Emmas Soy Candles

Twitter is alive with the rave reviews of Emmas Soy Candles at the minute. Loads of bloggers have been getting on board the shop local and support Irish businesses band wagon - and what a fine thing it is to see! Not only am I a massive lover of candles, but of good home grown businesses that you can be proud of too. It just so happens that both of these boxes are ticked in todays post.

To start with, I have to mention the packaging. I'm a lover of shiny, pretty floral designs and these candle tins send the aul heart a fluttering. I was lucky enough to meet Emma's husband who not only was a mind of information but also gushed over his lovely creative wife Emma! He told me that she thought up and designed all the packaging herself, how cool is this lady?! The hardest thing was choosing a candle after smelling how good they were and the enthusiasm for the brand caught me like wildfire. 

Emma's candles have no artificial dyes, synthetic fragrances, paraffin or parabens in them, so what your burning is really some good quality stuff that wont upset those of us that might be sensitive to overpowering chemical smells. Also I'm a big fan of burning these candles as they don't effect my asthma the way some candles can. (The all fearing moment when you light a new candle and hope you don't keel over before you can get your inhaler 10 minutes later.) To top it all off these tin candles (€9.95)  have a burning time of about 20 hours while the bigger glass tumbler (€19.95)  has a massive 50 hours. You can also get lovely wax tart melts (€4.95), it doesn't say how long their burning time is for on the site but I'm sure its enough time to help you unwind with the gorgeous scents.

The first tin I had my eye on was the lavender scented one. I really like sweet scents but never try out the more relaxing ones so this was nabbed pretty quickly! When its lit it has the most gorgeous light scent of real lavender up close, but it doesn't fill the whole room for about 40 minutes which means your not overpowered and need to blow it out quickly. The thing that really stumped me was the day after burning it, I could still get the lavender scent when I walked into my room! It lingers so much longer then any other candle I've ever used and anyone who walked into my room that day asked if I had sprayed something or put fresh sheets on the bed. I think this candle (no doubt a repurchase by then) will be great for the winter months when windows aren't opened and you need a little freshening up in stuffy, warm rooms. Speaking of which, will I be shot if I mention that these are on my Christmas shopping list? Both my mom and sister really liked them so... I'll just be quiet now.

The second candle was the *lemon grass scent which I would have normally never tried out. I'm really surprised at how much I'm enjoying burning it and like the lavender one, it isn't overpowering and doesn't hit you with a strong scent once its lit. I think this is the perfect scent for the summer and on my next internet shopping trip I'm going to try lemongrass out in their wax melts!

Have a look at the whole range on emmas.ie.

*I did not pay for this item, it was a PR gift.  Please see my disclaimer here. 

DIY Almond & Lavender Sugar Body Scrub

Hello there lovely people of the internets! How are you all today? I really don't ask that enough and  I should. While were on the topic of chats, why don't you come over to Twitter page and we can chew the ear off each other!

Today I have decided that to do a little DIYing as Christmas is upon us and not everyone has a money tree in their back garden. (But if you do, kindly post a few seeds my way please!) That and its just something different that you might like to try. You can use many different things in your body scrubs. I opted for sugar instead of salt as I wanted a softer scrub, I put in some lavender for colour and almond oil because I love the smell of it. Don't be afraid to experiment and add your own tastes to your scrubs. 

For this you'll need:

A clean jar

Sugar (I like brown)

Olive oil (I used extra virgin)

almond essences or scented essential oil

Lavender

A table spoon

Ribbon (optional)

You can be very fancy and go spend a bomb on the ingredients if you like, or you can pick up cheap as chips things from Tesco that will make several batches of scrubs. You can also get a bag of lavender and different essential oils in a lot of health shops, I got mine in the Asian food market beside the Georges Arcade in Dublin. So once you have a clean jar grab a tablespoon and get to work! 

For every 2 tablespoons use one tablespoon of oil. I only found this out through a lot of trial and error, so find what works best for you. I actually liked a more oily mixture so I add in an extra tablespoon of oil at the end. I've found the best way to do this is add 2 tablespoons of sugar and then use another tablespoon to add in the oil, then mix it. Add in a tiny bit of essences and a sprinkle of lavender. Then go repeat this until you have filled your jar to the top.

If your making this as a present for someone then adding a piece of ribbon to it, a piece of fabric over the lid or hand designed sticker can really add an extra loving touch. And thats it, your all done! 

This is so easy to do and makes a great personal present to give someone. It works well and my skin feels really clean, well scrubbed and soft after. Since making this I've actually used half the jar and know when its all gone I'll be making some more stat! 

Thats all for now, hope some of you might try this and find it works well for you or even as a Christmas present.

Stay fab!

Things I've Loved This Month

As I haven't been around these parts much to do a weekly Friday Favourites, I thought I would just tell you all about what I have been loving for the whole month! Please let me know if you would rather I stick to my Friday Favourites or if you would all just like a monthly post. Oh, and Happy Easter!

This month it has been cold, super rainy some days and even some crazy amounts of snow for Ireland. As I'm sure you can imagine weather like that makes your hair dry and your skin sore, so I have kept my magic carmex original lip balm in my pocket at all times. Everyone will tell you I get slightly overly upset when I leave it at home or can't find it. It has become a staple in my hand bag and I will be picking up another one soon, I think I might even try other flavours in the range too. The tube has lasted for ages and you only need a little to cover and fully protect your lips with its formula of menthol and camphor that helps to sooth and calm irritated chapped lips. 

A cold tired body loves a hot warm bath and thats just what I've been doing. I wanted to get a cheap and cheerful big bottle of bath soak so I could enjoy more bubble baths without having to ration out my Lush bath bombs like a crazy girl. And hey presto, Boots sleep well bath foam 750ml in a lovely lavender scent for €1.19. I'm not sure if it was the relaxing smell, the huge bottle or the next to nothing price that did it, but I ran to the check out and couldn't wait to get home for a bath!

A blog that I love and follow is Tattoologist. People send in pictures of their tattoos with translations and explanations of why they got them and what meanings they have. Its kind of like pinterest for tattoos only! Go check it out over here . You can follow the blog on bloglovin' too, makes it easier to keep an eye on! I personally love to see other peoples tattoos to be nosy, for inspiration and then just to give out about. - The feather and star tattoos that are far over done and the pain in the ass for artists.

I love Ted and the Ted Talks on YouTube are a must watch for me. There are so many different topics and after listening any of the stories I always come away with something new to research or think about. This story made me laugh and feel inspired. If this boy, thousands of miles away at the age of 13 with limited education can do this and help animals and aid his community, what can I do? Have a watch:

I love my candles and the Yankee candles have to be one of my favourites, purely because 1, they smell good and 2, they last ages in the cute large jars. A limited edition Easter candle 'Chocolate bunnies in a jar' is just the thing to get then and Stephen surprised me with one the other night (the little pet!) I thought it would smell over powering but it has a lovely soft sweet scent that doesn't make you feel sick if you have been lighting it too long. I however can't find them in the Irish Yankee candle shop or online in the American shop either. Heres a link to the place Stephen got this one for €9.99. Otherwise if you need to ship it you can find it all over Amazon.

So I may have a sneaky order coming to me from Fragrance Direct, expect a haul blog once the post man comes! I have only recently become familiar with this site and oh my god, lads go check it out right now over here! Theres loads of well known brands for a fraction of the cost. The products say if the box is damaged but other then that everything seems to be in perfect condition. The shipping cost to Ireland wasn't expensive either which was great.


I'm not sure if I should admit this willingly but my series of the month that I have watched every single episode of is um, Rugrats All Grown Up! on Netflix. Stephen and me were hunting for something to watch one night and this popped up, oh the childhood memories! ''Every birthday my mom and dad would say, your another year older, another year wiser but I still go to school...'' Who needs nights out on the town when you can stay in bed and watch childrens programmes instead? I may have also watched one or two shows of Little Bear. Fingers crossed Netfilx release The Animals Of Farthing Wood soon! The child in me is clearly still very much alive.

Something that I have been wearing loads of this month is my many coloured scarf. I love scarves and if I could use a room just for them I so would. My most warn one has to be the Top Shop multi coloured one that I bought about 4 years ago. It goes with so much, brightens up any outfit and is lovely and warm for those snow filled days! Scarves.net has a gorgeous one here for $9.71 that is as similar to mine as I could find. If your looking to splash out on a colourful statement piece for your wardrobe House of Fraser has a drool worthy one over here.

I am nearly certain I have mentioned the fab HelloGiggles.com more then once here, but I need to tell you about them again! HelloGiggles was set up by three lovely girls Zooey Dechanel, Molly McAleer and Sophia Rossi which now has a wide and really interesting range of reads being updated daily for your fashion, beauty, life, ect needs! This particular article caught my eye and made me laugh as I'm sure everyone can relate to it, moving back in or not. Go check it out and see if you have anything you could add to it.

Thats all from me for now, hope your all having great long weekend! 

Soap&Glory The Fab Pore Hot Cloth Cleanser

Soap and Glory have several deep pore cleansening products and this has got to be my favourite one from this brand and my overall favourite hot cloth cleanser. I even featured it in my very first Friday Favourites post, now thats saying something! This 3in1 product claims to clean, smooth and melt away make up - it does exactly what it says on the tin! so to speak. Its my go to make up remover/face cleaner when I'm lazy or tired and I am not willing to admit how many times a week I use it! To top it all off, it comes with a free muslin face cloth, fancy. 

This lovely thick creamy stuff has panthenol. sweet almond, orange and my favourite, lavender essential oils which is the main sent. I have always loved lavender, so when I smell this last thing before bed it makes me sleepy and all ready to hit the hay. Also I love all Soap&Glory's eye catching packaging and this is no different with its fab box. Even the tube is something pretty to look at and I love the different colour font. 

Wonderful smells and looks aside, it works a treat with my skin and 'melts' all make up from my face in about 60 seconds after massaging it onto my face. I am also happy to report that I use it on my eyes with no irritation or stinging, something thats great considering how much eye make up I use. It even takes off tough waterproof mascara - a real pain to try and scrub off with a cotton pad and some cleanser. 

I have noticed a difference in my skin and less awful pesky spots too since starting to use this in late December. Its not hard on my skin at all and doesn't leave a residue like some cleansers I've used do. My tube has lasted me ages and still has a third of the product left, which is great considering I use it almost daily. Its well worth the money being just under €12 for a super-hero-type-product that you can get online here and in Boots. I just can't get enough of it and will be going back to buy this again and again. I even have a second tube on standby for when I finish my first one!