Candles from Bath & Body Works

I've had an unfinished version of this entry sitting around in draft mode for ages, and this seems like a good time to get it done and out, with practically everybody still sitting around bored at home. You can't go in Bath & Body Works right now, of course but you still can order candles online. (Important notes: Not sponsored. Also, don't buy anything from these guys that's not on sale, unless you just want to burn money - they have sales a lot.)

Now, I'm not a huge fan of sweet-smelling candles, which B&BW sells a ton of - I suspect those are their best-sellers. I like some food scents - I like spicy scents like cinnamon and clove, and I usually like citrus scents. The one below is my example about where the line is, because on something like "cinnamon bun" scents, it tends to depend for me on how overpowering the sugar scent is. The fall candle "Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin" is one that could go either way:

In fact, I do like this one and I'm likely to re-buy this scent in the fall. But they also have lots of things that aren't obviously sweet-scented.


Here's more one-wick candles because that's the most recent thing I bought - they were having a one-day sale, a while back. Partly I like having candles around this time of year because we get thunderstorms pretty regularly in the spring - I like to put a candle and matches in every room, because I don't like to be trying to feel my way around in the dark when the power goes out. (And I don't really need 3-wick candles for that particular purpose!)

I really like the patterned wrappers that are on a couple of these.

Eucalyptus Rain fragrance notes: Aromatic Eucalyptus, Spearmint Leaves, Fresh Spring Rain
Turquoise Waters fragrance notes: Coastal Waves, Sparkling Bergamot, Sun-Drenched Musk

Limoncello notes: Sorrento Lemons, Cane Sugar, Lemon Zest
Sun-Washed Citrus notes: Sorrento Lemons, Citron, Agave Nectar


And then below are some more that are currently out of season:

This is a fall one I like, "Leaves":

Notes: Crisp Red Apple, Golden Nectar, Warm Clove Spice
(If you're not familiar with how B&BW works, they tend to rotate the same set of scents seasonally, usually with a ton of different wrappers and labels. I think this particular wrapper is especially pretty because the tiny leaves are cut-outs and so you can see the light flickering through them when it's burning.)

"Fresh Balsam" is my very favorite for winter & the holidays:

There are others I like but this is absolutely #1 for me. This one above was empty when I took this picture, months ago now, and I believe I went though another one before the winter was over. I bought a couple more when B&BW was having their big one-day sale before Christmas. I think this scent is probably a best-seller because I've seen it with many, many different designs.

Another one that seems popular is "Winter":

 Notes: White Woods, Pine Needles, Sparkling Clementine, Spiced Clove

"Cinnamon & Clove Buds" is another of my favorites for the holidays:

Notes: Cinnamon Leaf, Clove Bud, Ground Nutmeg

This is an old picture, but this is my other favorite Christmassy scent, "Tis the Season":

I don't have one of these at home currently, and these aren't on the website right now, so I don't know the notes exactly, but this one totally smells like Christmas, somehow.
Added, the notes for this one, because I ran across them: Rich Red Apple, Sweet Cinnamon, Cedarwood

NOTD: Ma-holo At Me

Here's that picture I couldn't find yesterday, which was China Glaze Ma-holo At Me on my nails:

(I had to download it from Instagram - if I had a local copy it got lost!) Anyway, I still think this is very pretty, but this is awfully sheer so that makes me think an undercoat is a good idea next time. It looked better in real life than it looks here, I have to say.

Ma-holo At Me

I've worn China Glaze Ma-holo At Me and I really like it:

It's just a light-blue holo, but that's a nice thing. I swatched it by itself and also over KLP Wishbone, which is just a light beige/tan sort of color. I think you may or may not want an undercoat, depending on how many coats you want to use and how much your nail-line tends to show. This is from the Shades of Paradise collection, from summer 2018. Here's pictures from the whole collection - you have to scroll down a good ways to find this one.)

I couldn't find the picture of it on my nails, but it was on Instagram so I downloaded it again:

(I did a separate entry for this picture, but this is the same picture I put there. I have gotten where I like to have links back and forth as much as possible - the other entry is here if you really want to see it. )

Swatches from Polish 'M

I had not tried the indie brand Polish 'M before I got the big BCA box last fall. And then sometime around January I happened to look at their website, and I noticed that they had a Black Friday duo from last fall marked down on their website (in fact it's still there). I posted a picture of Black Friday Is My Cardio a while back, but I didn't post swatches, and meanwhile I bought another couple of polishes from them that were on clearance as well.

This is the other half of that duo, 1st In Line:

It's described as "a medium grey with pink to lavender duochrome shimmer, metallic teal, orange and raspberry hex glitter, red to orange shifting UCC flakes and scattered silver holo magic flakes." I haven't worn it yet because it feels like a fall polish to me. (Really I bought the duo for the other polish in it, but this is still kinda cool.)

Here is Black Friday Is My Cardio on the left (the upper one of the two blue swatches) and Brave Hearts on the right (the lower blue swatch):

I had a bad minute - before I put these two next to each other - where I thought, man, why did I buy both of these, they are too much alike! But as you can see, they're actually not. Black Friday Is My Cardio is quite a bit lighter and totally packed with, well, stuff: "a winter blue holo with aqua shimmer, metallic teal, purple and magenta micro glitter, blue-purple shifting iridescent glitter and silver galaxy holo glitter." The other one is Brave Hearts, and it's really pretty, too, but in a slightly less showy way. (It's not on the website any more, so I don't have the detailed description for it, unfortunately.) I would call it a really heavy shimmer, offhand. And I love the color.

The other one I got is called Glow By Candlelight:

It seems to have holo and some scattered flakes. I really like this color, too.