Monday, December 29, 2014

Long time no post?!

Hi and hello! Firstly I'd like to apologise for my major lack of posts. I seem to have gone on a completely unintended and unannounced hiatus ... my bad! A lot of things have happened this year (loss of a family member, major overseas holiday, etc.) so my shopping and as a result, blogging has been really bloody tame. I DID do SOME shopping at B&BW this year, that didn't make it into my blog obviously. 

I have a few thoughts! Firstly, I'd like to say I fell in love with Peach & Honey Almond and I used it pretty much every day that I was in England so now when I smell it, that's what I think about/remember. I'm also quite impressed with A Thousand Wishes and hoarded it stupidly as I do!

Next I'd like to talk a little bit about candles. I know that on the labels, the burn times decreased quite a while ago. When I first began buying B&BW candles, the burn time was advertised as 30-45 hrs, now it's like 25-45 hrs. That's pretty old news as that was a hot topic way back when it first happened. I have to admit I didn't really notice an actual burn time decrease until Coastal Cool. What reminded me of this was partly those candles being selected to come back for the SAS this winter. When they first came out, I bought a few of Endless Weekend and Sunset Beach. And when I burned them, I noticed that I could only burn them a couple times before they were half gone or more! Now what really made me remember that was when I bought some of the candles during the $8 sale a few weeks ago, I bought Fresh Sparkling Snow (which btw I was thrilled to have as a candle!) and I began burning it. After burning it once for like 4 or 5 hours, it was nearly half gone! Yes, you read that right! Where my 'Tis The Season won't burn for shit and I'm about to exchange it as this is the first time I've ever had a problem with a candle not staying lit - I guess I'm lucky that way. 

I suppose it's fair to say I was a little upset over that. I have a pretty big stockpile of candles so I'm not too bothered for the moment. But we'll see how I feel about it when more candles come out that I actually like and they last like two hours! 

Next topic! This year, I did spend some time selling a bit of excess B&BW stuff (things I bought maybe 5 duplicates too many of, things I thought I might have liked and wondered why I bought it later, etc. y'all know how it goes!) via eBay (fair prices, mind. I don't care if I get less back than I paid honestly!) and I had considered selling stuff via my blog but then my hiatus happened so I doubt many people read this right now! We'll see how that works, I might keep using eBay for the time being. If anyone does happen to see this and would like to offer input, please let me know what you think/if that would be something you'd be interested in or if you want to know if I have a particular scent. I have a very large selection of stuff as I've been shopping there two years now and visited more than once a month religiously until earlier this year. I may share the link to the eBay account once I get stuff posted again.

Speaking of SAS, yes I did go! I sent PIC on day one with a list. He came back with maybe half the things on the list (the candle, the three Vanillatinis and Black Chamomile were his buys) and today, I went myself. 
It's a bigger haul than I figured I'd find! I've been hearing that the selection isn't that good this year and really, if you're looking for candles/old gems ... it's not! Black Chamomile is back but it's so ridiculously limited you might be hard pressed to find it, where when I began shopping B&BW (SAS of Winter 2012/New Year 2013) it seemed like it was stock for AGES! I still have a ridiculous amount of the lotions, so I just bought shower gels. I was kind of happy to see the Three Cheers back. I liked Vanillatini way back when someone had let lotion leak all over the contents of one of the boxes at my very first SAS and got it on my hand and tried to figure out what smelled so good. I kept digging through each lotion until I matched the scent but I only bought one and kicked myself for it! Apple Orchard was an unexpected like of mine. I visited B&BW prior to my trip to England and they had the fall preview stuff going, I tested the lotion on me and I was pleasantly surprised. I don't really dig apple scents in body care but it's nice! The Pink Jasmine Kiss was just super cute and reminded me a little of London Tulips so why not. I've been trying to limit myself to travel sizes in scents like that so I don't end up with big bottles of stuff that I'm trying to use up unless I really love a scent.

ONE lonely ass Sunset Beach candle and NOTHING else. All the leftovers are a major pass from me. I really hoped to get my hands on an Endless Weekend candle but no such luck. They DID have a lot of two packs of Sunset Beach wallflowers that I DO plan on going back for after payday if they are still there. If not, well, I guess I won't be too butthurt about it! Oh and they seem to have the HandiBacs for $3 up by the registers! I am too new a shopper to "remember" those but they are apparently an older concept. It's a spray sanitizer with vitamin e and aloe. I had to get one for kicks but if I like it well enough I might go back and buy some more. There's hardly any variety in scent but Coconut Lime Verbena is nice.

In terms of classics/old favourites/hidden gems, yeah the SAS is a bomb. It's basically all the stuff they had this year leftover which I understand is basically what a clearance is which is basically what SAS is but I miss the magic! I feel only "did well" (in other words, threw my money at them and came home with a lot of loot) because I missed a lot of this year's goodness so it was a good chance for me to catch up on what I missed. Peach & Honey Almond I stupidly only bought one, thinking I could get more when I came back from the UK as it seemed quite new. WRONG! It was OFF the floor when I got back. I was so upset. I really loved the scrub in that fragrance.

Last and final thought this post:
PIC went on opening day of the sale and most of the stuff that you'd usually see for $3-4 was all only 50% and only the holiday traditions stuff was actually 75%. Even though they added a $3 select body care deal today, I was hoping to buy a couple lemon vanilla sprays but I wasn't buying them at only 50% off. I mean, I'm not thrilled that Peach & Honey Almond was only 50% but I love it enough to buy it at friggin' B3G2 (aka reg price!) so I made an exception for that but ... real lackluster deals going on! I'd like to add if anyone is planning on buying any of the holiday body care that has access to a store, DO NOT do it online! It's only 50% off there, but it's 75% in store!

Anyway yes, that concludes today's haul post, random thoughts and hello I'm kind of back? I'm sure I'll post again the next time I visit to potentially get those wallflowers I wanted. I'm hoping the artisan scents will go 75% soon before running out at my local stores. That'll get me back in there in a hurry!

PS - I didn't actually notice this until I looked over at Donovan's blog today but there is a blogger that goes by Musings of a Muse ... I want to just say that "musings of a mouse" wasn't meant to infringe upon any names or anything! People call me mousie so I thought it was a cute name for a blog. I might come up with something else sometime soon! 

Tara for now!