Fragrance Direct: Dolce and Gabbana Light Blue Escape to Panarea & Prada Candy Florale

Hi guys!

A couple of weeks ago, I was sent a couple of fragrances by the lovely people at Fragrance Direct and I’ve soldiered through my final exams spurred on by the thought of reviewing them at the end.

Fragrance Direct is a company that sells branded perfumes, beauty products, cosmetics, hair care and skin care at discounted prices. (You can visit their website here: www.fragrancedirect.co.uk) I’ve shopped with them many times before and the experience is always quick and easy, and I always end up saving myself over at least £50.There’s nothing I love more than finding my beauty favourites for more than half the price they would be on the high street. I’ve used them many times before and I can’t fault them. Delivery times have improved over the last few months and products always arrive in perfect condition.

The order for the perfumes was placed on May 1st and arrived on 6th May, which is speedy in its self, but when you also consider that this was a bank holiday weekend, Fragrance Direct did very well! I can’t fault the packaging of the delivery at all, everything arrived in perfect condition and was protected well and efficiently, and I was able to recycle it all. I’ve trialled both of the fragrances for the past couple of weeks, so I can give more than a ‘first impressions’ view of them. I apply one spray to my wrists and another to my neck. 

The first of the two fragrances is Dolce and Gabbana Light Blue Escape to Panarea* (phew!). 

Escape to Panarea is a Limited Edition for 2014 version of Light Blue. Fragrance Direct describe this perfume as being inspired by the elite island of Panarea, with top notes of pear and bergamot, jasmine and orange at the heart, and a seductive based of ambergris, tonka and white musk.

This scent is incredibly fresh and quite citrusy. When I first spray this it is quite strong, but after an hour or so it fades to a more muted vanilla musk, which I love. It lasts all day without the need to top up with additional sprays. This fragrance would be perfect for long days at work and days out as its lasting power is great!

The packaging of this actual fragrance, to me, is quite boring. The outer box has a lovely scene of an island, but then when you take out the bottle it’s just a glass box with the name written on it. However, I do think this packaging is a million times better than previous editions of Light Blue that had the frosted glass. I think clear glass makes it look more elegant (and less cheap!) than the frosted glass. This is a 50ml bottle.

This fragrance is available here and by buying through Fragrance Direct, you can save yourself around £10! I received the 50ml version with a free gift, which is the cutest blue and white striped cushion with 'Dolce and Gabbana Light Blue' written on it. 

Possibly the best free gift with a perfume I've ever seen. 

The second fragrance is Prada Candy Florale*. 

Fragrance Direct describe this perfume as 'the new floral signature, directly inspired by the flowers used in Prada fashion.' It is inspired by the gorgeous Peony flower, with top notes of sorbet Limoncello, making it fresh. The heart of the fragrance is the gorgeous scent of the peonies, with base notes of musk, benzoin and caramel. 

This fragrance is a lot lighter than the Dolce and Gabbana one. When I saw the name ‘Candy Florale’, I was extremely excited as it sounded like the perfect scent for me, two of my favourite things! It is very floral and sweet smelling, as to be expected from the name, but it is quite a subtle smell. When you first spray it, you can smell it, but it does fade after a couple of hours. I’d recommend this perfume for occasions where you’ll only be out for a few hours; going for a few drinks etc or if you can pop it in your bag to top up on the go.

The packaging for Prada Candy Florale is gorgeous. It’s exactly what a perfume bottle should be; interesting, colourful and representative of the perfume’s campaign. I absolutely love both the outer box and the actual bottle of this perfume as they box look lovely in my bedroom. This is a 50ml bottle.

This fragrance is available here and by buying from Fragrance Direct you can save about a fiver.

Make sure you check out everything else that Fragrance Direct has to offer as there are tonnes of products and you can save yourself a heap of money!

you can visit Fragrance Direct here:
www.fragrancedirect.co.uk

you can buy Dolce and Gabbana Light Blue Escape to Panarea here:
http://www.fragrancedirect.co.uk/d1/dolce-and-gabbana/icat/dolceandgabbana&temp=productlistguidednav&layout=search#esp_cf=pdxtproductname&esp_filter_pdxtproductname=Light%20Blue%20Panarea

and Prada Candy Florale here:  http://www.fragrancedirect.co.uk/p/prada/icat/prada&temp=productlistguidednav&layout=search#esp_cf=pdxtproductname&esp_filter_pdxtproductname=Candy%20Florale

Have you used Fragrance Direct before? Are you a fan of these perfumes? What is your signature scent?

 #SprayItAndSayIt

(disclaimer: although these items were sent to me for review, the opinions expressed are 100% honest and genuine. I would never express opinions that are not my own)

Yankee Candles

When I started back at uni this September, I made a friend in one of my classes and he sells Yankee Candles. Obviously, I asked him to get me a tonne of them and he did :)

I'm a big fan of the food scents and most of the ones I own smell like cookies or cakes, including my all time favourite scent Vanilla Cupcake. I also thought I'd give a fresh scent a try so I got one called Coastal Waters, which smells like the seaside and reminds me of great days out and little holidays.

All of the scents are the perfect strength, not too overpowering but enough for you to notice and recognise each scent. Usually when I'm around anything scented I get an awful headache, but Yankee candles are the only ones I've found that don't have that effect on me. Each of these votives will burn for 15 hours, which is just enough for me to be able to switch to a new scent before I get bored.

I've seen yankee candles for sale in a few card shops, but their collection is limited and they never have the scents I want to try. 

My friend's store is called The Yankee Ebay and it has such a huge collection of candles, a lot of which aren't available in stores any more, so definitely check it out. You can visit The Yankee Ebay by clicking these links: eBay, Facebook, Twitter

or typing in these URLs:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/thestore91

https://www.facebook.com/YankeeEbay91

https://twitter.com/theyankeeebay91

are you a big  fan of yankee candles? what's your favourite scent? which scents should I try?

eBay find: Floral Pencil Case

Hi guys!

First of all, Happy New Year (is it too late to say that now?) and I hope you had a really lovely Christmas. Today I'm bringing you the cheapest, cutest pencil case I have ever seen.

When I started back at uni in September I wanted a cute little case to keep my pens and USB drive in, and I am annoyingly picky so I couldn't find one I liked in stores I visited. I headed over to trusty ol' eBay and within seconds found one I absolutely loved. 

I'm obsessed with any thing that remotely resembles Cath Kidston's prints and I couldn't believe how cheap this was. It was literally just 99p, no postage charge, nothing! You can buy it on ebay here. There are four colour options to choose from: pink, green, light blue & dark blue. Weirdly, this is the 'green' option though I would say it's more of a pale baby blue.

As it is shipped from China, it does usually take between a couple of weeks and a month to arrive to the UK, but if you don't mind waiting a little it's more than worth it.