Making A Memory Jar

Happy Tuesday Everyone! I hope the weekend was fabulous for all of you, whatever you got up to. Mine consisted of watching movies and sleeping! The perfect way to spend the weekend *cough*everyday*cough* if you ask me :) So, if you've been following me for a while now, you may remember that it has been one of my goals of the year for a few years now to make my own memory jar. I think that they are such awesome little creations, all about positivity which I'm trying to fill my life with more for 2018.

I don't know why it's taken me so long to get around to making one! Most probably it's a mixture of putting everything on the back burner as usual; I just procrastinate so much, it's ridiculous, and also that I was pretty nervous about getting to the end of the year and having an empty jar or at least a not-very-full one! However, this year it's my aim to be more productive and to do some of the things that I've been putting off for so long. And thus I finally put together my own memory jar! So, I thought it would be nice to share it with you guys today. A little disclaimer: I'm really not the best at crafting so don't expect anything too fancy, haha! I hope you enjoy reading :) 

Some of you may be wondering what a memory jar actually is, or at least how the concept works. Basically it is what it says on the tin... you fill a jar up with all of your favourite memories of the year, so that just before the New Year arrives you can look back over the previous twelve months and be reminded of all of the little things that made it an awesome year for you. I'm sure that you are just supposed to put memories in it, but I'm also going to add to mine: little things that made me smile or that I was proud of myself for or just literally anything that I think is going to be something that I can look back on and think, yeah that was one of my highlights of 2018 :) 

You can buy memory jars on Etsy and other places around the internet, however I just really like the personal touch of homemade ones. I've seen so many cool designs on Pinterest that people have done for theirs, making fancy labels and decorating their jars in such pretty, elaborate ways. I am always a little jealous of how talented some people are at crafting :') because I'm really not. I couldn't even manage to draw a straight lined box the other day whilst using a ruler... like how can I not? hahaha. Oh well nevermind, I decided that I wouldn't be defeated by my serious lack of hand-eye coordination skills and created my own memory jar anyway! 

I think my memory jar turned out quite pretty, if I do say so myself :) What do you guys think?

I was going to originally go for a green themed design because green is my favourite colour but I decided that I wanted to make my jar bright and happy, in the hope that it would make me more motivated to keep adding to it throughout the year. I have a habit of starting projects and never finishing them, oops!, but I'm hoping that when I look at this on my new desk (that is taking me forever to set up, because I have still not gotten my bedroom decorating done!), I will feel inspired to keep at it. I just think it would be lovely to go through it at the end of the year, so fingers and toes crossed that I don't give up. I can do this! 

Keep reading to find how more about how I designed my memory jar label :) 

For the dotty gold background/base of my label, I used a piece of card from one of those paper/cardstock pads. You might have seen them in stores like The Range or The Works. I usually get most of mine from The Works, and use them for photography backgrounds, however this particular sheet is from one of the pads that you can find in Poundland. They sell a variety of different pads and they are all really lovely. They are just called 'Cardboard Patterns'; you get 16 sheets in 8 designs in each pad, and this one was one of their glittery versions. I am always super impressed by the stationery bits that they sell in Poundland :) I've seen really similar-looking products sold in crafty shops for over double the price! 

I wanted to make the background for my label an interesting shape to resemble some of the designs that I've seen other people use for their own. I spent ages thinking about this and searching through my craft supplies for inspiration, but couldn't find anything that was just right. I sat on my bed and was feeling like I would never come up with a design, when I looked down at my cardstock pad that I'd chosen the dotty sheet from, and I thought that the shape that was surrounding the title on the cover was just what I was looking for! So I literally cut this out and then drew around it onto my card of choice. 

As you can see in my photographs, I then just simply cut out a strip of plain white paper and wrote Memory Jar across it using a pink shade from my pack of 12 Staedtler fibre-tip pens. I did want to write it in a fancier font but I made several attempts and I couldn't get it to look like I wanted so my boring old handwriting will have to do! I added a little decoration to the end of my writing using a yellow felt tip and some sparkly pink enamel dot style stickers that I got from Hobbycraft, I think :) 

To finish off my label, I adorned the dotty gold base with these super cute flower stickers that I ordered ages ago from a Japanese Etsy store. They are so pretty, that I didn't want to use them for such a long time! But I thought that this would be a fabulous way to not let them go to waste, because I can re-use my jar each year! I'm very happy; these stickers really completed the whole look that I was going for! You can find out more about the stickers in this post I wrote for World Stationery Day back in 2016. 

My label is pretty simple, which reflects my skill set when it comes to crafting, but I love it and I'm still a little proud of how it turned out. I felt like the jar was just missing something though, so I decided to use up some of my left over Christmas present wrapping ribbon? I never remember what this stuff is called, haha! It will do for now, but eventually I want to buy a pretty piece of lace from the haberdashery stall on my hometown's market, to tie around my jar and make it just that little bit prettier :) 

Speaking of using up left over Christmas bits, I also threw some little silver snowflake and star confetti into the bottom of my jar. I think it will be cheerful to see when I tip out the contents of my jar on New Years Eve this December, and all of the confetti sprinkles out! I am planning on adding multi-coloured pieces of paper to my jar with my memories and such written on, and then tie a little yarn around them to keep them from unravelling. They'll look like mini scrolls, how flippin' cute will that be!? 

So, I hope that you all enjoyed reading about my latest creative project and that I have encouraged some of you to make your own jar. That would make me super happy! Let me know if you do! I'm delighted that I already have something to write down and put in my jar even though it's only the second week of January. I'm starting off 2018 the right way apparently, let's hope it keeps going this way :) Have a fabulous week lovelies!

Thankyou for reading! 

♥

Have you ever made anything similar to a memory jar? 

Do you have any crafty projects planned for this year? 

I'd really appreciate it if you could check out my social media guys!

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What I've Been Watching: December Edition

Hello lovelies! So here's my first post of 2018! I'm still not used to the fact that it's now 2018; I've written down 2017 about five times this week already, oops! Haha. After the challenge of blogging everyday last month for Blogmas, these last five days have been a very much needed break. I'm now ready though to get back to sharing with you guys and really upping my blogging game for this new year ahead of us! I thought I'd kick start the blogging year with my monthly edition of What I've Been Watching. I hope that everyone enjoys these posts, and that they give you some inspiration on what to add to your own watch lists. I wasn't sure if I should keep posting them to be honest, so your feedback would be very much appreciated! I hope you've all had a lovely first week of 2018. Enjoy reading :) 

Cracks (2009)

This movie was actually my favourite watch of the entire month! I chose to watch it because a) it's a period drama, they are just my thing :) & b) because it stars Juno Temple, and she's one of my favourite actresses. It also stars Eva Green, who I really liked in Mrs Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016), and I was intrigued to see her play another role. Cracks is an independent movie and I enjoy watching these kinds of movies, as I find that compared to mainstream movies, they have a lot more attention to detail and some very interesting and diverse storylines and characters. This one is set in an all girls boarding school in England back in the 30's and follows a group of students and one of their favourite teachers (played by Eva Green). When a new student arrives at the school from Spain, this particular teacher develops an obsession with her, and the movie is all about the consequences of this for both teachers and students.

I'm going to talk about a spoiler now (oops!) so please keep scrolling if you'd rather find out for yourself whilst watching. The movie includes a scene where we witness sexual assault committed by a woman, and this is one of the only movies that I have ever seen this in. When we see this crime being committed in the media, it's almost always a man who is the perpetrator, so it was very different and an important message to people watching that women can be abusers too. In today's society it is still something that's not really spoken about, and women don't get prosecuted as much as men for this crime :( Another interesting thing is that I don't remember there being any men in the entire cast of the movie at all, I could have just forgotten but there were no men in the main cast. Overall, this movie was definitely something unique and I certainly recommend it. 

Texas Killing Fields (2011) 

Whenever I'm bored, I always have a search through the filmography of the actors and actresses I like and watch some of their other roles. I was looking for movies starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who has fast become one of my celebrity crushes after watching him play Negan on AMC's The Walking Dead (one of my favourite shows!), when I found this movie. Norman Reedus who plays Daryl Dixon on the show will forever be my top #MCM but Jeffrey is gorgeous and thus, I was compelled to watch him playing another character. Chloe Grace Moretz is in it too and she's fantastic! Texas Killing Fields grabbed my attention because it's a crime movie and is based on actual events. Well, the area were it is set is a real location and is actually famous for all of the murders that took place there in the 70's. The movie tells the story of two detectives who are investing local murders of young girls in their hometown, and when a girl that they both know well gets abducted, they work to find her before she endures the same tragic fate. It was a pretty good movie, and it was interesting for me especially to see Mr Morgan playing such a kind-hearted character, the complete opposite of how his character is in The Walking Dead. It's a good movie to watch if you're not really a fan of horrors or thrillers, but still enjoy milder crime dramas! 

Hush (2016) 

I watched a lot of thriller, mystery and horror shows and movies in December, and this one was definitely the worst! And I don't mean worst as in it was the most shocking, I just thought it was a pretty crappy movie. I've included it anyway because not everything we watch is gonna be great and I wanted to save you all the time watching it, haha! It wasn't the worst horror movie that I've ever seen and if you weren't obsessed with the genre like me, spending pretty much all of your free time watching them, then you might actually enjoy it :) So don't just take my word for it, watch it for yourself and let me know what you think. If you've already watched this movie, I'd really love to know what you thought of it in the comments. Anyhow, Hush is about an author who is deaf-mute and lives alone, who ends up being the victim of a serial killer. The movie had so much potential to be great, because the storyline was a really interesting one. For example, we witness the first killing of the movie happen in front of the glass doors of the main characters kitchen, whilst she is preparing her dinner and is blissfully unaware of the atrocities that are taking place literally right next to her! If the serial killer was clever then it could have made for a brilliant plot, but unfortunately he wasn't. He was so bad! My friend & I certainly had a good laugh watching it, which is not the desired effect you want when watching a 'scary movie', haha! It's available to watch on Netflix, so check it out if I've made you interested enough :) 

Dark (2017) 

It only took me a couple of days to binge watch the entire series of this on Netflix, so I can definitely say that I liked it! The trailer made it look awesome, with a lot of it looking like something straight out of the mind of Stephen King, with sci-fi thrown into the mix. It actually ended up being more mystery and science-fiction themed than the trailer made it seem, but it was still a great watch nonetheless. The whole premise of the show was time travel, and how events in the past have influenced both the present and the future. In Dark, we follow the lives of several families in a small town in Germany, where there has been a history of children disappearing. I really like when shows give us an insight into the lives of all of the characters so that we get to see things through the perspective of individuals and how things can be viewed differently by various people. It also means that the storyline is usually pretty intricate, and I'm all about complexity  and the 'little details' when it comes to shows. This story is very centred around the town's police officers as they work to discover the root cause of the vanishing children and other strange occurrence taking place in the area. I absolutely love that the show was made originally in German because it got to watch it in the language that I'm currently learning :) It was actually the first original Netflix series to be made in German too. They've released an English dubbed option for those of you that prefer not to have to read subtitles and such. Has anyone else been watching this show? I'd personally give it a 7 out of 10 because I enjoyed it but it was got a bit slow in parts. 

8mm (1999) 

I always try to watch a selection of older movies as well as new releases. I stumbled across this one on a list of someone's favourite movies on tumblr and since it was another crime-themed one, I thought I'd give it a watch. It stars Nicolas Cage as the lead role, and I have so many mixed feelings about Nicolas Cage as an actor! He's been awesome in some roles and then in others, he's been laughable. I think that the actor himself is great but he keeps choosing to be in some seriously rubbish movies! Are you a fan of Nick Cage? 8mm is about a private investigator who is hired to find out the truth behind a film that a widow has discovered in her late husband's safe. It appears to be a snuff film (which is a movie in which someone is actually murdered) and it's the job of the P.I. to research it's origins and report back on his findings. As he delves deeper and deeper into his investigations, he gets himself in trouble with some sinister characters, but you'll have to check it out for yourselves to find out what happens. It stars quite a few other famous actors, including a young and very good looking Joaquin Phoenix ;) and also Peter Stormare, who I've enjoyed in every movie I've seen him in. There were some parts of the movie that were a little too unrealistic and annoying, but altogether I thought it was good and I'd watch it again :) 

The OA (2016)

It seems as though I've been getting into the habit of saving the best show until last, so here we go again, haha! The OA was my absolute favourite watch of all of the December. I just couldn't stop watching it, and I ended up binge-watching the entire series in one sitting! It stars and is co-directed by Brit Marling (oh, and also written by her too!), and it really like her as an actress! I have been a fan of hers since watching The East (2013) that she stars in with Alexander Skarsgard (one of my favourite actors). All of the movies she's been in have very interesting, quirky storylines and many of them include something to do with cults, which is another area of psychology and criminology that I find fascinating. I watch a lot of documentaries on the topic :) This Netflix supernatural/science-fiction/mystery drama series is all about a girl who goes missing and when she resurfaces again after seven years, she's a completely different person. She has endured some strange things and she is finding it very hard to deal with life away from the people she spent the last seven years of her life with. The show also involves some supernatural occurrences, like the fact that when the main character went missing he was blind, and when she comes home, she has full vision again! There's so much more I wanted to tell you all about the story but I don't want to spoil it! It was very unique and I just loved it. It's a 10 out of 10 stars from me, and I can't wait for the next season! 

Well, those were six shows/movies that I watched last month. It was actually really tough to choose which ones to include in today's post because I watched so so much, including a Netflix original thriller movie with the longest title ever: I Am The Pretty Thing That Lives In The House (2016). I think that's the longest movie title that I've ever seen... what other movies with super long titles have you guys seen? I also watched the notoriously shocking movie that has been banned in so many countries, A Serbian Film (2010). It definitely lives up to it's reputation and includes some very disturbing scenes :O I always let curiosity get the better of me and I wanted to see if the movie was as bad as everyone said it was, and yeah it certainly had several taboo and very gross scenes in it! On a lighter note, I watched the 2011 Puss in Boots movie on TV over Christmas and that was really good. It made me cry too! That cat is just too adorable! What was your favourite movie that was on TV at Christmas Time? I usually look through the TV guide magazine to see what's on over the holiday season, but I didn't this year and I regret it a little!

Thankyou for reading!

♥

Have you seen any of the shows and movies I've mentioned today?

What was your favourite watch of December? 

My New Build A Bear Bulbasaur Plush | Blogmas #31

Yay! It's really not long now until it's New Year! So, Happy New Year guys! I hope you all have a wonderful night, whether you're out celebrating at a party with your friends and family, or like me you're snuggled up at home, watching movies and staying snug :) Bring on 2018! I hope that it's an amazing year for all of you! For today's post, I thought I'd share a post all about the latest addition to my Build A Bear Pokémon collection. I was so happy when the store finally revealed that their next plushie in the Pokémon collection would be Bulbasaur. He's always been my favourite of the starter Pokémon; he's just so adorable. This is a post for my fellow Pokéfans and lovers of all things cute & cuddly! 

One of my favourite things about the Build A Bear Workshop's Pokémon plushies, besides the fact that they are such good quality and super cute, is that they each come with their own Pokémon card! It takes me back to my primary school days everytime I see one, to the times when all my friends played with the Pokémon trading cards on the playground :) They've done a great job on the design of these, and it's just a really nice little addition! I have all of mine up on my art wall in my bedroom and they look so cool lined up side-by-side. 

Last time I was at the Build A Bear store, buying my Vulpix plushie, there was an awesome offer on gift cards that I just couldn't resist. It was only £5 for a gift card worth a tenner! I'd been saving it for when the next plushie was released so of course, I used it for my new Bulbasaur. With it being Christmas time, everyone has been busy and so I couldn't visit the store to get my plushie this time around. I was a little disappointed about this because I enjoy the experience of choosing the plushie myself, and watching it get put together. I'm such a big kid! However, the advantage of buying it online was that I got to get the exclusive outfit for once :) For most of the other plushies, there has been another version of the outfit that is sold in the store, but with the unique shape of the Bulbasaur plush, there isn't a hoodie or a t-shirt available. Instead, the online exclusive outfit is a hat and scarf set, which is such an awesome choice considering the plushie was released in Autumn-Winter. 

So without further ado, here's my new Bulbasaur...

Omgosh seriously though, how adorable is this Bulbasaur plush!? I love how eye-catching he is! His eyes especially just stand out so well against the green colouration of the rest of the plushie. I love how Bulbasaur's bulb on his back looks! It's squishy too and made of a different material to the body of the plush. It sort of has a felt like texture, whereas the rest of Bulbasaur is super smooth and soft. It's a really cuddly plush! I love his big smile too :) 

As part of the online deal, you have to get both the outfit and the Pokémon's specific sound and I have to admit that I wasn't happy about this at first, because I prefer to have my plushies without a sound in them. Just because I hug them and sometimes use them as cushions when I'm watching movies in bed, etc., so I don't like the idea that a sound might go off each time I move or something, haha! However, I was very happy to discover that they put the sound box thingie into Bulbasaur's foot so I can still hug him without pressing it. To be honest though, I actually really like his sound because it's one of my favourite Pokémon voices!  As any other Pokémon fan will tell you, it's very common for us to intimate a Pokémon's sound whenever we see it, or don't in my case XD I make random Pokémon sounds all the time, because I'm just so cool, hahaha! It's very cute, and I'm definitely happy it came with a sound now. 

I absolutely adore his hat & scarf set!! It has the sweetest leaf and Pokéball print! It looks really good on him, and I think they did a fantastic job in coming up with this unique outfit perfect for his body shape, considering he can't have a hoodie or whatever :) What do you all think of it? 

I think the entire plushie set, including the outfit & the sound was around £40, however I got £10 off with my voucher card. It came with the house box that you get if you buy them in store, which is what you can keep your plushie in if you want :) I use them for storing my magazines in though haha because they are great boxes! I did say that I wanted a 'birth' certificate with my plushie like I usually get in the store, but they didn't put it with my order so that was a little annoying. I named him Leafy, because I'm so original XD (And my Charmander is called Flamey, haha!). If you had your own Bulbasaur, what would you name him/her? 

Overall, I am very happy with my new plushie, and he's definitely one of my favourites that they've made. If Eevee & Vulpix weren't in my top five favourite Pokémon of all time, then he'd definitely be my favourite! I just love his design and he's larger than the others too. Meaning more surface area to hug! Let me know if you want me to share an update post, showcasing all of my Pokémon Build A Bear collection so far? I'm really hoping that they release more. I would love to see a Mew one! 

Wow, I can't believe that I actually made it to the end of Blogmas (and a few extra days too! Because I'm now sure that everyone else stops at Christmas Day, oops!). I'm definitely a little proud of myself for managing to blog every single day of the month. It's been a challenge and I don't know how some people do this all year round! Go you if you do; you're amazing! I'm certainly in need of a rest now, but I'll definitely have one or two posts up this coming week. I hope you've enjoyed reading today's post, and all of my other Blogmas 2017 posts. Please show them some love if you haven't already, it would make my day! :) 

Thankyou for reading! 

♥

Are you a Pokémon fan? If so, who's your favourite? 

Do you have a plushie from the Build A Bear Workshop?

I'd love to hear all about it! 

Lush Wishlist | Blogmas #30

Hello guys! I have literally done nothing but sleep for most of the day, oops! In the early hours of the morning when I couldn't get to sleep, I decided that I wanted to watch one of the Netflix series I've had on my watch list for ages, which is never a sensible idea for me! If I enjoy a show, I don't want to stop watching it and before I know it the sun has come out and the birds are tweeting and I've heard my family have gotten up. I look at my clock to discover that it's in fact 11:30am XD So I guess you can say that I really enjoyed watching The OA, and I'll definitely be mentioning it in my What I've Been Watching post next month, haha!

Over the last few days, I've been seeing a lot of photos of Lush products, mostly what everyone has been gifted for Christmas, and it's made me feel like I'm in serious need of a Lush haul myself considering there's only one bath bomb left in my designated bathtime drawer. Yesterday my best friend blogged all about her recent festive Lush haul (you can check out her post here), and it just made want to have a good spending spree there even more. There are so many products that I'm yet to try! So for today's post, I was inspired to share a wishlist of the products that sound most appealing to me right now :) Enjoy! 

Dashing Santa Bath Bomb I have tried almost all of the Christmassy bathbombs that Lush have released over the last few years, however I still haven't bought myself this one! It has a really cute design and is made with a mix of bergamot & mandarin oils, so it's perfect for me since I am a lover of citrus scents. I neeed to buy it before it goes! 

Pink Peppermint Foot Lotion Anyone who knows me well will know that I spend most of my life barefoot. I just hate having to wear shoes and socks, and since I spend the majority of my time at home, there's no reason why I have to wear them so I just don't. My parents think that I'm a bit of a wild child, especially since I don't usually wear shoes when I'm outside in the garden either :D The only downside to this is that my feet are always exposed to all sorts of surfaces, etc and I need to get into the habit of looking after them a little more! The fact that this one is peppermint makes me want it straight away, however I think it's awesome that it's pink too! People have mentioned in the reviews on the Lush website that it has helped with their circulation too, and I am very intrigued about how this might impact the pain that I get in my feet thanks to fibromyalgia.  

Love Body Spray I have been curious about trying out Lush body sprays for a while now, and none of the fragrances that I've spotted when visiting the store have appealed to my tastes. I don't like spraying my perfumes or deodorant all over myself; I find that the smell can get a little overpowering for me and give me a headache. However, I still wanna smell yummy, so I thought I'd give the Lush spray's a go. Love is an online exclusive, and contains two of my favourite floral fragrances, Ylang Ylang and Lemongrass. 

Secret Arts Jelly Bomb Earlier this month, I shared a review of the Snow Fairy jelly bomb, and this was my first time using one of these new kinds of bath bombs by Lush. I mentioned in this post how afterwards I was encouraged to try more, and this one is the next best sounding one to me! I love the name, which is inspired by Harry Potter! I really enjoyed having black bath water when I used the Black as Your Soul bathbomb by Hex Bomb, so it would be cool to see how this one compares as well!

Lord of Misrule Shower Cream Everyone loves the Lush shower creams & I really want to find out for myself what all the fuss is about! I really love the Lord of Misrule bathbomb, the smell of it is amazing! So, I am very much looking forward to finding out how similar the shower cream's scent is. The ingredients include black pepper, vanilla & patchouli, all of which I enjoy. The dark green colour of the shower cream is something that I like too, as it reminds me of forests (my favourite places in the world!). 

Dirty Dusting Powder I was really sad when I discovered that Lush had stopped selling their bottles of Fairy Dust dusting powder, because I really really wanted to try it! I decided to just try another instead, called Silky Underwear. When I opened it, I actually hated the scent because I'm not a big fan of Jasmine, and it was such a shame. I have been looking after for a scent that I might like ever since but couldn't find one. Lately though, I learnt about Dirty and it sounds right up my street fragrance-wise. It is a blend of spearmint, rosemary, thyme and rosewood. I love mint so I'm hoping that this one will be a hit with me!

Sweetest Thing Gift Box In her recent haul post, my best friend talked about one of the Lush gift boxes and after seeing the items that she got inside hers, it's made me want one for myself :) I love the packaging of Lush gift boxes, with their themed pretty wrapping paper and bows. This one in particular grabbed my attention because of all of the sweets in the design of the wrapping, but also the fact that the products inside have ingredients that is sugary, sweet and definitely my preferred type of scents :) It just looks like such a cute box!

The Christmas Penguin Bubble Bar I haven't used a Lush bubble bar in what feels like forever! I don't have bubble bars very often, so when I do they feel sort of like a special treat. The lovely smell of Lush bubble baths and that they often make the water a different colour too make them so awesome! This festive penguin not only looks super adorable, it's almost filled with citrus oils! I need to hurry up and get my hands on one before they are gone until next year! 

Mint Julips Lip Scrub I've been telling myself to get a lip scrub already for so long now, and I don't know why I still haven't! I am feeling just that little more tempted now though since my lips have been suffering from the weather lately, and they even split yesterday :( ouch! I need to invest in some nice lip care products, and the ingredients in this one sound fabulous. It contains of course peppermint, but also jojoba, marigold flowers (which we grow in our garden every year already) and vanilla. It sounds good enough to eat! The website describes it as mint chocolate (without the chip!) so that has be interested!

Sacred Lotus Bath Bomb Okay firstly how cool does this bathbomb look!? And the name is awesome too! On the little video on the Lush website, the bathart that it creates looks fabulous and I have a mighty need to try it! I might be my favourite item on this entire wishlist. It does contain jasmine which as I've mentioned is not something that I like, but it has neroli oil which I do like so hopefully the jasmine is not too strong. Have you ever used this bathbomb guys? If so, I'd love to hear what you think about it :) 

Thankyou for reading!

♥

 Do you have any bath products on your wishlist right now?

Also, do you have an absolute favourite product from Lush?

 I'd love some recommendations! 

 

My Favourite Autumn/Winter Yankee Candles | Blogmas #29

Happy Friday guys! I hope you've all had a fabulous day, even though it's been absolutely freezing! What have you all got planned for the weekend? Today, me & my awesome friend Aaron went into town to do a little shopping, and I had a lovely day catching up with him :) We went to Costa first & had a delicious hot chocolate with whipped cream each. We popped into a few shops and had a nosey around, and I also got my Norman Reedus calendar that I mentioned in yesterday's post. It was reduced from £8.99 to just over £5, so that was great! As well as that, I picked up a few presents for upcoming birthdays and an adorable Bomb Cosmetics bath blaster with plastic frog sitting on top (it's called 'It's Not Easy Being Green'). We finished up our day by heading to KFC, so that was the icing on top of a brilliant day! When we were shopping today, we popped into a few stores that sell candles and I was inspired with this post idea for Blogmas Day 29. Today I'm going to be sharing with you my favourite candle scents from the Autumn & Winter collections by Yankee Candle. I hope that you all enjoy reading! 

I definitely think that the Autumn & Winter range are my absolute favourite of all the candles that are made by Yankee Candle. They just always bring out such lovely fragrances, so many of them with a food, or more so dessert, theme, and those are my best loved scents because they remind me of yummy treats and I'm a big fan of sweet smells. I'll include a link with each candle that I include on this post so that you can try it for yourself if you're interested :) 

Snowflake Cookie

Since I've used this awesome candle as my photograph for today's post, I thought I'd talk about it first. The Snowflake Cookie candle is in my top five favourite candles by the brand, because it's just such a wonderful scent. I can tell instantly that it contains vanilla, which makes me happy! Vanilla is my absolute favourite scent of candle of all time, so I love candles that are a combination of vanilla and other sweet fragrances. The notes in Snowflake Cookie include: fluffy marshmallow, cinnamon, nutmeg, whipped vanilla icing, sugar cookie & buttercream. That sounds good enough to eat! How pretty is the pale pink shade of this candle too!? I really like both the shade and the imagery on the label of the candle.

Black Cherry

Cherry is one of those classic fragrances and tastes that are iconic when it comes to Autumn and Winter time. We include cherries in lots of festive recipes, and the colour of cherries is popular for Autumn fashion. I was drawn to this candle in the first place because black cherry flavoured yogurts are my favourite, but also because I love the dark red shade of the candle! It's a colour perfect for both seasons, and the fragrance itself is a lovely blend of cherry, almond, cinnamon and candy. All of these scents remind me of Christmas. Are you a fan of fruity fragrances, or is floral more your thing? You can find some Black Cherry candles here.

Fireside Treats

If you love toasted marshmallows or smores, then this is the candle for you! It smells so much like the real thing, of the smokey burning wood smell and of course, of gooey melting marshmallows :) Fireside Treats is just a very delicious-smelling candle, and I especially like to burn one on Bonfire Night (usually to make up for the fact that any of my family haven't remember to stock up on real marshmallows, oops!).  According to the Yankee Candle website, the notes for this candle are: cedar wood, firewood, glowing embers, sugar, marshmallow and vanilla fluff. *nom* I love that vanilla fluff stuff!

Macaron Treats

Macaron Treats is a candle from the 2016 festive Yankee candle collection called 'Holiday Party' and it was such a pleasant surprise to see among the other scents, because it doesn't scream Christmas when you look at it. It's a lovely pale green coloured candle, and has a very nice sweet nutty smell. I use all of the candles that I've included today all year round because they are my preferred scents, however this candle is actually perfect for using in any season because there's never not a good time for macarons. This candle has made me want to try actual macarons even more... can you actually believe that I haven't!? I like how the macarons on the label are red and green, because it adds that little Christmassy touch to the design of the candle. Oh, and the notes in the Macaron Treats candle include: raw sugar, confectioner's sugar, vanilla, cookie & almond.

Christmas Cookie

I'm sure that this is one of the candles from the 2015 Autumn/Winter collection, but I can't remember. It's a popular one so it's still easily available, and it's no wonder why because it smells great! It is a very similar scent to the Snowflake Cookie candle, however whereas that one smells very sweet, like you can certainly smell the marshmallow and vanilla icing, the Christmas Cookie focuses more of the actual biscuity scent. It reminds me of baking at Christmas time, of the cookies actually baking in the oven or just baked fresh, warm cookies.  The fragrance ingredients are: creamy vanilla bean, cinnamon, sugar, baked notes (I'm assuming that Yankee Candle mean by this that there's baked cookie scents in the candle), butter and nutmeg. Whenever I burn this candle, it makes me want to do some baking! I definitely recommend this candle for those of you who love sweet scents, but not when they are too overpowering. This one is a pretty cream shade too, so it will go well displayed alongside any Christmas decoration colour scheme.

Berry Trifle 

This candle makes it into my top five Yankee Candles as well! I adore the colour of it so much, it's a crimson, wine red shade that is so much like my preferred shade of lipsticks. The berry theme makes it fabulous for Autumn, but then trifles are a traditional dessert enjoyed around Christmas here in the UK so it's a candle for Winter too! The label also shows snowflakes on top of the trifle :) It just has such a scrumptious scent, created by a mix of different fruity and sweet fragrances (raspberry, blueberry, lemon and strawberry, plus vanilla, sugar & cream). I'm not really an artificial floral scent fan. I really love the scent of real flowers, but floral scented things are usually too overpowering for me. The Berry Trifle candle though has a mix of both super sweet and fruit scents which are right up my street. I very much like the various strawberry scented Yankee candles, so having strawberry as a top note is probably another reason why this candle is one of my favourites.

Amber Moon  

I used this scent of Yankee Candle for the first time when I was at university back in 2015, so I'm thinking it's probably from the previous year's Autumn/Winter range. It's unlike all of the other scents that make up my favourites, as it is not a food-based fragrance. Amber Moon contains sandalwood, amber of course and patchouli. Amber is usually a mix of various resins from trees as well as bark such as Benzoin, mixed with the flowers of citrus trees and vanilla and much more. It has an earthy scent to it that makes me feel relaxed, and it also reminds me of the smell of spices and herbs. It's almost reminiscent to me of the scent of my favourite German festive cookies, Lebkuchen, but of the more faint spices underneath the strong ginger & cinnamon smell. Amber Moon is a very pretty name for a candle too, and it would be a very nice aroma to smell in the evening to help you feel cosy. It's not available on the Yankee Candle website anymore, but I found this one on Amazon for you guys :)

Candy Cane Lane

I first discovered this candle when I was researching the Yankee Candle advent calendar in Autumn 2015, which I shared a short post about during Blogmas of that year. I bought one before getting the calendar itself because I was so intrigued. I am a lover of all things mint flavoured and scented, so I couldn't wait to find out what this one was like! It has notes of both peppermint and spearmint, along with sugar cane, malt, candied caramel, vanilla mint (that sounds amazing!), tonka & vanilla bean. All these ingredients sound like a dessert made in heaven to me, haha! I was definitely not disappointed by the fragrance of this candle; it smells so so lovely! The mint is strong enough to make the candle live up to it's name, but with the other scents intertwined, it's just a nice, sweet smell :) I love it! It's definitely a great candle for Christmas time, with the vibrant red colouration and also the label featuring a gingerbread house decorated with a white & red candy cane theme. It's a 10 out of 10 from me for sure! I love the name of the candle too because it makes me picture a road lined with candy canes leading up to Santa's grotto or something! This candle seems to be out of stock everywhere, but I finally found the candle on eBay!

Well I hope that you've all enjoyed reading about my favourite Yankee Candles from their Autumn/Winter collections. I'd love to know if you guys have used any of these candle before and what you thought of them, so please leave a comment if you have! It would be great to know if I've made any of you want to try a particular candle for yourselves. With it being just after Christmas, there should be some sales on with Christmas collections too. Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Thankyou for reading!

♥

Do you have a go-to Autumn-Winter candle?  

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