Heavenly Smells !

I have seen quite afew posts lately about candle reviews so wanted to tell you about a favourite of mine.This is a popular company but not so easy to come by in the shops in the U.K,that brand is Yankee candles!!!

They have such a wonderful assortment of candles,wax tarts,car jars,plug in fresheners etc.... It is such a great experience if you can get to or find one of the shops as you will have a great time and spend ages browsing the vast selection and of course more importantly smelling the huge amount of different scents.There are so many scents to choose from that everyone,be it female or male will certainly find at least one if not more scents that they love.


Like I mentioned it is quite difficult to get Yankee in the U.K.My favourite place being a dedicated shop in the Westfield shopping centre in Derby called Delight(It only sells Yankee candles so why it's not called that I don't know!).If we ever go there for the day I always go in there and sniff around so to speak!!!!!!

Also qvc shopping channel sell some of the range too but prices can be a little high as alot of the time they sell sets of things so it is a lot of money to spend if you are unsure of scents etc...so I would say it is best to try and find somewhere where you can pay the minimum amount to try the range out before investing more money.I have also found a small selection of the range in some seaside shops,I cannot remember the names but there was one in Skegness,one in Weymouth and one in St,Annes near Blackpool.

The one I am using at the moment is the jar one pictured below,Midsummers night,it is the smallest jar size one that they do (3.7 oz)and retails for around £7.50.The prices may seem quite expensive for candles but I believe these are well worth it.You get around 40 hours of burning time from this jar so I would recommend this for a first time purchase.You do with these jars and any others however have to burn them for a good few hours to stop the tunnelling effect happening,if you don't then you find that the wax has not melted right to the edge of the jar and you are left with a tunnel through the middle and what you have not melted is therefore wasted.These do burn slowly so I would say you might have to burn it for around atleast 6 hours,that's what I found anyway as I have alittle tunnel through mine too! Just keep an eye on it and don't light it when you have to go out somewhere and have to put it out in half an hour!



I have tried the small votive candles (pictured below) but I didn't think much of these and think these were a let down for Yankee as they did not give off much of the scent which is highly unlike this brand.Normally the scent is very true and fills the room unlike some scented candles that smell when not lit and soon as you light them you cannot smell a thing!

I have also tried afew wax tarts.These are round pieces of wax that are made up of very minuscule balls of wax that melt in an oil burner,pop a whole one in or just crumble a little and light a tealight underneath to melt the wax and omit the scent.Yankee do sell special tealights to be used with these.I have not tried them so cannot give any reviews but apparently they have more of a controlled sort of flame that is better for use with the tarts.I use normal tealights and I would say sometimes you can get a little of a burnt sort of smell near the end,maybe this has to do with the flame burning the wax too furiously.I however overcome this slightly by trying to put the candle out just before the wax has nearly all evaporated.Whatever has not evaporated completely solidifies again and can be reused.I wouldn't say keep melting the same piece over and over as it does lose it's smell so just twice is probably enough.These are definitely good for a first time purchase too as they only cost just over one pound each so good for people also who want to try out lots of the scents.If you know better or have any tips,let me know!!!!!

The next scent I would love to try is Vanilla cupcake,smells scrummy! What's your favourite Yankee fragrance?

What do you think about a sale?

What do you all think about me having a blog sale,or even regular blog sales?


In the sales I would mainly sell handmade items such as cards,bookmarks and babies booties.But also I have other items I could include such as DS lite cases,keyrings etc...(these items can be found in my sell or swap video on my youtube channel)


The cards would be various different designs and alot of the time two are never the same as I make up batches of cards with materials I have so don't tend to be able to produce more than one in exactly the same.If something proved popular I could however try to replicate the same design.Unique one off kinds are great though,no-one gets the same so makes the handmade part so much more personal too.Cards would vary in price from 50p-£1.50,bookmarks 25p and booties £3,other items such as DS cases would be around £2-£3.I have included a couple of pictures of sample cards and the prices below just to give you an idea.I don't have a picture of the booties at the minute(Silly me has wiped it off the computer and I don't have any more made up!) Will include one soon, or they are featured in my facts about me youtube video so you could look there. Postage is something I have not sorted completely as this is only in very early stages(Want to gauge opinions first!) I would say for cards around a £1 and that would be a flat rate for afew too if you wanted more than one,that would include postage and envelope costs.Other items around £1.50,depending on size,weight etc...I would always keep postage prices honest and never try to gain from them.If anyone would want anything from outside U.K I would have to calculate that as and when you contacted me with your interest in an item.


All payments would be done too by paypal and anyone who wishes to ask any questions or ask for something would need to leave me a comment or send me a message though here or via youtube (Any way you prefer!,I don't mind)



This Friend card would be 50p ! Bargain : )

Also all cards,bookmarks and booties come nicely packaged in cello bags and labelled as handmade.


This congratulations one would be £1 ! Bargain again : )

These book marks are 25p as they are made from paper folding,I do use a strong sort of picture paper so they do hold shape.I then personalise with a peel off.Most prob in orders I will give these away as a freebie too !!!!!

Let me know what you all think.Like I mentioned before alot of items are in my videos on youtube so take a look there.I also have a past card designs video there which shows alot of cards.If this idea proves popular I will of course list each item with prices, pictures etc......

Thanks so much and I look forward to hearing your opinion and please if you know anyone who would want anything like cards etc... point them in this direction,it would be very much appreciated!!!!

Take care all

Natalie x

Feeling Crafty?

Just a quick post as I have noticed that I have quite a lack of craft posts at the moment seeing as I say this blog is about craft and beauty ! So I thought I would let you all in on two of my most favourite craft websites that I always use for free printable materials.Crafting doesn't need to be expensive and you can get just as good backing papers,decoupage images etc...all for free from the Internet,how cool is that?????? : )


The first I use when I need some decoupage images for making my cards(Also please check out these and any other websites for copyright info if you are wanting to sell your cards) This site has a variety of different images and backing papers to match for all occasions and is run by a lovely lady called Audrey http://www.thelilacgardendecoupagesite.co.uk/


The next has so much on it for you to do.Everything from backing papers,scrapbook elements,envelopes,stationary,origami,pop up cards,ready done cards that you just print and fold to party supplies (hats,banners etc...that you just print and assemble from paper!)

The site is run by the electrical firm Canon,seemingly to coincide with there range of ink jet printers. www.canon.com/c-park/

Hope you all will take a look and hope these have inspired you to have a go at crafting too!

Goody Goody Gum Drops !

Just wanted to let you all in on my latest hair care find that actually seems to make a difference,Gum !


I have tried the Serum from this range in the past and have been pleased with it but never really thought that I must repurchase it.On looking in my local pound shop I came across this shampoo and conditioner and thought I would give it a go and am very pleased I did.

I was only commenting not so long a go on a youtube friends video about a shampoo and conditioner that she was reviewing.I told her that I can never find anything to wash my hair with that ever makes any difference to the last bottle of something I tried.Everything I can remember trying in the past always just does the job of washing my hair but never leaves it in any sort of condition that makes the hair feel that it's been washed.This however did just that as I felt immediately a difference in the the fact that it was so much softer and silky feeling,wet and dry.

The smell is absolutely divine as it smells of Tangerine,I must say that the conditioner does have more of a smell than the shampoo.I wash my hair late in the evening so I go to sleep with a lovely Tangerine smell and even when I wake up the scent is still there in my hair too.

I got the shampoo in a 250ml bottle and the conditioner in 150ml.(This is always said but why do companies make conditioner in so much smaller bottles as you always run out of it first and still have the shampoo so you have to repurchase,that may be the answer right there actually, I think we all know it,but it is still annoying! ) I got the Blue label colour which is for Frizzy Coarse hair as I have thick hair.The shampoo is called Daily Revitalising (I don't however wash my hair everyday) and the conditioner is called 2 Minute Makeover Intensive.I paid £1 per bottle so a very good bargain,looking on the website the products seem to normally retail for £3.99.The bottles I got may have made there way to the pound shop because they are from a different range they did,looking on the website they have a couple of ranges with different packaging to these.The new ranges seem to have products with the same sort of description so if you were to try these ones and couldn't get again in the pound shop you could repurchase directly from the website which is http://www.gumhair.com/

Really worth trying,so take a look in the pound shop and try it as it's definitely comparable to a more expensive brand.

In's and Out's

I have seen this on other peoples blogs so I am jumping on the bandwagon!

IN : -Getting used to my new haircut!
-Using "Gum" Shampoo and Conditioner
-Making wonderful friends through youtube
-Using my L'Oreal HIP Blush and Revlon colourstay Lipstick from my Friend Amanda
-Doing swaps

OUT : - Feeling cold
- Coming into contact with rude people on a daily basis at work
- Our cat being poorly : (
- Having lots of bad luck!
- Hospital appointments

My first swap with my great friend in the USA,Amanda !

This post is as the title suggests,all about a swap I did recently with a lady I have become such great friends with through youtube,Amanda.She is very similar to me in alot of ways as we seem to have the same taste in things we like to do and styles/colours of makeup.She does wonderful videos along the same lines as mine,so if you are interested in mine you will love hers! Go and take a look at her channel www.youtube.com/user/xoxoamandakisses to find videos on crafting,cooking,makeup,fashion and hauls(She loves those as she has a little thing for shopping!) etc... Also she has a blog www.amandaxoxokisses.blogspot.com

I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of our swap from the shopping to the wrapping and to the excitement of waiting for the package to arrive.We are definitely going to do another one and I have suggested next year now so I can make a start on everything as I have far too much makeup(Well by my standards anyway,probably not as much as others and certainly not as much as Amanda,go check out her makeup collection vids to see what I mean!) Hopefully I will be able to pick up some great things for her over the Christmas/New year sale period.

We both made videos of the things that we sent each other and they are on youtube for you all to see.I have pulled afew things out of the lots that she sent me to show on here but if you watch the videos you will see everything.


First of all is two rings,a big green square cut stone ring and a pearl cluster dangly ring,love them : )

Next is a gorgeous pair of earrings with blue cameo designs on them and cute ribbon bows and pearls.Also a great pen that looks like a lipstick! Never seen those anywhere here before and I asked Amanda to send me one as I had seen one in a previous swap video she did.

Next is a Maybelline Lash Stylist mascara.It is very unique as the wand is more of a plastic comb as in a traditional hair comb type of thing.You may not be able to see very well though in the picture I'm afraid! ( Oh the stress of cameras!)

Amanda sent me some brands that we don't get here in the U.K and this is one of them,Physicians Formula.This is a lovely cream eyeshadow set in Purple/Berry shades

These are something I asked Amanda for again and they are Dr Pepper lip balms! We get these soft drink flavoured ones over here now but more in a traditional stick shape and never Dr Pepper.I love Dr Pepper so asked if she could get me some as I know they are easy to get in the USA,I also asked for the can shape as they are so cute and I will definitely save the packaging after I am finished with the balm.

The next two things I have used every day since I got them.A L'Oreal HIP blendable blush cream and a Revlon colorstay lip duo.We can't get HIP here so I was excited to try something and this blush is great and I love the cream idea.The lipstick is wonderful too and something I have never tried.You put the darker coat on and that stays put all day(How often do you get that?) Once that is dried you put on the metallic gloss coat that you can reapply over the course of the day to change the tone of the lipstick.Amanda get me more PLEASE!!!!

Lastly out of the things I have shown is a really gorgeous Pink/Coral Revlon lipstick in the shade Silver City Pink.And the most lovely shade of Pink/Coral Wetshine lipgloss called Clearly Coral by Maybelline.

I love everything I received,so a big thank you goes out to the wonderful Amanda x