Favorites Friday

Happy Friday! I thought maybe I'd start doing these weekly favorites posts. I'm really trying to get back into the whole blogging thing and keeping it that way! I've got some plans brewing and reviews in the works and I will be able to spend a lot more time working on my blog next month! Woo! :)

But anyway, onto my favorites for the week!

1. Falter perfume oil from Darling Clandestine. I can't get enough of this scent! It's sweet and mellow and utterly fantastic! I won't say too much here since I am working on a review for more DC perfumes. But I will say that this perfume works perfectly with my body chemistry and I have been swooning over it!
2. Baker's Boy perfume oil from Sarawen (reviewed here). This has been getting some use from me this week on those breaks from Falter! I have been really into leather scents lately and I love the blend in this, with the sweet cake and fruits complementing the warm scent of the worn leather. Wearing this right now and I can't stop sniffing my wrists!
3. Blueberry Cheesecake Ice Cream body butter from Mad City Soap. I only have a little sample of this, which I received in my last order. I'm not a huge fan of the scent, as blueberry fragrances aren't one of my favorites. But it is sweet and delicious smelling. And the lotion goes on beautifully! I've been enjoying using this on my hands at night. I am definitely going to order some body butter from MCS! Winter scents were just released today too! They sound so yummy!
4. Forest Berry Jam Root Beer lip conditioner from Ella Dean (reviewed here). I have been loving the bright and refreshing flavor of this lip balm. Plus, I've been trying not to drink soda lately. It has so much sugar! I've been getting my root beer fix from this balm. And the silky texture is heavenly, as always!
5. Double Mint soap from Noirliliana (although it looks like the shop is currently closed). I had this soap for a long time before I tried it. By then the minty scent wasn't as apparent so I was a bit sad about that. But I have moved it to my soap dish for washing my hands and it has been keeping my hands super soft! The lather is really creamy and great for this colder weather.

Here's a couple other things that are non-B&B related that have been my favorites this week:

• Spangler mini candy canes. I am so happy that it is candy cane season now! I love candy canes and these are perfect! There's 40 in a box for $2 and a serving size is 4 candy canes for a total of 70 calories and 13g of sugar. I've been stashing them everywhere! Must. Start. Stockpile.
•  Horse Outside by The Rubberbandits (video). I have been loving this song! It has been playing a lot around here lately. I don't know what it is about it - it's amusing and fun and has a slight dancy mood to it. If you take a listen, there is some cursing.

That's it for my favorites this week - hope you enjoyed my first favorites post! I'll do my best to keep it up! Have a great weekend!

<3 Alyssa

Beautiful Twists Lip Conditioners {more flavors}

I've already done a review of Ella Dean's lip conditioners here, oozing with much love! I am still very much a big fan of these wonderful lip conditioners. They're super smooth and glossy and make my lips all happy-like. And I am always a fan of the flavor combinations Ella comes up with. So, I thought I'd do a quick post of my most recent flavors from Beautiful Twists.

Comfort (blend of vanilla, lavender, and carrot cake) (link) - The scent is definitely very comforting and soothing. The lavender is strongest in the conditioner, but it is sweetened and mellowed out by the vanilla and carrot cake. This is the first lavender balm I've purchased and I don't usually associate lavender with lip products, but I thought I'd give this a chance. I'm really glad I did. The scent is wonderful and pretty and I pretty much love it! I've also been a huge lavender kick lately and this has been one of the balms I've been using constantly.

Forest Berry Jam Root Beer (link) - I got this one as a freebie in my order (because Ella is so awesome with freebies!) and I'm really glad I got to try this flavor. In her description Ella says: "it will make you want to take a stroll through the forest". And I'm surprised it actually does make me think of the forest and outside world. The root beer mixed with the berry jam makes the scent very refreshing - you can really smell the fizziness of the root beer in this! The scent is also sweet and warm. Very interesting flavor and I've really been enjoying it!

Rotten Pistachio Pudding and Bubblegum off the Sidewalk (link) - Ella is always so creative with her descriptions. This one is for a flavor for the character Gloria the Garbage Lady. And just so you know, it doesn't really smell rotten! The scent is amazing! I can definitely smell the bubblegum and it has an interesting nutty element to it. The flavor is definitely sweet, but not over-the-top despite being a bubblegum flavor. The combination is so wonderful, this is one of my new favorites! And the label has gotten a bit beaten up by now (as you might be able to see in the photo) because of all the use it's been getting from me. I always have this one around!

Spearmint Vanilla Candy Ice Cream (link) - I love using this flavor before bed because of the spearmint. It has a really sweet spearmint and vanilla scent. It reminds me of the spearmint gum, but a little bit sweeter than that. It has a mild minty scent that is also creamy and just plain lovely. I fall in love with it all over again every time I open it! The scent is warm and soothing.

Ella Dean has such great flavor ideas! I am definitely going to go back and order some more sometime soon. Every lip conditioner I get from her gets a turn at being one of my favorites. Sometimes I'll get ones that I'm not too sure about at first, but a week later will be completely addicted to the flavor. Ella Dean is a flavor genius!

What are some of your favorite flavors from Beautiful Twists?

Beautiful Twists Body Mists {review}

I looove Ella Dean! Love! Ella is always so sweet and offers amazing products! I first fell in love with her lip conditioners (read the review here), and have since tried a few of her other products. And I have discovered that Ella's body mists are equally amazing! LOVE!

{the mist}

I've never been one to really care for body mists and perfumes and all that. Of course, I still have to get the idea out of my head that all body mists are going to be as horrible as commercial brands. Silly me. But because Ella was offering them on her site, I was willing to try. And I have discovered they are some sort of amazing!

The mist sprays out with a very fine mist. I honestly didn't expect it to be so fine and misty and it took me by surprise. I guess it shouldn't have being called a "mist" and all, but I've found other mists to be a bit thick to the point where you have to rub it into your skin. It's nice to just be able to spray it on and get good coverage. Plus, it feels really nice to walk around in the misty cloud!

The scents are extremely long lasting! I can spray it on in the morning and still be smelling good late at night. And I find that the scents fade lightly into ultra soft and sweet scents. Another awesome discovery: when I'm in the shower after a long day of wearing Ella Dean's body mists, the scent is revived by the hot water and the shower is filled with all of those beautiful fragrances for a few minutes. Makes for an extra good shower!

{scents + ingredients}

Just to note, I am not the greatest at describing scents, but I'll do my best! 

Icelle's Frost Kisses: This starts out cool and refreshing, like sweet minty gum. As the day wears on, it becomes a soft and powdery sweet, almost fruity, scent. I am in love with the peppermint in this one!

Pistachio's (Sweet P) Pistachio Pudding: This one is my favorite! It is hard to find a good, nutty scent and I am always on the look out for nutty scented products (is that strange?). It does remind me of pistachio pudding; it's very sweet with a good amount of nuttiness in the background. It slowly merges into a milky sweet scent. 

Snowla's Lovely Snowwoman: I find this to be a very girly fragrance - it reminds me of my middle school days when I was "oh so cool" with the fruity body sprays. Except this one is better. It is fruity sweet, but not overly so, with a background of refreshing florals. 

Winter's Snowflake Kisses: You know, I think this may tie with the Pistachio Pudding as another favorite. I think this reminds me more of spring than winter, but I feel it's a great year-round every day scent. It starts off with green florals with a cool background and just a hint of sweetness and ends with a powdery finish. It's a very clean and refreshing scent that I love wearing!

Another note, when I was talking with Ella, she told me that her room sprays can also be used as body mists! Good to know for when I buy a room spray!

Ingredients include pure floral water from a daisy patch (how cool is that?!), spring water, natural preservative, essential oils, fragrance oils, and isopropyl alcohol.

{conclusion}

These are my favorite body mists ever! I am definitely going to buy more (and more and more) from Ella Dean! I am simply in love with Ella Dean's shop - she has the BEST customer service and her products are always amazing. The mists are quite misty with long lasting and delightful scents. I honestly can't wait to try more, especially since Ella always has fun and exciting fragrances! Do you shop with Ella Dean? If not, you should! And tell me about it! :)

Ella Dean's Beautiful Twists Lip Conditioners {review}

WARNING: There may be a lot of gushing over the awesomeness of Ella Dean and her wonderful lip conditioners! I strongly urge you to continue reading...

You have all probably heard of her, but I though I'd add my review to the huge pile of well deserved reviews for Ella Dean! Ella Dean is one of the sweetest sellers on Etsy! The BEST customer service and one of my favorite shops, for her lip conditioners are FANTASTIC! Please, visit her various shops: Beautiful Twists, and Groovy Spookieville, and Ella Dean's Natural Products.

{the balm}

The glide on these lip conditioners are absolutely, positively, never been anything like it AMAZING! Seriously, I don't think I've ever felt anything better smoothly gliding across my lips! The balms are so silky soft and melt onto the lips in a buttery fashion. I just can't get over how good it feels. I'm pretty sure my eyes almost popped outta my head the first time I tried one! Besides the stellar gliding powers, the conditioners are quite moisturizing and lip quenching. They leave behind happy, soft, and good looking glossy lips! It is pure love. Seriously.

Did I mention how glossy they are? You have to check out how glossy they look just in the tubes!

Apart from the amazing and flavorful balms, Ella has taken it a step further by creating unique labels and stories for her balms! All of the balms feature different women (and some men and animals) with their own little stories that coincide with the unique flavors. I'm currently holding Pistachio Pudding in my hand right now, and here is what the label tells me:

There once was a girl named Pistachio (nickname Sweet P) who was born with beautiful pistachio colored hair. She loved watching the lightning bugs, winking & wearing flowers in her beautiful hair.

How creative and fun is that?! Ella even sends cute cards featuring the balm's character:

It just blows my mind when I think about how much love and effort Ella puts into every single one of her balms! She is simply amazing!

{flavors + ingredients} 

Ella Dean has an astonishing amount of unique flavors! Here's the (quite long) list of what I have:

• Apple Juice: It's a fruity, almost floral, apple flavor... if that makes sense.
• Assorted Roasted Nuts: This one has a salty, nutty scent with a bit of sweetness.
• Black Cherry Milkshake: Beautiful black cherry scent mixed with a creamy vanilla! It's softly sweet!
• Burnt Sugar Cherry Blossoms & Seaweed: THIS IS THE ONE! By far my favorite, the sweet burnt sugar scent really stands out in this balm with a hint of floral sweetness. And the seaweed powder makes it extra smoooth and creamy!
• Fresh Cream: Smells like sweet, creamy vanilla!
• Grapefruit Juice & Unicorn Kisses: Just like tart grapefruit juice.
• Hawaiian Banana Coconut Smoothie: It's sweet banana coconuty goodness. It reminds me of something that I can't quite place a finger on. Either way, every time I smell this one I have to stop, close my eyes, and sigh. It's that good.
• Marshmallow Grape Bubble Gum: A deliciously sticky sweet grapey scent!
• Modest Peaches & Cream: This is one of the truest peaches & cream scents I've ever had the pleasure to sniff. No too sweet artificial peach-ish scent here. It's da real deal!
• Pistachio Pudding: A bit nutty and sweet with a hint of spice. Yum! I wish I bought the body spray now!
• Plum Ice Cream: Reminds me of sweet berry juice!
• Raspberry Almond Cake: I didn't expect this to be very cake-y, but it totally is. It's like almond cake topped with raspberries
• Seductive Cinnamon Rolls: Seriously smells like cinnamon rolls. I want to eat it!

As for the ingredients, Ella's lip conditioners are vegan! Made with candelilla wax, sweet almond oil, olive oil, aloe vera oil, olive butter, safflower oil, vitamin e, fda color, essential oils, flavor oils, and love (and lots of it, folks!). A few of the balms also have seaweed powder, which is pretty gosh durn amazing! 

{conclusion}

Would I buy this product again? Um, YES! Most definitely, absolutely, positively, YES! I've already made several purchases from Ella. Her balms are AMAZING! The flavors are so unique and presented in a fun, playful way! The customer service is excellent and Ella is super sweet! This is one of my all-time favorite shops and I think you should leave this blog RIGHT NOW and go check out Beautiful Twists! I promise you'll find something to drool over!