SOLD - FREE WAX DESTASHES, part 2!

Destash-o-rama time!!!

I've honed my stash down to a wonderfully manageable level and I'm really enjoying it! However, that leaves me with oodles and oodles of wonderful smelling wax that I have to find loving homes for! I have collected bags and boxes for friends to give away, put aside things that I will be trying to get rid of in FB destash groups, but again, that leaves me with still more wax to share. So here it is!

Before I try to re-home these destashes on FB, I will again first extend this offer to those who are still following this blog. Thanks again to all of you who have stuck around in this waxy journey and I love you all <3

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These destashes are what have some to be known as "ass wax" destashes in the wax world. These boxes consist of wax that I have gotten from swaps, round robins and destashes, wax that has been given as samples in orders from vendors, and wax that is an age that is less than desirable for conventional destashes but still smells great! NOTE: These boxes contain a large amount of Rosegirls wax, especially the bakery boxes =)

The deal with these free wax destashes is as follows:

• The wax is FREE, buyer pays shipping. These are in large flat rate boxes and will cost $15.80 for US buyers and will have to be calculated for international buyers.
• This is open to US and international readers!
• Paypal only.
• One box per person.
• The first 3 people to e-mail me gets a box. My email is thescholarlynail (at) gmail (dot) com.
• These boxes are already packed and ready to go, and I cannot accept scent requests.
• AGAIN: These boxes consist of wax that I have gotten from swaps, round robins and destashes, wax that has been given as samples in orders from vendors, and wax that is an age that is less than desirable for conventional destashes but still smells great!

PLEASE EMAIL thescholarlynail (at) gmail (dot) com to get a free box. There are three boxes available!

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*THESE ARE ALL NOW SOLD*

Box #1 - Fruity  SOLD

Box #2 - Bakery w/ some fruit SOLD

Box #3 - Bakery SOLD

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Good luck!!

Remember, email thescholarlynail (at) gmail (dot) com for a free box of wax!!

FREE WAX! - SOLD!

Well hello there! It's been quite awhile, hasn't it? As my focus in life shifted, my focus on wax shifted as well. For a few months there, I did not have the desire to purchase wax at all! I was content to melt through my stash and I didn't think twice about checking to see when my favorite vendors would open or watching wax videos or anything like that.

You see, things were changing for me. After a year-long health crisis, I finally managed to compile a team of doctors and holistic practitioners who could help.  I left my job. I started my own business. I went back to school. We finally started on our long awaited complete home remodel. Friends and family are having babies. Friends and family are getting married. Life is sweet.

But I started to miss wax. I've had other hobbies. Nail polish. Makeup. Bath and body products. Knitting (or at least attempting to knit). Antiquing. Scrapbooking. Other shit. But the one hobby that has been the most persistent throughout my life is wax. The first time I ever ordered from Candles from the Keeping Room was in 2005, when she was still Candles by Carol on eBay. The first time I ever used a Yankee tart was in elementary school.

So it seems the wax is an enduring love for me and I don't think it'll ever go away. I cannot imagine life without things that smell good! And so, Rosegirls opened. Fall is on the horizon. Just like that, I'm back into wax mode. Maybe not full force - I still am not huge into the whole Facebook aspect of the wax world and I'm still probably not going to stockpile wax like I once was. But I'm still here!

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And so, this is where the free wax comes in! I have accumulated a lot of it, of course, in the past few months where I have been purchasing again.

On FB destash groups, there is a thing called "ass wax" destashes. It is when you put a box together of wax that is less than desirable for regular destashes and you offer it for free with the cost of shipping.

I was going to offer these 2 destashes in a FB destash group but I figured, why not offer them to my readers who have stuck around througout the course of this blog! The wax in these is much nicer that what you would probably get in the average "ass wax" destash, so I didn't necessarily want to call them that. So, here's my FREE WAX destashes!

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The deal with these free wax destashes is as follows:

• The wax is FREE, buyer pays shipping. These are in large flat rate boxes and will cost $15.80 for US buyers and will have to be calculated for international buyers.
• This is open to US and international readers!
• Paypal only.
• One box per person.
• The first 2 people to e-mail me gets a box. My email is thescholarlynail (at) gmail (dot) com.
• These boxes consist of wax that I have gotten from swaps, round robins and destashes, wax that has been given as samples in orders from vendors, and wax that is an age that is less than desirable for conventional destashes but still smells great!
• Good luck! 

BOX #1 - BAKERY SOLD!!

BOX #2 - FRUITY SOLD!!

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Thanks to all who have stuck around on this blog! I appreciate each and every one of you. Take care and I hope to be back soon! 

-J

Collective January and Early February Hauls

It's the same old story. I find myself with ambitions of regularly updating this blog, but life always seems to get in the way. I took these pictures weeks ago with intentions of doing full reviews and scent descriptions for each vendor haul, but I have found it nearly impossible to find time to do that these days. I do miss being able to blog on the regular, but life has been very kind to me so I can't complain. 

I'm up to my eyeballs in wax again. Our house is about to be under construction, so I need to get the wax down to a reasonable size so I can transport it easily from room to room while things are being redone. Expect some majorly major destashes/RAOKS/giveaways/etc. from me soon. 

I've decided to share the rest of the pictures of my January hauls in this one post. Yes, I realize that it's March and I'm still trying to get my January hauls up here. So I'm a bit late. I won't be doing full scent descriptions/cold sniff reviews for each product I've purchased anymore (at least for these type of posts) so please let me know if something catches your eye and you'd like to hear more about it! I did place a few orders from new vendors which will be featured in "New Vendor Spotlight" posts, which will be more comprehensive than these types of haul posts.

Another goal: melted reviews! One day my friends. One day.

January theme: BUBBLE GUM! I became slightly obsessed with bubble gum scents this month, you may notice as such in my scent choices. Also, sping/summer/fruity scents!

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TIFFANY CANDLES

Cuttable Hearts in: Pink Sugar and Tinsel; Serendipity, Banana and Bubble Gum

Loaf in: Melon Ball Fizz and Raspberry Lemonade chunks with Pink Marshmallow overpour (amazing!)

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 DAPHNE'S DIVINE

Squares in: Loopy Mallow Pistachio (incredible!!!); Celtic Moonspice Birthday Cake

Gingerbread men in: Candied Watermelon Bubblegum

Freebie squares in: Pink Blueberry Pumpkin ZB

Macaron in: Pink Bubblegum

Chunkster muffins in: California Dreamin, Loopy ICSB, Raspberry OJ Cake Rainbow

Square small chunks in: Dieter's Dilemma

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RAINBOW MELTS

Chunky RTS brittle in: Tutti Fruity, Wildberry Mousse and Cotton Candy (to die for!!!)

Freebies in: Gooey Caramel Cider (bangin'!) and Sweet Bubbles

Cookie in: Strawberry Crunch Berries (yum!)

Bundts in: Blueberry Butter Brickle Bread (do. not. like)

Teddies in: Pomegranate Lemonade and Watermelon Punch Cotton Candy Frosting

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FRONT PORCH

4-packs in: Chocolate Raspberry Truffle, Margarita Marshmallow Noel (best margarita scent ever!), Choco Banana Mallow Cake (meh), Double Bubble Gum, Marshmallow Bubble Gum, Tart & Sweet Bubble Gum

Crapload of singles in: Apricot VBF, Lemon Mallow Rose Ice Cream (so good!), Banana Mallow Bread (also fantastic), Peanut Butter and Banana Cream Cake, Cream Filled Cake Bread, Cucumber Melon Mint, Hawaiian Sun Tan Lotion, Lemon Margarita (fave!), Pink Loving Dare, Moonspice Marshmallow Bread, Apricot Serendipity, Black Raspberry Coffee Cake, Amaretto Jubliee Cherry Ice Cream, Raspberry Blackberry Jam Butter Cookies (have decided I don't like FP raspberry anymore), Gummy Fish Candy Bubble Gum, Honeydew Lemon Serendipity, Coffee Marshmallow Noel.

Chunky muffin in: Cotton Candy/Cucumber Melon

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SUGAR SCOOPS

Chunk bags in: Edible Bouquet (awesome!) and Candy Shoppe

 Individual chunks in: Blueberry Snow (must. have. more), Breakfast Wake Me Up, Sweet Tooth (has no scent whatsoever), Pomegranate Parfait, Rainbow Wafer.

More individual chunks in: Gingerbread House (strange yet delish combo of jelly beans and gingerbread), Chocolate Fondue Bar, Mocha Madness, Chocolate Covered Banana (so delish) and Pumpkin Pie a la Mode.

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SUGAR AND SPICE 

(this was an RTS haul)

 Freebies in: Mystery cup, Mystery brittle (usually impressed with S&S freebies but these are not to my liking)

Cups in: Pineapple Honeydew Fluff (yum!!), Marshmallow Love Spell, Vitamin C, Strawberry B-day Cake Cotton Candy Fluff, Peach Strawberry Cream Cake, Kiwi (smells perfumey)

More cups in: Wildberry Zucchini Noel, Marshmallow Cake & Ice Cream Waffle Cone, Cotton Candy Marshmallow Cake and Ice Cream, Peanut Butter Crunch (smells off), Pine Peppermint Marshmallow Cake, Marshmallow Vanilla Butter Cake & Ice Cream ZB Noel, Peppermint Brickle, Eggnog Zucchini Bread and Pink Marshmallow Cake.

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UP THE CREEK SCENTS

4-packs in: Jelly Donut Sugar Cookies, Jelly Donut Butter Cookies (yum), Pink Confetti Cake, Bubble Gum Cotton Candy, Pink Sugared Bubblegum Beans, Banana Sugar Cookies (so good!!), Coffee Bean Noel

More 4-packs in: Spearmint Peppermint Twist (no eucalyptus note, love it!), Cotton Candy Sugar Beans, Blueberry Fruity Loop Marshmallows, Blue Moon, Lemon Pomegranate Noel (fantastic!) and Candy Crush.

Custom loaves in: Pina Colada/Serendipity/Bubble Gum (incredible!!) and Jelly Donut Marshmallow Zucchini Noel.

Chunks in: Blue Pink Pomegranate Fruit Punch and Strawberry Pudding Vanilla Butter Fudge

Freebies in: Confetti Cake, Jelly Donut Butter Cookies, Blackberry Jam Butter Cookies and Pink Sugared Bubblegum Beans.

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CANDLE LAB
Candle Lab is an amazing store in Columbus, Ohio where you can blend and pour your own candles and tarts! We visit Columbus quite often but never have taken the time to make our own blends. We stayed in Columbus for my birthday and made sure we had enough time to make our own this time! It was so much fun and I cannot wait to go back!

The loot!

Our blending worksheets! I vetoed my hubby's blend of pineapple/mango/guava because BBW has a similar Pineapple Mango candle but I was definitely impressed with his blending skills! (Please excuse the oily prints on mine, I kept referring back to my list as I was blending my oils)

Giant custom blended clamshells in: Black Cherry/Watermelon/Pomegranate, Dark Chocolate/Coffee Bean/Whipped Cream and Coconut/Pineapple/Brown Sugar (all are incredible!)

Custom blended candle in: Morning Dew/Hyacinth/Verbena (so fresh and spring-y!)

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BATH AND BODY WORKS TEST STORE HAUL
This was another stop on our Columbus trip.

Minis in: Pink Bubblegum, Raspberry Peach Macaron x2 (to die for!)
3-wicks in: Pomelo Grapefruit (incredible), Pineapple Palm Grass, Road to Kona, Havana Heat, Pink Petal Tea Cake and Lavender Marshmallow (amazing!!)

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That's all for now! Thanks for stopping by and hope you all have a fantastic week <3

The Bathing Garden January Orders

Good morning everyone! I hope you all are having a splendid weekend. I wanted to pop in with another quick post to show you all my combined January Bathing Garden orders!

The Bathing Garden is always a vendor that has been at the top of my list. For some reason, TBG kind of fell off my radar for awhile when they first starting selling only on Facebook. Truth be told, I enjoyed that rush of trying to order through etsy and when she moved operations to Facebook, it became too easy to order. Crazy right? Most people in the wax world are dying to have a vendor that easy to order from. Me, I craved that rush that comes along with stalking and having to quickly order from vendors. Or at least I did. Now I am absolutely thrilled that Shannon only takes orders through Facebook. I still have my vendors that I will always stalk, but I am happy to have a vendor that takes that stress away from the consumers.

For those unfamiliar with The Bathing Garden's ordering process, it is quite simple. You must be a member of the Facebook group, because in there Shannon will post the restock list. She will give a timeframe during which she will be taking orders. And all you have to do is e-mail her with what you want, pay the paypal invoice she sends you, and voila. Pain free ordering. No refreshing the page to see when stock is added. No staying up way past your bedtime just to get an order in. Just plain, simple e-mail. She always only has a limited amount of scents that she is offering at each opening, which helps keeps the work and TAT down for her. There was talk of her maybe doing things a bit differently for the next opening, so I'm not quite sure how that will work but I do believe things will still be done through Facebook. 

Here is a link to The Bathing Garden's Facebook group: The Bathing Garden on Facebook

There are a lot of things I love about Shannon's wax, but first and foremost it performs well for me. On average, I use about 2 cubes in pretty much any warmer and I generally get a great throw. Sometimes I only need 1 cube, and sometimes I'll need 3, but overall her wax performs consistently for me. And of course, I enjoy a great deal of the scents that she offers. Shannon carries some very unique blends in her lineup, and I appreciate having something a bit different now and then. She carries a lot of standard scents as well so there's always something for everyone. Lastly, but certainly not least, her wax is gorgeous. She does mainly clamshells, with the occasional shape or block tart. The combination of embeds, glitter, wax crumble, and dried flowers that she uses make for a stunning presentation. Looks wise, TBG is one of my favorites. 

So here is what I ordered from The Bathing Garden in January. She did 2 restocks, and I placed small orders from each one. Enjoy! Oh, and these pics look so much better if you click them to enlarge =)

• Guava Berry Gelato - Guava, raspberry, strawberry, creamy gelato. To me, this smells like the Strawberry Raspberry Guava scent from other vendors, which is an absolute favorite. It's a lovely sweetened up berry scent with a hint of creaminess. I don't really smell a "gelato" note per se, but I can definitely imagine this scent in the form of some sort of iced treat. Really beautiful and always a favorite from TBG.
• Pomegranate Lime Sweet Tart - Tart lime and pink pomegranate. This was probably the scent that I was most excited about but I ended up strongly disliking, unfortunately. The lime in here reminds me of a lemon or lime cleaning product, and I don't get a whole lot of pomegranate. A friend of mine said this smelled exactly like a Sweet Tart candy, but sadly my nose didn't pick up on that at all. I passed this one along in a round robin, as I know it's a popular scent and I'm sure will find a loving home.
• The Berry Scandal - Ripe raspberries, red strawberries, blackberry and guava topped with buttercream, candy corn and cake batter ice cream. Basically in this tart, I smell a strong scent of strawberry passion fragrance oil, a scent I've come to recognize from other vendors who carry it. It's more on the fresh side as far as strawberry oils go, with a hint of powdery sweetness. It's not my favorite strawberry oil, but it does smell nice with the creamy cake-y top layer. I'm still torn on this scent, I'll probably have to melt for the final decision.
• Pirate Punch - Coconut, pinapple, tiare and plumeria flowers. To me, this is the perfect light tropical scent. I get a touch of floral in the background but I mostly smell the sweet coconut and pineapple notes. It's a great combination of floral with tropical fruits that allows this scent to be fresh and fruity at the same time. After a month of curing, this is still quite light but I think it will be a perfect scent to bring with us to Maui in May. Yes, I will be bring wax with us on vacation and yes, I am already thinking about which scents to bring. This was a freebie in my first January order.

• Tricky Banana Treats - Vanilla cupcake, banana, caramel, cinnamon and cream cheese frosting. I had been dying to get this scent for over a year now, and I'm so glad to finally have it in my possession. It is your standard banana caramel cupcakes scent, I'm not sure if Shannon has added anything else to this scent because it smells like the same scent that I've had from other vendors. I really like this type of scent from anyone so I'm happy to have it, but I was hoping for a bit more of a unique spin on the scent. Oh well, at least this tart is absolutely adorable with all the glitter and that mummy embed! 
• Almond Macaroon Cheesecake - Cheesecake, almond macaroon. I'm really enjoying the almond macaroon part of this tart, which luckily, seems to be the bottom layer so I can smell it the strongest. However, I'm not so sure about her cheesecake scent. I should have remembered that I didn't care for her famous lemon cheesecake scent either. However, I am still going to melt this one because I adore almond scents and I am hoping that the cheesecake note will blend well with the almond while melted. Fingers crossed!
• Caramel Velvet Coffee Cake - Ground coffee beans, espresso, caramel, cake bites. I have been absolutely loving coffee scents lately after over a year of not liking them, so I of course had to snag this one. I smell mainly a strong, true coffee note but that caramel note in this blend helps it from being too bitter. I don't get any obvious cake note, but I'm sure it just lends to the creaminess of the blend. This is undoubtedly one of my favorites of the order, and now that these are all cured, I will be melting it as soon as possible. You can't tell from my picture, but this tart is absolutely gorgeous as well. 
• Marshmallow Cookie Jar - Marshmallow and sweet cookies. The cookie scent Shannon uses in this blend is phenomenal. It's a strong, crunchy cookie note with a hint of a rich, bread-y undertone, akin to Rosegirls' Monster Cookie, but a tad sweeter. The marshmallow in this blend is the top layer an adds a nice creamy sweetness to that rich cookie note. Another definite favorite of the order. I had this tart once before and wasn't impressed, but I'm glad I gave it another shot because it smells different this time around. Better.
• Zucchini Cake Noel w/ Wild Berry - Zucchini cake, Vanilla Bean Noel, wild berry. Shannon's zucchini bread is undoubtedly one of the more savory zucchini bread oils out there. I wouldn't exactly call it spicy, but it does have a hint of that "corn chip" type of note that in the past would have sent me running the other direction but have now come to love. The VBN with that swirl of wildberry (wildberry mousse, I'm assuming because that's what it smells like to my nose) helps tone down the savory aspect of the zucchini bread and adds a nice sweetness to it all. Really love this one!

• Brown Sugar Cream Rose Bouquet - Whipped buttercream, brown sugar, sugared rose petals. I was hoping this one would be heavier on the brown sugar aspect, but I smell mostly rose in this blend. I do enjoy rose scents, but like I said, I was hoping for more of a bakery scent with a touch of rose. I'll stick with Lemon Curd and Rose Milk for my rose fix from The Bathing Garden. 
• Illusions of Labyrinth - Mandarin, musk, sugar and violet. This is a dupe of a Lush scent. I'm not sure quite which scent it is a dupe of, but I can say that I am generally not a fan of Lush dupes in wax. I do enjoy them in the Lush products themselves but most of the time I'd rather not have my whole house smell like them. The exception is Pink Candy Fluff/Snow Fairy dupes - yum! But I digress. This one is nice, but I don't see it being a favorite. I went out on a limb with this one because there were so many raves about it. I smell mostly a sweet citrus with a prominent floral background. I actually usually love violet scents but this doesn't smell like the type of sweet violet note I am familiar with. I am definitely going to hang on to this tart for when I want something a bit different but it won't be a regular scent in my lineup.
• Faded Opulence - Fizzy clove, ginger, blood orange and cola. This scent is fantastic. I love cola scents, and they are hard to find these days. I smell mostly the fizzy cola note, with the scent of citrus lingering in the background. It does have a perfumey aspect to it, but not so strongly that it turns me off of this scent. It is a nice, fresh effervescent scent that I can see myself melting year round. And this is probably one of the most gorgeous tarts I have ever received from The Bathing Garden. You can see a closeup of this scent below.
• Ophelia in Gold - Raw honey, jasmine, lily, rose, bergamot, musk. This was a freebie in my second January order, and I can say without a doubt that this is my least favorite scent I've ever smelled from The Bathing Garden. To me, it smells like a old lady perfume. I hate to use that term, but it's all I can think of when smelling this tart. I cannot imagine how anyone could like this scent in perfume, let alone in wax. However, I have seen a lot of people raving about this scent so it just goes to show how everyone's noses are so different. It is a gorgeous block tart and I'm sure I can find a new, loving home for it. It is very generous of Shannon to give samples at all, let alone such a big one, so I am grateful for it whether I enjoy the scent or not.

SCRUBS! This is the first non-wax product that I've ever featured on my blog but The Bathing Garden is famous for her sugar scrubs so I had to include them. They are super creamy, no oily residue with these bad boys! I got them in two scents, Guava Berry Gelato and The Smitten Diaries, which is a new coconut scent. I love them both and I was happy to get a sample in Honeyed Toffee as well. I can't wait to dig into my new scrubs! I'm not a huge body scrub kind of gal but I can't help but get excited about these. 

And to conclude this post, here are a couple closeups of the gorgeous tarts. I swear, this batch of tarts I received from Shannon are some of the most beautiful I've seen yet. Enjoy! 

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Thanks for stopping by everyone! Have you recieved an order from The Bathing Garden recently? What are your favorites? If not, are you plotting an order from them? Let me know! 

Have a great weekend <3

A Quick Post - Daphne's Divine Round Robin!

Happy hump day my fellow wax addicts! I have a ton of posts lined up for the next few weeks but I thought I'd pop in and share this with you before I get started on all my haul posts.

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Today I have a short post for you all to share with you a wonderful round robins that I participated in this week. This RR was started by Lindsey, the owner of Daphne's Divine. I was contacted by Lindsey to participate a few weeks back and I jumped at the opportunity. I haven't gotten to try a whole lot of Daphne's wax thus far but I have been really enjoying my last order so I was super excited. And of course, I LOVE doing round robins. I was taking a bit of a break from doing RRs for a few reasons, but mostly because I did so many during the fall and I was trying to melt through everything that I got before I added any new RR wax to my collection. I feel like the time has come to get back into RRs and the Daphne's one was a fantastic start to the season!

You can find Daphne's Divine here on their new website: Daphne's Divine Scents and Aromas.

For those of you who don't know, a round robin is when a group of people get together to swap wax in a traveling box. Generally, one person will decide to start the box and ask people if they'd like to participate. They fill a box with wax (in this case, all Daphne's wax), ship it to the first person in line, that person takes out the wax they want, fills it up with more wax, and ships it to the next person. This continues until the box reaches the person who started the box who now has a box full of new goodies!

It seems pretty simple but there is a lot that goes into a round robin. First and foremost, the key to having a successful RR is to have trustworthy people in your box. I have seen many RRs go awry when people either take out too much and don't replace it with quality wax or when people just up and steal the RR box altogether and never send it to the next person. It's always such a shame, especially when the people starting the boxes put a lot of thought (and good wax!) into the box to begin with. A general rule of thumb is to replace ounce for ounce, but also quality for quality. I always like to think about what I'd like to see in an RR box that I was receiving when I put wax back into a box. If you wouldn't want to receive an RR with something, don't put it in the box! It's as simple as that =)

Round robins are one of my favorite things about this wax community. When they go well, they are such a pleasure to participate in. Sometimes people are hesitant to do them because of all the RR horror stories out there, but when it's a good group of people, it's a blast! Part of the reason why I was so excited to participate in this Daphne's Divine RR was because there was such a great group of ladies involved. It was all bloggers, youtubers and vendors, so I was familiar and comfortable with everyone who was participating. I hope this post encourages you all to take part in some fantastic round robins this year. And hey, if you can't find anyone doing one, start one yourself! I have made some amazing friends in this community by starting round robins of my own.

Here is what the box looked like when it got to me. What a beautiful sight!

Without further ado, here are my take outs and put backs for the Daphne's Divine RR! These are all craptastic pictures taken with my iPhone, but I figured I'd show them anyways <3 Enjoy!

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Take Outs: Everyone was allowed to take out around one pound of Daphne's wax and as much of the other wax in the box as we wanted. I took out a total of 41.65 ounces, 17.15 of which were from Daphne's. This was a super box, Lindsey really outdid herself with this one. So many fantastic scents in here from DD. I know everyone else left in the box will find some awesome stuff in there!

From Daphne's, I took out:

• Watermelon Cake - Such an awesome sweet watermelon scent! I'm not really getting a cake scent from this but still delish! 
• Pistachio Pineapple Cake - Amazing! Lindsey always does such fantastic pistachio blends. You can smell both notes equally in here. I'll be needing more of this. Bravo! 
• Butter Brickle Waffle Cone Cotton Candy -  Butter brickle/cotton candy is always a favorite blend and the waffle cone adds some extra sweetness. So good.
• Buttery Blueberry Zucchini Bread - I am in love with everything that I took out but this is at the top of the list. It's a wonderful blueberry caramel bread type of scent. I tried this blend from another vendor and DD's is by far my favorite.
• Hot Fudge Brownie Latte - This was an obvious pick for me, as I am loving coffee and chocolate scents lately. I'm surprised more vendors don't have more blends combining the two because they are perfect together!
• Strawberry Vanilla Butter Waffle Cone - Awesome sweet strawberry scent! I need to try more strawberry scents with vanilla butter fudge, it's a great combination.
• Blueberry Lemon Sugar - This was a not-so-obvious pick for me but I still had to give it a go. The blueberry in here is yummy and sweet, but the lemon note is sort of odd. It's almost herbal! It's a fascinating combo and I can't wait to see what it smells like melted. 
• Sweet Boo Berry Pops - I'm really loving the blueberry scents in this box, apparently! Another lovely sweet and bakery berry blend. These are the CUTEST tri-colored Hello Kitty heads with glitter. 

From the other vendors, I took out:

• Rosegirls Extreme Strawberry Jam Twinkies - This was a must have for sure. I love RG's strawberry scents and I love their twinkie blends so this is a winner in my book. Going on my bag list for next time!
• Rosegirls Melon Mayhem - I got this in a bag last time but the floral note in the blend scared me away and I destashed it before ever giving it a shot. This time I am going to melt it to see, as I love melon scents!
• Rosegirls Ultimate Caramel Apple Pie - I normally do not care for RG's green apple scent but I want to give this a try because I love their caramel. We shall see. It smells great on cold!
• Rosegirls Pecan Waffle Fluff Puffs - This was another out of character choice for me. I normally do not like the Pumpkin Pecan Waffle scent but mixed with monster cookie and marshmallow smoothie, it is a winner! See that's the awesome thing about RRs - you get to try scents that you normally wouldn't pick out for yourself.
• Candles from the Keeping Room Strawberry Raspberry Guava - This was another scent I destashed without giving it a fair shot. I love this scent from other vendors so I'm sure I will love it from Carol! It's a nice, super sweet berry scent.
• Vintage Chic Scents Sweetheart Smoothie - I was so excited to see this in the box because it was one of the scents I regretted not getting more of. And I am pleased to say, this clamshell has absolutely none of the plastic-y scent I got with the clams from my order. Awesome!
• Vintage Chic Scents Flapper Girl - This was another scent I never would have picked out for myself. It's an appletini scent, which I believe has a touch of blonde moment in there. Really nice, a surprise for me for sure.
• L3 Waxy Wonders Mexican Wedding Cake Mallo Fluff - L3 is quickly becoming a favorite vendor of mine, she has really fantastic stuff. This is a lovely sweet lemon cake scent with a hint of tres leche in there. Yum!
• L3 Waxy Wonders Fruit Loop Cheesecake Serendipity - I get mostly serendipity and fruit loops, two scents I have been really loving lately!
• Lasting Scent Candles Caramel Drizzle Cookies - An all-time favorite scent. LSC has my favorite caramel note ever. This scent is pure bliss!
• Waxie Lady Peach Puree - This is a new vendor on the block that I haven't gotten the opportunity to try yet so I was excited to see this in the box. I'm not normally a peach fan but this one I really enjoyed. I'm curious to try this one out!
• Sassy Girl Aroma Cucumber Cantaloupe - This is one of my favorite Yankee scents of all time, and while the oil dupes of it are a bit more perfume-y than the original, I still love it. This one will be great once spring finally rolls around.

And here are my put backs! I put back 52.75 ounces into the box. I will just list these instead of boring you all with more scent descriptions =) I tried to put back a good variety of scents and vendors. Enjoy!

• Rosegirls: Baked Zucchini Bread/Monster Cookie/Marshmallow Smoothie, Waluigi's Wonderous Birthday Cake, Pomegranate Watermelon Smoothie and Toadstool Trifecta
• L3 Waxy Wonders: Mango Sorbet Coconut Watermelon and Serendipity Rainbow Sherbet Cotton Candy
• The Bathing Garden Pomegranate Lime Sweet Tart
• Rainbow Melts: Tutti Fruity/Wildberry Mousse/Cotton Candy and Gooey Caramel Cider
• Sugar Scoops: Chocolate Fondue Bar and Rainbow Wafers
• Glitterati: Pink Sugar/Serendipity/Bubble Gum and Lemon Biscotti
• Sniff My Tarts Sweet Lavender Marshmallow Cake/Raspberry/Cotton Candy
• Haley's Heavenly Scents: Strawberry Pound Cake and Granma's Raspberry Zinger
• Candles from the Keeping Room: Tangerine Dreams and Strawberry Filled Twinkies
• Up the Creek Scents: Jelly Donut Butter Cookies and Confetti Cake
• Front Porch: Cotton Candy Cookie Bread and Wildberry Lemon Poundcake
• Beezy Tarts: Starburst and Ice Cream Scoop Bread
• Lasting Scent Candles: Blackberry Cotton Candy and Virginia's Blueberry Cookies
• Vintage Chic Scents My Favorite Things
• Sugar and Spice Gourmet Soy: Frosted Strawberry Honeydew and Butter Brickle Ice Cream

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And so concludes the Daphne's Divine round robin! I had so much fun participating, thanks again to Lindsey for asking me to participate <3 This box is already on its way to Ashley, the next person in line. 

Hope you are all having a great week! I have lots of blog posts coming up so stay tuned! As always, thanks for stopping by <3

Rosegirls January 2014 Haul Part 2 - Custom Muffins!

Good morning everyone! I hope you all are having a fantastic week! I'm going to just jump right into Part 2 of my January RG order - THE MUFFZ!!

Part 1 of my RG order can be found here: RG January 2014 Haul Part 1 - Bags!

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While I absolutely love Rosegirls' house blends, part of the excitement of ordering for me is the ability to custom blend some scents. I love the process of concocting my blends, from making lists to watching countless YT videos to bouncing ideas off of friends, it's all very exciting! I always keep a blend ideas list going, whether RG is going to be opening soon or not. Anytime I see a blend or think of a blend that I might want to try, it goes on the list. While the majority of the blends I ordered this time around were carefully planned and calculated, there's a few last minute blends that always seem to make their way into my order! Overall, I was pretty pleased with my custom blends this time around but I definitely think there is room for improvement. My quest for the perfect custom blend is endless. I noticed that I used a lot of the same kind of scents in this order (strawberry jam, gilligan's brew, and florida key lime pie to name a few) and next time I decide to do custom blends, I think I'd like to try for more of a variety. 

The products that Rosegirls allows custom blending in are large pies, 2 lb loaves, 1 lb loaves and muffins. I choose the muffins not only because it is the least expensive option, but because it gives me the least amount of product. I have so much wax at this point (especially RG wax) so I don't know if I'll ever use a whole loaf or pie, especially in my custom blends that I'm not even sure I will like. Also, I love the fact that the muffins are especially easy to share with people. The muffins come 4 to a pack, each one individually bagged and labeled which make them super easy to pop in a destash, RR, or swap! Previously, RG also offered custom medium pies that were $8 a piece. Those were always my favorite blending option before they were discontinued. RIP medium pies, we will never forget ye <3 Although a bit more expensive than the medium pies, the muffins are a nice replacement for those looking for a less expensive custom blending option. Plus they are just so darn cute, aren't they?

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So here they are, the muffz of my January Rosegirls order!

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

Top row, L-R: Wildberry Pomegranate, Caramel Butter Brickle Dunk My Donut, Strawberry Watermelon Margarita
Bottom row, L-R: Strawberry Raspberry Coconut Nilla Wafers, Monster Cookie Fluff Puffs Bread, Sicilian Lemon Royal Sugar Cookie Raspberry Coconut, Ooey Gooey Caramel Gilligan's Brew Funnel Cake.

• Wildberry chunks with Pomegranate overpour - Starting this post out with one of my absolute favorite blends! This isn't one of my own concoctions, but rather was a test scent that they had sent out with some flash sales last fall. Sadly, it didn't make the cut into bags so I knew that I have to custom blend it myself. It is SUCH a wonderful blend. The uber-sweet Wildberry scent blends so well with the tart and juicy pomegranate scent. Simple yet gorgeous. I can smell both notes equally in this blend, which is always something I worry about with the muffins. It is a constant struggle for me when I'm blending to decide which scents will be the chunks and which one will be the overpour. Good thing this scent had already been done so I had a model to use when picking the chunks and OP for this one. 
• Ooey Gooey Caramel & Butter Brickle chunks with Dunk My Donut overpour - This blend was created for the August opening by my lovely friend Michelle. She had stuck a few chunks of this into a RR for me and I knew I had to have more. Michelle and I were both on a huge butter brickle kick last fall so this was absolutely perfect. To me, this smells exactly like how a Cinnabon smells somehow, although there really isn't any sort of frosting note in this. The caramel and butter brickle blend together to make a super rich caramel scent, and the donut adds a lovely sweet cinnamon dough note. Two thumbs up for Michelle's blend!! I need to do more blends with Dunk my Donut next time, I always seem to love every blend it is in.
• Strawberry Jam & Watermelon Slush chunks with Margarita overpour - This was one of the blends I was struggling to figure out which scents to make the chunks and which the overpour. I knew that I wanted to do a strawberry watermelon margarita scent, but since all three of those scents are super strong on their own, I just couldn't figure it out. In the end, I went with margarita as the OP because RG has a house blend called Raspberry Pomegranate Margarita and the marg was the OP in that one as well. In the end, I wish I would have chosen the strawberry or the watermelon as the OP. The margarita is SUCH a strong scent that it overpowers the other notes, and it almost has a fizzy note to it. It actually kind of reminds me of that fizzy pop oil that other vendors have. It's definitely not my favorite blend but I am going to give it a whirl. If worse comes to worse, I will toss in a piece of my strawberry jam brittle when it is melting if that margarita is too strong. 
• Strawberry Jam & Raspberry Coconut chunks with Vanilla Wafers overpour - This is definitely one of my favorites from this order. For the August opening, a group of friends and I did a pie and muffin club, and this was based on one of the blends we did for that. I believe the OP in that one was VBN but I decided to do the vanilla wafers for this one to give it a bit more of a bakery feel. I can smell mostly the strawberry jam and the nilla wafers in this blend, but the raspberry coconut peeks in also. It's a sweet and creamy berry bakery blend with a hint of crunch from the wafers. It almost reminds me a bit of my beloved Nilla Strawberry Noel. Winner winner!
• Baked Zucchini Bread & Monster Cookie chunks with Marshmallow Smoothie overpour - This was one of my blends from our August pie club and it is amazing! I like to call it Monster Cookie Fluff Puffs Bread. It's honestly just the ultimate bakery blend. So creamy and delicious! If you are a Monster Cookie Fluff Puffs fan, you have to try this blend. It takes it to a whole other level! There's not really much else to say about this scent other than it's absolutely awesome. 
• Sicilian Lemon Cookies & Royal Sugar Cookies chunks with Raspberry Coconut overpour - I've been wanting to do a Raspberry Coconut/Lemon blend for quite some time now and I finally took the plunge. I added Royal Sugar Cookies to the chunks so that the lemon wouldn't overwhelm the delicate raspberry coconut scent but looking back, I wish I would have only done lemon chunks because the RSC does seem to tone down the lemon a bit too much. Still a really nice blend though and hopefully the lemon comes out more when warmed. Also, I feel like the combination of the RSC and SLC chunks combine together to form sort of an almond-y note. Really digging that!
• Gilligan's Brew & Ooey Gooey Caramel chunks with Funnel Cake overpour - This was inspired by LSC's Coconut Flan scent. Coconut and caramel smell SO good together, who would have thought?! RG's funnel cake scent is very sweet and almost reminds me of their waffle cone scent. It's a great blender and pulls together the fruity and caramel notes in this blend quite well. I think maybe if I did this blend again, I would probably choose a different overpour as that funnel cake is almost a tad to sweet for me, but I still think it will be really great when warmed.

Top row, L-R: Strawberry Pear Honeydew, Harvest Bake Sale Donuts, Key Lime Pie Gilligan's Brew Pie Crust
Bottom row, L-R: Key Lime Cotton Candy Birthday Cake, Strawberry Brownie Bear Claws, Pink Serendipity Smoothie and Cotton Candy Zucchini Gilligan's Brew

• Strawberry Jam & Pear chunks with Honeydew Melon overpour - This blend is the result of me trying to narrow down my scent list and combining two of the original blends I was planning. The two original blends were Strawberry Jam/Cotton Candy Frosting/Honeydew Melon and Strawberry Jam/Pear/Swizzle Sticks. I remember hearing that pear and honeydew were good together so I figured, why the hell not, let's combine them! This is undoubtedly my favorite custom blend of the whole order. The sweet honeydew scent definitely takes center stage, but the pear and strawberry add a nice tart, fruity background to the melon. I absolutely adore this blend. I usually end up sharing around half of my RG orders but I think I am going to have to save all 4 muffins in this scent for myself. It's that good. 
• Dunk My Donut chunks with Harvest Bake Sale overpour - I sniffed Harvest Bake Sale in a RR during the fall and I was pleasantly surprised! Harvest Bake Sale is a pumpkin and apple blend, but what I mostly smell is a sweet apple pie. I wanted to do an apple pie donut kind of scent and I think I went back and forth about 20 times trying to decided whether DMD or Harvest Bake Sale would be the OP in this blend. Obviously, I ended up choosing Harvest Bake Sale and I kind of wish I would have done Dunk My Donut because I really can't smell the donut scent in this yet! Hopefully it'll come out more when warmed because I think these two scents could smell great together.
• Florida Key Lime Pie & Gilligan's Brew chunks with Pie Crust overpour - This is another one of my favorites from this order! I think it's fairly obvious what I was going for here - key lime coconut cream pie! Like I've mentioned before, Rosegirls has my favorite key lime pie scent ever. It's so tart and creamy and crusty and wonderful. I've been loving coconut and lime bakery scents together lately so it was a must with this order. This blend is perfect. I smell all three notes equally, not one overpowers the other. My only minor qualm is that the pie crust scent may have the slightest hint of a perfumey note to it but I'm hoping that will go away once it is warmed. 
• Florida Key Lime Pie & Cotton Candy Frosting chunks with Birthday Cake overpour - This blend was inspired by a chunk I got in a sampler awhile back of Key Lime Pie Birthday Cake. It was amazing on it's own but I have been wanting to do a cotton candy lime blend for awhile and I figured this was the perfect opportunity to try it out. RG's cotton candy frosting scent is so strong that it ended up dulling down the key lime in this blend a bit but it's still really good. I would classify this as a super sweet bakery scent with a hint of tart lime in the background. While it's not exactly what I had envisioned, it is still a winner in my book!
• Strawberry Jam & Hot Fudge Brownie chunks with Bear Claws overpour - This one is probably my only true flop of the bunch. I want to like this one, I really do, but there is a weird nutty, yeasty note in the bear claws scent that is throwing this whole blend off. I love Bear Claws when it is used as chunks, but I think it's a bit much when used as an OP. I was envisioning some sort of chocolate strawberry flaky cinnamon pastry kind of scent, but what I got was a weird nutty bakery scent with an underlying plastic-y scent. I should have used Dunk My Donut as the overpour instead! I'll still melt at least one muffin to see if it smells better when warmed but I definitely don't have high hopes for this one. I've been obsessed with chocolate and strawberry blends lately, so I'll have to try for another chocolate/strawberry blend next time around. 
• Pink Sugar & Serendipity chunks with Marshmallow Smoothie overpour - Even though I love Pink Sugar and I love serendipity scents, I'm generally not a fan of Pink Serendipity scents per se. That was until I smelled RG's Pink Serendipity Smoothie! I got a few chunks of this scent in a destash and I fell in love with the blend. It isn't a scent that is available in bags anymore so I blended it myself. I think that creamy marshmallow OP lets me enjoy this scent that I normally wouldn't enjoy on its own. I know this is a pretty boring blend when it comes down to it, but I'm glad to have more RG Pink Serendipity Smoothie in my stash!
• Cotton Candy Frosting & Baked Zucchini Bread chunks with Gilligan's Brew overpour - This was another blend that was born out of the need to combine a few different scents to narrow down my order. I knew I wanted a Gilligan's Brew/BZB scent, a cotton candy/zucchini scent and a Gilligan's Brew/cotton candy scent, so this seemed like a good choice. I saw a couple of other people throwing around this blend idea for their January order and I figured, why the heck not! And ya know what, it's not half bad! It's just a rich coconut candy scent with a zucchini bread background. I was hoping that the zucchini bread would be more prominent in this blend but it still smells really good. I can't wait to melt this one! 

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The leaning tower of muffz!

And so concludes my January RG order....or does it?! I may have a few tricks up my sleeve in the form of a pie club so stay tuned for that in the (hopefully) near future! I think it's safe to say that between my order and the pie club, I will be well stocked up on RG for awhile! 

Hope you all have a great rest of the week and I will see you all again soon <3