Rosegirls January 2014 Haul Part 1 - Bags!

Happy Super Bowl Sunday everyone! More importantly though (at least in my mind), it is also Groundhog Day and the day before my birthday! Not surprisingly, our old pal Punxatawney Phil has forecasted six more weeks of winter. I knew this freakshow of a winter would never end. In my almost 28 years of life, I cannot remember a winter more miserable than this one. A few years ago on my birthday, it was nearly 60 degrees outside. I won't be surprised if it's negative 20 this year. Gotta love that polar vortex!

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Today I have for you all Part 1 of my January 1st Rosegirls haul!! If you have been following my blog for awhile, you'll know that Rosegirls is one of my favorite vendors of all time. I love everything about this company. As I mentioned on a post in their group a few weeks back, there's just nothing out there quite like Rosegirls! First and foremost, I love their wax. They have over a hundred unique house blends in their chunk cake melts, and they give you the ability to custom blend as well. I get amazing results from their wax in pretty much any warmer, sometimes with throws lasting for days on end. Their wax is colorful and beautiful all around, not to mention that they were the ones who started my chunk obsession. And of course, I love the people behind the wax. Rosegirls is owned by Jenny Oaks, who took over the company when her mom Kathy retired. Both Jenny and Kathy are awesome, and I'm always proud to support such a wonderful family. I will be a Rosegirls fan for life. 

The important thing to realize about Rosegirls is that is in extremely high demand, which means it is sometimes difficult to order from. RG is completely, 100% handmade by Jenny and her husband and they can only accept so many orders at one time in order to keep a reasonable TAT. Even then, sometimes the TAT will expand beyond the stated time frame because the size of people's RG orders is often quite large. However, they are working on ways to make sure that more and more people have access to RG. What they've been doing recently is offering flash sale lots on an almost weekly basis, which gives people who didn't get to order during their last opening (and those who did as well) a chance to snag some RG wax! I absolutely love that. I believe that most of the wax in the flash sales is made by Kathy, who though retired, is still as sharp as ever when it comes to blending and making the wax. I know that there are a lot of people out there that have expressed their frustration with not being able to order from RG, but please rest assured that they are trying their best to make sure as many people as possible are able to try Rosegirls wax. If you have been unable to procure some of their wax through ordering or flash sales on their FB page, check the FB destash groups. RG even has their own destash page! I'm finding that it's definitely not as hard to get a hold of RG wax as it used to be.

The last time they opened before January 1, 2014 was August 10, 2013. On August 10, they announced the date and time they were opening and they were so slammed with orders that they had to close in under 5 minutes. And even then, they took almost twice the orders they intended to take just because their website's shopping cart could not keep up with the demand. This time, the opening was silent. They told us that it would be sometime in early January, but no one knew the date or time. The point of the silent opening was to ensure that the site would not get overloaded so that there wouldn't be as mad of a dash of people placing their orders at once. Silent openings are probably my least favorite method of store openings, but I 100% understand why they had to do it that way. Word got out quickly this time around as well, and they closed fairly soon after they opened. However, they took about half as many orders this time around which means they will be opening much sooner than usual. Thanks to me being at the right place at the right time (and of course, my trusted team of fellow RG stalkers), I was by the grace of the wax gods able to place an order this time around. I may not be so lucky next time around so I made sure to stock up!

I did end up being in the first group of orders, and the TAT on my order was 17 business days, well within their stated time frame. However, I've waited much longer for RG before and I glady would again. RG is one of those vendors that the TAT just isn't really a factor for me because I am so head over heels for their wax. So not only was this the fastest I've ever gotten an RG order, this was also by far my largest Rosegirls order yet. I'm calling it my graduation present to myself but in reality, I'm just really bad at narrowing down my selections. Without further ado, here are the bags from my January Rosegirls order! Part 2 will consist of my custom blends, and will be coming sometime later this week. Hope you enjoy! 

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The bags are $9 a piece, and you get approximately 8-9 ounces per bag. Oh an please forgive the fact that the clear cello windows on my bags are a bit messy already - I've already sniffed and played with these chunks several times now!  Anyways, I figured I would start off with the new blends for January. Here we go!

COLD SNIFF REVIEWS ONLY. SCENTS MAY SMELL DIFFERENTLY WHEN WARMED. 

• Toadstool Trifecta - strawberry shortcake & blueberry cobbler chunks with pie crust overpour. This was one of the new Mario blends for January! I was a bit unsure of this one since I'm not the hugest fan of their strawberry shortcake scent, but I went for it anyways because I love blueberry and I love pie crust. Well, I'm still note sure about this one upon smelling it. I get a good amount of the blueberry but I smell that strawberry shortcake note as well. For some reason, I get a bit of a powdery, candied note to the strawberry that isn't hitting my nose quite right. It almost smells grape-y. I think I'm going to have to melt this one to see how the notes are blended together while warmed. This was one of the only blends from this order I wasn't head over heels in love with, but I have a feeling it will be a big hit among the strawberry shortcake lovers out there.
• Waluigi's Wonderous Birthday Cake - blackberry jam butter cookies & wildberry mousse chunks with birthday cake overpour. This was another one I wasn't overly crazy about on cold sniff. Usually I love RG BJBC blends but for some reason, I'm picking up on a bit more of that perfume-y note than usual. I smell mostly the BJBC in this, with a hint of the sweetness from the wildberry mousse and then a creamy background from the birthday cake. I've noticed that RG's birthday cake isn't as sweet as some of the other b-day cake scents out there, and I like that. It ensures that the blends with it won't be overly sweet. This is another blend that I'll have to melt to give a final verdict on. 
• Donkey Kong Destruction - banana cream pie  & bear claws chunks with vanilla ice cream overpour. This is definitely my favorite of the three Mario blends that I ordered! I've been on a huge banana kick lately. This one smells like a straight up banana cream pie. The banana scent is somewhere between a true, ripe banana and a banana candy, the bear claws adds kind of a crusty note to the blend, and then the vanilla ice cream brings it all together with a sweet, creamy finish. Fantastic! I kind of wish I would have ordered more of the Mario blends so hopefully some will be made permanent so I can order more of them next time around.

• I Can't Help Falling in Love - strawberry jam & cotton candy frosting chunks with sinfully sweet pops overpour. This is hands down one of my ultimate favorites from the whole order. It is absolutely incredible incredible! The strawberry jam and cotton candy frosting chunks are so strong, and the sinfully sweet pops scent just adds to the wonderful, creamy sweetness of this blend. I almost smell a bit of a caramel note in that SSP OP. I know a few of my friends had this on their list but it didn't make the cut because of the almond note listed in sinfully sweet pops. I promise you, I smell no almond in that scent, just super sweet cake with a caramel-ly undertone. I don't think I've ever smelled a blend quite like this one before. Sweet, fruity, candied, caramel, cake-y goodness. I cannot wait to melt these bad boys! 
• Love Potion #9 - mystery blend of Love Spell and pomegranate blizzard. I have always loved the Love Spell fragrance in wax, and pomegranate is always a big hit for me also so I knew I had to have this blend. On cold sniff, the Love Spell's fruity perfume scent is definitely the dominant note, but the tart pomegranate and the creamy "blizzard" scents are in there as well. I am really enjoying this blend! I wouldn't call it an absolute favorite but it will definitely be nice for spring, and I think I'll be melting this one on Valentine's Day for sure. 
• Strawberry Frankenberry - mystery strawberry cereal blend. I am SO EXCITED that this blend is back in RG's lineup! They carried this fan favorite scent back in 2012 but sadly, one of the oils they used in the blend was discontinued. Fortunately, Kathy was able to dupe the blend using new oils and Strawberry Frankenberry is back and hopefully here to stay! I smell strawberries and cream in this blend, so it's definitely on the sweeter end of strawberry. There's more to this blend though that gives it a hint of that "cereal" scent, possibly a slight bread-y note? I am in LOVE with this. I got a chunk of the originally Frankenberry from the sweet Sara, and I am glad to confirm that it smells VERY similar to the original! So anxious to melt this one!

• Windmill Cookies - mystery almond cookie blend. I remember seeing people get samples of this in their August orders and there were tons of raves about it. I was so glad to see this offered as full bags for the January opening! To my nose, I believe the almond scent in this could be their cherry almond scent. I could be wrong though. And I'm not sure which one of their cookie scents they are using in the blend but it's yummy. This scent is fan-freaking-tastic! It's such a sweet, almond-y cookie scent, and reminds me of these almond crescent cookies we used to make for Christmas when I was a kid. It reminds me of biscotti as well. I know almond is a controversial scent and doesn't seem to be universally well-liked, but I absolutely love almond scents so Windmill Cookies is a major win for me! 
• Berry Crumble - mystery berry blend. I got a chunk of this in a RR and I was desperate to have more! I didn't see it being offered in bags when I first started making my wishlist, so I contacted Kathy and Jenny asking what was in this blend so I could blend it myself in muffins. It was a secret blend so they couldn't tell me what was in it, but they were kind enough to make it available in the bags which is so awesome! I definitely smell a crunch berry crisp note in here, along with a super sweet strawberry note. I love, love, LOVE this scent and I'm so glad to have a bag so I can finally melt that chunk I've been hoarding from the RR. 
• Frosted Streuselkuchen - streuselkuchen chunks with Vanilla Bean Noel overpour. Streuselkuchen (or the KOOK, as my friends and I call it) is RG's signature sweet cinnamon pastry scent. No one knows quite what's in it or how to pronounce it, but what we do know is that it is simply fantastic. Streuselkuchen is not available to custom blend with, but people are always coming up with blends for that scent. Vanilla Bean Noel was an obvious choice to add to this slighty spicy bakery scent, and the two are wonderful together. I'm not normally the hugest VBN fan but RG is one of the exceptions because it is so strong and good. I feel like I'm smelling the kook in a new light...I don't think I've ever smelled it in such a perfect blend. VBN and kook are a match made in heaven!

The rest of the bags are blends that have been offered before.

• Badger State Cocoa - hot cocoa & peppermint chunks with marshmallow smoothie overpour. This winter marked the beginning of a huge peppermint craze for me. I've loved chocolate in wax for quite awhile now as well, so I was dying to get my hands on this famous chocolate mint blend. On cold sniff, I can smell mostly the peppermint and the marshmallow, but the chocolate makes an appearance as well. It's hard to stand out in a blend with the always-strong peppermint, but I think the chocolate holds up it's end quite nicely. I can't say that this is necessarily my favorite chocolate mint blend ever, but it's really good. I believe they had a chocolate mint ice cream scent for this opening too so maybe I'll have to try that one next time to compare and contrast the blends.
• Cinnamon Glazed Oranges - mystery cinnamon orange blend.  This scent has gained quite the cult following in recent months so I of course had to get a bag to see for myself what everyone was talking about. I'm iffy on orange scents to begin with so I wasn't counting on this one to be a big hit for me. On cold sniff, I'm not sure about it. The orange scent in here is very strong, and kind of reminds me of orange soda pop. The cinnamon definitely takes second fiddle to the orange, but it's a nice, sweet and creamy cinnamon as opposed to that sometimes cloying red hot cinnamon kind of scent. The blend is definitely unique from any other cinnamon orange scent I have smelled before. Again, I'm not sure if I'm loving it yet but I'll for sure be melting it to see what I think when it's warmed. I think this will be a nice blend to melt while I'm cleaning the house! 
• Egg Nog Caramel Ice Cream - eggnog & salted caramel munch chunks with vanilla ice cream overpour. This was a blend that was on my list to order back in August, but it didn't make the cut because I was afraid the salted caramel might have a popcorn note to it. Fast forward a few months where I got a chunk of this in an RR, and I fell in love. I melted this scent on Christmas morning and I knew I had to have a bag of it. The eggnog and salted caramel scents are both very strong! So strong that I'm not sure I can even smell that vanilla ice cream in here other than a slight hint of creamy sweetness. But that's okay because this blend is on point! That salted caramel scent definitely does have the slightest popcorn-y undertone to my nose but only because I'm so sensitive to that type of scent, and it almost adds a savory note to the blend. ENCIC is a very unique blend and I'm so glad to have snagged a bag of it before it was retired for the season. 

• Death by Caramel - ooey gooey caramel chunks with southern creme brulee overpour. I got Death by Caramel as a sample in my August order and I was blown away with how delicious it smelled. I've always been a caramel lover but I somehow always overlooked this scent when making my bag selections for previous orders. I probably would have never ordered it without smelling that sample chunk! Death by Caramel is the richest caramel scent you could ever imagine. It's a straight up caramel with a hint of creaminess probably brought on with the creme brulee OP. If you enjoy caramel scents at all, this is an absolute must have. Amazing!!
• Raspberry Brulee Coffee - raspberry sauce & southern creme brulee chunks with absolute coffee overpour. This is another scent that I fell in love with after smelling a chunk in an RR. I have an odd relationship with RG's raspberry scent - sometimes I love it and other times I don't seem to like it at all. Right now, I'm REALLY loving it so this scent is just hitting the spot. I've also been more drawn to coffee scents lately so this was really the perfect blend of the moment for me. I can smell mostly the tart raspberry and the aromatic coffee, but the creme brulee adds a nice creamy sweetness to it all. I am going to be loving this scent this winter! I really need to experiment with more coffee blends. Next time - chocolate and coffee!
• Ooey Gooey Baked Zucchini Bread - ooey gooey caramel chunks with baked zucchini bread overpour. I am surprised this was my only ZB blend out of all the bags because I've really been loving zucchini lately! Nevertheless, this was an excellent choice for my only bread scent of the bunch. This was yet another blend I fell in love with through an RR chunk. I can smell both notes in this scent equally, just simple caramel and zucchini bread goodness. Nothing much else to say about this blend except for YUM!

• Blackberry Cotton Candy Waffle Cone - blackberry jam butter cookie & cotton candy frosting chunks with waffle cone overpour. As mentioned above, I'm getting a bit more of a perfume-y note out of the BJBC blends than I normally do. I doubt that they've changed their oil or anything like that, I think it's just my nose changing. I definitely smell the cotton candy and the blackberry cookies in this blend, but what I seem to be picking up most on at the moment is that super sweet waffle cone scent. It's almost too sweet for me, but I think I might still like this blend somehow. I don't think I can dislike anything with their cotton candy frosting scent in it - it is the strongest and most delicious cotton candy oil out there. And I love how in most of their cotton candy blends, they make both baby blue and baby pink chunks with that scent. So cute!
• Strawberry Cereal Killer Ice Cream - strawberry jam & cereal killer chunks with vanilla ice cream overpour. Yes, this is yet another blend that I discovered in an RR and fell in love with. However, I already had a bag of plain Strawberry Cereal Killer chunks in my stash so I was heavily debating whether or not I needed this bag. Eventually, my want for this bag won out over the fact that I didn't exactly need it since I already had something so similar. Cereal killer is RG's Fruit Loops scent, and it is super strong and dead on. The vanilla ice cream adds a gorgeous creaminess that the original blend doesn't have. The cereal killer note is definitely strongest in this blend but the other notes compliment it quite nicely. This is my ideal spring and summer scent!
• Blueberry Muffin Cup A Cake - blueberry muffin and cuppa cake chunks with sinfully sweet pops overpour. Surprise, surprise, this is yet another scent that I never would have tried if I hadn't stumbled across it in an RR. RG truly has the best blueberry scents out there, they are never fake and always very strong. However, I always thought this was just a typical blueberry cake type of smell. I was wrong. Once again, the sinfully sweet pops scent really makes this blend into something special. When I melted the RR chunk, it smelled exactly like blueberry pancakes with syrup and all. That caramel note in sinfully sweet pops must have transformed into a maple kind of note while warmed and it absolutely blew me away. I am so glad to have a bag of this wonderfully comforting blend.

• Taste the Rainbow - purple cow, satsuma & florida key lime pie chunks with chicks dig it overpour. Taste the Rainbow is possibly one of the strongest scents I've ever smelled in wax in my whole life. In fact, before Jenny sent out my order, I asked her to double bag this in a cello bag because it is so strong that it tends to scent the other wax around it as well. It's funny, because I normally cannot stand purple cow or satsuma scents in wax, but they work really well in this blend. The chicks dig it OP adds a hint of fizziness, while the chunks provide the base fruity notes. It really does smell like Skittles - but stronger. Taste the Rainbow is skittles on steroids! 
• Strawberry Lime Fluff - strawberry jam and florida key lime pie chunks with marshmallow smoothie overpour. RG's Florida Key Lime Pie is probably my favorite key lime ever. It is a bakery key lime scent, as it does have a slight crusty undertone but it works well in both straight fruity and bakery blends. I had seen this blend before in large pies but I had never seen it offered in bags. I was so excited that it was offered in bags this time around so I had to nab one! This is definitely another favorite of the order. I can smell all three notes in the blend equally, and they all compliment each other nicely. It reminds me of a fancy summertime cocktail! You know, the kind that give you the worst hangovers ever. This scent allows me to indulge without the headache the next day ;-)
• Candy Land - cotton candy frosting chunks with bubble gum overpour. I've had a few chunks of this scent over the past year, but I never really gave it much thought and always ended up passing it on to other people. However, my husband found the one chunk of it that I had been saving to try and the moment it hit the warmer, there was no turning back. This scent single-handedly launched my now full-on obsession with bubble gum scents. RG's bubble gum is dead on for the real thing. Candy Land is just pure candy goodness, that somehow always manages to not be too sweet. Next time I order, I am going to be sure to do some custom bubble gum blends!
• Pomegranate Watermelon Smoothie - pomegranate & watermelon slush chunks with marshmallow smoothie overpour. Hello, gorgeous! This blend is pure bliss. RG's super sweet watermelon slush scent is tempered by the tart pomegrante and the slight hint of creaminess from the marshmallow. I just want to pour it down my throat and drink this scent! It is the smell of summer in a bag! Pomegranate and watermelon is a scent craze that RG seems to have started, and they do it the best. It is a staple in any fruity wax lover's stash.

Now here are the samples that I got with this order. They used to only do 2 samples per order but it seems like they have been upping that number lately and it is so generous of them! Here they are:

• Koopa Troopa Assault - raspberry sauce, pomegranate & sweet lemon confection chunks with marshmallow smoothie overpour. I was SO GLAD to see this as one of my samples because this was one of the bags I cut from my order and I had major regrets afterwards. This is phenomenal! The raspberry and lemon take center stage in this blend, but the other notes are there in the background. It is such a bright, fruity blend. I think out of all the Mario blends I've smelled, this is my ultimate favorite. I hope it's still available next time around because this is bag worthy.  
• Waluigi's Wonderous Birthday Cake - I ordered this in bags, see above.
• Sweet Lemon Confection and Marshmallow Smoothie - sweet lemon confection chunks with marshmallow smoothie overpour. This is one of the best lemon marshmallow scents I've ever smelled. RG's sweet lemon confection is a fresh, sweet lemon without any hint of that cleaner note. Their marshmallow is super strong and creamy. Together, they are perfection. It just goes to show that sometimes the most simple blends are the best! I'm not sure that I'd go out of my way to order a bag in this blend but who knows, it may find it's way into an order in the future.
• Delicate Daisy - Bombshell VS type and cotton candy frosting. Out of all the Mario blends, this was probably the one I was most unsure about. I typically don't like perfume types in wax unless it is Pink Sugar, Blue Sugar or Love Spell. I'm not quite sure which scent is the OP and which scent is the chunks in this blend, but I smell the perfume-y Bombshell note the most. It is a fruity-floral scent which I love in my perfumes but not so much in wax. The cotton candy frosting adds extra sweetness to the blend. Although I'm not sure I am going to like this much when it is melted, I think I am going to give it a whirl. If anything, I think I am going to test out some Bombshell next time I am in VS to see if I like it as a perfume!

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Well ladies and gents, thus concludes the first part of my January Rosegirls order! Next up is my custom blended muffins! I am pleased with most of my custom blends, though I do wonder what I was thinking with a few of them. It really is hard to go wrong when custom blending with RG because their oils are truly some of the best out there. I can't wait to share them with you! As always, thanks for stopping by and I will see you all again soon <3