Orchid Lake Candles Berry Bellini

The scent description for Orchid Lake Candles Berry Bellini is " Raspberry, blood orange, strawberry and peach with coconut and bubbly champagne".  I decided to just do a cold sniff and then warm the wax before looking at the scent description. This smelled awesome on both sniffs. The top note is raspberry and it's such as JUICY scent. There's no other way to describe it. I love that it was a fresh, clean scent. There was nothing overpowering about it. The raspberry was a very genuine scent and all the other scents were very subtle but they complimented one another.

This scent was also strong. This scent was still going strong after 8 hours but I like to switch scents often so after the 8 hours I popped the wax into the freezer, broke it put into brittle and restored it in the bag that it came in. The throw: filled my room and the hallway (we keep windows open in our house so it's difficult to base the throw).

You can find out more about Orchid Lake Candles at http://www.orchidlakecandles.com/ .

All in all, I'll give this a 10/10. This was one of the samples that I greatly enjoyed and will definitely repurchase.

I was not paid to give this review. This is just my honest opinion.

Thanks for reading! Have any of you all tried Orchid Lake Candles Berry Bellini? What about Berry Bellini's from other vendors? I've seen a Better Homes and Gardens version floating around somewhere out there. Again, great throw, awesome sent, definite repurchase. Don't be afraid to leave a comment.

Orchid Lake Candles Serendipity Review

Today I melted Orchid Lake Candles' Serendipity. Yup, it's there own blend. I don't like my scents to be super heavy in the room. So I just cut off about a teaspoon size of OLC's Serendipity and placed it into a warmer. Let me tell you all, this scent was so strong! I gave this tart one more week to cure after it had been shipped. Seriously, it was really hard to wait a week because this smelled so good in the box. But, the wait was well worth it.

I did a cold sniff first and fell in love with this scent. It smells so good! It smells like Piña colada with cherries on top. I also warmed OLC's Piña colada and it is a very genuine scent. I was doing work at the same time and I just kept sniffing the air. I just can't put my finger on what this scent smells like but it smells like strawberry Neapolitan Ice cream or loads of cherries submerged in sweet coconut cream or cherry frosting with lots of cherries and no buttercreme just the creamy scent.  This scent reminds me of childhood: cotton candy, caramel apples, my dad's car that had those cherry Christmas tree fresheners, cherry cake frosting, my friends and me drinking daiquiris, my mom cooking coconut with sugar on the stove. The scent description for serendipity on their website is "a sweet blend of cherries and vanilla with a touch of coconut". I think Wendy at OLC did an AWESOME job with this scent. This is a definite repurchase! I'll give this a 9/10. I give it a 9 because the scent fizzled out after about 3 hours although I only used 0.5-0.8 ounces. Plus, I think the 20W warmer that I used was a bit too hot for this wax tart. Still, it's a repurchase because this sent is so GOOD!

You can order and find out more about Orchid Lake Candles at: http://www.orchidlakecandles.com/ .

Have any of you all tried Orchid Lakes Serendipity? What about Serendipity from other vendors? What are your favorites? Don't be afraid to leave a comment. I wasn't paid to give this review. This is just my honest opinion on this scent.

Thanks for reading!!!

Chocolate Crumb Bars Recipe

I used to buy chocolate crumb bars and then decided to myself some money and share the goodness with others by making them at home. The recipe that I used came directly off the Toll House website. The recipe can be found here: http://www.verybestbaking.com/recipes/30257/Chocolate-Crumb-Bars/detail.aspx .

This recipe was okay but it was not as soft as the bakery's chocolate crumb bars that I used to go to. The site recommends that the crust should be baked until brown and that the total recipe should then be baked again for 25-30 minutes. I left it in the oven for 30 minutes and I think that this was too long. Next time I'm not going to leave the crust in the oven until it's brown. When I think that it's done and not browned then I will spread the hot mixture over the crust and only leave the finished recipe in the oven for 20 minutes.

What do you all think about my crumb bars pictured below? Do any of you have any great recipe's for chocolate crumb bars?

Thanks for reading. Don't be afraid to leave a comment below.

Dannon Greek Yogurt Review

I was not a fan of yogurt. It always tasted like curdled milk to me. I've started eating healthier and I wanted to add a food that would help me to feel full and also satisfy my sweet tooth.

Anyway, I decided to try Dannon Oikos in Coconut Vanilla. With 4.5 grams of fat and 160 calories, I thought it was a good snack idea. My only concern was the 19 grams of sugar. Still, with 11 grams of protein I was hoping that I would be full for a while.

This was a satisfying snack. Why is the yogurt brown? I added a tsp of cocoa powder which added 0.5 grams of fat and 10 calories. I LOVED the addition. My dislike for yogurt took a while to work on but I really like the smoothness, thickness and sweetness of Oikos. I'm going to buy a few more of these and split the containers in half so that I can have some yogurt and fruit in a snack serving.

What do you guys think about Dannon's Greek Yogurt. Do you all have anymore tips on how to make Greek Yogurt taste any better?

Thanks for reading!

Orchid Lake Candles Review

I won a giveaway at the start of the month from Orchid Lake Candles and was soooo excited. I won 10 cup tarts and I decided to sweeten the deal and order 16 more tarts on my own dime. I had heard great things about this company and couldn't wait to try their blends and scents. Since, there were so many good reviews about the company, I decided to choose 'safe' scents. I'm new to the wax world and I wanted to compare run of the mill scents with other companies. I also wanted to see how authentic each smell was. Did the apple scent really smell like apples? You guys know what I mean...

The way I'm going to present this review is to just comment on the cold sniff and as I warm each scent, I'll write a review on the throw and actual scent in different blogs.

I let my sister sort out her favorites, nice scents, and not interested scents. She also provided the descriptions. I just typed. Again these are her descriptions based on cold throw. I'm also guessing that these may need a longer cure time.

I'm going to be honest and tell you guys that I've been away for so long because I've been depressed and irritable. I let my sister smell these scents because I'm just over everything right now and I'm trying to recover one day at a time. I don't want to harshly judge something that I know has nothing to do with the product. Anyway, if you all would like a post later on down the road about what is going on I'll give you a general heads up. Until I'm feeling at full force, I'll post at least once a week.

Tie Dye Tart

So back to the review. These are my sister's thoughts:

Favorites:
4/5 of the samples made her favorites:

• Creamy Nutmeg- Extremely creamy. Light on the nutmeg. I enjoyed it and so did she. 
• Berry Bellini- Smells like fresh sweet berries. It reminds me of juicy, sweet raspberries. So, so good!
• Pear Noel- Light and fresh. Reminds me of a Jolly Rancher.
• Pumpkin Brulee- Creamy Pumpkin scent. I like that it's not overly spicy. I'm going to hold out as long as possible to warm this. Every time I walk past the box I smell this. It's smells so good! Like the creamiest pumpkin you can think of. 

1.5 oz. sizes:

• Serendipity (OLC)- Smells so nice. Like cherries and creme. 
• Oatmeal Milk and Honey- Smells like the soap. I can smell a bit of everything in here. Can't wait to melt and test. 
• Cinnamon Sugar Donut- I just smell cinnamon. My sister smells a box full of warm donuts. 
• Georgia Peach- Reminds me of those peach candies that I used to eat as a child. Can't wait to warm and be reminded of my childhood right now. So good!
• Sweet tea- Smells like tea and something else that I can't put my finger on... I'll tell you all when I warm.
• Mango Papaya- This really does smell like papaya. We had a tree out in the backyard where I grew up and as soon as I cold sniffed this, I knew this was the picked fresh off the tree scent. Still can't believe how realistic the scent is. I smell more papaya than mango. 
• Coconut Creme Pie- Smells lightly of coconut and pie crust. There's something else there but I can't put my finger on it. 
• Pina Colada- Smells just like the real thing! Gosh! I just close my eyes and imagine myself sipping one of these on a beach with a cherry on top. I love this!

Okay:
Raspberry- It smells like raspberry candy to me. Like a jolly rancher on a cold sniff if they had a raspberry flavor.
Nana's Coffee Cake- Spicy but it does have a strong pie crust scent.
Butter Pecan- Smells like butter pecan with lots of butter.
Appletini- Reminds me of greenery. We've never had martini's so I'm guessing this is what a martini smell's like. It really reminds me of a Gain scent. I can't put my finger on it. What do you guys think?
Island Cupcakes- This was on my sister's okay list but I really liked this scent. I could smell fresh pineapples. This was not an artificial pineapple scent and I look forward to ordering more pineapple scents from OLC.
Wild Cherry- Smells like cherry Pixy Stix.
Rum Cakes- Smells like rum to me. Have any of you all tried this scent? What do you all think about this scent?

Not Interested:
Blackberry Jam Cookie-right now I'm just smelling a sweet blackberry scent like a popsicle with butter.
Bread & Jam-Spicy.
Baked Apple Pie-extremely spicy.
Double Stuffed- Smells like Brownie Mix. Tempted to lick the bowl.
Apple Caramel Crunch- Spicy Apple and Caramel.
Butterscotch- Very light butterscotch scent. (I'm guessing that this was in the same bag as one of the spicy apple scents. Should be fine once I pop it into my warmer). I can use this as a mixer for sure.
Strawberry Muffin- Smells like heavy butter/pie crust and a dash of strawberries.
Pumpkin Apple Butter- Extremely spicy.
Monkey Farts- Soap and extremely light bubblegum and a very small dash of bananas.
Fresh Baked Bread- Smells like dough and yeast.
Winter Wonderland- Spicy. My sister says she smells pine trees.

As you can tell from my sister, she doesn't like spicy scents. On the other hand, my mom LOVES spicy scents so I'm sure that she will love all of the scents that have been described as spicy.

Overall, my package was well packed. There were no missing tops or cracked scents. I love the tie-dye effects.

My advice to those that are newbies like me would be to give your mailed package a day to air out before judging the scents and to separate like scents together in the boxes or storage containers. I liked my order and generous samples. Thanks so much Wendy for the giveaway!

Have you all tried Orchid Lake Candles? What do you think about the scents. Are any of you into wax tarts? Do you enjoy fruity scents, coffee scents, spicy scents, bakery scents? What fall scents are you looking forward to?

Thanks for reading!

Miss Jessie's Creme De La Curl Review

My sister bought a 1 fl oz. of Miss Jessie's Creme De La Curl on her yearly trip to the BSS. She gave it to me after her mixed experiences with other Miss Jessie's products and I decided to try it out. For the month of September, I'm going shampoo free.

Miss Jessie's Creme De La Curl is a cleansing cream. According to them, it's "finally a no lather sulfate-free shampoo that leaves your hair and scalp silky smooth." Go figure. The cleansing creme is light blue, thick and smells like baby powder. It has that oily feeling of Hair One's Cowash and As I Am Coconut Cowash but unlike some of the Miss Jessie's products that I have tried it doesn't have that almost gritty feeling ( the only way I can describe it is if you rub baby powder between your fingers).

With the cleansing creme in my hair, my curls were popping. Also, these past few days have been extremely hot! I've been sweating, stuck in traffic and just been putting a headband around my head.  The product does say that it "removes product buildup and washes away the daily grime without leaving your hair or scalp dried out." When I washed using Miss Jessie's I could see the dirt leaving my hair. I was happy about this because I tried another 'cleanser' and my hair nor scalp was clean after using the product. The Creme did clean my hair but my scalp didn't have that squeaky clean feeling that I like.

This product did leave my hair feeling a bit dry. I believe this is because of the protein that was in the product. Protein in shampoos and/or conditioners leave my hair parched so this was to be expected. The Creme is to be followed up by a conditioner so I'll  also give it a pass here but I have used another moisturizing shampoo that does not leave my hair feeling so 'dry'. I did like the slip. I have a TWA so my hair has not seen a comb in about 3 weeks. I was able to finger detangle my hair using this product. Also, I don't care too much about the scent of the product. It smells like baby powder. I went help prep for a party yesterday and the cleaner was spraying baby powder scented air freshener. I was walking around unable to tell the difference between the air freshener and my hair. Lol...by the next day, the scent was gone.

Some have complained about the no suds aspect. The product does state that there is "zero lather". The no suds idea is not a big deal for me. As long as my hair and scalp are clean, I'm a pretty happy camper.

The 12 fl oz bottle is $14. I'm on the fence with this one. As I Am Coconut Cowash has fewer ingredients but I find that it's cleaning power is not as strong as Miss Jessie's Creme De La Curl and it's half the price of Miss Jessie's at 16 fl oz. Is it a repurchase? If I'm travelling I'll buy packets to wash my hair so there is no mess in my suitcase. I prefer this over my Hair One experience and it did remove the buildup and dirt from my hair. I liked the feel of the product but again I'm still on the search for a sulfate-free shampoo, cleansing conditioner, conditioner and leave-ins that my hair loves.

What do you guys think about the Creme De La Curl? Would you buy it? Do you have any recommendations for my 4b/c TWA?

I was not paid to give this review. This is just my opinion after using the product.