Sugared Euphoria

The Triumphant Return!

2013-09-27T07:32:00.001-07:00

Well guys, it's been a whopping 15 months since I've posted to this blog and not only am I still alive, but I'mmm baaaacckk!

You heard right, this quick post is just to announce my triumphant return to the blogging world. I'm thrilled to once again start sharing my favourite beauty, fashion and skincare with you guys! Be on the lookout for product reviews, DIYs, monthly subscription boxes, new releases and more.

It's gonna be a fun ride and here's to hoping you guys are just as eager to jump back on the wagon with me!

Stay tuned!

XO Sarah

Fortune Cookie Soap - Summer Lovin'!

2012-07-03T23:12:00.000-07:00

They did it AGAIN folks! Just when we thought the ever-expanding line of Fortune Cookie Soap products couldn't get anymore to die for, they went above and beyond to create a fun, fresh, fruity and highly addictive summer collection.

In an ideal world, I would purchase the whole she-bang, let my cellphone bill rot and close the curtains when the landlord shows up, but it's just not a pretty situation if ya get my drift. BUT - I did have the chance to get a nice assortment of brand-spanking-new goodies and I'd love to share them up close and personal with you guys!

[click the pictures to see them even better! ]

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You know that distinct scent you get when you open a full box of FCS stuff? That needs to be made into a signature scent!

3 new Whipped Cream Body Butters!

'Private Beach' - A very soft, subtle jasmine fragrance with just a touch of barely-there pineapple.

'Pool Party' - Sugary-sweet meets aquatic, with barely a hint of refreshing mintiness.

'Pinky Swear' - Girly and sweet! Strong notes of banana & cotton candy, with a finish of not-too-sweet sugar candy.

Solid Shampoo Bar in 'Pool Party'

Expecting an ocean-y blue colour, I was shocked to find it comes in a dusty charcoal-gray!

Nevertheless, it smells absolutely incredible. So fresh, sugary sweet with a minty kick.

Bubble Bar in 'Pool Party'

If you couldn't tell by now, I harbour an unhealthy obsession with this scent in particular! No surprise it went from underdog to crowd favourite! This bubble bar is about the size of my hand, is definitely heavier than I thought it would be and in your hand feels like a straight-up bath bomb. It smells fan-freaking-tastic, and I'm looking forward to seeing how easy it is to crumble under running water due to it's dense/solid nature.

Hydrate Me! in 'Pool Party'

This scent & I are currently planning an elaborate pool-side wedding (too much? hah) but in all honestly.. HOLY CRAP, it made it all the way here to Canada UNMELTED! It must be a work of magic, and I'm ecstatic to receive it with the gorgeous design still intact. This bar is buttery-smooth on the skin with just a single swipe, SUPER moisturizing and when used after shaving, leaves you with the most unbelievably soft, glowy summer skin.

Gelato Fizzy in 'Wish You Were Here..'

Another stunningly adorable bath fizzy shaped like a gelato ice cream. Packed with moisturizing and softening ingredients and scented in a deliciously girly fragrance. Exotic, tropical flowers and fresh mango give this a super sweet, candy-ish scent. They say to break it up for 2-3 baths, but I honestly drop the whole thing for an especially indulgent bath. Enough fragrance to scent me, the entire upstairs of my house and left me with calming, milky pink water.

Gelato Fizzy in 'Summer Sweet Tea'

I was expecting a yellow colour for this bath bomb, but I actually really like the green. It's a soothing, deep mint colour and smells just like the name! I get notes of sugar, lemon, sweetened green tea and just a touch of zest. It smells almost overpoweringly strong out of the container, but is relaxing and mellow in the warm bath water. Leaves a pale, milky green shade in the water.

Bar Soap (with loofah) in 'Pinky Swear'

I've been seeing loofah soaps popping up everywhere and was ecstatic to finally see my favourite brand release some of their own! My camera doesn't do justice, this soap is a SUPER vibrant, almost neon pink with the real, natural loofah imbedded inside. It has that same sweet banana, sugar, cotton candy scent and will be amazing to say bye-bye to rough, dead skin and leave your brand new skin sexy, smooth and smelling amazing!

Fortune Cookie Soap in 'Pinky Swear'

Besides the intoxicating scents, the fun colours used in the summer collection products are a stand-out hit for me! Done in a neon pink with cream coloured patches and also scented with sweet banana, cotton candy and a hint of sugar. These are the ones that'll get the most 'ooohs and ahhhs' if you splurge on a bunch for your friends and family. (Let's be realistic, if you only buy one, you aren't going to share. I guarantee it.)

Fortune Cookie Soap in 'Road Trip'

A pale, creamy yellow colour, this may be the most normal/muted of all the new signature soaps. It smells like soft honeysuckle flowers and a touch of fresh lemon. This will be a great pick-me-up in the morning, enough zest to wake you up but the perfect blend of florals to leave you clean and feminine. It's also very complex, the scent really evolves once you get it wet and later it up. Must try!

Fortune Cookie Soap in 'Pool Party'

As far as visuals and scent combined, this one wins me over hands down. The gorgeous pink to blue to purple swirls/vein design is so stunning and unique! This is one of those scents us girls will find excuses to wash with, and the fellas will find it hard to keep their noses of us. ;)

Fortune Cookie Soap in 'Wish You Were Here'

A pretty peach shade, drizzled with baby pink and scented with tropical florals and juicy mango. It's bright, fruity, sweet and addictive! I swear the soap formulas get richer & creamier each time I buy more. These clean even the dirtiest of us, but don't leave skin dry or tight.

Fortune Cookie Soap in 'Sugar Britches'

Wasn't sure I would love this, but I definitely need to purchase more in this scent! Coloured a gorgeous pinky-purple with whitish-cream veined throughout, it smells like juicy, sweet watermelon and soft, feminine violets. I can't stop smelling it!

Fortune Cookie Soap in 'Private Beach'

This soap is a creamy-white colour with hi-lighter yellow drizzle and has the most subtle of all the new summer fragrances. Soft jasmine, a hint of pineapple and although not in the description, I swear I get faint notes of creamy coconut. I'm saving this for the disgustingly hot days when the stronger scents can be too overpowering!

Sample Bath Bomb in 'Private Beach'

Yayyy for freebies! I haven't opened this but I'm sure it's going to be lovely and force me to go back and order the full-size bath bomb. :)

OCD Hand Sanitizer in 'Pool Party'

These clean my hands so well (especially important having a 2 year old who catches colds like they're goin out of style!), the alcohol scent dissipates in seconds and I'm left with germ-free, sweet ocean-y scented hands. :) It's also the perfect gel/serum consistency. Nothing worse than chasing drips of runny sanitizer down to your elbows!

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I'm just so excited with how amazing the summer launch was, how hard our amazing friends running Fortune Cookie Soap worked to provide so many unbelievable new things for us and I can't wait to start digging into them all! Thank you Shannon, Justin & team for all you do, the joy I get from choosing and regularly receiving such fun, exciting packages is priceless! Already looking forward to what's coming next! :-D

xo Sarah

Disclaimer - All products were purchased by me (with the exception of the Pool Party Sugar Scrub & Pool Party Whipped Cream, which I won during the BlogTV launch trivia contest) with my own money, and all opinions are my own!

Check out Fortune Cookie Soap at the links below, you'll love them!

Fortune Cookie Soap Facebook Page

Fortune Cookie Soap on Twitter

Fortune Cookie Soap Website

Fortune Cookie Soap - Summer Soap Box Review!

2012-05-30T14:43:00.003-07:00

Ladies & gents, the wait is over! In case you haven't heard, the awesomely ingenious folks over at Fortune Cookie Soap introduced a brand new quarterly subscription service back in March, lovingly titled The Soap Box. Many of us are often hesistant to empty our wallets for everything that strikes an interest, in fear of receiving a bunch of products that just don't quite tickle our fancy. Don't get me wrong, I'm thoroughly convinced they couldn't make something unpleasant if they tried, but scent is possibly the most personal thing in life and you just can't please everyone! At the start of each new season, Fortune Cookie Soap launches a whole boatload of new products & fragrances, and The Soap Box is cleverly shipped out to subscribers in the few weeks beforehand. You pay a little, get a box packed with brand-spanking-new travel sized products and when the launch happens, you're all set knowing which fragrances and such are your must haves!

So with that said, and as the title says.. It's Summer Soap Box time! The company is based in the U.S. and decided the second time around to ship the International boxes a little earlier and to my surprise, it's here already! Let's get right into it! ;)

When you first open, you are greeted with neatly wrapped bright blue tissue and a fun Soap Box sticker!

On top is a card welcoming you to your Summer Soap Box experience! It features an awesome Fortune Cookie Soap tattoo flash-style picture (kudos to the artist!) and the details of a special contest for subscribers.

The back of the card lists the 9 new products/scents you will be enjoying and gives a brief description. Love the beachy vibe!

An awesome Fortune Cookie Soap temporary tattoo! Infinitely cooler than the ones my parents had to scour off me as a kid, hah ;)

Once I convinced myself to rip the pretty tissue/sticker, I was met with a whole bunch of awesome! When someone finally invents scratch-n-sniff monitors, come back to this picture, it will blow your mind. Serious.

For the Spring Soap Box, each box included a bright fabric flower. For Summer, it's a cute seashell :)

Up first, a brand new signature fortune cookie soap in "Sand Dollar". It's a very pale peachy-pink with poppyseeds and is described as "a succulent peach scent". It's not at all one of those super sweet peach candy scents, it's a soft, natural, feminine peach and has a hint of clean soapiness at the base.

Next is a flip flop-shaped bath fizzy in the scent "Private Beach". I've seen tart melts in this shape, but how they managed to make a fizzy of it and have it survive Canada customs in one piece is completely beyond me! lol The scent to me is a perfect 50/50 blend of fresh pineapple and tropical florals. Neither overpowers the other and you can easily pick out the seperate fragrances.

A brand new body wash in the scent "Road Trip". I'm loving the new bottles! They're shorter/wider and just up the cuteness factor 1000%. This scent shocked me! If you sniff it straight from the bottle, all you really smell is lemon, but after trying a drop on the back of my hand and rubbing it around, the lemon COMPLETELY disappears and I'm left with soft, beautiful florals. The name couldn't be more fitting, think being on a road trip and flying down a back road past a field of summer wildflowers. The windows are down and a warm breeze surrounds you with the uplifting and carefree fragrance of nature.

OCD Hand Sanitizer in the scent "Summer Sweet Tea". It's a germ-killer, so naturally sniffing straight from the bottle gives a clean, alcohol scent. After the 3 seconds it takes to dry on my hands, I get a sweet, slightly tart lemon-y ice tea scent. More lemon than ice tea, but very refreshing! This is also where I decided I might like the old bottles better, it was reeeeeeally hard to squeeze out. I think the shorter bottle has denser plastic and it was a bit of a struggle.

With the Mist Me! Body Sprays still being relatively new, I was surprised and excited to see a glittery body spray! This is Sparkle Me! in the scent "Beach Bunny". It's an itty bitty, totally adorable bottle filled with light blue spray (almost a gel consistency) which is LOADED with glitter! Looks pretty scary at first, but isn't nearly as outrageous on my skin. I'm imagining using some on my legs and shoulders for the summer just to give that perfect hint of sparkle! The scent is very light on the skin and smells just like the coconut suntan lotions we all know and love.

FINALLY! I'm a regular user of dry shampoos, if I wash my hair more than 3 or 4 times a week, I wouldn't be able to get a brush through it if I tried. It's horrrrrible, and unfortunately almost every brand I've tried has either left a white cast, smelled gross or just did nothing at all. The scent is "Wish You Were Here" and is descibed as "exotic, fruity and floral". It reminds me alot of the "Private Beach" scent, I get a kick of pineapple, maybe some mango and a finish of feminine florals, very fresh and pretty! The sample bottle is surprisingly big and will probably last a really long time. The powder made me nervous at first, it almost seemed a little chunkier/rougher than the others I've tried. I was worried it would leave white pieces in my hair but it didn't at all! It brushed through beautifully and left my hair shiny and soft :)

Next is a brand new Whipped Cream in "Pinky Swear". These are still my all-time favourite products and definitely the ones I look forward to most when new scents are released. This does not disappoint! It's a pretty pale pinkish-lavender colour and to me smells predominantly of sweet, fresh watermelon with a hint of strawberry and a touch of floral. Could be jasmine, but I'm not positive! It's super girly and fresh.

Another completely new product! This is the Hydrate Me! body conditioning bar in "Pool Party". I'm not sure if this is supposed to be used in the shower after washing, or simply as a solid lotion, but I'm convinced it would be wonderful either way! It's super buttery smooth, glides on and rubs in without any nasty, greasy feeling and leaves a lovely amount of scent on my skin. It almost has a lip balm texture if you just run your finger over the bar. This fragrance is hands down my favourite of everything in this box and coincidentally, the one I just can't quite describe. To me, it's a mixture between fresh air/ocean and warm, woodsy vanilla. Highly recommend!

Last and surely not least is another new one - Sugar Fix solid sugar scrub in "Sugar Britches". Not a word of lie, if you put a handful of these cubes in a bowl on your coffee table, people would eat them. It looks exactly like a chewy, sugary candy and even has that gummy candy squish if you pinch it between your fingers. Even better, it smells like a sugary gummy candy. It's a light pink colour with a bright, sweet melon scent. Be careful where you leave these! :)

So that's all the amazing new things we can look forward to when the Summer products launch in a few short weeks! I'm so thrilled and excited for all the fantastic, fresh & fruity new fragrances! I'm not sure if it's past the point of signing up for the Summer Soap Box , but if you aren't already a subscriber, don't hesitate to make sure you get on the list for the rest of the upcoming boxes! For such an awesome price ($19.99 shipped to the U.S., $28 shipped to Canada, $34 shipped overseas), you can try out a whole bunch of awesome things and be confident in your favourites for the official product launches. And even if you can't afford to order full sizes, it's still a totally fantastic way to fully treat yourself or someone you love to the Fortune Cookie Soap experience. Check out the links below to get in on the summer action! ;)

Fortune Cookie Soap on Facebook

Fortune Cookie Soap on Twitter

Fortune Cookie Soap Website

xo Sarah

FTC: Everything shown/mentioned was purchased by me, with my own money and as always, all opinions are my own :)

Goodies from the UK!

2012-05-28T14:10:00.000-07:00

When you think of the Internet, and more specifically Facebook fan pages, what usually comes to mind is drama, hostility and holier-than-thou attitudes. You find it during contests, scattered in comments and posted on walls. Rewind to August of 2011, the very first time I stumbled upon the Fortune Cookie Soap fan page. It started with ordering just 2 little soaps and wandering back to the page just to leave a quick note letting them know how much I had loved what I bought. What happened next was much to my surprise - I not only heard kind words back from the owners, Shannon & Justin, but also from a whole community of lovely girls from all over the world. Needless to say I stuck around, continued ordering and interacting with the same bunch of wonderful people and ended up making some absolutely amazing friends!

This post in particular is dedicated to one of the amazing girls that I now have the pleasure to call a very good friend. Her name is Becky (if you've ever visited the FCS page, no doubt you've also had the pleasure to talk to her too!), she lives in the UK and is by far one of the sweetest, friendliest and most easy-going people I've ever talked to. Being from opposite sides of the world (I'm in Canada), we recently decided to swap some goodies and I'm here now to share them with all of you! Hope you enjoy, I know I will be! haha :)

A big box showed up at my door today!

First thing I found was a lovely handwritten card! I'm a sap and the words inside were very sweet :')

These salt 'n vinegar snacks are one of my Moms favourites, but they stopped importing them to Canada yeeeeeears ago, she was THRILLED!

Teddy Shaped Potato Snacks and Pig shaped gummies! I know a certain little boy who will fight me for these, so neat!

Jazzie Biscuits! I love cookies and these look soooo good.

Galaxy Orange & Shortcake Chocolate Bar! This chocolate bar is MASSIVE, I've read in lots of places that this chocolate is WAY better than the stuff we have here :)

Hotel Chocolat goodies! These must have cost a fortune, I've never seen such fancy chocolates! May pair these with a glass of wine for a night of pure indulgence ;)

Cadbury Wispa Gold, BlackJack chews and Sherbert fountain candy! Haven't tried any of these before, they sound tasty!

Flying saucers! I just tried these for the first time before starting this post, they're so neat! At first it's like a plain wafer and then BAM! A kick of sweet/sour powder candy inside. Love!

Pink Shrimp candy (doesn't taste like shrimp thankfully haha) and Bristol-made Toffee Crunch Candy. These are both fantastic.

Rhubarb and Custard hard candies and chewy Milk Teeth candy! So fun :)

Sweet Baccy and Lemon & Lime Bon Bons! The Sweet Baccy was the very first thing I tried from the box, it looked so strange and intriguing and I had to ask what it was. They are brown sugar and coconut! Quite addictive actually.

A lovely assortment of teas, can't wait to try them!

Sample tart melts in Rhubarb & Custard and Pink Sugar. I have an unhealthy addiction to Pink Sugar :)

A gorgeous coaster from a local artist and some adorable UK chocolate lollies! The coaster is going beside my bed with my favourite candle and my son will probably steal the lollies if they aren't hidden haha :)

Lush Snow Fairy Shower Gel and Candy Mountain Bubble Bar! Being a hoarder of bath goodies myself, I'm so thankful that she was so kind to share some of her stash with me! I've never tried their limited edition Christmas scents and I'm definitely kicking myself now!

Fortune Cookie Soap recently had a 'Create-Your-Own' Body Butter sale and Peach Bellini was one of the scents Becky chose! It smells amazing and so sweet of her to also dig into her personal supply to share this one with me :)

Gorgeous beauty goodies from brands we don't have here! Collection 2000 eyeshadow and glitter eyeliner, Barry M nail polish and I love.. Coconut & Cream lip balm! Neon and sparkly things make me happy :D

Lovely Bristol postcards! This is where all these amazing things come from.

Last but definitely not least, a cool I <3 Bristol fabric tote bag! I'll be rocking this for the summer, will hold beach goodies or for shopping runs :)

That's all of it, there is so many awesome things to try! If the pictures aren't my best, it's just because I couldn't wait to tear in haha I'm so grateful to have met such a wonderful person and thankful for all these goodies I wouldn't otherwise have had the chance to experience. Feels like Christmas today! Now comes the impatient wait for her to receive a box of stuff from Canada and I just hope it brings some of the excitement I got today. Thank you Becky for everything you did and for being so awesome, now I'm off to go overload myself with fun sweets! ;) <3

xo Sarah

Fun & Random Retail Therapy!

2012-04-22T14:08:00.002-07:00

I'm pretty sure I'm not the only person who likes to live vicariously through other peoples shopping trips (helloooo YouTube haul videos!) and so today being a lazy Sunday, I had some free time to kill and thought I'd share mine with you guys! My son recently celebrated his 2nd birthday and yesterday went to see his father and celebrate again. This left me with the day free to engage in some "retail therapy"! I didn't head out with anything in particular in mind and some stuff may not be super exciting, but I figured.. hey, let's include all of it anyways. I'll try to keep it short and simple, hope you enjoy!

First stop was Bath & Body Works! I picked up three travel-sized minis as a gift for my Mom, she looves this scent. Body Wash, Fragrance Mist and Body Lotion in 'Sea Island Cotton', for $10. They smell like fresh air, clean towels and sea water!

These are seriously the best candles I've ever bought, they definitely live up to their hype. They scent the whole room, last FOREVER and are just gorgeous in every way. I chose 'Pink Sangria', which smells like sweet, sugary berries floating in pink lemonade, and also 'Sea Spray' which is a super clean, ocean-y scent with just a hint of sweetness. Normally I'm hesistant to buy these giant candles because they cost $22.50 each, but they were having a sale where you could get 2 for $25 plus %20 off the whole store on top of that. YES PLEASE.

This is where it gets random! My apologies that these pictures are pretty crappy, it's a lazy Sunday after all. haha Next up I went to Old Navy, they have the cutest clothes for little boys! Most of my sons clothes seem to be red, blue or green these days so I chose this outfit for him for the warmer weather coming up. Plus I think brown and tan colours make his bright blue eyes look extra handsome. :)

Also had to get this outfit for him! The Jungle Book is a classic and I still sing along everytime I hear "..look for the bare necessities, the simple bare necessities.." The t-shirt was a bit pricey, $14.95 for a toddler size, but totally worth it. These colours also hide dirt really well, especially helpful when they're into eveerryyything at this age. ;)

These tank tops are so comfortable, I could live in them. Most of my current ones are black or dark colours so I'm trying to venture into brighter, bolder colours for summer this year. It's actually quite a bit more vibrant than the picture shows, but pretty cute I think! They were on sale for maybe $6 so I may go back for a few other ones.

I'm a girly girl at heart, so I do love dresses and cute fluttery tops, but in all seriousness you'll find me in something like this most of the warmer days. Super comfy to run around the park, run errands, lounge around the house or throw over a bathing suit. The varsity style capris are fun and look great on virtually anyone! I love this shade of pink, it makes me look more tan than I actually am. :)

I almost forgot to add this in with my sons stuff! An adorable tan and orange Old Navy baseball cap that matches his Jungle Book outfit perfectly. Love it!

Ballet flats are another staple in my warm weather wardrobe, these ones from Old Navy were $20 and are a woven fabric with a leather bow. They go with almost anything and because they have a foam cushioned insole, they feel awesome even if you're out on your feet for 12 hours. I wish I rock the trendy summer heels but they just suck to walk in, hurt like nobodies business and make my daily tasks that much harder! I'm a flip flops and flats kinda girl for sure.

Sally's Beauty Supply was having a pretty awesome sale as well! Buy 2, get 1 free on all nail polishes. These mini polishes were only $1.29 each so I picked up 2 for my mom and 1 for myself. The bottles don't have names on them, so I can't tell you which they are exactly but the first is a dark, almost mermaid-tail green, second is a flourescent tangerine orange, and third is a royal purple with green and gold duochrome. The orange one is mine!

Also grabbed 3 China Glaze polishes, 2 for me and 1 for my mom. The first is a gorgeous, deep shimmery blue called Blue Iguana, second is a matte neon pink called Pink Voltage and third is a matte neon green called In The Lime Light. The part that bothers me is the neons don't say anywhere on the bottle that they are matte, and it's a texture that can be pretty hard to work with. Dries up quickly, streaks and looks clumpy easily. I was a little disppointed to try one and see it go flat quickly, but with a quick swipe of top coat, they were bright, gorgeous and shiny! A little too much for fingers but I'm all about neon toes in the summer.

I saved the best for last! (sorry about the strange reflections) I watch YouTube beauty gurus on a regular basis and have wanted this palette for probably close to 3 years, but for some reason could never bring myself to spend the $60. Sounds kind of ridiculous when you consider how easily I can toss away $60 on other things that wouldn't last half as long!

Every single colour is absolutely stunning, and I'm kicking myself for waiting so long to finally jump on the bandwagon. The picture doesn't do justice but there are amazing bronze, brown, rose, black, cream and more in every beautiful finish imaginable. The possibilites are truly endless and I will probably be using it everyday. It also came with a mini Primer Potion, which I already use daily, and a professional Good Karma eyeshadow brush. It used to come with a double sided eyeliner, so it's a little bittersweet to not have that instead, but I'm totally in love regardless and most definitely say it's a must have if you wear any makeup whatsoever.

So that's all for this shopping trip. It's funny how you can be out for hours and feel like you spent a months wages, but then when you narrow it down, it doesn't seem like you bought much at all. I hope you had fun reading, or at least enjoyed wasting a few minutes of your time! ;) Have a fantastic day!

xo Sarah

FTC: Everything shown was purchased by me, with my own money and all opinions are my own.

Review! - Scentsory Overload [Homemade Soy Candles & Tarts]

2012-04-20T21:32:00.000-07:00

If you've ever read my blog before, know me in person or even just spoken to me for a minute, you'd probably know my 2 biggest addictions currently are Fortune Cookie Soap and any sort of candles/tart melts. So when I found out one of my new "Fortunefreak" friends, Mandi, had begun creating her own homemade candles and tarts, I couldn't pass them up! Mandi and her husband, Ryan, are the proud new owners of Scentsory Overload, and 2 of the nicest, funniest and sweetest people I've had the opportunity to meet and interact with online. [Side note: They also have some of the most creative and hilarious product review videos ever!]

I love candles and how they look and last, but I tend to lean more towards tarts nowadays. I think it's half convenience and half fear of commitment. Not sure about you guys but burning the same $20 three wick candle for aaaages gets a little tiresome. I was excited to find Scentsory Overload offers a pretty awesome selection of different scented tarts at a fantastic price.. I chose 6 different packs containing 6 cubes each and still paid less than the price of one of the aforementioned fancy schmancy candles! Score!

It wasn't too hard for me to choose which scents I was most excited for, as they even have a few like 'Blueberry Flapjacks' and 'Loopy' which correspond perfectly with some of my favourite Fortune Cookie Soap products! Of course I got those 2, as well as 'Honey Coated Sunset', 'Forbidden Fruit', 'Honeymoon in Paris' and 'Lemon Poppy Seed'. Just in case you don't have alot of experience with candles and tarts, really good quality natural soy wax tends to be slightly crumbly, easy to break and sometimes has a white cast when set. These attributes, that sometimes make people question quality if they aren't used to it, are actually the ones you should look for to know you're getting a good, clean-burning and no-yuckiness-added home fragrance product.

Honey Coated Sunset

This has to be my absolute favourite of the 6 I bought, it's pretty darn close to Lushs super popular 'Honey, I Washed the Kids' scent, but less fake and syrupy, and more natural. To me, this smells just like an organic baby lotion I used to have when my son was a newborn. It's like oatmeal, honey and a warm hug all wrapped up in a little wax cube! This is one of those scents everybody on the planet would enjoy and find comfort in, HIGHLY recommend!

Blueberry Flapjacks

Mmmm.. I could eat these! They're a gorgeous shade of blue and you can literally hold it to your nose, close your eyes and smell the pancakes, the hint of warm butter and the gooey maple syrup individually. I bet if you have kids and threw one of these in the warmer before you made your morning coffee, they'd be out of bed in 2.5 seconds to see what you were making for breakfast that smelled so delicious!

Lemon Poppy Seed

In all honesty, I'm usually not a lemon fan (tends to remind me of household cleaners) and so I chose this one for my mom. She loves lemon! However, I was pleasantly surprised and haven't been able to bring myself to actually hand it over! hah :) It has a really warm, sweet cake scent that mellows out the crisp lemon. I could probably eat this one too, very yummy and another perfect morning pick-me-up scent.

Honeymoon in Paris

I chose this upon hearing it was described as a very romantic scent, and it definitely is! Very fresh, soft, feminine and floral. I was instantly drawn to the scent the first time I smelled it, thinking to myself.. I've smelt this before! I must have racked my brain for hoursss trying to think of where unti it hit me. I used to buy a hair deep conditioner by Pantene Pro-V, it was for medium-thick hair and came in a square, white jar with a black lid. This scent smells exactly like it! It's truly intoxicating and I plan to slather my hair in conditioner, light the warmer and fully enjoy some "me" time basking in this scent.

Forbidden Fruit

With so many smooth and sweet fruity scents going around these days, it's refreshing to discover one that has some bite to it! I'm terrible at picking out individual notes, but all I can say is this is tart, crisp and a little bit edgy. If you love apple scents, this is a must have, especially for the upcoming hot weather! Makes me want to sit outside on a balmy afternoon and sip a frozen, fruity apple drink.

Loopy

If you`re a Fruit Loops fan, this is undeniably the one to stock up on! It was the 2nd one I tried and my whole livingroom smelled like there was fruity cereal ground into the carpet, under the couch cushions, glued to the walls, etc.. You get the drift! It`s sugary-sweet, fun and dead on like you stuck your face right in the box and accidentally snorted a handful of the cereal dust from the bottom of the bag. I didn`t have to tell anyone who came in my house what it was, every single person knew instantly!

These tarts have an amazing scent throw, whether solid in their package or simmering away in the warmer. They are super easy to break apart, have lasted longer than many others I`ve tried and have such fun, vibrant colours and labelling. I highly recommend purchasing some for yourself, and I can`t wait to add some more new scents to my Scentsory Overload collection! Check out the links below to grab your own, and give them a like on Facebook, they`re super friendly and constantly posting new products and ideas!

Scentsory Overload on Facebook

Scentsory Overload Website

xo Sarah

FTC: Everything shown was purchased by me, with my own money (except 1 pack of tarts I received free, in exchange for some handmade clay charms I had sent!) and all opinions are my own.

World's Biggest Skincare Junkie + Favourite Product!

2012-04-11T12:59:00.001-07:00

Hi, my name is Sarah, and I am a skincare junkie. My skin has it's bad days and also it's good but all-in-all, we aren't really friends. I've emptied my wallet, and cluttered my bathroom counter on a regular basis for quite some time now. From $5 cleansers at my local Walmart, to driving an hour to the nearest Sephora and forking out over $40 for a certain moisturizer, I've tried it all!

A little background on my skin. Growing up, I was pretty fortunate to have a normal, cooperative complexion. I wasn't too dark or too pale, didn't burn super fast, held a nice tan in the summer and have always been dotted with just enough freckles to be flattering and not obnoxious. Even as a teenager it was never something I spent much time worrying over, I could go to class with or without makeup on and feel totally comfortable either way. Fast forward to the age of 22, in 2009 when I became pregnant with my son, it all went downhill from there. Apart from wreaking havoc on my otherwise healthy hair and nails, my skin was hit the hardest. My nice, worry-free skin was no more. Instead I was faced with red, flaky and very irritated dry patches on the sides of my face, horrible clusters of cystic acne on my cheekbones and terrible oiliness on my t-zone.

I was very skeptical about what kinds of treatments and products I felt safe using on my skin during my pregnancy, and so I basically just spent half the time trying to cover it, and the other half just putting up with it. My son will be turning 2 next week and although it's progressively easier to deal with, my skin never went back to it's previously perfect and manageable self. This beginning my skincare addiction. Whenever I found something that seemed to work for a certain issue, it quickly posed problems in different areas or stopped working all together. Now I'd like to share something that has literally changed my life!

I've blogged about them before and will probably continue to share their amazing products as long as they continue making them! They are Tanya and Val, a wonderful mother and son pair who run a company called Me And The Boy. They make beautiful handmade jewelry, accessories, home decor, candles as well as bath and body products. Everything I've tried has been gentle, fragrant and simply luxurious, but there is one thing in particular that captured me right from the beginning - Mineral Mud Masks.

It was my Mom who discovered Me And The Boy and she who first ordered a 4 oz jar of Mineral Mud for herself. Not only was her jar packed to the brim with fragrant, rich mud, but she was even made a custom blended fragrance suited exactly to her tastes. I got the chance to try it and needless to say, she never saw the jar again! (Sorry Mom! :)

This stuff is unbelievable. It's strong enough to be aromatherapeutic, but not overpowering whatsoever. It goes on very thick, but is super easy to spread and a little goes a LONG way so the jar lasts for ages. It's the first mud mask I've ever used that dries quickly and completely but doesn't flake off and make a huge mess of me, my clothes and my bathroom. I splash my face with warm water, spread it on and soak in the tub for 20 minutes, I find the steamy air really lets the goodness sink in!

It's so easy to rinse off and I'm not stuck scrubbing chunks out of my hairline or out of my nose. (Gross, I know.. but it happens!) What I'm left with is baby soft skin with no redness, no flaky patches and no oil slick. I swear it intuitively caters to each area of my face, providing nourishment in dry spots and toning down oil and acne in unruly spots. I find afterwards, my skin readily absorbs my moisturizer better and my makeup goes on so much smoother. I could literally go on for days at how thankful I am for this stuff, and also the fact that at $9 for a 4 oz jar, it's like getting months of spa treatments for pocket change!

At this moment, my bathroom counter is still cluttered with tons of high end and drugstore skincare products, but if I had to recommend just one, this would be it. Me And The Boy just released their brand new website, check out the link below to see where you can get some of this amazing stuff for yourself!

Me And The Boy on Facebook

Me And The Boy Website

xo Sarah

FTC: Everything mentioned was purchased by me, with my own money and as always these opinions are completely my own! :)

Review! - Fortune Cookie Soap | Hunger Games Tribute Collection

2012-03-21T12:51:00.003-07:00

Unless you literally live in a cave, in the middle of a tropical jungle and have no contact with the outside world, there's no doubt in my mind you've heard of the Hunger Games book series. Written by Suzanne Collins, it's 3 books set in a what-once-was futuristic and still very animalistic atmosphere documenting basically how young people deal with love, hate, war, trust, betrayal and growing up. I won't give away any details in case you haven't read, but this series has exploded far beyond the young adult audience it was initially intended for and is expected to hold Twilight status once the upcoming movies hit the screen.

Fortune Cookie Soap being one of my guiltiest pleasures, I may be a little biased towards anything they create, but this time felt different. It wasn't too long ago I discovered the Hunger Games, and now considering myself a die-hard fan hearing they would be releasing a Hunger Games collection, my expectations were instantly high. They held a BlogTV launch party (if you haven't participated in one yet, it's an experience you must have in your life!) dressed in character and showcased 7 brand new products, each dedicated to a character from the Hunger Games.

I bought all 7. (Click each photo to see it larger and clearer)

This is the first time I've seen them create special packaging and a new logo for a specific collection, and if ever there was a certain collection to do it for, this is it. The new labelling and new bottle shapes add an air of darkness, drama and realism to an otherwise fun, quirky and out-there brand. These designs are bold, indulgent and know exactly what they stand for. Now let's see the products up close and personal!

['Coal Hearted' Bath Melts - Set of 3]

Modelled after sexy hunter Gale, these bath melts look unbelievably like pieces of rock! They are large enough be broken apart and used for 6 baths or more and are described as a spiced lime scent. While there is a little bit of hidden citrus, my nose gets a hefty dose of a complex and earthy tea tree scent. They looked just like I expected them to smell and are strikingly similar to the Clearly Complexion Bar Soap they carry, which is also an amazing product. You can feel the butteriness on your fingers after having held these for just a few short seconds.

['The Capitol Diamond' Bath Bomb]

This bath bomb is HUGE and very heavy, almost double the density of their usual bath fizzies at a massive 10oz. Done after the in-your-face and quirky Effie Trinket, it pretty well symbolizes what the 'Capitol' is all about - wealth and power. It's a lovely bubblegum pink colour, LOADED with glitter and smells like a straight-up cotton candy and bubblegum mix. If you've smelled or enjoy Aquolina's Pink Sugar perfume, this smells just like that but with a refreshing bubblegum twist added in. I love the look of the glittered bath bombs, but I'm not a huge fan of coming out of the tub super sparkly, so that may be my only downside. However, that is just personal preference and the bath bomb itself is simply stunning and smells amazing.

['Hair of the Dog' Body Wash & 'Cashmere' Bubbling Bath Crystals]

Gotta love the clever idea to make a body wash that looks like a flask of alcohol to represent the Hunger Games resident drunk, Haymitch Abernathy. Scented with dark vanilla and rum, this to me smells like warm and sweet butterscotch syrup right out of the bottle. A very rich and comforting scent. The body wash itself is even a slightly thick and syrupy consistency, so it's pretty darn hard to not wanna just have a taste! ;) I haven't tried it yet as of writing this, but it will be my first time using a Fortune Cookie Soap liquid body wash and I'm anxious to see how it performs in comparison to their solid soaps.

Cinna, being the mastermind stylist behind the famous 'Girl on fire' costumes the District 12 tributes wore in the book, wouldn't be suited with anything but a firey product. I absolutely love that the bath crystals are layered in yellow, orange and red to resemble fire and all things aside, this wouldn't have the impact it does without that touch. Good job! They are scented with 'Cashmere' and have a warm and sexy vanilla-y musk scent with an underlying edginess.. my nose wants to say maybe even a bit of fruit? I've used their crystals before and the amount of bubbles they create is ASTOUNDING, this is most definitely a pamper myself nighttime treat.

['Tiny Tribute' Shampoo Bar & 'Bakers Dozen' Fortune Cookie Soap]

In the book, Rue is a short-lived and heart-grabbing young girl who is put to rest surrounded with flowers. This Shampoo Bar named in her honor is a delicate sky blue and has star-shaped sprinkles imbedded that from afar, resemble flowers floating through the sky on a clear day. It has chunks of moisturizing butters and has a quite strong scent of warm weather florals. It reminds me of walking past the flower shops during the balmy summer days when they have all the buckets full of flowers set out and the passing breeze catches their aroma. Lovely and girly!

Peeta is another lusted-after male character (Team Peeta or Team Gale?) who comes from a family of bakers. His signature product is the 'Bakers Dozen' Fortune Cookie Soap. It's a very light tan colour with a raspberry shade drizzled over it. Described as jelly-filled donuts, my first sniff was juicy red fruits and popcorn. Wait, popcorn?! I don't usually jump for the bakery-type scents, so maybe it's my inexperience but I definitely get a fresh popcorn and fruity jelly mix. Strange, and yet somehow not unpleasant.

['Hunter Green' Whipped Cream Body Butter]

And finally, after the most important character in the Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen, comes the 'Hunter Green' Body Butter. Katniss is strong, courageous and drawn to the outdoors. She kicks alot of ass and so does her signature product! My favourite thing they make, this Whipped Cream body butter carries the same smooth-as-silk and super moisturizing texture but with an unusually different fragrance than any of the other body butters. To me, it smells like standing in the middle of a dense pine forest on a cool morning and taking in a big breath of fresh foresty air. It's light and refreshing, a little pine-y without being really woodsy. Definitely a scent you may not pick from the description, but that would easily surprise you in person. I didn't expect to love this type of fragrance as much as I do, it's very unique and highly addictive.

In my opinion, this whole collection was a giant success. I'm already a massive Hunger Games fan, and the attention to detail in these products as you experience them just imparts a certain feeling of closeness to each character. It really made me want to go back and reread about each of the characters. They definitely hit the nail right on the head, and no doubt delighted old fans, and brought new interest to the series. I'm so unbelievably pleased with everything, all I can say is I await impatiently for the collection for the next book! (FINNICK, ANYONE?!)

Did you try any of the products? What did you think? Also, are you going to see the movie this weekend? You know I'll be there, and you know what I'll be smelling like. ;)

Fortune Cookie Soap Website - Check out the products here!

Fortune Cookie Soap on Facebook

Fortune Cookie Soap on Twitter

and just for fun..

Visit the Capitol of Panem - Find out which District you come from!

xo, Sarah

FTC: All products were purchased by me with my own money, except in part with a gift card I won in a contest. All opinions are my own!

Review! - Pretty Addictions Mineral Cosmetics

2012-03-20T13:25:00.001-07:00

FINALLY!! I've been waiting to be able to write this review for quite some time. I've been a part of the Pretty Addictions Facebook community for a while now and one of a few girls who had yet to get the opportunity to purchase all the wonderful things everyone was raving about!

Pretty Addictions is a small (and getting bigger by the day!) mineral cosmetics company run by the gorgeous and very sweet Kas Swint. She's only been in business for a year, and already has built a loyal following of fans, addicts and even friends. Until now, she was only shipping within the U.S., but even before I was able to purchase and have stuff shipped to Canada, I was happy to interact and engage with such an awesome group of people. Everyone on her Facebook page is fun, friendly and it's truly a testament to the way she runs her business.

But enough of the small talk, I wanna show you what I picked out! In total, I bought a full mineral eyeshadow collection (6 colours), 5 seperate eyeshadows, 1 mineral blush and 2 of her new Shattered Diamonds glitters. The shipping was quite fast and everything came in a pretty awesome gold bubble mailer. (I bet it killed the mailman not to know what was inside!) Upon opening, I found an invoice and an animal print paper bag neatly tied with ribbon and a handful of business cards. Hey, one of the first batches of Pretty Addictions to make it's way north, gotta get the word out right? ;)

The attention to detail is just something you really don't and probably won't ever see anywhere else. You don't even have to open the jars or wear the products to tell just how high quality everything is and how much passion she has for what she's doing.

[The Nearly Naked Collection (clockwise from top left; Timid, Bubbly, Hero, Serendipity, Brown Suga, Locked & Loaded)]

[From left - Toxic, Envious, Rumor]

[From left - Obnoxious, Darkness]

[Shattered Diamonds glitter! From left - Bankrupt, Bulletproof]

[Mineral Blush - Spoiled B!tch]

Holy. Crap. That's all I can say. The colours are stunning, have a velvety texture and are unbelievably pigmented. Like, tap-your-brush-in-the-cap-and-you-still-have-more-than-enough pigmented. My camera and photo-taking skills SUCK. I wish I could have done them justice! (Click each photo to see it clearer and more accurate) At first I thought the jars seemed small, but now I see that these are gonna last me probably for the next 3 years. (probably not haha) The shadows came in sealed jars and the blush and glitters came unsealed but with sealed sifters, which is what I would prefer if you asked me. Blush and glitter are really easily overdone and wasted. I went for green and neutral coloured eyeshadows mostly, they're always the colours I've gravitated towards and these are simply beautiful! They have enough sparkle to catch the light without being too much and even having owned them for just a few hours, are already becoming some of my favourite products.

I couldn't wait to try them, so I came up with a wearable and in my opinion, slightly sultry look using quite a few of my new lovelies!

On my eyes - Toxic, Rumor, Envious, Locked & Loaded, Timid & Bankrupt glitter; Cheeks - A tiny bit of Spoiled B!tch; Lips - Revlon Lip Butter in Cotton Candy

All in all, I had high expectations with everything everyone was saying about all the stunning products they were buying, and I was not disappointed in the slightest. I can't wait to go back for more! Be sure to check out where to find Pretty Addictions at the links below, and don't hesitate to give Kas a shout. She's possibly one of the friendliest and most approachable people out there!

Pretty Addictions Website
Pretty Addictions on Facebook
Pretty Addictions on Twitter
Pretty Addictions Blog

xo, Sarah

FTC: Everything was purchased by me, with my own money and all opinions, as always, are my own!

MUST HAVE Nail Polishes for Spring! - Cherimoya 2012 Crackle Collection

2012-03-12T22:47:00.000-07:00

Warm weather is starting to arrive and with that, it's time to start dusting off the sandals, filing down those calloused heels and breaking out the fun polish colours! I personally think bold neon shades will be hot this spring/summer but can be a little intimidating for some. Crackle nail polishes are great for mixing it up, adding some dimension and the perfect style to wear if you're a little antsy about rocking the all-out solid neon nails.

Cherimoya is a pretty under-the-radar brand who makes an amazing variety of crackle polishes at SUPER affordable prices ($2.99 at beautyjoint.com).

The Cherimoya 2012 Crackle Nail Polish collection boasts an impressive 48 shades in every neutral and neon you could ever want! I actually stumbled across them in a random discount store an hour from my house and grabbed a neon pink (Immortal) and a neon green (Extraterrestrial).

They are STUNNINGLY bright, have good consistency and coverage and a gorgeous crackle effect! My apologies I haven't even had the chance to photograph swatches of the finished results, but I just couldn't wait to share! My only complaint is that they have quite a strong smell, but nothing I couldn't handle and they dry very quickly.

[Photos courtesy of beautyjoint.com]

Amazing right? You can also find them on Amazon.com by searching 'Cherimoya 2012', these lovelies are worth checking out!

Which shades will you be showing off this spring?

xo Sarah

Review! The Marula Tree Soap Co. - Pink Sugar Collection

2012-03-10T12:48:00.001-08:00

I broke off a little pink cube of wax and placed it in the top of the warmer, then I lit the tealight, set it in it's place and sat down to relax and try to get some work done.

I've always loved the scent of Aquolina's Pink Sugar fragrance, but I hate spending ridiculous amounts of money on perfume, so I had only ever had small sample vials of it. This little wax melt on that particular afternoon, however, had sparked a hunger for more. Fast forward an hour of browsing Etsy (hey, handmade is ALWAYS better!) and I came across The Marula Tree Soap Co. Not only does she make Pink Sugar bath & body products, but she was also Canadian and around my age. Perfect!

She had a few other collections but her Pink Sugar bath bombs, body butter & soap were listed seperately, and I didn't see a roll-on perfume in the scent. I messaged her asking if she could possibly make me a collection including 2 bath bombs, a soap, a 4oz. body butter and a roll-on perfume, all in the Pink Sugar scent. She replied almost instantly, not only super friendly but more than willing to create exactly what I was looking for. $24 for everything?! I was over the moon, and the deal was sealed.

5 days later..

This picture only shows 1 bath bomb, my skin ate the other before I could take the photo ;)

4 oz. Body Butter with Marula Oil

4 oz. Bar Soap (with very fine mica shimmer)

4-5 oz. Bath Bomb

0.33oz Roll-On Perfume

Free sample bath bombs in 'Monkey Love' & 'Chocolate Espresso'!

Where do I start? The Body Butter is AMAZING. It's the first body butter I've ever tried (I've tried a billion!) that is very thick, rich and emollient but absorbs quickly to an almost 'matte' feeling on my skin. It's like my skin actually drinks it up, as opposed to having a coating of moisture sitting on the surface. I have ezcema in the winter and it's wonderful to have true moisturization without a stinging, greasy layer leftover. The scent is DEAD ON, if not even more pure and sweet than the famous version, and lasted for hours.

The bath bombs are a beautiful pink with tiny red speckles. It fizzed very fast, filled my whole bathroom with a warm, sweet cotton candy and amber scent and turned my bath water a lovely bubblegum pink. No pink tub rings! I almost feel like using the body butter after the bath bomb would be too much, the bath bombs themselves are packed full of moisturizing oils and I left my tub smelling amazing and feeling like I already moisturized.

The soap I haven't tried yet, so I can't tell you how it works but I tried to capture in the photo just how pretty it is! (I know, my photography skills need work) It reminds me of the inside of a pink grapefruit, but a few shades darker. Inside and out it glistens with very fine mica shimmer and has reddish-magenta speckles on top. I can't wait to use it once my current soap runs out!

Lastly, the Roll-On Perfume. The bottle is glass and has a shiny silver cap, it looks and smells exquisitely more expensive than it was. It's a pure, flirty, sugary-sweet cotton candy scent without any fake alcohol or chemical undertones. I dab it on all my pulse points and even put a drop on my fingertips and smooth it through the very ends of my hair. It lasts all day and I can even smell it the next morning. That being said, I find myself reaching for it throughout the day to reapply, just for an excuse to hold the bottle to my nose for a moment.. ;) Almost forgot, can we stop for a second and notice the incredibly generous free sample bombs that came in the box? Amazing!

The Marula Tree Soap Co. makes absolutely wonderful products at astoundingly reasonable prices and is owned by a lovely and very sweet young lady named Nikki. I HIGHLY recommend checking out her shop, her blog and stop by her Facebook page, give her a like and say hi! She even has the Pink Sugar products all listed together in a collection now for your convenience! Why pay so much for one bottle of fragrance when you can get an entire collection for less? I will definitely be reordering when mine runs out!

The Marula Tree Soap Co. Etsy Shop

The Marula Tree Soap Co. on Facebook

The Marula Tree Soap Co. Blog

xo Sarah

FTC: All products shown (except samples!) were purchased with my own money, and all opinions are my own :)

Review! Bath & Body Works NEW Fine Fragrance Mists

2012-02-28T16:18:00.000-08:00

I love perfume, there are days I can spritz one scent on in the morning, and by late afternoon I find myself sniffing around an entirely different scent. I love to layer scents, spray a little in my hair and switch it up from day to evening. These things all make it tricky when you're using expensive and highly concentrated perfumes. So naturally I had to try the new Bath & Body Works Fine Fragrance Mists.

They are available in 22 different scents, some old favourites and a few lovely new additions. They contain 8oz, the same amount as the regular body sprays we're used to. They also unfortunately carry a higher price tag, at $14 they are $2 pricier than their predecessors. From the little research I've done, they apparantly contain less alcohol therefore delivering a lighter and more pure fragrance.

Bath & Body Works was having one of their typical Buy 3, Get 3 Free sales, so I picked up 6 of these lovelies:

Coconut Lime Breeze
Pink Chiffon (New!)
Warm Vanilla Sugar
Be Enchanted
Sea Island Cotton

Dark Kiss

..and my personal favourite..

I was already a HUGE fan of the old sprays, Secret Wonderland and Warm Vanilla Sugar being my absolute favourites. After purchasing and rotating through all 6 for the last 2 weeks, the newest scent, Pink Chiffon, is by faaaar the most loved! It's a lovely, girly scent. The perfect mix of tart red fruits and sugary-sweet candy. Not too tart, but not too cloyingly sweet either. I would wear it out to the grocery store, or for a night out on the town. I love it!

As for the packaging, I really can't say anything bad about it. The bottles are beautiful and while they are entirely plastic, more resemble an expensive perfume than a cheap body spray. The fragrances themselves are tinted to match the scent, and the gorgeous graphics can be seen through the bottle no matter which angle you look from, in sort of a 3D fashion. They are sturdy and very elegant, I am happy to display them with the rest of my perfume collection.

The sprayer nozzle is a huge improvement as well. I hate when you spray a fragrance from a foot away and you're still left with a wet spot on your clothes or a sickening amount on one area of skin. Suited to their name, they have a very fine mist and definitely do release a more pure fragrance, true to it's dry down straight from the bottle. No waiting for the alcohol stench to disappear with these darlings! On the other hand, they are finer so the scent throw is not quite as strong (all the more reason for that special someone to get a little closer!) and they don't last quite as long. Not a huuuuge difference though. They wear amazingly on their own, but are also just soft enough to layer under something else.

So if you couldn't tell, I LOVE THESE! I'm certain I will be back for more and will no longer buy the old body sprays. Everything about these is just plain better. Check them out by clicking here!

Drop me a comment and let me know, what's your go-to B&BW fragrance?

xo Sarah

FTC: All products shown were purchased by me, with my own money and as always, all opinions are my own. :)

Words To Live By..

2012-02-25T15:19:00.000-08:00

No bath or body loveliness today, just wanted to share some kind words I came across. I bought this picture a few days ago from Walmart for $9, but the message is priceless. It now hangs above my bed and reminds me everyday of the kind of person I wish to be. I hope you're all having a wonderful weekend! <3

Share this with someone who needs it :)

xo Sarah

Easy DIY Exfoliating Face Mask/Body Scrub For ALL Skin Types!

2012-02-24T13:28:00.000-08:00

I love face masks, they're definitely a permanent part of my skincare routine and I'm certain my skin wouldn't be as clear and smooth as it is without them. The problem is they can run quite expensive, be chock full of nasty things we can't even pronounce (yuck!) and I could never really find something that quite works for my skin. It's oily in the t-zone, dry everywhere else, sensitive, acne and redness prone and aaaalways changing with the seasons.

This is my all-time favourite DIY face mask! It's unbelievably simple, literally works on any skin type and I'm sure you already have the ingredients in your cupboard. Not to mention it tastes good and works amazingly as a lip and all over body scrub as well. Enjoy!

You will need:

Yep, that's it. Brown sugar, milk and something to mix in! If your skin is SUPER dry, you can add a drop or 2 of olive oil as well, but I find it calms my dry spots and I never need it. Oh, and maybe a little plastic jar with a lid, in case you make extra and want to store the rest in the fridge. It can be stored for about a week or so!

Scoop 2 or 3 tablespoons of brown sugar into a bowl. (Use 1/3 cup if you would like to do the full body experience.)
Add 1 teaspoon of milk at a time, and mix until the consistency is grainy and thick, but none of the sugar is dry. It doesn't take much milk at all, and if it's too runny, it'll just melt off your face onto your clothes!
Rinse face with warm water (no cleanser) and while still slightly damp, apply the mask in very gentle circular motions.
Leave on for 10-15 minutes and rinse off with warm water, massaging the skin as you rinse.
Pat dry and apply your favourite moisturizer!
Admire glowing, smooth and gorgeous skin :)

The brown sugar is gritty enough to polish dry, flaky skin but not harsh at all to sensitive or problematic skin. Milk contains lactic acid, which cleanses and naturally exfoliates while soothing, calming and moisturizing all at the same time. So simple and effective, I promise you'll love it!

If you try, drop me a comment and let me know how amazing your skin felt afterwards :)

xo Sarah

Review! Garnier Skin Renew | Miracle Skin Perfector B.B. Cream

2012-02-20T13:13:00.000-08:00

B.B. Creams have been a pretty hot beauty product in Asia for quite some time now, so when I found out Garnier was releasing their own readily available drugstore version, I was really excited to give it a try.

B.B. Creams (Also known as Blemish Balm or Beauty Balm) claim to combine many of the regular steps in your beauty routine, into one convenient product as well as being beneficial to the quality of your skin. Some of these steps can include moisturization, even skin tone, brighten, conceal, calm, soothe and protect against environmental damage.

The Garnier Skin Renew - Miracle Skin Perfector B.B. Cream comes in a 75ml squeeze tube, retails here for $15.99 CAD at Walmart and is available in 2 shades: Light/Medium and Medium/Dark. For that price, I thought to myself, this stuff better work wonders! Most of my favourite foundations are from the drugstore and aren't even that costly. My skin is light/medium and freckled (Mac NW20 in winter, NW25 in summer) so naturally I chose the lighter of the 2 shades.

This contains Vitamin E and Mineral Pigments and claims to renew, brighten, even, hydrate 24 hours and protect against damage. I searched the whole package and found no mention of SPF but the Garnier Facebook page advertisement says it has an SPF of 15, which isn't too bad.

I squeezed a pea-sized amount onto the back of my hand, smeared it and was pretty shocked at how deeply pigmented it looks. It seemed pretty dark and orangey considering it's the lightest shade available. I was pretty sure half the female population wouldn't even be able to use this product, because I'm not really pale and it looked dark even on me.

This is after blending..

The breakdown..

Scent - Many reviewers have said this has a strong, slightly obnoxious floral scent, and I disagree. To me, this smells just like sunscreen and didn't seem overpowering at all.
Texture - Thick and creamy. Thicker than liquid foundation and tinted moisturizer but not heavy whatsoever. It seems to be very moisturizing without being greasy and I probably wouldn't use any moisturizer underneath.
Blendability - It blended out very smoothly and effortlessly, no streaks or heaviness. Feels very similar to a tinted moisturizer.
Colour - This is what initially scared me, but it's not nearly as pigmented as it first looks. While it did give a hint of colour, it was more just a healthy glow and not a mask of orangey-ness. Anyone with very fair skin may have a hard time pulling this off, but I think even someone a little lighter than me would be alright.
Coverage - This definitely doesn't cover blemishes, scars, freckles or redness. It leaves a dewy (but not oily) satin finish that I think blurs imperfections slightly, but has less coverage than most tinted moisturizers I've tried. I think if this was set with a powder, it would be comparable to a sheer tinted moisturizer.
Lasting power - On it's own, about 4-6 hours before it started to seem like there wasn't really much there.

In conclusion, I think this would be a decent, light alternative to a tinted moisturizer in the summer, if you already have pretty good skin and just want a little bit of dewiness, moisture and smoothing. If you're oily, it may be a bit too slick and if you're pale, a bit too dark. I have tried it under foundation, replacing moisturizer and primer and it does provide a really smooth, brightened canvas for the foundation I used (Revlon ColorStay in Fresh Beige). That's probably how I would recommend it be used. It's just not enough for my skin, and would probably feel greasy combined with sunscreen if you wanted a higher SPF.

This stuff gets a 4/5 from me, I do like it and will continue to use it, but it just doesn't stand out and is pretty pricey for the results. I'm hoping the benefits will be more apparant with continued use! Hope that helps some of you! Let me know in the comments if you've tried this or any other B.B. Creams, and if so, what kind of results did you get?

xo Sarah

FTC: This was purchased with my own money and as always, all opinions are my own. :)

Fortune Cookie Soap: Valentine's Day Products & Spring Sneak Peek!

2012-02-18T21:17:00.000-08:00

Hey guys! First off, I hope you all had an amazing Valentine's/Singles Awareness Day. Whether it's love for another or love for yourself, it's all about spreading the love right? :)

So on that note, I know I'm late with this post and most (if not all) of the Fortune Cookie Soap Valentine's Day products will have disappeared by the time you read this, I still wanted to show them some love! I also was fortunate enough to win a contest to sample some of the possible spring products being released on March 16th, so of course I have to share those too! Enjoy!

Here's everything I received in my package!

First up for the Valentine's products I purchased was the 'Luv U Long Time' Massage Oil. Made with chocolate flavouring, this is supposedly 'lickable', and although I didn't put any in my mouth or use it on another person, it does smell good enough to eat. Sweet and subtle chocolate fragrance, not at all overpowering and made my legs softer than I've ever felt them after shaving.

The Chocolate Dipped Strawberry Moose Whipped Cream also had that lovely true chocolate scent with just a splash of candied strawberry scent underneath. Amazingly moisturizing, as all the Whipped Creams are and lasted a long time on my skin.

Lastly from this photo: Hand Job OCD Hand Sanitizer. All I have to say is LOL!! Leave it to these guys and gals to come out with something cheeky and a tad naughty for the most lovey dovey day of the year. Love it! Smells just like the Whipped Cream and is brown with tiny red beads that feel nice when you rub your hands together. Surprisingly moisturizing, I haven't used any other hand sanitizers since trying their OCD line.

The Sexual Chocolate Lip Balm is heeeavenly. Smells delicious, feels delicious, makes your lips look delicious and I'm pretty sure I even taste a little bit of sweet deliciousness.
I also picked up the Love is in the (Hair) Shampoo Bar. While this hasn't made it into my shower yet (still working on my FCS Hawaiian Ice Shampoo Bar!), it smells great and is very detailed and interesting to see. Scented with rose and sandalwood, I'm not a big rose fan so I was hoping for more sandalwood but the rose definitely won this over and makes a unique and very feminine combination. Can't wait to see how the dried rose petals turn out being rubbed into my hair!

The Boom Boom Bubble Bar is BY FAR my favourite of all the Valentine's products they came out with this year. Described as rose, sandalwood and vanilla, this smells warm, sweet, smooth and sensual. Strange description, I know, but it's hard to put into words how amazing this is. The vanilla stands out most to me, followed by faint sandalwood and not really much of a rose scent. This is my first Bubble Bar and it was actually bigger than I expected! I used 1/3 of the bar and my tub was FILLED with bubbles. And can we just stop for a moment to notice how adorable the little embedded red heart is? This needs to be a permanent product!

The Lick Me All Over Bar Soap was my Moms choosing, so unfortunetly I don't get to use it, but it's a pretty lemony-yellow shade filled with rainbow glitter and smells fresh, citrusy and floral. This would be a great pick-me-up in the morning or when you need a bit of zest in your shower.

The full size Whipped Creams themselves are not new, but they have just come out with Whipped Cream Sampler Packs! For less than the price of 1 full size, you can choose 4 different scents to try in adorable 1oz, travel friendly containers. We actually bought 2 sets (8 containers total) but the photo only shows 1 set because the scents are mostly the same. Such an amazing value and since a little goes a long way, you get to try a whole bunch without committing but still have a ton of product to last you quite a while.

Just want to say a HUGE thank you to Shannon for these amazing surprises! If you've ever been here before or chatted with me on Facebook or Twitter, you'll have heard a bazillion times that Sweet Tart Martini is my must have, holy grail scent. Until now I have been savouring and rationing 2 little fortune cookies in this scent and when this popped out, I jumped out of my skin! It's that unbelievable! Same sweet, refreshingly clean scent but in a super moisturizing, super long lasting body butter. This is supposed to be coming out with the Spring product launch on March 16th (and possibly other products in this scent?) and let me tell you, I'm certain these will go FAST. I cannot wait to stock up for spring and summer!
The Fall'n Leaves was originally in Bar Soap form only and was discontinued to make room for newer products, but being my Moms favourite, I passed along the message that I was being bombarded with questions as to when it would ever come back. My Mom just recently had surgery and has had a tough recovery so to receive something so thoughtful is such a testament to how truly amazing and down to earth this company really is, and she was absolutely overjoyed. Where else can you find customer service like that?

Mystery Fragrance Whipped Creams! The first one (on the left) is sweet, fruity and girly but a little birdie told me it will probably be getting the axe because it bears a striking resemblance to a fragrance currently sold by a large, well known bath and body company. Although saddening because I really enjoy it, kudos to FCS for sticking to their uniqueness and continuing to strive for scents and products that will set them apart.
The second mystery fragrance (on the right) is a pretty pale green colour which I find fitting because the scent is very fresh, airy and filled with light florals. It's really feminine and refreshing, sort of like strolling through a botanical garden under spring sunshine.

As always, each order comes with a free sample and this time I received a Hubba Hubba Bath Melt! I've tried the melts and they are super hydrating without being oily, you can even feel the moisture just rolling this between your fingers.. and this smells like bubblegum straight out of the wrapper, I'm thinking I need a whole bag of these little wonders. :)

Last, but definitely not least.. SPRING SAMPLER PRODUCTS!!

First thing in the bag was a Personal Space Air Freshener labelled 'Personal Space Fragrance #5'. At first I wasn't sure I liked this, it didn't catch me as a flowery-spring scent I was expecting. However, it has since grown on me significantly. It's a woodsy, outdoors scent with notes of greenery and pine. Sounds more autumn appropriate when you hear that, but close your eyes and think of melting snow, cool air just starting to warm and flowers & trees just starting to turn green and sprout buds. It's a very unique scent that I think will pleasantly surprise many people.
Second in the package was a hefty little baggie filled with pretty purplish-pink bath salts labelled 'Bath Crystals Fragrance #4'. This is exactly the scent I crave for when the weather starts to warm. It's very girly; a fresh bouquet of spring flowers sprinkled with sugary-sweet candy. The scent is quite strong and I know it'll be one to last on the skin long after the bath. I'm especially curious as to what this one would be named!
Lastly was an OCD Hand Sanitizer labelled 'Sanitizer Fragrance #3'. This was a dead giveaway the first time I tried it! Sweet, zesty, tart-but-not-too-tart freshly-squeezed lemon! Very bright and quite literally the perfect lemon scent to please those who like it sweet and also those who like it a bit sour.

So although once again I apoogize for being so late with this and that the Valentine's items aren't up on the site anymore, I'm super excited for the launch of the spring products on March 16th and hopefully this got a few of you guys excited too! Check out the Fortune Cookie Soap Facebook and Twitter for their new weekly deals and promos (some of the best deals they've had yet!), then head on over to the Website to get your fix and wait impatiently with me for some amazing new things to come! Cheers! :)

xo Sarah

FTC: All products (except the bath melt sample, contest prize and 2 special whipped creams) were purchased with my own money and as always, all opinions are completely my own!

Review! Krafty Candles - Handmade Candles & Tart Melts

2012-02-09T13:35:00.000-08:00

Truthfully, I was never really in love with candles throughout my life. They were usually just something my Mom collected, had set out on the tables, and burned throughout the day. I passed by them in stores, saw them on YouTube and never really caught onto the craze.. until recently. Something just clicked and I found myself sniffing every scent on the shelves, looking for excuses to buy them as gifts and lighting one every night once my toddler was tucked into bed. Handmade candles add a calming, beautiful and very personal touch to any space, and I wish I had appreciated them sooner.

This week we received an order placed with Krafty Candles, a lovely small business run by Stacey Anderson. Scent is a very personal thing, so in my opinion choosing candle and tart scents online can be tricky, but she was very friendly and helpful with descriptions and recommendations. We were not disappointed! We chose 5 different candle scents - U Can Shoot Me, Downy Fresh, Fresh Linen, Pear Spice & Birthday Cake.. as well as 5 tart melt scents - Love Spell, Baby Powder, Asian Sandalwood, Downy Fresh & Jamaica Me Crazy. We were even surprised to see that she upgraded 2 of our candles to larger sizes at no extra charge!

The candles all come in sturdy and simple mason jars, with very charming rustic-style labels. They would suit any decor!

From left..

Fresh Linen - Very soft and airy scent, think sheets hanging out to dry on the line in summer, rustled by a warm floral breeze.
Downy Fresh - Appropriately named, this smells just like fabric softener. Clean, pure and familiar.
U Can Shoot Me - I love this one! It smells like a jar of juicy, sun ripened pineapple. Fruity and full of life!

Pear Spice - I'm not a huge fan of pear scents, but this is nice. Bright and fruity, not so much spice. Almost a bit of a candy scent to me.
Birthday Cake - Rather than a vanilla buttercream scent, which I was expecting, this is a surprisingly delicious cross between the cream cheese frosting that comes on carrot cake, and a hidden fragrance of fresh popcorn. Sounds odd, but you really would be taken back by how yummy and inviting this is!

Our tart melts were seperated in individual bags by scent, and came inside this adorable polka-dotted box!

The tart melts are very soft to the touch, and VERY highly scented. We've been using the same Baby Powder melt continuously for 4 days now and it continues to fill not only the lower level, but also the second floor of our house with unbelievable fragrance. They melt very quickly and cleanly in the warmer and even left out unmelted are enough to scent the room!

Asian Sandalwood - Strong sandalwood and fresh florals, a more mature and earthy scent.
Baby Powder - Smells exactly like soft baby powder, fresh and clean.
Downy Fresh - Same scent as candle above.
Jamaica Me Crazy - Smells like a fruity tropical drink! Pineapple, mango and papaya stand out to me.
Love Spell - Dark berries, musky florals and sensual perfume. Sexy and feminine.

The quality and consistency of these candles and melts are truly amazing, they definitely put my store-bought candles to shame. There's something about a candle made with love and only the finest ingredients, that you can really sense in your home as it burns.

Check out the Krafty Candles website or Krafty Candles on Facebook! Stacey is always floating around with fun games, trivia and a friendly greeting. Highly recommend!

xo Sarah

FTC: Everything you see was purchased with my own money (and my Moms ;) and all opinions are my own!

Review! Sampler Village Charmingly Samplicious Sampler Box [Hugs & Kisses Edition!]

2012-02-08T11:15:00.000-08:00

The world of handmade can be a little daunting at first if you're used to doing all your shopping in a mall or department store. Which kind of soap is truly best for my skin? What's a tart melt? Will they personalize that for me? WHERE DO I START?!

Enter Sampler Village. A monthly sampler box program run by an unbelievably friendly and very hardworking woman named Traci. Small businesses from Etsy and the like, specializing in handmade goods of all shapes, sorts and sizes are known as "Villagers", and each month Traci lovingly puts together beautiful boxes of coupons and sample (and sometimes full sized) products sent in by the Villagers. Think of it as the gateway between Etsy lovers who don't know where to start, and small businesses with amazing goodies working hard to get into the hands and hearts of the world. Sample, discover, buy, share, repeat.

The boxes are available for purchase on the 21st of each month and each having a different theme and different samples from the last. Available in 2 sizes, as well as a third which features all edible samples, they range in price with the regular size sampler containing 15-20 samples and costing $25 including shipping to the US, and $35 to Canada. This is the size I purchased and there's well over that much worth of product packed in here!

This months theme was "Hugs & Kisses" to celebrate Valentine's Day, and we actually ordered 2 boxes but I'll just be showing one of them to save this post from being miiiiiiles long. I could go on for days at how beautiful, well packaged, generous, fun and amazing this experience was! I received an amazing assortment of jewelry, tart melts, soaps, bath treats, handmade art, ornaments and more! Highly recommend! So here is a selection of photos to give you a taste and links will be below to get your hands on a box of your own! Enjoy :)

Soooo much stuff!

Pretty wonderful huh? Even better than that, Sampler Village has a 'Fan of the Week' program on their Facebook page which I was also lucky enough to score the day after purchasing my boxes! So I was also sent an extra little package of goodies (shown below) which was so sweet of Traci and put a huge smile on my face for sure!

So now that you've had a peek at the treasures that await you, come on over and join the Sampler Village community on Facebook, Twitter and check out the Website to see what's to come and how to get your own!

xo Sarah

FTC: All products (aside from the Fan of the Week goodie bag) were purchased with my own money and all opinions are my own. :)

Review! Whipped Up Wonderful Handmade Bath Bombs

2012-02-03T13:48:00.000-08:00

There was a knock on my door this morning, and to my delight, it was the mailman holding a sweet-smelling package with my name on it. My Whipped Up Wonderful bath bombs have arrived! Let me just start by saying, although they've only been in my hands for about 6 hours, I'm already able to write and post this review because I quite literally just hopped out of the bathtub. I'm definitely not a daytime bather, but I just couldn't wait!

I found Whipped Up Wonderful through an amazing recommendation by my friend Pammy. They are a small Texas-based business run by the very sweet, very personable Alexis. I chose 5 different bath bombs to try! Upon opening the box, I was greeted with a business card, an adorably colourful fridge magnet and a whole ton of squiggly, shredded paper. It was like digging for treasure!

They survived the trek from Texas all the way up here to Canada completely intact and were all sealed in their own individual bags and cutely labeled with the names:

Beach Babe - Pure white with a touch of golden sugar on top and infused with very fine glitter throughout. The name suits it perfect, it smells just like you slathered on the tanning lotion to lay out on a sun-drenched beach in a tropical paradise. Very calming scent and I can see myself stepping in the bath and having the same "ahhhhhhhhhh...." moment that comes over me when I sprawl out on the beach towel to relax.

Pumpkin Spice - This was on clearance as it's a fall scent and may not be available soon? The bath bomb itself looks quite different than the photo on the website. It's much lighter and speckled, whereas the site shows quite a vibrant orange topped with cinnamon. It is, however, the most fragrant of all the bath bombs I ordered. It's a lovely spicy scent, heavy with cinnamon, nutmeg and maybe even clove. Call me crazy but this almost smells more to me like carrot cake than pumpkin. Deeeeelicious!

Hearts Desire - A beautiful baby pink (and quite shimmery) bath bomb topped with sugar hearts. Simply a joy to look at (I almost don't have the "heart" to use it! haha) and smells very floral, sexy and girly. I smell heavy rose, jasmine and musk. This will be the one I use on one of those 'need to feel sexy' nights, maybe even share with someone else? ;)

Twilight in the Woods - Maybe intentional, maybe not, but I own a few products in the 'Twilight Woods' fragrance by Bath & Body Works, and this bath bomb hit that fragrance dead on! It's pure white with flecks of bright gold, charcoal black and blood red scattered throughout. To me the smell is more subtle, very musky, earthy and sensual. I LOVE that I can soak in this and have a matching body lotion already on my counter to put on afterwards!

Birthday Cake - As you can see, this is the bath bomb I just couldn't wait to try! Vanilla-y, birthday cake scents are my favourite and I'm a sucker for anything sugary-sweet so in the tub this went! It was a vibrant pink colour topped with real sprinkles and once dropped in the tub, fizzed out to a pretty pale pink colour. My bathwater and bathroom smelled like warm, sweet vanilla cake frosting. It was not unbearably sugary and the sprinkles dissolved immediately. My skin feels amazing and best of all, NO PINK RING LEFT IN THE TUB! Love this!

I don't have the words to tell you just how much I enjoy these bath bombs and although she had to remove the Canadian shipping option from her Etsy shop due to crazy shipping rates with the new USPS pricing, she still welcomes Canadian orders. All you have to do is contact her through email, facebook or her shop to figure out custom pricing.

Go check out the Whipped Up Wonderful Etsy store and also head over to follow her Twitter or to her Facebook page and give her a like! She is always interacting, asking for opinions and posting sales and coupons.

I wasn't disappointed, and I guarantee you won't be either. :)

xo Sarah

FTC: Everything you see was purchased with my own money and as always, all opinions are my own. :)

How I keep my teeth so white! + Favourite products!

2012-02-02T19:34:00.000-08:00

There are only a few things about myself that I'm truly proud of, or that I receive compliments on regularly. My teeth are one of them. I'm not overly obsessive about whitening, I've never spent hundreds at a dental office having professional whitening treatments done and I've only ever tried the $50 a box whitestrips once or twice. Years ago. I just believe that your smile is often the first thing someone sees and one of the things they'll remember about you.

Simply put, I've found a simple, cheap arsenal of oral hygiene products that, when used on a regular schedule, works perfect for me! (And maybe for you, if this is something you're interested in!)

Starting off, my favourite toothbrush and toothpaste. I love the Crest 3D WHITE Advanced Vivid - Stain Protection toothpaste. It's minty, fresh and not overpowering. It claims to be able to remove 90% of surface stains in just 14 days and I swear I saw results the first week. I brush with this 3 times a day and use the Crest Spinbrush toothbrush. It's kinda noisy but I feel like it does alot of the work for me getting in all the little hard to reach spots!

Favourite mouthwash goes to Crest 3D WHITE Multicare Whitening Rinse. It can be a tad on the strong side and since it contains hydrogen peroxide, sometimes leaves a whitish layer on your tongue if you don't spit it all out really good, but this stuff is key to maintain and enhance what the toothpaste is doing in my opinion. I've tried a ton of whitening rinses, this has had the best results by far. I use this 3 times a day also, for 60 seconds after brushing.

Lastly, the Plus White 5 Minute Speed Whitening System. I bought the kit online because our drugstores in Canada only sell the gel by itself. The kit comes with a flexible (and comfortable!) rubber mouthpiece, and Tartar Control Pre-Whitening Rinse that you swish around, spit out and quickly brush off with just water before you use the gel. I squeeze a thin layer on both sides of the tray and leave it in my mouth for 20-30 minutes 2-3 times a week. It says 5 minutes, but that's when the gel really starts to take action so I recommend at least 15-20 minutes and have had no sensitivity from it whatsoever!

I also floss twice a day, but I apologize for not including a photo of my excitingly generic dental floss. :) Flossing is very important! All of these products together can be found in the drugstore and bought for maybe $30-40 collectively depending where you live. A small price compared to what some other treatments cost!

Hope that was helpful to some of you who may be reading!
Do you have any tips for keeping your teeth bright and shiny?

xo Sarah

FTC: Although this may seem like a Crest commercial, it's not! LOL I bought this all and all opinions are my own :)

Review! Me and the Boy - Handmade Tart Melts & Body Products

2012-02-02T12:41:00.000-08:00

What's better than a small company that makes eco-friendly, fantastic smelling (without all the harsh junk!) products for your house and body? One that's close to home!

I recently discovered Sampler Village and although we have yet to receive our first Sampler boxes, we were fortunate enough to come across a small company (and participating Villager) called Me and the Boy. Based out of Toronto, not far from us, it is run by a sweet, friendly and very helpful woman named Tanya, and her son. Today we received our first box of goodies from her and would like the share them with you!

First I'll start with the Tart Melts. They came in plastic packages, each containing 6 soy melts. We ordered 3 different scents:

Nag Champa - Scented after the extremely popular fragrance of incense, these melts are highly fragranced yet not overpowering whatsoever. It filled the room with a pleasant earthy, musky scent and could even be smelt from upstairs. Highly recommend!

Orange Patchouli - She sent us this one free! :) The patchouli was very light and almost unnoticeable in this fragrance (Fine with me! My Mom is the patchouli fan!) but the orange was very bright and refreshing, with a bit of a woodsy undertone. I would put the melter on the kitchen counter and have this one going first thing in the morning, it would be a great pick-me-up scent and really make the room smell bright and lively!

Pumpkin Eggnog - First off, my apologies for one of the cubes being missing from the photo. This scent was by far my favourite and it was already going before I even had a chance to take pictures! While the others we chose were either white or cream coloured, these were a bright, beautiful blue. A strange colour for the scent they contain, but beautiful nonetheless! I don't smell actual pumpkin, but it's an amazingly warm and cozy winter scent, full of cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla and other yummy things I can't quite describe.

Sugar Scrub - Although the Sugar Scrub came without a label, I believe the scent was called 'Naughty Nights'. While I haven't had the chance to try it yet, I can already tell it is full of nourishing oils, is very thick but by no means harsh and the scent I can only describe as a soft, sensual and musky floral. Maybe even a little fruity if I hold it to my nose long enough. This was an amazing value, the container was literally packed to the brim!

Nag Champa Solid Perfume - Also scented after the popular incense fragrance, this solid perfume has all the appeal of the original scent, but blended down to a wearable and sexy muskiness. The consistency is moisturizing like a lipbalm and could very easily be worn and enjoyed by men and women!

Nag Champa Body Lotion - The last thing I pulled from the box was a little sample container of their Nag Champa Body Lotion. All I can say is this is definitely more body butter than lotion, and a little goes a LONG way! Very moisturizing and lovely!

So I definitely recommend checking out Me and the Boy on either their website or by heading over to their facebook and giving them a like! They sell lots of other amazing things like jewelry, home decor and more!

Also don't forget to check out Sampler Village to find out about this months Sampler box and all the amazing Villagers who will be contributing!

xo Sarah

FTC: All products were purchased by us, with our own money and as always all opinions are our own!

LUSH Valentine's Collection! - First Impressions

2012-02-01T12:29:00.000-08:00

I'm a bath & shower product junkie. If you've been here before you know that, and if not, then I recommend checking out past posts for some of my favourite things. That being said, I may be the only bath junkie who has NEVER bought or tried a single LUSH product. Crazy right?!

So with tons of companies releasing their Valentine's Day collections, and the idea that this was the perfect time to show myself some love, I went for it! I believe most of these items have been available previous years and I didn't go nuts and order everything, but I do have 4 nifty products (and a sample) to share today!

The Ex-Factor Bath Bomb ($4.95, lush.ca)

This bath bomb is a pretty bright blue with a pastel pink heart on it's chest. It's much bigger than I expected and unless you really indulge, could probably last at least 3 baths. It's described as 'musky and creamy', and the scent was actually quite strong out of the bag. I don't really smell anything creamy but more so floral, musk and just the tiniest hint of vanilla. I'm partial to sugary sweet scents, so this may be a little more mature than I like, but it's very pleasant and will no doubt make for a very relaxing soak.

Magic Mushroom Bubble Bar ($5.95, lush.ca)

Although mine was a little flattened on one side, this is ADORABLE! It's about the size of the palm of my hand and has a smooth and creamy 'half-dry play-doh' texture. Described as 'creamy vanilla and fresh strawberries', I smell just that. The white base has a floraly vanilla scent, and the red cap has a fresh, almost tart strawberry scent. It's also quite strong and I can't really say how many uses as I don't have much experience with bubble bars, but I think I'll be breaking it into 2 uses.

Leap Frog Bath Bomb ($5.95, lush.ca)

This bath bomb is a gorgeous green colour, with bright red lips. His body is the bath bomb, while his lips are a super moisturizing (and VERY pigmented) body butter/bath melt. I love the idea of both being incorporated into one product, but because of how bright the lips are, I'm a little weary of how difficult that will be to wash off the tub. (I rubbed my finger across and will include a photo of just how blood-red it comes off!) Described as jasmine, rosewood and neroli, this bath bomb screams FLORAL! It's almost headache-inducingly flowerly. Very powerful but if you like florals, you'd love this. I've also heard there's something special inside, so I'm looking forward to dropping it in the water and finding out!

Sweetheart Soap ($6.95, lush.ca)

I was initially disppointed in this soap, because the photo on the website shows a big, round candy heart shaped soap with the word 'Sweetheart' printed on the top. I'm assuming now, that's the full batch before it's cut into chunks to be sold. It's a creamy white colour with a big pastel-pink chunk on one side. Very pretty! In my hand, I can feel the creaminess and already know it will make some pretty darn moisturizing lather. Described as 'jasmine, vanilla and sandalwood', it's very soft and girly and to me smells like powdery vanilla and citrus, heavier on the citrus. It's quite a large chunk for the price and I already know it will last a long time.

Lust Soap Sample (Full Bar $7.95, lush.ca)

Lastly, they threw in a little sample chunk of the Lust Soap Bar. It's hot pink, glittery and smells VERY strongly of pure, no-nonsense jasmine. I probably wouldn't purchase because it's such an overpowering floral but I'll definitely put this in my soap dish just because it's such a pretty shade of pink!

All-in-all, I'm pleased with my very first LUSH purchases, I can't wait to use everything!

xo Sarah

If you're a LUSH fan, what do you recommend I try next?

FTC: All products shown were purchased by me, with my own money & all opinions are my own :)

What's Sugared Euphoria without a little sweetness?

2012-01-28T20:35:00.000-08:00

Amidst all the lipgloss and perfume, I just wanted to throw in a bit of randomness and share a few of the things that tickle my sweet tooth! Enjoy :]

Jolly Rancher Awesome Twosomes Chewy Candy (mango strawberry & blue raspberry lemonade)
Allan Hot Lips (childhood favourite!)
Wonka Kazoozles Pink Lemonade (2 huge lemon licorice ropes with cherry filling)
Skittles Fizzles (like regular skittles but FIZZY!)

If you have a sweet tooth and come across these, I HIGHLY recommend!

What's your favourite sugary treat?

xo Sarah

Review! - e.l.f. Studio 11 Piece Brush Collection

2012-01-24T12:16:00.000-08:00

If you're anything like me, you've watched countless beauty gurus on YouTube gushing over their Mac 266 or their Sigma F80, just to pick your jaw up off the floor when a quick search shows these brush collections can run well over $100!

Don't get me wrong, I'm cosmetically obsessed and have been known to pay crazy amounts for certain items, but when I find an alternative that performs just as fantastic, at a fraction of the price, I'm all over it!

After hearing some great things, I went online and ordered the e.l.f. Studio 11 Piece Brush Collection.

It costs $30 and basically includes everything you need for your everyday looks, including:

Eyeshadow "C" Brush

Complexion Brush

Small Angled Brush

Small Smudge Brush

Fan Brush

Powder Brush

Angled Foundation Brush

Concealer Brush

Small Precision Brush

Blush Brush

Contouring Brush

..and is all packed in a sturdy, zippered, water-resistant black case.

I'm in love with these brushes! The handles are well-made and very comfortable to hold, not to mention look very pricey and high end. The bristles are glossy, full and have not shed a single hair.

I especially love the flat top powder brush, it blends liquid foundation to an unbelievably perfect, airbrush finish! The smaller precision brushes have helped give a neater, more perfect application no matter which look I'm trying to create.

I already own a bunch of the e.l.f. essentials brushes, and the difference is incredible. I was shocked at how soft these are, I promise you'll spend extra time powdering just to feel them glide across your face.

In conclusion, I will NEVER spend hoards of money on expensive brushes again, I couldn't be more pleased with these and definitely plan to purchase a few more sets!

Head on over to e.l.f. and check them out for yourself!

I'm curious, which brushes are your favourites?

3 New Beauty Loves!

2012-01-19T14:14:00.000-08:00

Hey guys, it's been a little over 2 months since I last added to the blog, but I'M BACK!

Just going ease back into the water with something short and sweet, and share a few beauty products I've acquired and am loving at the moment. Enjoy! ;]

La Senza Body Kiss fragrance rollerballs - lasenza.com

I believe these are available in 6 or 7 different scents, but I only picked up 3. The names are Kiss Me, Cupcake!, Apres Ski, and Love, Paris. They all smell pretty sweet, sugary and girly and are a nice portable size that'll fit into the smallest of clutches or pockets. Lasting power isn't fantastic, but it's super easy to whip it out and give an extra swipe when needed. I'm not sure of the regular price, but I got them on sale for $3.50 CAN each! Score! If you like Viva La Juicy, Aquolina Pink Sugar, etc.. you`ll definitely love these little scents.

Maybelline Baby Lips Lip Balm - maybelline.ca

I`ve been on the hunt for a new lip balm for a while and especially for this cold, nasty Canadian weather. I found these on a new display whilst browsing Walmart and solely because almost every other colour was empty, I bought the blue and pink tube called `Quenched`. This has a hint of a fruity smell, no flavour and feel aaaamazingly smooth on the lips. It wore well before bed, under lipstick or gloss, or just on it`s own and had the perfect amount of shine to go solo and still look put together. Super moisturizing and I can already see a difference in the quality of my lips, and will definitely go back to hunt down some of the others that have a bit of colour to them!

Revlon ColourBurst Lip Butter - revlon.ca

The hype over these lip butters right now is CRAAZY! So on that note, I had to have one. It wasn`t easy choosing which though, considering only one store in my town carries them at a hefty $10.79 CAN each.
I went with `Cupcake`, it`s a gorgeous light, cool-toned pink with just a hint of pinkish-rainbow shimmer. The formula is creamy, feels moisturizing and not unlike regular lipsticks but does eliminate the need for gloss overtop. It also seems very buildable, one coat gave me a shiny my-lips-but-better look and a few extra swipes built up a very wearable creamy pink shade (as shown in swatch). All in all, I do plan to pick up more and can definitely understand the popularity!

That`s all for now, keep your eyes posted & follow me on Twitter to find out what`s coming next!

xo Sarah