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A Candle For A Rainy Day

I love candles. On a cold, windy, rainy day, there's nothing better than cuddling up on the couch, watching a movie with all the lights off and a candle burning. And since it's been practically a monsoon outside here in L.A. for the past week, I've had a lot of time to do just that and test out the various candles I've had sitting in my closet for months. My new favorite? Bath and Body Works' Orange Ginger from their Aromatherapy line. The box says that it's energizing, which kind of insinuates that burning it would make me want to jump up, put on the "Rocky IV" soundtrack and run a few miles. It did not. (This might also have to do with the fact that even venturing outside to get the mail made me look like a drowned rat and I don't even like running when it's sunny out. Unless it's to catch the ice cream truck that used to come around in the summer time. I have been known to do a full on sprint to get my hands on a Toasted Almond). Instead, I found it a really pleasant scent to relax to, citrusy, but with a hint of spice as well. The scent was long-lasting and filled a few rooms, instead of just lingering around only the burning flame. The candles are also really reasonable - $10.50 for a 45 hour burn time, and you can usually get them even cheaper if the Aromatherapy line is on sale or you have a coupon. And you can get the scent in their Home Fragrance Oil as well, which is even more economical. I guess my mom was right. I really should clean out my closet more often!

Tree In A Box

Even though I love Christmas, I never get a tree for my apartment. I could pretend that it's because I'm against cutting down living things or that I'm rebelling against how expensive it's gotten to buy and decorate a tree, but really, it's because I'm lazy. It's a lot of damn work to make a pretty Christmas tree happen and as a rule, I'm against putting that much effort into something I'll have to throw away in a few weeks. Plus, real trees shed and I have nightmares about trying to vacuum piles of dried up needles. But of course, even though I'm too lazy to get a Christmas tree, I still want my apartment to smell like I have one. This is where candles come in. Usually it's the Gap Holiday one, but this season I've stumbled upon a new favorite - Slatkin & Co.'s Tree. It really does smell like you have a forest in the middle of your living room, and even when the candle hasn't been burning, I can still detect a faint scent of Christmas in the air. It's a pretty good deal too - it sells for $16.50, but the box says that it burns for 50 hours. I think mine is probably going to last closer to 40, but then again, it's not like I have a stopwatch out when I light it, so my math could be a little off. (I hate math. The only time I like doing it at all is when I'm trying to calculate how much a 20% off coupon is going to save me at the mall). I do wish they'd chosen a catchier name for the candle though. I mean, Tree definitely tells you what your nose is going to be dealing with, but it's just so... blah. I can come up with better ones just off the top of my head. What about Everlasting Evergreen? Forever Fir? Pine Power? Hey, this is fun! If you ever run out of candle namers Slatkin & Co., call me! You can pay me in boxes of Tree.

Old Flames

You know, every once in awhile, someone invents a product so great, you wonder how you ever did without it. Mallomars, Windex wipes, the Blackberry... They've all greatly enriched my life. And to that, I can now add the flameless candle. I was at Target tonight and I saw them, the Glade Wisp Flameless Candles, on display, like a beacon of light amongst the shelves, calling out to me. I think they were saying, "Hey Stacey, we know that you only came in here for two items and really shouldn't buy anything else, but one of us neeeeeeeds to come home with you." And so it did. And it is awesome. I bought the Glade Clean Linen scent and it's currently "burning" in my bedroom as we speak. It looks like a real candle (as long as you don't get up super close) and it smells like one too. I get a whiff of Clean Linen right when I walk into the room and it's only been on for a couple hours. (Of course, I have it turned up to the strongest strength, so you might like it a little less potent). And when the scent runs out, you can just buy a refill in any scent you want, so it's cost effective too. But my favorite thing about it is that you get all the benefits of a candle without the possibility of setting your house on fire. Genius. If I could get back all of the time I've spent running back into my apartment to make sure I didn't leave an open flame burning, I could probably take a European vacation. And I'd pack some of my Glade flameless candles for ambience in my hotel room. Now that is the true test of a great product, taking up valuable luggage space that I could be using for lip gloss. I think that says it all.

Comfort is a Terry Robe

I adore the Clean. Fresh. Pure. line of candles at Bath and Body Works.  The Terry Robe one, which I just got half off, smells just like freshly laundered clothes.  It burns evenly and fills the room with its wonderful aroma.  The scent actually makes me picture myself wrapped in a big white robe in a relaxing spa when suddently two gorgeous men with perfect physiques come into the room and beg me to let them rub me down.  Sigh.  I really need to get out more.

Pineapple Goodness, Part II

It's so weird how when you realize that you like a certain scent, it suddenly pops up everywhere. I walked into Bath and Body Works today with all intentions of just buying a present for someone and nothing for myself, but those sneaky bastards got me once again by introducing a new line of Pineapple Mango scented products. And apparently, I'm not the only one who likes them because the woman told me they just got their supply in and yet they're already sold out of two of the different candle sizes. That ended up being sort of lucky for me, since I was able to restrain myself from buying the extra-large candle in all its over twenty dollar glory and instead purchased the home fragrance oil for $7.50, which is burning as I type this. It's beyond fabulous. In fact, it's so beyond fabulous that I need to invent a new word for how much I like it. It's... Candle-icious. It's... Can-fabulantabulous. It's... Awesome-osity. Hhhm, this is harder than I thought, so I'll just say that it smells tropical and refreshing. And like all their oils, the scent fills the entire room and lingers, so it's a small price to pay for something that you know works great. Plus, how cute are the little pineapple shaped containers that the medium-sized candle comes in? It's like a candle and a decorative object! Damn you, Bath and Body Works. Why must you keep creating products I can't live without? Why?????

Let Them Smell Cake

I can't decide if it's a sickness, or not, that I love to smell baked goods all the time.  I mean, I love to wear perfume and lotions that smell like cake and vanilla and am always drawn to lip glosses that smell like caramel or cupcakes.  So, it's no surprise that I was drawn to the True Temptations line of candles at Bath and Body Works.  The line contains yummy scents such as Apple Pie and Fresh Baked Cookies.  I bought the Marble Cake and I have to say it's not as strong as I would like it to be.  It smells great in the container, but once it starts burning, I'm not smelling "marble cake" thoroughout my home as I had hoped.  The glass jars are adorable with little silver lids and brightly colored labels, but if you really want your house to smell like cake and you need to decide between this candle and actually going through the hassle of baking a cake - I would just bake the cake.  At least then you get to eat a piece.

You Can Buy Gladay at Tarjay

I'm a candle snob, I can admit it. If I'm in a store, inevitably it's the most expensive candle that catches my eye. And my nose. But since it's not always possible to purchase Henri Bendel or Jo Malone, I've been on the lookout for some cheaper alternatives lately. So far, the one I like the most is Glade, which kind of makes me laugh because that name will always remind me of trash bags and garbage is the last thing I want to think about when shopping. Glade candles are really cheap (seriously, REALLY cheap - they're like $3.50 a candle - that's less than a latte!) and they come in a variety of scents. My favorites that I've tried so far are Clean Linen (which smells similar to Yankee Candles' Clean Cotton), Suddenly Spring (it smells sort of like when it rains in April) and Strawberries & Cream (I'm pretty sure you can figure out what this one smells like). They also have 2 in 1 candle fragrances that combine two different scents, like Hazelnut Cappucino & Espresso Bean. I wouldn't say that these are the strongest candles I've ever burned, but one still scents my entire bedroom and they're so cheap that you can buy as many as you want, so I guess that's a fair trade off. Plus, you can find them at most drugstores, so they make those annoying trips to pick up your prescriptions a little more fun. Okay, a lot more fun. Now if they could just get rid of their annoying commercials where the woman pretends they're french and refers to them as Gladay, I could really get behind this product.

Wild Currant

In all my vast candle buying history, somehow I've never managed to purchase a Trapp candle before. I'm not sure how that happened, but one of the great things about having a birthday so close to Christmas is that it sort of keeps the holiday gift giving season going. And luckily enough, one of my birthday gifts was a Trapp votive candle, so I finally got to see what all the fuss is about. (See how I brought it all full circle there?) The scent I was given was Wild Currant - it's an interesting fragrance and one that I probably wouldn't have picked out myself, which is always the cool thing about presents. Plus, it led me to Google to find out exactly what the hell a currant really is and now I know that they're a version of the raisin, so I guess it really is true that you learn something every day. For a votive, it smells surprisingly strong, although I still can't figure out why the box says it's a "giant votive." Note to Trapp: You cannot say that something is giant if it's the EXACT SAME SIZE as every other votive I've ever seen. It did fill my entire living room with the scent though, which always makes me happy because there are some candles that you can't smell if you get two inches away from the damn flame and that's always a disappointment. Also, when I went to their website, I found some other scents that I really want to try. Honey Grapefruit sounds fantastic, and so do Orange/Vanilla and Blackberry/Vanilla. Well, I guess if I have to get older, having people give me presents like this makes it a little better.

Are You Baking Fresh Cookies?

It’s that time of year, again, when I stuff my face with everything in sight and don’t feel remotely guilty about it.  Okay, well, maybe I feel a little guilt – which is why I’m loving the Christmas Cookie candle from Yankee Candle.  The aroma is delightful and the price is right (especially if you get it from Bed, Bath and Beyond with your trusty 20% off coupon).  I bought the three wick candle and it burns forever with minimal blacking on the side of the glass container.  If I can’t be trusted to not devour an entire batch of cookies, I had better always keep a Christmas Cookie candle nearby.

Winterberry Is The New Holiday

For the past few years, nothing has said "Welcome to the holiday season" to me more than the Holiday scented candle from The Gap. It just smells... festive, and since it comes out just about the same time they start decorating the malls, I totally associate it with Santa, candy canes and snowstorms. And since the candles can usually be found on Ebay for significantly more than they cost in the stores, I know that I'm not the only one who loves the scent. (I find this weird, by the way. It's not like the candles are from someplace like Fred Segal, where most of the country can't shop. Is there really anyone out there who doesn't live within driving distance of a Gap?) Anyway, I guess Bath and Body Works took notice of this because when I was in there the other day, I picked up one of their new Winterberry candles and realized it smells exactly like the Holiday scent. This is good news for several reasons. For one, the Holiday candle isn't out yet. For another, Bath and Body Works has candles, scented oil and Wallflowers fragrance diffusers in the scent. Plus, there's the fact that with all the coupons to redeem at BBW, you can get two candles for the price of one. I wish I could describe the scent, but I'm not sure I'd know where to begin. The BBW site says it's "Fresh and tart with warm, woody undertones. Cranberries with pomelo, mandarin orange, fresh pine and a hint of toasted clove." I have no idea what a pomelo is, but it sounds interesting. I bought the candle and the diffuser and I'm really loving both of them - the scent is strong, but not overpowering. And it's making me feel a lot more festive, considering that yesterday it was something like 95 degrees in Los Angeles. Now all I need is an unlimited supply of peppermint mochas and the holiday season will have officially begun...