Subscription Box Corner: May 2015 Flicker Box Review!

I received by second Flicker Box a couple of weeks ago and have been slacking when it comes to burning these candles and getting these thoughts up, so let's jump quickly into the review before I talk too much!

The outside of the box. Again, lovely packaging, I like the Flicker Box stamp!

Inside! Great packaging, these candles ain't going nowhere.

Upon opening the box, the placard with the vendors included in the box greeted me, as per usual. I love subscription boxes that feature cards about either the contents of the box, or who is featured in the box.

Soy Delites is a company out of Texas and one I have never heard of. They sent along a Jasmine scented candle in a tin. It smells LOVELY and when burning, it is quite fragrant! I'd say an upper medium throw, but it takes a while to build up the scent and it's not an instantly humongous throw. There's not much to it apart from the jasmine and it did take a while to permeate the living room, but still, it was nice. I have melted this several times and it has taken 1-2 hours to get a full, out to the edge wax pool. I am looking forward to buying from this company!

This company also sent along a little round of matches! Very cool, but these are hard as hell to reassemble. The cardboard container is really stiff and nearly impossible to shove back together, at least for me. But, I like these matches and the strike up real fast.

Peony - big, round peony flowers enveloped in a bush of lush green foliage

Eco Candle Company included a really nice Peony scented candle. I don't have a huge experience with peony scented candles, but this smells pretty sweet and sort of green right out of the box. While lit, the throw on this isn't too big. It's there, a little, and what is there is pleasant, but even in a smaller room I couldn't really smell a whole heck of a lot of this. I had something melting in a warmer in a different room and it easily overtook this candle. I think it could enhance whatever scent you were melting, but by itself, it's not a big room scent. I have poked around their website and they have a lot of scents that I'd be interesting in burning to see if I got similar results, or if it was just this scent!

I have to admit, I reeeeeeally tried to get into the Lilac scented candle from Flicker Box, exclusively, but I just couldn't. It smells weird on cold sniff, an odd mixture of sweet florals, lush moss and bug spray. I will eventually get to burning it, but I just didn't before I reviewed this box. I know, I know, sorry!! I will, though. The candle is REALLY big, so I would hate for it to go to waste. The label is nice and the description is fine, but the scent...eesh. Not for me. :(

The matches, as always! :)

The card for Soy Delites.
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There you have my thoughts/reviewsish of my second box from Flicker Box! Overall, I still really enjoy the service, but had a couple of complaints this time around. I am still looking forward to more boxes to come! :)

Subscription Box Corner: May 2015 Vellabox Review!

Another subscription box, Lolo? I AM ADDICTED, LADIES AND GENTS. This time, we have another candle subscription box, so yes, it is themed! Woohoo! Vellabox is a bit different in that they allow you to select which type of "tier" you want to join:

• The Standard: For $10/month + $2 shipping and handling, you can get 1 candle monthly, and the candle you get will be around ~4 ounces with a ~25 hour burn time. (This is the option I chose to begin with to see if I actually used the candle in a reasonable amount of time)
• The Afficionado: For $20/month and free shipping, you can get 1 candle monthly, and the candle you get will be around ~8 ounces with a ~50 hour burn time.
• The Luxe: For $30/month and free shipping, you can get 1-2 candles monthly, and the candle(s) you get will be around ~12 ounces with a ~75 hour burn time.

Anyways, I have broken down the system for you, and I'm sure you're thinking, "LET'S SEE THE GOODS!" Okay, okay! Let's jump into my very first candle! I was super excited to get this package in the mail!!

Love the yellow! Imaginary points for the box color because I am obsessed with yellow, lol.

The front of the box. I really like that this box is quite small, meaning there's not a ton of useless, pointless packaging!

Upon opening the box, I saw this cool little "card" on the inner flap, only the card is made out of some type of wood and not paper. A nice touch!!

Another nice touch on the side of the box! Very neat to see such a gorgeous little package.

Here's the inside of the box. Nicely wrapped candle in some sort of mesh and tied with twine. It was very secure in there.

A closer look at that wooden card. I love this! Very creative and very unique way of having a business/web addressing type of card.

MY FIRST CANDLE! I received the 3.5 ounce No. 11 Amber & Moss candle, handmade in California and with 100% soy wax, from P.F. Candle Co. Upon first glance, this candle might not look like much, but because of this, I am in love with it. Look at the clean, crisp packaging, even the typeface of the label is neat and uniformed and FITS! I really like the color of the jar, too, which sounds stupid but again, imaginary points. The lid comes off easily, which is good for someone like me who has rheumatoid arthritis (I only mention this because I recently received a candle that was reeeally hard to open, even on a good day). I really appreciate the sleek, smooth look of it on my desk in out bedroom.

One wick, right in the middle. I burned this 2 times and both times, the wax pooled completely out in about an hour or less. The throw in the beginning, while not initially as strong as I would have liked, grew and grew very ferociously over time. In 2 hours, the room was filled with a very intoxicating, mature scent of amber and what I can only describe as a damp, earthy scent (assuming it's the moss?). Wow. I would not have picked something like this for myself, but I am pleasantly surprised with how much I liked this scent! Slightly perfumey, very enriched earth, and a little bit of some sort of citrus and herbaceousness type of background note make for an unexpected yet fulfilling burn. I didn't want to extinguish this, but we were leaving. The second time, I let this baby go for 4 hours, as per the label instructions, and perhaps I should have kept the backdoor shut, because I could smell this outside a little bit, LOL.

The bottom of the candle, including warning label. Even cooler typeface on the bottom! I have spent hours on their site looking to buy something else even before Vellabox included them in their monthly box, but since I liked the way this candle burned, now I am all the more intrigued. I just can't decide what to get, everything looks awesome! I would definitely buy something, maybe even sooner rather than later! ;)
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There you have it, my first month as a Vellabox subscriber! Overall, I am pleased with my candle, the packaging, the price point, and the shipping! Have you hear of this subscription service? Does this vendor intrigue you, have you heard of them before?

Haul: Haley's Heavenly Scents Haul #3!

In a moment of desperation and weakness and fear of running out of "the mints" (LOL yeah right), I purchased from Haley's Heavenly Scents when she was having a sale of some kind. Janet, the owner of this fine establishment, has the best sales. Serious, if you want to order during a major holiday, This order has been curing for over a month (I think??). Let's start with the clamshells!

The front of the clamshells and her label. Simple and sweet.

Pink sugar + spearmint

Pink spearmint is amazing. Strong, lovely, my fav. Such a great and trusted combo.

Toasted marshmallow and spearmint? YUM. This smells so good and is super strong. Excellent. When I melted this, it threw like a champ!

Obvs spearmint.

One of the best, strongest, most accurate spearmint scents I have ever smelled. You can read my review of this here!

The spearmint, toasted marshmallow and pink sugar are all winners, but when blended together? WATCH OUT, WORLD.

Our blend of Toasted Marshmallow and Pink Sugar (HHS blend)

Janet makes some of the best pink sugar blends. I can only imaging how tremendous Toasted Pink Sugar will smell while warming. The toasted marshmallow comes through meshed with her strong pink sugar...mmmmm. Anything marshmallow is okay in my book!

Pink sugar + peppermint

I love HHS's pink peppermints, but for some reason, it smells even stronger in her clamshell formula. What!? I have yet to melt this, but I am impressed based on cold sniff.

Jasmine, honeysuckle, and orange blossom

Summer means jasmine scents are more acceptable, to me! Sweet jasmine Vine is a very sweet floral, but packs a punch. The clamshell smelled a little bit skunky to be, but I simply put it into a polypro bag and moved on my merry way!

Fluffy toasted marshmallow + pink sugar

An infinite, all the time repurchase, I tried fluffy pink toasted marshmallow in grubby form this order. I don't think it makes a difference one bit, but I like these shapes and it's easy to use one versus more than one. MMMMMMMMMMm. If you're a marshmallow or pink sugar fan, TRY THIS SCENT. You will NOT be disappointed.

A cool, wintery exhilarating blend of peppermint, crushed candy canes and vanilla.

Jacqui, aka The Scholarly Nail/The Scholarly Nail's Wax Blog gave me a tart in Elsa's Ice Castle a while back and I loved it. It's definitely got peppermint, but it's also a touch sweeter, too. Okay, I just looked it up and it's listed above. Spot on! Very strong as well.

Strawberry, raspberry, guava + an incredible iced champagne mixed with rich sweet raspberry and cranberry.

I have been obsessed with strawberry raspberry guava AND blonde moment, but together? WHAT! This is amazing when warmed. So fruity and strong. And a bit bubbly.

Very strong cinnamon scent

Melted this already. It's your basic hot and spicy cinnamon scent. Good, but rather boring.

Citrus notes of lemon & orange blended with strong fresh cut green grass to mask bad odors

I didn't like this one at all. It smells like plastic melting. Not a fan. Fresh plastic melting. Ewie.

A fragrance oil so true to it's name.  Imagine a marshmallow on a stick slightly toasted by the fire ~ BEST SELLER + Rich creamy frosting flavored with a STRONG base of sugary sweet cotton candy confection! Strawberry, Raspberry, Plum, sugary crystals and sweet vanilla

Cotton candy frosting anything is a-okay in my book. Add toasted marshmallow and it's a winner, well, probably. Look at that description. I want to lick this scent. Weird? I don't care. :P

Our blend of Toasted Marshmallow, Fresh Strawberries and Vanilla Bean Noel (HHS blend)

Sweet, candy like, toasty and creamy. What else could you want in a scent?

Toasted marshmallow? Vanilla bean noel? Lemon curd? HELL YES. This smells strong and amazing. Woohoo!!

I melted this and LOVED it. It was such a surprise! Very delicate, sort of strong, but not overly so. I might even buy this again.

The fresh aroma blend of Sicilian orange, lemongrass, lemon slices, jasmine, green tea, and Tahitian vanilla

Chubba Dubba was a sample and a real winner. Not my typical type of scent, but fruity and fun and I really enjoyed it.

Duplicate of Yankee Candle

This smells like a sweet floral. It's not my favorite on cold sniff, but we'll see how it smells while warming.
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There's my Haley's Heavenly Scents order! Any favs from this vendor? Have you ordered from her sales?

Random Post: Restaurant Review - Cafe Hielo in San Diego, CA

Cafe Hielo (located at 8072 Clairemont Mesa Blvd, San Diego, CA 92111) is a brand new Korean dessert restaurant in San Diego. They were having an Instagram contest a few weeks ago and on a whim, I decided to enter. Well, guess what? I won! There were 3 prizes, and for some reason, I just assumed I would be able to pick one. NOPE. I got all. three. prizes. It was an insane bunch of winnings! After emailing in response to their Instagram post, the day I was supposed to come in to collect everything didn't work for us, so managing director Calvin and I decided on a day for me to come in and check the place out. Here's my review!

The signage outside.

Very cool cupboards in the back! The lights flashed through a series of colors and you all know I am a sucker for flashing anything.

All along the walls of the store are these quotes and informational lines of text. I really enjoyed seeing these versus blank walls. Red beans and condensed milk have me wondering how they taste. Apparently, it's a really popular topper combination in Korea, but the manager was telling us it's not so popular in the states.

More text about their business. Points for using the word "Satiny"!

There was also a really cool piece of artwork on the wall. I loved this thing.

More photos!

Another neat wall decoration!

There is also a huge TV right in the middle of the wall of the sitting portion of the restaurant. It was playing music videos the entire time we were there. Some of them were really fun!

Prize #1, a tumbler! Yes!!! This can be used for cold AND hot drinks and is BPA free. I have used this a lot at home. Gotta love drink tumblers.

Prize #2: honey bread with ice cream. This is a gigantic and thick piece of toast slathered in butter, fresh and toasted to perfection, topped with whipped cream, caramel drizzle and cinnamon. We had the option to have chocolate drizzle, but they put it on the plate, which was better. THIS STUFF IS AMAZING. And I CRAVE it. With vanilla ice cream on the side, this is really the perfect dessert. It's not too heavy, either. Nice and crispy, very, very tasty. I want more NOW PLEASE.

Prize #3: This is THE TOWER.Can you believe this thing? It serves 3-4 people. We were supposed to bring friends to come and enjoy this with us but everyone we asked was busy. Josh and I didn't even come close to finishing it. Sitting inside a hollowed out honeydew melon, its based is their shaved iced, topped with melon balls of honeydew and cantaloupe, cheese(cake) bits, chocolate sauce, condensed milk, mango pieces, and vanilla ice cream. What a melange!! The ice really was finely shaved, but I think it might have needed a bit more flavor. At first, they forgot to give us the condensed milk on the side, but when they did, it made it was better. The pieces of cheesecake bites were a fabulous addition. I am not a huge fan of mango, unfortunately, but these pieces were very fresh. Josh liked the honeydew parts, it was just waaaay too much for us.

Sitting inside the melon rind. I didn't even notice at first.

A closer look...

Melon for DAYS, yo.

The condensed milk came in a little dish on the side and was definitely needed. Since this was my first experience with Korean shaved ice, I would say this is good, but there was room for flavor improvement on top of the ice alone.

Here's some information about their Hielo Event. At the time, they were planning on launching the tower the week, we went, and as far as I was told, it should be available NOW! Look at the mango shaved ice on the tray liner! Everything visually looks so amazing from this place, it's going to be hard to stay away. They also have a strawberry shaved ice I am dying to try, since I prefer strawberries to mangoes.

2 weeks ago, we went back to try the honey bread again to see if anything had changed. I got the works, basically: honey bread, green tea ice cream this time, chocolate and caramel sauce, and cinnamon. I feel like the toast this time around could have been a little more crispy. There was a big chunk of unmelted butter right in the middle of the toast, which I thought was ice cream, but nay. Next time, I won't get this with chocolate sauce because it's too overpowering.

Josh got the exact same thing we received the first (winning) visit and loved it again. This is tried and true and I will stick with this next time as well.

Cafe Hielo's menu.
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Overall, we had a good experience at Cafe Hielo and would definitely come back! Of course, since I won an Instagram contest, we received everything you see here for free (except for the 2 honey breads at the end of my post which we paid for upon a second visit), but all words, phrases and opinions are my own and I was not paid for my review. In fact, it was not even a requirement to write this review, but I wanted to help get the word out about this place so those in town may try it for themselves!