ago. I don't remember if Erica, the owner was hoping to carry these scents, or if she just wanted notes on these particular scents, but there were 15 in the order. And I've melted them all. Here is my melted review on each of these scents!
*NOTE: for these scent shots, I am only reviewing the scent itself; I will comment on the throw, but the values reflected are strictly for scent ONLY. You might LOVE something I hate, so please, do not take my reviews to heart 100%, and make your own evaluations! We all have different scent-buds. :)

Amish Quilt: generally one of my favorite scents as it's cinnamon-spicy, sort of sweet...definitely a winner in this house. Sugar Pie Scents' version has decent strength, I smelled this throughout the house, but it wasn't OVERpowering. While this was spicy and sweet, I detected a floral note in this and was confused. I don't know if this was intentional or not, but Josh smelled it, too. I have heard of a floral Amish Quilt, could this be a combination? Not sure, but I did enjoy it, and it lasted about 5.5 hours. I give it a 7.5/10!

Angel Food Cake: delicious, yummy, light and airy in food, so I figured it would be equally as great in wax. This was delicious on cold sniff, but unfortunately, I could not smell this strongly while warming. For a fleeting few moments when this was fully melted, I smelled it while passing through the kitchen, but that was it. 5-10 minutes, tops. I give it a 5/10!

Butter Rum Cappuccino: generally anything with the word "butter" in it scares me. A lot. Buttery in wax often times mean greasy, icky, and not pleasant. This, however, wasn't bad at all! I don't know if there was any cappuccino because the butter rum overpowered it, but it was decent. Strong, too. I give this a 6/10!

Da Lime in Da Coconut: Quite nice! Anything that mixes lime and coconut is most likely a winner. Again, though, this wasn't super strong. It seems that half of what I tried was strong, while the other half was on the weak side. The lime and coconut were well balanced, and it was definitely a tropical scent. I might repurchase this. I give this a 6.5/10!

Grape (not pictured, forgot to take a photo of this one): Grape is quite possibly my least favorite scent next to zucchini bread. I love the fruit, love wine, but hate the smell of grape. Anyway, on cold sniff, this one smells like medicine I was forced to take as a child. I had flashbacks. I got angry. I pushed my anger aside for the better good and melted it. Eeeeesh, not a fan. It was decent in strength, but the scent alone was enough to send me into a corner for the rest of the day contemplating where I went wrong in my life. I give it a 3.5/10!

Lemon Pound Cake: another delicious food! Unlike Angel Food Cake, this one is good and strong! You get that buttery pound cakey note swirling around a lovely, bright lemon! This on lasted for 6 hours, and it's a definitely repurchase. I will note, Lemon Pound Cake is not super in-your-face, but the throw is there. I give this a 7.5/10!

Little Black Dress: I think this is a perfume dupe, but all I have to say it YIKES. This one stinks. If this is a perfume, I wouldn't want to wear it. It smelled like musty flowers. It was STRONG, and not in a good way. ICK. I give this a 2/10! I would not repurchase this, and I have a sneaking suspicion it's not just this vendor's dupe that smells...I just think it's a nasty perfume in general. Adamantly.

Pumpkin Ice Cream: a very creamy pumpkin, almost dead on to the pumpkin ice creams I have tried in real life! Slight cinnamon scent, but not overwhelming...even if you're not a fan of cinnamon, you'd probably enjoy this! Pretty dang strong, but not "get stuck in your nostrils and never leave" strong. I would purchase this scent, and it lasted about 5 hours. I give it a 6.5/10!

Peppermint Patty: ahhh, chocolate scented wax. Hard to pull off, hard to enjoy. Peppermint Patty is a realistic chocolate and mint scent, but the mint is all but covered completely by the chocolate smell! This is an accurate chocolate scent, too, but I just don't care for it in wax. I can't get past....something! This was strong, though, and lingered everywhere. I give this a 5/10!

Peppermint Swizzle Stick: Not to be confused with the popular Rosegirls blend, on cold sniff, this smells like straight-up candy cane! YUM! It's not particularly strong on cold sniff, but it completely dies while warming. Absolutely no throw. I was the most sad about this one because it smelled sooo good! Oh well. I give this one a 3.5/10!

Rosemary Mint: herbal rosemary meets green mint, love it on cold sniff, even if it's not the strongest of the bunch. The throw suffers a bit while warming, but I could still get whiffs of this every time I walked into the room. It was nice, but odd for a daytime melt. I think I should have melted this in a smaller room at night, it might have done better. I give this a 5.5/10!

Rose Petals: "What's in a name? that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet...," that's how the saying goes, right? In this case, the quote might need to be altered. This is extremely floral, but I don't know if I get only rose from this! In fact, I don't know if I get rose at all. It sort of smells like potpourri you might find at a Michael's or something, but rose? Not sure. I didn't care for this and only melted it 30 minutes because the floralness of it gave me a headache. I give this a 3/10!

Serendipity: my favorite scent! I was super excited to see this in the sampler. On cold sniff and warm throw, this one was just okay. It was heavier on the coconut, in my opinion, and the throw was too light for me/serendipity. While it did last about 4 hours with a light throw, I was left wanting more. I give this a 4.5/10!

Strawberry Banana Smoothie: A little light gets triggered in my head when I see the word "banana" in wax. Often times, banana scents can come off too artificial and induce a headache. Strawberry has been big in our house this year so far, so I put this in with an open mind. It was a pleasant surprise! While the banana definitely overpowered the strawberry, it really did smell like a smoothie. Think: Jamba Juice! I give this a 6/10! It lasted around 5 hours as well, so the longevity was just enough that I didn't get tired of it. It's a good "wake up in the mornin' feelin' like P. Diddy" scent (...I can't believe I just said that).

Toasted Marshmallow: a campfire's delight! This one had a nice mallowy smelled to is, and was stronger than I anticipated! This also had a great sweetness while warming, even though there were only general hints of vanilla on cold sniff. Impressed! I give this a 6.5/10!

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There you have my review of the Sugar Pie Scents sampler! I liked some stuff, didn't like others, but will reorder from this company again!
*A suggestion if you're reading, Erica: maybe thinking about possibly looking into other options besides the #2 scent shot cups; I had a few break in transit at the bottom of the cup and have heard from several people/vendors/my own experience that they suck out the scent of wax. :)

Wickless Wednesday: Llarowe Nail Polish Haul #1!

Nail polish, about 10 years ago, would have been a foreign concept to me. I used to think it made my nails and hands heavy. I guess I've outgrown it because I LOVE painting my nails now.

I have heard about Llarowe many times on Facebook, Twitter, and nail blogs, so I sauntered on over there about a week ago to check out the site. There is SO MUCH STUFF available for sale! The one nail polish I wanted was not available, drats. Eventually, I waited until it came back in stock before I placed my order. Here is is, my first Llarowe nail polish haul! Overall, I am very happy with my picks! :)

WOOHOO, POLISH GALORE!!

I had really good luck with the Color Club polish I received from Birchbox, so I decided to pick up a few colors that were on sale. 2 pinks, a blue, and a shimmery tint!

The top two are called Endless (a pale pink) and Pearl-Spective (a shimmery tint/top coat which makes everything better).

The bottom two are Factory Girl (gorgeous light blue) and Flamingo (which I am currently wearing now, and it is ~*FaBuLoUs~*!!

The reason for my order: piCture pOlish's blogger. Absolutely stunning glitter top coat! LOVE IT!! 

I also got Femme Fatale's Party Grenade, another great glitter top coat. Some of the glitter in this has diamond shapes, and it seems to be a larger glitter top coat as opposed to a superfine one.

Anywho, who makes YOUR favorite nail polish? Any tips, tricks, or points in the right direction on the how-to of nails? I'm looking forward to using all of these! :)

PS: Josh and I are building a nail polish rack with some of the wood we have, so I will finally have a place to keep my (small) stash! :)

Haul: The Bathing Garden Haul #7!

I am in love with The Bathing Garden.
And no, that's not some cheap ploy to make you buy all of the things.
I really believe that Shannon, the owner of TBG, makes great wax and bath/body products!
Plus, you should know by now that, if I don't like something, I won't sugar-coat it, I'll just tell you! We're all waxy friends here, right?
Well, Shannon has been restocking more frequently, and I was able to get my hands on some good stuff last week. Here's what I ended up buying!

In a previous order, she had sent me a Sleepy (pink sugar + peppermint) sugar scrub sample. It smelled WONDERFUL! I asked her if she planned on restocking it, and she said she would! How cool! I was able to pick up an 8oz. tub of Sleepy sugar scrub. I love Shannon's scrubs, they make your skin feel so silky smooth.

One more photos, scrub plus crystals on top. I can tell I am going to love this scrub, and I haven't even used all of the sample yet!

Samples first! She sent me a nice little thank you note, as always.
Then, for something different, she sent me two small packages of tarts, unlabeled and fragrant. I guess I have to take a stab at what these might be on my own! The purple one smells like lavender and apples, and I have no idea what the white one is. Smells good, though.

Then, we have a FULL clamshell of Pistachio Almond Pudding. This scent is to die for...I have been on a pistachio kick, and this has got to be the best one I've smelled yet. It's so good.

She also sent me a small container of Sugared Pie Crust sugar scrub...it smells just like freakin' pie crust, good enough to eat, sugary, and has inspired me to make a pie on Monday! WOOHOO!

I got 4 clamshells total. The first two are:

• Parisian Strawberry Fields: a really earthy yet sweet strawberry scent. It almost smells like the Bath & Body Works candle mixed with greenery. Just great!
• Serendipity Cream Pie (repurchase): serendipity + coconut cream pie. Delicious. Good enough to eat (again, second time in this post). Yum!

• Blackberry Jam & Lemon Curd: Shannon has one of the best lemon scents. It's so true, not bakery, not zesty, not cleaner...just....lemon! Her blackberry is mildly perfumey, but I think that together, this makes a great blend. Recommended by my waxy friend Karen (AKA: suukasi). I think I like this TIED with lemon curd and rose milk, which is equally as fabulous. But of course, I will let you know what I think while melting!
• Cheshire Cat (repurchase): lemon, raspberry, and...possibly vanilla frosting? Buttercream? I don't remember, but again, fantastic scent.

Love the little embellishments Shannon uses on her clamshells! Sunflowery Cheshire Cat!

Three-toned! I also love the look of this!

That's my small Bathing Garden haul! Have you tried Shannon's stuff? Do you have anything that you love that you recommend? Let me know! 

(I have a lot of TBG to destash, and am in the process of putting boxes together)

Review: Candles from the Keeping Room's Exotic Coconut BBW Type

It's almost summer, my least favorite season.
Too hot.
Sand. Meh.
Too many people, too many kids, to many life forms itching to interact.
HUMBUG, I say, humbug!! (*NOTE: I am not really an anti-social curmudgeon, I swear, but summer in San Diego has been rising about an average of 5-10 degrees in the past few years, so I am not a fan).

But summer also means parties and bonfires.
Wonderful sunsets. Photographs. Memories.
Margaritas.
Coconut!

In the spirit of summer, I decided on something tropical. Exotic Coconut BBW Type from Candles from the Keeping Room is a very nice coconut-y scent with hints of perfume-e-ness. I have smelled the lotion in this scent at the Bath & Body Works store, but have never purchased it. This is strikingly similar to that scent! Carol doesn't mess around when she dupes scents! The coconut is the sweet type, not overly buttery; the others notes I picked up in this scent were musk (I'm assuming the perfume note is from the musk) and possibly sandalwood? Without the coconut but add vanilla, it would have smelled like Tiffany Candles' Vanilla Sandalwood. I enjoyed this and would repurchase it. I melted this in the bedroom, which is a pretty large space, and it lasted about 6 hours. If you like dupes, try this one!

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Candles from the Keeping Room's Exotic Coconut BBW Type
Cold Rating: 6/10; slight coconut-y sweetness mixed with an exotic undertone; also a bit perfumey.
Lit Rating: 6.5/10; great scent, it livened up an otherwise boring day!
Throw Rating: 5.5/10; the throw was decent, but I wish it had been stronger. I could only smell this in the bedroom, not in the hallway, not anywhere else. Average + .5!
Overall Rating: 6/10; might need the lotion in this? Not available? Boo. Summer's coming, time for tropical scents! Overstocking shelves with tropical scents, having no fall/winter scents. Decent, will repurchase! PS: MOON MAN TARTS!!!

Review: Shayz Scents Pink Danish

I love pink zugar.
Zo much.
Like, if I could marry it, I would.
Might even go az far az zaying it's replaced zerendipity as my favorite zcent.
Pink Sugar.
Love.

Pink Danish is a mix of bakery danish and pink sugar. Apparently, Shayz Scents has some of the best pink blends around (by value and strength). This is actually my very first melt from Shayz, one of the few big vendors I haven't tried yet! This was a great scent, very potent pink sugar, but you got a nice sweet, bakery note in there, too; the good thing about this is that it wasn't too buttery of a danish note! This also lasted a very long time, about 8-9 hours! The pink scent did overpower the danish, but like I said, there was danish there...somewhere!

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Shayz Scents Pink Danish
Cold Rating: 6/10; only pink sugar as far as the nose can smell, no danish on cold sniff except residual sweetness.
Lit Rating: 7/10; love this one! Not sure what the danish is, but there might have been a pinch of citrus sweetness in this, like an orange danish.
Throw Rating: 6.5/10; decent throw in the kitchen.
Overall Rating: 6.5/10; very nice zcent! Good impression of Shayz so zo far. Zpelling everything with a "Z" in confusion. Love that Shayz has a Z. Making me place more orderz. Love of pink zugar. Danish.

Lightning Round Reviews #6!

It's that time again, folks! Super mega ultra fast waxy reviews for you served on a steaming hot blog-a-docious platter! :)

Candles From The Keeping Room's Strawberry, Raspberry and Guava
Cold Rating: 5.5/10
Lit Rating: 7.5/10 
Throw Rating: 7.5/10 
Overall Rating: 7.5/10; while I'm not a huge fan of fruity scents on their own, this was refreshingly amazing. Strawberry, raspberry and guava go very well together! Must buy this in a bag!

Ollie's Soaps' Pink Serendipity
Cold Rating: 7/10
Lit Rating: 8/10 
Throw Rating: 7/10 
Overall Rating: 7.5/10;

Front Porch's Raspberry Coconut Cake
Cold Rating: 6/10
Lit Rating: 3.5/10 
Throw Rating: 5/10 
Overall Rating: 4.5/10; slightly rounded down; this has that weird greasy undertone note that a lot of Angie's bakery scents have, in my opinion. The raspberry was nice, but the buttery coconut mixed with the cake made for an un-fun time. I hate wasting tarts, but I had to toss this. MEH.

Crabby Candle Co.'s Adam & Eve
Cold Rating: 3/10
Lit Rating: 3.5/10 
Throw Rating: 3.5/10 
Overall Rating: 3/10; Josh swears he could smell this, but I got next to nothing when this was melting. It's a shame, when I bought it, it smelled really great. The container is the right kind of plastic, but somehow the scent was just gone.

Closet Full of Wax's Pink Peppermint
Cold Rating: 4/10
Lit Rating: 6/10 
Throw Rating: 5.5/10 
Overall Rating: 5/10; not super strong, not super great, but I did get a nice mixture of the two. It lasted about 7 hours, even though it wasn't very strong, like I said, the wisps kept the rating up on this one.

Candles From The Keeping Room's Lemon Lavender
Cold Rating: 6/10
Lit Rating: 5/10 
Throw Rating: 7/10 
Overall Rating: 7.5/10; the lemon in this was nice, but the lavender was medicinal smelling. It was strong, though, and was nice on laundry day. Not sure if I'd repurchase.

The Scented Princess' Peppermint
Cold Rating: 7/10
Lit Rating: 7/10 
Throw Rating: 6.5/10 
Overall Rating: 7/10; a great peppermint scent! I only with this would have lasted longer than 3 hours. Nice during sleep-time!

The Happy Little Bee's Cinnamon Apples
Cold Rating: 6/10
Lit Rating: 6.5/10 
Throw Rating: 5.5/10 
Overall Rating: 6/10; a great mix of spicy cinnamon and fresh apples! Would repurchase!

Front Porch's Serendipity Cupcakes
Cold Rating: 7/10
Lit Rating: 8/10 
Throw Rating: 8/10 
Overall Rating: 7.75/10; deserves the extra points! No weird undertone like so many of Front Porch's bakery scents have, great blend of serendipity and cupcakes! Love!

Rosegirls Peppermint Coconut Mallow
Cold Rating: 8/10
Lit Rating: 8.5/10 
Throw Rating: 8.5/10 
Overall Rating: 8.5/10; GREAT peppermint scent, the coconut is not very noticeable, but it's just great! Need more of this!

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Hope you enjoyed! Also, it's TACO TUESDAY! Time for a margarita, y'all! :)

Weekend Wax Review: May 17-19

First off, I'd like to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my husband Josh! YAY! His birthday was yesterday, and we had a really nice day. :)

Also, I'd like to say hello and good Monday mornin' to all my waxy friends! Let's get into my weekend melts!

First up, I melted Heavenleigh Apothecary's Lemon Curd in the bedroom. This. Was. The. Best. Lemon. Scent. EVER (??). It was just brilliant, a bright lemon, not cleaner, not bakery, just LEMONS! It was insanely strong and made the house AND my clothes smell like lemon curd for about a day after we had turned this off. It lasted over 12 hours! On cold sniff, 7.5/10. While warming, 10/10. The throw was a 10/10, too, for a total of 9/10. JUST WOW! I would repurchase this forever!

For Friday's nighttime melt, I decided on Apple Cream Lavender from Candles from the Keeping Room. I requested it as a sample in one of my orders because I heard tons of people talking about how it was a fantastic bedroom scent. This was a nice mix of apple(ish) and lavender with a hint of some form of creaminess, but it was light. In fact, I left the room and came back and barely smelled a thing. On cold sniff, 5/10, and while warming, the same, 5/10. The throw was a 4/10, for a total of 4.5/10. I don't know if I'd repurchase this one, but I reckon it lasted about 4 hours.

The next morning, and keeping with the lemon theme, Josh chose Haley's Heavenly Scents' Iced Lemon Cookies. I got this in SarahFace87's round robin. We were both unimpressed with this, there was barely any lemon! The cookie note was too buttery for my liking. The throw was decent, but I tossed this out after it had melted all the way. I just didn't like it. On cold sniff, 6/10. While warming, it bumped down to a 3.5/10. The throw was a 5/10, for a total of 4.5/10, rounded slightly down. I would not purchase this.

Noticing a theme? While the Haley's scent shot was going in the bedroom, I figured, why not go all-out lemon? Put 2 cruller tarts of Hey Sugar from Candles from the Keeping Room in the kitchen. This had a decent strength, but not as strong as the Lemon Curd discussed above. Also, this lemon was more of a cleaner lemon with wisps of pie crust/bakery melded in between. It was nice, but not sure if I exactly liked it, if that makes any sense?? No?? Oh well! On cold sniff, 6/10, and while warming, 5/10. The throw was a 6/10 also, for a total of 5.75/10, slightly rounded up, but not much because it does deserve credit. I wouldn't repurchase this, but want it to go to a better home, so I may destash it, if someone wants it. (Also, I will have a destash box ready soon, so keep your eyes peeled!)

In the bedroom, I melted 4 fortune cookies from Lil' Kitchen Candles in Apple Cinnamon. I think it was a bad day for cinnamon scents and my nose because I did not like this at all. I don't feel right giving this a proper review, so I am including photos, but not a review. This had a balanced apple and cinnamon scent, and since I have 4 more, I will review these later! Keep in mind, Lil' Kitchen Candles is closing down.

In our spare bathroom at the same time, I melted Streetman Candle Co.'s Strawberry Rhubarb/Morning Sunrise from the Simply Sensational Sampler. This was just lovely! The strawberry and rhubarb mixed well together, and I have no idea what's in Morning Sunrise, but it was a great addition! On cold sniff, 6.5/10. While warming, 7/10. The throw was about a 6/10, for a total of 6.5/10, and I would repurchase this blend! It lasted in my Scentsy bathroom warmer all night. I don't think I'll melt non-Scentsy wax in that warmer again, though, it was a pain the the butt to get out of there!

After the cinnamon apple blend weirdness, I needed something bright and cherry to melt! So, I decided on a Snap Stick from Streetman Candle Co. in Fun in the Sun! This really was a great summertime scent, filled with fruit and general happiness. On cold sniff, 7/10. While warming, 6/10. The throw was a 7.5/10, for a total of 7/10, rounded up slightly. Loved this, it lasted about 5 hours, and I'd repurchase it!

After Hey Sugar was done, I melted Tiffany Candles Lemon Grass in the kitchen. WOW, who knew this scent would be so awesome!? I would have never thought I'd like a lemon grass scent because I'm not a huge fan of it in food, but this was great. Bright, citrusy yet earthy, sort of "dirty" (in a good way!), a great kitchen scent that lasted the rest of that day until I turned off the warmer. On cold sniff, 7/10. While warming, 7.5/10, .5+ for the surprise factor. The throw was 7.5/10, too, for a total of 7.5/10! Greatness and a repurchase!

Saturday's nighttime melt was Serendipity Peppermint from The Scented Princess. I love Dawn's stuff, it's just great, and she allows you to come up with your own blends! I tried this, and while it was strange, I sort of liked it. It was strong, too! On cold sniff, 6/10, while warming, 6.5/10. The throw was a 7.5/10, for a total of 6.75/10, slightly rounded up. I would repurchase this, but with pink sugar next time (SUGAR MINT SERENDIPITY FTW), since that's my favorite scent from TSP.

Forgot to show you the cute design I got on my box from Candles from the Keeping Room! LOVE IT!

Sunday morning we melted Faith, Hope and Love from Rosegirls. Josh picked this one, and while he loved it, I just couldn't get into it. Something in here didn't agree with me; it smelled like grape and bubbly and something floral. I didn't like it, and even he agreed that on warm throw, something changed in the composition of this tart (DAVID). On cold sniff, 5.5/10, while warming, 4/10. The throw was insanely strong, 8/10, for a total of 5.5/10, slightly rounded down. I wouldn't get this again, and I only melted it an hour, though it would have gone on all day, I'm sure.

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That's all for the weekend, after we tossed the Rosegirls chunk, there wasn't much else because it was Josh's birthday. Anyways, have a fabulous weekend, my waxy friends, and happy melting! :)