Favorites Friday

I haven't been posting these every Friday like I should be. Mostly because I'm still spending my time in my second-home, away from most of my lovely products to play with. Not many new favorites from the stuff I have with me! So, this post will include my favorites from the last couple of weeks.

Onto a few of my favorite things:

1. Bifrost Coconut Peppermint lip balm from Darling Clandestine. I am loving the cool and yummy flavor and the glossiness of this balm! And despite the huge tin it comes it, I have already used a surprisingly large amount! 
2. Peppermint Hot Cocoa lip balm from Long Winter Farm (flavor review here). I have recently rediscovered the fabulousness of this balm! It was forgotten at the bottom of my purse for awhile and I just found it again the other day. Yay! It is perfectly minty and cocoa-y and always creamy. 
3. Lavender shampoo bar from Homesteaders Cache. I actually ran out of the soap I brought with me so I picked this up in a local store. It was the only lavender bar as the regular were sold out. And in my need for soap, I forgot to photograph this before I started using it. Sigh. But the lavender is delightful! It makes showers delightful and my purse is smelling pretty awesome since most of the bar is still hanging out in there! 
4. Ginger Souffle whipped body cream from Origins. I do not have this but I know someone who does. I tried it a few times and smelled it a few times more. It is freakin' amazing! Silky lotion and the scent is incredible! Ginger and citrus goodness. I need to get some for myself!

That's it for my favorites. A bit low for combining weeks, but nothing else has really wowed me lately. It'll help when I have more variety! And not forgetting my non-B&B favorites. Of which there is only one (that I can think of right now!):

• My new winter coat! And yes, it's a men's coat. I happen to prefer the sleeve length and length in general in men's coats over women's. I don't understand why they make women's coat sleeves so short! I don't want my wrists exposed every time I stretch my arms slightly! You know what I mean? Also, this coat will be good for snowboarding! AND, there's a ton of pockets including a little one on the sleeve the perfect size for a few lip balms! 

Hope you all have a good weekend! I will be doing some more traveling this weekend! Home this time. Hopefully back to being productive with things now! And maybe then these posts will have pictures. But anyway, cheers!

<3 Alyssa

My First Ever {haul} Post!

I thought it might be fun to do a little haul post of all the stuff I bought and received today... :)

Today was a pleasant day, a nice change from the usual routine. I went to work as usual, but afterwards my favoritest cousin in the whole wide world (who just started a blog!) picked me up and we went out to lunch at the best place for lunch EVER! And then we wandered from store to store, browsing mostly, and buying a few delightful goodies. 

Here is what I bought today:

First up are my thrift store finds! I spent a whole one dollar on these two items: the cute cup and the fabric it was photographed atop! I absolutely love floral patterns and I have quite the collection of cups with different floral designs on them. It will be amazing when I have my own home and can bring out my eclectic, sometimes tacky (I have a great love for tacky things - I even own a duck lamp!), collection of household items! As for the fabric, I think I'm going to give to my mom for the quilt she's been promising to make for me for the past... 5 years! One day, one day... 

But yes, onto the next item!

As funny as they may seem, Turbie Twists are amazing! My Gram would always give me some of these because she loved them so much she was always well stocked up. I remember she would use these all the time, even just to put her hair up while she was in the kitchen. My Gram was amazing! And now I love to use Turbie Twists myself, although just after a shower! This one was on sale and I bought with a rebate card - no money spent! SCORE!

And my final purchase for the day...

SOAP! Could I do a haul post and not talk about soap?! We ended up going to the shop that carries Homesteaders Cache soaps (read my review here) and we both bought a sampler soap stack. This one has a ton of mini soap slices! This one had the list of all the soaps it contained, and I got: Grandma's Garden, Plain & Simple, Little House Lemon, Oatmeal Milk & Honey, and Honey Almond. They are all classic and simple soapy scents! Ahhh... such lovely soap! 

And finally, here is what I received in the mail today:

I placed a small order with Sweet Creek Herbal Care recently and ordered a facial butter bar and two lip balms. Kathleen has a special going on this month - spend $10 in her shop and you can request a lip tint, a new item she's added to the line. I requested the Cherry Red with maraschino cherry flavoring and it's a very lovely shade of red. 

I also had to buy another maraschino cherry lip balm since I completely used up my last one! I have previously reviewed Sweet Creek lip balms (read here) - the formula for the maraschino cherry (and I believe the formula varies for different flavors) is smooth, glossy, and buttery. And I just looove the scent which always reminds me of cherry Fun Dip! I also ordered the Acai Honey which has an interesting scent, sweet and mild with a lightly floral background. It has a different formula, but it's still smooth and creamy. I feel I am going to get a fair bit of enjoyment out of this balm!

But I mainly placed this order because I was curious about the facial butter bar. It has three ingredients: cocoa butter, emu oil, and castor oil. I thought it might be similar to the oil cleansing method, which is another thing I've been curious about. Also, I love shopping with Sweet Creek Herbal Care - this order is my ninth! So, I thought I'd give it a shot! I'll let you all know how it goes, so be expecting a review!

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this haul post and hopefully I'll be able to post a few more soon!

Homesteaders Cache Soap & Lotion {review}

You know, I was born and raised in Southeast Alaska. Tis home and I could never live anywhere else! Currently, I am living in Juneau, Alaska (the state capital). And I bet right now you are wondering why I am bringing this up when I'm supposed to be doing a review, huh? Well, the goodies I am going to be reviewing here were purchased locally!  A few months ago I purchased some soap from Homesteaders Cache at an arts & crafts fair, because I can just never resist a table full of soap. Can you? And then I convinced my mommy to give me one of the solid lotions she bought. :)

{the soap}

As you can see, I bought a sampler pack of soap. I couldn't decide which one I wanted to get and the slivers of soap just looked so pretty together! And once I got home and started playing with my new soaps, I realized something curious about myself. Not knowing which soaps were which, I found myself liking all of the scents. I find this curious because when I was at the table smelling all of the different soaps, there were some I didn't care for. It's like my idea of what things smell like affect how I perceive the soap. But in the absence of labels on these samplers, my nose was free to make its own assessment.

ANYWAY, yes I found that they all smell delightful in their own way. In my sampler bag, I got several pieces of the Alaskan Rainforest bar (did you know I live in a rainforest?!). This is one of the few I can tell which one it is. I am a bit in love with the scent - it's very clean and refreshing. I would say it's a bit of a "manly" scented soap, but heck, I still dig it. The other soaps all have a bit of that clean soapy scent mixed with a bit of nature, if you get my drift.

Lathering up with the soap, I discovered that the lather is quite enjoyable. It gets nice and thick and creamy. I was surprised by how creamy it was. It really foamed up and reminded me of shaving cream. I bet it would be wonderful for shaving your legs - I'll have to try it someday (in a few months when it's warm out… ha!). I'm pretty sure I played with the lather for about 10 minutes before I rinsed it all off, which yes, made me a bit sad! But it rinsed off well and left my skin feeling a lot softer. And the scent lingered lightly and pleasantly for awhile reminding me of all of the delightfulness of the soap.

{the lotion}

My mommy bought a bunch of these solid lotions to give as Christmas gifts and I convinced her to give me one right then and there! I guess I can be a bit impatient…

I picked the Berry Patch scent and it's wonderful. It doesn't quite remind me of a berry patch, for when I'm in a berry patch I am surrounded by all sorts of other green and earthy scents. This lotion smells nothing like that, it's just a sweet berry-ish scent with a hint of something floral. 

 There used to be a pretty design on the bar... kinda got rubbed off with use!

And as far as solid lotions go, this one is simply fantastic! It goes on well and doesn’t leave my hands feeling greasy for an hour afterwards. I find that's a problem with a lot of solid lotions - you really have to work them in before all of the greasiness goes away. That's not the case with Homesteaders Cache lotions! I can rub some on my hands and be ready to go in less than a minute! Although, when I have the time, I do enjoy putting extra on so I can rub my fingers together and feel the silkiness of it. But no matter the amount I put on, the lotion always leaves my hands very soft, even in the cold winter weather when my hands are prone to dryness.

{conclusion}

I have truly been enjoying the soaps and solid lotion from Homesteaders Cache. The soaps have some of the best lathering power I have ever experienced and the solid lotion is surprisingly non-greasy and pleasantly silky. I am definitely going to wander over sometime and buy some more Homesteaders Cache products!

And if you're ever in Juneau (and it's a wonderful place to visit!), you should stop by the Homespun Mercantile shop where they carry Homesteaders Cache products. Alternatively, you can go to their online shop and order some goodies. And I believe they offer free shipping! Sounds like a pretty good deal, eh?

What's your favorite local soap shop? :)