Mybeautywaxstash

Tag: reed diffusers

  • Stocking Fillers On A Budget

    So you’ve bought your Christmas gifts. Braved the busy shops and temperamental weather. Felt zero shame being handed your 100th parcel from the Amazon driver or local postman/lady. Mum, dad, partner, kids, the shopping list is long right? Buying for your nearest and dearest can be expensive and time consuming. But what about the smaller purchases you need to make? Could be a teacher gift, a Secret Santa at work or you just want to give smaller gifts to friends but you want to make them affordable. Why? Because Christmas is making you BROKE! Today I thought I would share a few general ideas with all items mentioned being easy to pick up while out shopping, doing your groceries etc,so hopefully not going out of your way and wasting your precious time.

    Bath Salts

    Some people hate them, some people love them. Personally I adore them and anyone who likes to spend as much time as me in the bath are more likely to appreciate such a bath time treat. Gone are the days where bath salts were just plain, unscented, mineral based salts. Now you can get them in a variety of different fragrances with essential oils if you prefer a more fragrant bath time experience. Bath salts are said to have various effects on the body, such as easing muscles or helping those with skin issues. So think of your exercise loving friend, wannabe mermaid cousin or Nana who loves baths but hates bubbles! Prices start at £2.49 and upwards. If you are lucky sometimes cheaper! (see pic below).

    Dr Salts Lavender & Lemongrass Bath Salts. £1.49 for 1kg from Home Bargains.
    Foot Masks

    Can’t go wrong with these! Feet up on the sofa, watch TV and have these bad boys on for up to 20 minutes to give the a hit of moisture leaving feet hydrated and soft. I would, and have, given these in gift sets many times to teachers and friends. This is the time of year we forget we have these body parts as they are wrapped up like Egyptian mummies. Give them love, give them lotion! Prices start from 89p in discount stores.

    Face Masks (of the skincare variety)

    An ideal stocking filler for not only those that love skincare, but for those who like to have a bit of time out to pamper and unwind. I’ve noticed lots of parents buy these for their pre teen and teenage girls to put in stockings or Christmas Eve boxes, so great for a wide range of ages. You can spend as little or as much as you like on these type of things. Depends on your budget, what brand you want and possibly ingredients it contains. Skincare face masks can be as cheap as 69p so take your pick!

    Eye Patches/Masks

    If you know someone who loves a face mask, chances are they would love eye patches too! If you have a friend who moan about their eye area or how tired they feel or look, buy them these! They will be super grateful. Not expensive and regularly on offer. One eye mask I’ve really enjoyed and seems to be priced around the £2.00 mark constantly is Garnier’s SkinActive Moisture Bomb Night Time Eye Tissue Mask. A fabulous treat for the eyes.

    Garnier Eye Tissue Masks that are constantly £2.00 in Tesco stores.
    Hair Treatments

    This one never occurred to me! I got a few as part of a birthday gift and thought it’s such a good idea! If you get the sachets they can be super affordable and they always seem to be on some form of offer, such as Palmer’s Olive Oil Deep Conditioner. Usually £2.49, currently £1.66 at Superdrug (at time of writing this post).

    Palmer’s Coconut Oil Deep Conditioning Protein Pack & Olive Oil Deep Conditioner
    Reed Diffusers

    I had to mention these, not because I am slightly obsessed by them at the moment, but you can pick them up from anywhere especially your local supermarket. Plus they come in a variety of sizes, fragrances and prices. If you want one that is cheap and is part of a gift rather than one gift, I suggest go for a mini! Reed Diffusers can cost as little as 80p from Primark or a supermarket such as Tesco for £1.00. I’ve tried one from both and the Tesco version provided a good scent with a decent strength, ideal for small spaces or rooms.

    So, my advice to all you shoppers trying to get last minute bits is PLEASE DO NOT STRESS OUT! You don’t have to spend loads of money or waste lots of time running around buying stuff. Go to your local supermarket or discount store, buy your bread, milk and cereal and grab some of the above if needed.

  • Candy Cane Lane’s Gingerbread Jingle & Fluffy Marshmallow Reed Diffusers

    Hearing Christmas songs from the start of November has not only hurt my ears but my soul too. I don’t know about anyone else, but I don’t mind seeing Christmas related things early but not the music! Drives me absolutely crazy! I am however enjoying seeing the new Christmas inspired home fragrance products. I became particularly taken by some new reed diffusers in Home Bargains recently. I picked up Candy Cane’s Gingerbread Jingle and Fluffy Marshmallow Reed Diffusers for £1.99 each.

    Home Bargain’s Candy Cane Lane Gingerbread Jingle & Fluffy Marshmallow Reed Diffusers

    Why did I buy these?

    A few reasons. I’m falling in love with reed diffusers as a form of home fragrancing. The packaging for these totally drew me in because they are cute and festive but not in the traditional Christmas way. The scents I thought I would like, and the diffusers were affordable.

    Packaging.

    Both come in a small and thin rectangular box. Gingerbread Jingle is mainly mint green in color whereas Fluffy Marshmallow is a light salmon pink shade. Both have silver holographic slightly raised patterns on them and a coloured pom pom stuck on the top each box. There’s an open window on the front of each box so you can see the actual diffuser.

    Each bottle section of the diffuser is clear and transparent. But they have a label on them with illustrations mirroring the box each fragrance comes in. So Gingerbread Jingle has gingerbread men and woman all over it, snowflakes and trees. Fluffy Marshmallow has baubles and snowflakes decorating the label.

    What do you get & how to use.

    Each diffuser has the fragranced liquid/oil bottled and 6 short and thin reeds. Take the stopper from the bottle off, pop the reeds in the fragranced liquid and enjoy! The reeds will soak up the fragrance and release into the air.

    How do these smell?

    Gingerbread Jingle smells surprisingly of gingerbread! You get ginger, warming spices (possibly cinnamon, nutmeg etc), sugar (although not too sweet). I like it! It’s not too ginger but it definitely is a bakery fragrance but the spices really make it come alive.

    Gingerbread Jingle Reed Diffuser

    Fluffy Marshmallow I’m not sure whether I would call it marshmallow scented as such. It has a sweetness to it, almost sweety like. But seems to have a touch of vanilla in it as well. It’s not as complex as the Gingerbread version but if you like your sweet inspired scents you probably would like this.

    Fluffy Marshmallow Reed Diffuser

    Strength & Longevity.

    I put each of the diffusers in different parts of my home. Gingerbread Jingle in my bedroom on the window sill, and Fluffy Marshmallow at the top of the stairs. Despite the fact the diffuser is quite small, Gingerbread performs really well in my bedroom which is a medium sized room. It’s not strong, but you get a good whiff of this and for this room the strength is perfect. So I would say it’s a medium. Fluffy Marshmallow I’ve had to move around quite a bit to see where it works best because the is light. I would have liked this to be stronger but think this is best suited to a small room or area not a large or open space. The diffuser itself is small and the scent not punchy but it does give off fragrance. Just not enough for me.

    When it comes to longevity, I’ve been only been using these for 3 days so can’t say how long lasting they are. But so far so good, but Gingerbread is the clear winner!

    Recommended?

    I really like these reed diffusers. The pom pom bit on the top of the packaging annoys me, but other than that their overall presentation is sweet and easy on the eye. Good choice of fragrance for this time of year, but clearly Gingerbread Jingle is the best in regards to it’s smell and strength. So I would recommend this one and I’ve even purchased a few for Christmas gifting too!

    If you aren’t a fan of a reed diffusers but possible the fragrances mentioned, these do come in candle form as well! Just saying….don’t call me an enabler when you visit Home Bargains next!

  • Primark Mini Reed Diffusers

    Primark is one of those places I tend to visit when I need to pick up affordable and basic items, such as leggings, kids t -shirts and underwear. In all honesty it’s not my go to place for the majority of my shopping needs, never has been. Well, until recently, when my daughter decided to develop an all consuming addiction to Harry Potter then multiple trips were needed (their HP range is impressive and cheap!). While stalking their home section for wizardry items, Primark’s home fragrance products caught my attention. Since I now enjoy reed diffusers, I thought I would give a couple a whirl. I opted for 2 scents Fresh Linen and Oriental Orchard. Both the 30ml size at a cost of 80p each!

    Primark Mini Reed Diffusers in Linen and Oriental Orchid fragrances

    Why did I buy these?

    I thought I would go for these because the size and the price was a great way of trying them out to see what the quality was like. The scent selection was varied, with most being fragrances I like. If these minis performed well, I could easily buy the bigger versions as they were available too.

    Packaging.

    These are presented very well. Placed in long, thin cardboard boxes, each one has illustrations matching their scent on them e.g Oriental Orchid has images of flowers covering it. Both beautiful in look, both have a homely appeal to them and quite classic without being old fashioned.

    The diffusers themselves, because of the size, are absolutely adorable! Made of glass and cylinder in shape, roughly 11cm in height and 3cm in depth. Both have the fragrance name on the bottles. Oriental Orchid is lettered in gold, which matches the gold coloured lid on the top of it. Fresh Linen is in silver with their lid a matching silver tone to. Simple but very sophisticated in appearance.

    What do you get?

    You get a bottle containing the fragranced oil, a pack of 5 reeds and an instruction leaflet.

    Scent.

    Fresh Linen. Think of a clean, crisp, laundry type scent. Slightly powdery in notes and a hidden floral in there and this is what you get! Not dissimilar to the type of scents you get in wax melt and candle forms in the laundry scent family of a similar name. Really lovely scent which most people will like.

    Oriental Orchid. This one is a little more particular compared to Fresh Linen. This is obviously a floral. Floral, has a sweetness to it, but has an almost perfume style to how it smells. Doesn’t smell old fashioned. Very pretty and very pleasant in scent.

    How to use.

    On the bottle is a screw top lid you need to remove. Once it comes off their is a plastic stopper that you need to pull out which leaves the hole that you place the reeds in. Before you do that pop the top back on to finish and place the diffuser in your chosen place to enjoy the fragrance!

    Strength & Longevity.

    The only time I’ve noticed the scent of these is when I’ve placed them inside a cupboard (underneath the kitchen sink), and on a window sill in my children’s bedroom when the window was open. Other than that, scent strength wise has pretty much been non existent. In regards to longevity, you can’t have that if there is barely a scent at all! The packaging says these should last up to 4 weeks. By the end of a week most of the oil had evaporated, but got no scent as a benefit.

    I’ve turned the reeds around to see if the scent would improve and for a split second it did in that moment when I was close by, but it wasn’t long lasting. The position of these have been moved and even the rooms they’ve been placed in changed. This hasn’t made a massive effect on the fragrance these give off. So overall disappointing.

    Final thoughts?

    I love the idea of these mini diffusers for so many reasons. They look cute, could make great little gifts or part of a bigger gift. But they still need to delivery fragrance, which I think means they have to be bigger. Or the oil stronger and possible tweaking of the reeds themselves e.g thickness, length etc.

    Recommended?

    No. For 80p a go it was worth a try but besides looking nice these were useless. Such a shame as the fragrances when you get a good whiff of them from the top of the bottle are really nice and appealing. But that’s it!I am curious though to try out the more standard in size versions, to see if size really does matter in the reed diffuser arena. As for these? I will give them a miss on my next Primark shopping trip.