Tickling my Olfactory Sense with Old Factory Candles

Products provided for review.  All opinions are my own.

Hello, Fireflies!

I think this is my first review about something that you don't put on your body.  But, I believe in the restorative properties of aromatherapy, and these candles can be part of that!

Right from the start, I knew I was going to like this experience.  When I ordered the candles, Old Factory told me to choose gift wrapping from Amazon.  I've never sent myself a gift-wrapped gift before! Even the packaging was smiling at me. 

My Dad taught me the value of a good pun.  He would like this packaging!

There are sooo many options for Old Factory candles, but they all are sold in coordinating sets of three.  There's Man Cave, for the masculine scent-lover in your life, and escapist scent collections like Spa Day or Vacation, or holiday collections like Winter Wonderland, Happy Holidays or Fall Harvest. Scent a nursery with Newborn Baby, or Fresh and Clean, and your kitchen with Coffee Shop.  There's also unique collections like High As A Kite, with its Cannabis and Incense scented candles, or 50 Shades, with Vanilla Sex and Leather scents.

I picked the Romance set, with Rose Petals, Champagne, and Dark Chocolate. When I told my husband what this set was called, he swept me up into his arms and gave me a big kiss!  I guess they work!

Even though they are all scented differently, all the candles white soy wax that burn cleanly, with very little smoke.  The chocolate was the heaviest-scented of the bunch, wafting chocolate with a hint of vanilla all through the house.  Rose petals is a light, but heady scent of roses.  Champagne had the most subtle scent of all.  I couldn't really smell it when it was burning, but when we blew it out, there was a nice vanilla scent to it.  What does champagne smell like, anyway? I drink it, I don't go around sniffing it.

 
One thing that denotes a quality candle to me is how it burns.  Cheap candles will burn a hole right around the wick, and never get any of the products around the sides.  Their wicks will sag and fall in the wax.  You can see here that the Old Factory Candle is melting evenly across the jar, and the wick is just right.

Just a simple nail art today to show my appreciation for these simple, but great candles.  The white jar is represented by my Sally Hansen/Revlon white mix, the black lid is Milani Black Swift, and the brown label is Lacquerhead Polish Ashlyn.

Right now, these candles are sold exclusively on Amazon.com, and they retail for $30.99, but are currently on sale for $25.  Every purchase is 100% Guaranteed. If you are not completely thrilled with the fragrance or appearance of these candles.you can send them back for a full refund.

To where do you want your candles to transport you?

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Tape Challenge #2 - Quilted Zoya

Fireflies, I am beyond excited about today's mani - I can't wait to show you!

I started with Zoya Hunter, this creamy hunter green.  Shiny!

I have been working with striping tape more, and this quilted/Faberge egg mani from The Nailasaurus was so beautiful and complex, I felt the need to tackle it. 

I almost stopped at this step - painting over the tape with Zoya Tomoko, and having the quilted look when the tape is removed. But, you may notice that the mani I took the inspiration from has something else...

Studs!  I took little microbeads and stuck them individually on little dots of base coat.  Because Tomoko is a textured Pixie Dust, I didn't want to have topcoat all over the mani in case that spoiled the effect.  So, it was putting a little dot of base coat, then putting one microbead on the end of a dotting tool and placing that on the nail, and repeat.  and repeat.  And repeat!

I knew the beads would fall off quickly, so I decided to experiment with some topcoat.  It really didn't affect the look of Tomoko at all!  Can you tell which nail doesn't have topcoat?  My husband couldn't, even with his face inches from my fingers.  (it's the thumb, btw)

The beads stuck like glue when topcoated... until I peeled all the polish off, because I couldn't take the feel of the studs! 

Here's everything I used to make this cool mani:  Zoya Hunter, Zoya Tomoko, Sally Hansen base/top coat, striping tape, and a dotting tool and microbeads.

I'm proud of this - it's outside my normal comfort zone for details. I know it's not perfect, but it was way cool.  Would you try it?

Oh, Orly FX, Part I

Oh, Orly.

I wasn't going to buy any of your new bottles, because they irk me.  But, it's just packaging, and is really *is* what's inside that counts.

And what's inside these FX polishes is TEXTURE. I bought 4 of these lovelies, and I'd like to show you two today with a little demo of a neat trick, and 2 tomorrow with some nail art.

Black Pixel.  Black and silver glitter.  Not as smooth as a Zoya Pixie Dust, but fairly comparable. Not as gritty as a Julie G Gumdrop, or OPI Liquid Sand. 

I had read on the Interwebs that layering any polish over a texture would then make that polish look textured.  Well, yes and no.  Let me show you what I mean.  I layered Julep Isla, a metallic white, over Black Pixel.

There is some texture, but it takes a while to appear, and it's less noticeable from a normal viewing distance.

Rose Pixel. This is a light champagne gold, very shiny and pretty.

I layered different colors and textures over Rose Pixel.  Pointer:  Nails, Inc Baker Street (cobalt blue creme); Middle: Cult Nails Morning glory (magenta matte creme); Ring:  Zoya Pippa (yellow creme); Pinkie:  Color Club Over The Moon (blue linear holographic)

Mor

Most of them got bumpy, though it took forever.  The Cult Nails was the smoothest, likely because the matte finish dried before the texture could appear.  Zoya Pippa showed the most texture, while Baker St showed the least.  The holographic was interesting - no more linear rainbow, but the color and the silver sheen are still there.

So, if you wanted to try and make your own shades of textured polish, I'd recommend a light-colored one like Rose Pixel, and polishes with a thin, slower-drying formula.  Would you try it?

Four Julep Suedes

Ok, so the 'Week' of suedes has become sort of a bakers' dozen... I'm sneaking in a couple more days because I just can't resist! 

When Julep announced a matte topcoat would be part of the November Maven's box, the polish world went a little nutty, hoping against hope that Julep would be coming out with their own line of matte suedes, and so they did.  I picked up 4 of them.

The first is a light green suede called Hailee.  This is so very different from Femme Fatale.. this one doesn't even read true green, but more of a hint of sage green.

Formula was the same with all the Julep suedes - just fine.  I don't think there is any appreciable difference in the application of the suedes between Avon, Pure Ice, or Julep. 

I was really looking forward to Julep Nora.  This is a unique purple in my collection.  It's very nearly a steely grey.

I decided to paint one stripe of Above the Curve Don't Call Me Sugar, a lilac holo, right down the center of each nail. 

I love how it almost gives the suede a duo-chrome feel.  If you didn't know it was two different polishes, would it just look like a trick of the light?

Next up is Julep Amber, a champagne gold suede.  I much prefer champagne gold to orange gold tones with my skin color.  This is almost a nude on me - it makes me look really, really pale, but I like it.

The last Julep I bought was Minka.  What a pretty color, somewhere between rose gold and copper.  This is also unique to my stash, and one of my faves of the suedes.

I thought a cloud mani with Amber, Minka, and Hailee would be really pretty.  It's almost a southwestern color palette, but very muted.  I love this combo.

Will you be picking up any of the Julep matte suedes?  At $14 each at Sephora or Julep, I suggest you get a Maven to pick one up for you for $5 when added to her Maven Box, though I don't know how long they will be available.

Adventures in Stamping - French Tip

Happy Sunday!  Today is a special day in the Lit From Within house, because 17 years ago today, Mr. Lit From Within and I got hitched.  I should have a hearts and flowers mani or something for today... but I created this mani a few days ago and forgot it would be going live on our anniversary.  Sorry honey!

I started with Brown Sparkles from Barielle.

No need to adjust your screen, and no, I didn't upload the wrong picture.  Why this is called Brown Sparkles, I do not know.  It is maybe a teeny bit on the champagne side, even though it looks silver here.  There are some sparkles, but it really just looks like a foil finish to me.

I tried to get it to sparkle... It's a pretty color, but not very exciting, and nothing like its name!

I decided to use China Glaze Midtown Magic and my new Cheeky plates (CH52) spiral/wave stamp for the tip.  Some of the new Cheeky full-nail stamps also have a curved edge, so you can use them for tips or even half-moon manis, which is very clever, indeed!

I did freehand a line at the top of the stamp just to give it more definition.  I don't do a lot of French tips because my nails are short and my nail beds are small, and a tip tends to make my nails look even smaller, but I think it looks okay with this type of tip because it's more open with the filigree.

 Do you like a French or Funky French tip?  Do you freehand, use guides, or stamp?

Sunday Stamping - Dancing the Two-Stamp

I caved.  I bought two of the China Glaze Bohemian polishes.  I couldn't help it.  I used them both in today's stamping challenge!  The base is Swanky Silk, a golden champagne/pink duochrome that is rumored to be a dupe for Deborah Lippman Sugar Daddy.

The challenge this week was to use two stamps in in the same mani.  I started with China Glaze Deviantly Daring and stamped the background swirls, and then went in with Finger Paints Plum Startled and stamped the flowers. 

I experimented with scraping the stamper of everything but the flowers for a few of my fingers.  I liked customizing the stamp to fit my nubs.  Most people have the problem that the stamps aren't big enough.  Not me - too much stamp, usually.

Did you pick up any of the (subtle) duochrome Bohemians?  Do you like the look of stamping with two different designs in different colors?

Celebrate glitter - Champagne bubbles

China Glaze Optimistic is exactly the kind of color that my Mom would want me to wear.  It's a perfect Lady color, demure, soft, a hint of shimmer.  Despite all that, I still like it.  There really is something about a champagne polish that evokes a sense of elegance.  Two coats, and there's still some VNL, but no worries, because glitter to the rescue!

 Another gorgeous Mattese Elite glitter polish.  This one is called Je Taime, and I love it right back.

This glitter is mostly tiny gold and holo glitter, with a very few medium holo hexes tossed in a clear base.  These are a soft champagne gold, though, not a 24-k blingtastic gold.  It's a very soft, elegant look.

Blurred to show a little holo bling.

Are there certain colors that evoke your childhood?  Do they make you more or less likely to wear them?