Showing posts with label happiness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label happiness. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

My favorite Bath & Body Works candles


I mentioned in a blog post earlier that I might do a post on my favorite Bath & Body Works candles, so that's what I am doing right now. I've been obsessed with these candles for probably the past year or so, and I blame the addiction entirely on the Youtube beauty community. People over there always talk about these candles and how amazing they are, and as I am easily influenced by such things, I had to check them out. Where I live you don't have any access to a Bath and Body Works, so when I went to Toronto and NYC this summer, I might have gone a little candle-crazy... Okay, maybe a lot! And then I was hooked, so when the fall and winter scents came out, I had to get some of those as well. I pretty much love every candle that I have (which is good, since I picked them out and bought them..), but here are some of my absolute favorites. I also put B&BW's description of each candle next to the pictures.

Vanilla Snowflake
This delectable fragrance of creamy vanilla, winter mint and a touch of coconut evokes a dreamy snowflake filled day.
I love this candle! I know I said I love all of them, but this is one of my absolute favorites. When you first smell it, it can be a little overpowering and vanilla-y. But when you burn it you can really smell the mint and coconut in it, and mixed with the vanilla it makes this candle the most perfect, comfortable, cozy and warm scent ever. This is the candle I am currently burning, and as you can see I am getting to the end of it. I actually have another one of these at my parents' house though, so I'm good for a little while longer.


Mahogany Teakwood
The scents of fine woods - mahogany, cedarwood and oak - highlighted by delicate lavender and geranium notes conjure up an escape to a cozy library on a chill fall day.
I know that everybody says this, but it is because it is so true! This scent smells just like an Abercrombie & Fitch store. I really like how the A&F stores smell, so when I heard about this candle I had to check it out. I don't really know a better way to describe it. I'm sure most of you know the store smells, but if you don't, you should take a whiff next time you get the opportunity. We don't have A&F here either, so for me this smell kind of reminds me of going to London or NYC or any other city that has the store.


Leaves
A fragrance that embodies the richness of fall - with all of its colors and pleasures - featuring notes of golden nectar, ripe delicious apple and red berries.
This one is another one of the really well talked about ones. And for good reason as well. This candle smells so good! To me it smells kind of cinnamon-y and spicy, but at the same time fresh and a little bit fruity. I love that it is spicy and warm, but not too spicy. It is pretty much the perfect fall scent (that is amazing to burn the whole year round).





Mango Cilantro
I bought this candle in Toronto, and it does not have a description on the bottom, but on the website it says: Cool, crisp cilantro, juicy mango and fresh white nectarine.
This candle smells like summer to me. It obviously smells like mango, but not the overly sweet kind of mango. It has more of a fresh mango scent, if that makes sense? Maybe it is the cilantro (coriander), I don't know.. But I am usually not the biggest fan of mango scents, and I still love this candle!





Lavender Vanilla
A blend of two timeless scents - lavender and creamy vanilla - becomes unforgettable with touches of cedarwood, delicate jasmine and citrus. 
If you want to just relax and have a calming scent, this one is perfect. The description is pretty much right on and it is amazing. I think this would be a really good bedroom scent as it is so relaxing and calming.








Twisted Peppermint
A fragrance featuring merry and bright peppermint with touches of vanilla and sugary musk is the perfect companion for a very snowy day. 
As the candle is called Twisted Peppermint it is probably appropriate that it smells like peppermint, but I really don't know how else to describe it.. It's kind of cold and fresh and peppermint-y, and it's a different kind of scent than all the warm and sweet scents. I really like it a lot, but I do love peppermint, so no surprise there.





Pink Sangria
A refreshing island classic made with juicy raspberries, zesty mandarin and sugared grapes soaked in brandy. 
This (and the next one) is another one of the very summer-y scents. It makes me think of sun and beaches and bikinis and umbrella drinks and everything that has to do with summer when I smell it. It is crisp and smells a lot of citrus, and.. I feel like my lacking ability to describe scents is becoming more and more obvious as we go, but oh well. I am doing the best I can. It is a really good scent anyway!





Island Margarita
A tempting island favorite with mandarin, sweet mango and plum, highlighted with sweet tangelo and sandalwood.
This one is another one of my absolute favorites. It immediately takes me to summer (much like the previous one) and when I smell it I imagine being on a tropical island somewhere. It is sort of a soft kind of scent, if that is a thing. This one is also a citrus scent, but not as sharp as Pink Sangria is. I just really really like it.





Tiki Beach
A scent as warm as the sun! A luxurious blend of toasted coconut, vanilla musk and orchids brings the glamour of a resort-stay to you. 
This is most likely THE favorite. I absolutely adore this candle. I haven't heard that many people talk about it, maybe I've just been living under a rock, but I love it! I'm not really sure what it is? The description isn't something that would usually draw me in, but I can't stop smelling this candle. I think I've been on vacation somewhere and it smelled like this or something, because it just makes me so happy. As the description says, it smells like you're at a really luxurious resort at a tropical place, and if I ever go to a place that smells like this, I'm not sure I'll ever leave.


So that's all the candles I was planning on talking about today. I also have two candle holders, and I like to have something to put my candles in so that they don't stand out so much. Especially if I am burning a candle that don't go to well with the colors of the decorations around it. 


I hope this you found it semi-interesting to read about all these candles and my poorly description of them. What are your favorite candles? Or if you don't like candles, what are your favorite scents in general?

Thursday, January 17, 2013

How to be happy - my new year's resolutions


So I've been watching a lot of YouTube videos recently, an one of my favorite people to watch, Nikki Phillippi, is doing a series this month called "How to be happy January". And that is actually something I've been thinking about a lot lately. I'm the kind of person who is very happy if everything is good, but once things starts getting a little rougher I'm not exactly a ball of sunshine. It doesn't have to be anything major at all, but it really affects not only my mood, but also the mood of people around me. I have a tendency to always look either to the past or to the future and never really enjoying my life right now. I will think about how good my life was last year or a couple of years ago, or I'll say to myself that in a few years everything will be a lot better, when I only have achieved that goal and gotten those things and so on. I've realized that this is not the way that I want to live my life, and that I am never going to be fully happy with anything later on if I can't enjoy my life right now.


"If you're not enjoying the journey you probably won't enjoy the destination"
- Joe Tye

There is nothing wrong with my life. I am not sick, I have a loving family that I am very close to, the greatest boyfriend and a handful of really good friends, a nice apartment and I'm taking a pretty good education. So what is there not to be happy about?
If you had asked me that question a little while ago, not that long at all actually, I would probably have named a dozen different things. But at the end of the day I've realized that these things are only minor details. Life is never 100% perfect, but that's just.. well, life. I am not going to be happy sitting around and waiting for my life to be perfect, because it never will be. But I've also realized that it's pretty darn close. So that is going to be my new years resolution this year. I am going to appreciate the things that are in my life right now and spend my time doing things that make me happy. I am not saying that I will go crazy and do fun stuff all the time, but I am going to try to focus on the positive and not the negative, which shouldn't be that hard as there are way more positive than negative in life.
I realize that you shouldn't just ignore your problems, but that's not really what this is about. I'm a big believer in solving problems contra ignoring them, but dealing with problems is a different thing than drowning in them.

And I also have the "regular" resolutions.. To be more active, eat healthily, be more organized, study regularly and so on, but I feel like all of these tie back to being happy. These are all things that I know will make me feel better and happier if I keep them up. If I work out regularly and eat food that's good for me, I know that it will affect my mood and how I feel. I will feel a lot better, both physically and mentally, and will therefore also be happier.

As any other new year's resolution I probably won't be able to keep this up every second of every day. I'll have days where I just want to crawl back into bed and stay there. But I feel like when your attitude toward something changes your actions will follow, and hopefully I will have a lot fewer "down-days" and a lot more good days as the year progress.

So, if you're still reading.. What are your new years resolutions? And what do you do to be happy?