OBSESSION SESSION | RECENT FAVORITES

Life is never easy. I feel like I don't really need to explain myself. With all of the challenges that we face on a daily basis, it's always good to have something to fall back on that make us happy. I can't be the only one thinking this. Recently, life seems extra brutal and to counteract that, I figured I would share with you some of the things that have been making me pretty happy lately.

I realized I loved curating and writing this post. While it may seem simple and easy to say, I just loved gathering some of the things that have made me happy the past couple of weeks and sharing them with you. This has also gotten me to realize that some of these things change on a weekly basis and some of them stay the same. That being said, maybe I'll make it a weekly post? Ugh, god, I know I haven't posted since April. Consider this my apology, like I said, life is rough. (That's no excuse, B).

A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS

Yet another set of purchases have gone by and yet another set of favorites have entered my life. Being that we are now in the full swing of spring, I couldn't be happier that summer is just that much closer. There are so many things that I love about the summer: the weather, the beach, just to name a few. I also love the change in beauty looks, the scents in perfumes and candles.

Being that we're heading that way, here are a few things I have been obsessing over lately that I couldn't be happier are guiding me into the new season. READ MORE>

Current Candle Crave | End of Summer

I haven't posted a Current Candle Crave in the longest time.  I think the reason is because I definitely burn through all of the candles that I have waaaay too quickly.  I don't really see that as a problem though ;).  I am candle obsessed, you can ask anyone that knows me.  I take a liking to Wallflowers from Bath and Body Works but I don't really ever buy them because I am so much more obsessed with candles.  I burn them all year long because I feel like there's always a candle for the season.  Here's what I've been completely obsessed with and here are the reasons why.

Current Candle Crave: SPRING.

I know it's still only January but basically as soon as my birthday passes when January rolls around, I always just wish that we could skip to May.  Because that cannot happen, I decide to make it seem like it does by surrounding myself with colorful, spring/beachy smelling candles.  Recently I popped into Target for some things and I decided to take a visit to the candle aisle and I picked up a few.

I have definitely written about this candle on my blog before because this is the second one that I have purchased.  I was so happy to see this one on super sale when I walked down the aisle.  This is probably one of the candles that actually smells most true to coconut.  When I first saw it I was drawn in by the design of the packaging, it's gorgeous and my favorite color!  Check out your local Target and see if you can still pick one up.  I'm hoping they'll still be on shelves and that they weren't putting them on sale because they're discontinued.  

I really don't think I have to say much about this scent.  I think these are new this year at Target as I haven't seen them before.  I know they come out with their own scents and change the packaging but I definitely haven't seen this one before and it measures up to the 'Coconut Grove' scent that they had I think about two years ago.  I cannot wait to burn these when I'm done with my current 'Lavender Lemon'

Sorry to be annoying about comparing things to Bath and Body Works candles but this one reminds me of 'Spring' from last season and I just LOVE everything about it!  It makes me so excited for the warmer weather.  On the label you can see that I guess it's supposed to be reminiscent of elements in a green smoothie?  I don't know about that.  I just love this and if you love a fresh, herb-y scent you will probably enjoy it as well.

Which candles have you been burning lately?  I cannot wait to burn these and just tell myself that it actually IS spring even though it isn't yet.  Send me a tweet and let me know what you're loving.  Thank you for reading as always.  -Brit.

Bedroom Tour!

Tell me why I felt so inclined to share a 'bedroom tour' with you guys today.  I don't know why, but I am just in love with my new room.  I feel like this style is so fantastic and suites me so much more.  There are things I want to show you and questions I want to ask you so lets  get started!      

                        

Even down to the door knob, I am so happy.  Just looking at it puts me in a good mood for some reason.  Probably one of the best things about the room hands down.  My second and third favorite things overall?  My fairy lights around the window and my precariously placed mirror on the chair.  Does anyone have any suggestions about how to conceal those extra lights that lead to the outlet?

This is one section of my room.  I purchased this Malm dresser from Ikea and I could NOT BE HAPPIER with it.  I spent a lot of time looking for something that I liked online because the closest Ikea store I have to me is about an hour away.  I wanted to have a good idea of what they had online in the back of my head because when I got there I wanted to be able to compare and it worked out great.  I ended up picking something similar to what I found online but there were SOOOO many other options actually in the store.  It worked to my advantage knowing what was in both places.  

This is one little bit of my makeup that I have displayed on my dresser.  I don't have much room so I have to make  due with what I have and the surface area of this dresser is perfect for what I need.  I'm currently burning 'Ski Lodge' from Bath and Body Works and I LOVE it.  It's one of the newer ones this year (at least I think) and it's a different smell, kind of manly so boyfriend approved.

I also have my adorable box of matches and a pink lighter for lighting candles.  Always have to have them at the ready.  My Clarisonic is always at the ready and the lipsticks are on display!  The acrylic cases that I keep my makeup in are from Marshalls actually!  I had been looking for them but they were so expensive everywhere else and I found them for a great price at Marshalls (I think I had luck).  I wish we had a close Home Goods, but we don't.  WAH.

My DIY closet storage system fits perfectly along this other wall (!!!), can you freaking believe that perfect fit!?  I honestly could not believe that I didn't have to cut anything.  At the end my dad is renting some storage space with random clothes, but it's just because he hasn't built his own storage system yet, haha.  As you can see there still is that stupid plastic storage thing down in the corner, that I plan to replace with something nicer sometime soon.

My dresser doesn't just hold my clothes and computer, it has to hold my adorable little sandbox from Brookstone.  It is SO extremely relaxing to have this near me to just play with at any other time I may need it.  As you can see I have all my First Aid Beauty stuff that I use on the regular, my perfumes, my Mario Badescu lotion thats on it's last leg (I will definitely be repurchasing this one).  In the clear acrylic box on the right hand side holds some rings, earrings and bracelet.  I love the look of it.

I hope you loved this cute little tour of my bedroom, I am obsessed!  There's a reason that I didn't show the bed and it's because I don't have the exact sheets and things I want yet!  That will be a whole other post because there's a specific couple of things I want to buy to design it myself.  Let me know what you think about the decor!  I can't wait to add more.  Send me a tweet or leave a comment.  Thank you so much for reading as always.  -Brit.

Current Candle Crave

 My current candle crave has all to do with the seasons change.  Sense I know I've blogged about my all-time fall favorite from Bath and Body Works (Autumn) before, I figured I would tell you about what I'm burning right now!

For added adorableness, let's talk about the cutest matches you will ever see in your life.  I've seen cute matches like this in the past at places like Francesca's, but this one is holiday happiness in a box.  I don't know if you can tell from the photo but the matches are huge, perfect for lighting the candle.  You don't have to worry about burning your finger as the match will ignite for long enough.  

Excuse the horrible, terrible photo but this candle is absolutely gorgeous.  The packaging is a beautiful royal blue with this metallic opal sticker.  Not to mention the stunning pattern on the side thats gold.  There's nothing that I don't like about it basically.  

Getting into the scent, it reminds me a little bit of something amber-scented.  I'm really bad at describing scents so I don't want to try, but all I will say is that it's an understand amber scent.  I know there is a scent description on the bottom, but I think it's just better than you go and smell it for yourself!  ;)

What have you been burning lately candle-wise?  I can't wait to start burning Christmas scents because they make me the happiest.  Send me a tweet and let me know or leave a comment. -Brit.

Current Candle Crave: An Orange Glow

Upon my window sill this time of year,  I always like to make it look a little more autumnal.  This year I seemed to hold onto summer and decorate for the season at the same time with this candle.

As you can see, the entire candle jar is this grainy orange color.  From this photo, it looks like it fades to yellow because when its burning, the color at the top looks yellow but it's not like it changes color or anything.  It looks adorable!  The scent is nice, but only if you like coconut as the scent is Coconut Cedarwood.  The throw of the scent is pretty good as you do smell it throughout the room, but definitely not as fragrant as the candles I have had in the past from other places.  

One things for sure, I cannot wait to start burning my autumn candles but I just cannot do it when it still goes up to 75-80 degrees everyday.  Looking forward to getting more into the fall spirit in general and I think I'm on the way as I have been baking up a storm lately: red velvet chocolate chip cookies, caramel shortbread bars with chocolate, oatmeal cookies, nutella cookies and more.

What type of things do you do to get ready for fall?  Let me know in the comments or send me a tweet!  Thanks for reading and I hope you're loving Blogtober so far!  -Brit.  

Fab finds Friday!

Hi everyone!  Taking a bit of a break from the massive overload of DIY's that I have been posting lately to bring you "Fab Finds Friday."  I figured thats fun and I wanted to show and tell some of the amazing things I found while shopping today.

First, I wanted to go to the mall so bad because I feel like it's been a century since I have been to the mall that I normally go to.  I have caught myself at places like Target, Old Navy and other things near my house that don't require the mall recently, I don't know why.  I'm not complaining and neither is my wallet.  For my birthday in January, my dad got me a gift card to H&M which was absolutely amazing!  I used some of the gift card in January when they had a big sale and I was looking forward to using it again.

I had my brother in tow because he wanted to get a few things, so that was almost like an added stress because he needs validation on every single outfit that he picks out, but I am not complaining.  Love him!  So the first place we went ended up being H&M.  I saw that they were having another sale where they had tons of things out priced between $10 and $30.  There were dresses, tops, pants, blazers and a ton of other things.  As I was glancing at stuff and rummaging through the racks, I wasn't really impressed with what they had on sale so I started to move on.  Sometimes I feel like H&M is a zoo or something.  There is so much great stuff everywhere, but you can't seem to stay focused because you are always distracted.  

After not being amused at the stuff in the sale section, I moved on and saw that all of their spring stuff is out and I was loving it.  There were great sweaters for $10 that felt really nice and they were adorable colors.  I didn't want to get myself another sweater though because I have so many of them that I already picked up from Old Navy and Forever 21 when I was shopping in the fall.  I quickly gravitated over to this amazing oxblood colored dress with a peter pan collar.  Holy cannoli, I am in LOVE.  The dress is absolutely amazing and there are so many things that I love about it.  

First of all, there is a peter pan collar (!!!).  Not only this, but high-lo hemlines are my weakness.  While this is true, I haven't found anything that I have been dying to own, until this dress.  I love the color, the collar and the hemline.  Also, check out the back!  I love that the collar doesn't just stop in the front like some dresses do.  This one goes all the way to the back of the neck and then fastens with a button and  a little mini slit so that the back is exposed just a litttttle bit!  If you want to wear a normal bra with this, just stick a bandeau on underneath and you are good to go.  I absolutely love it, it's perfection.  

Another great thing about this is the price tag: $24.95. 

My second amazing H&M find was a blazer.  Now anyone that really knows my style, knows that I LOVE blazers.  I have written about them on here before, but I just love the sleek look, the relaxed look and the professional look of a blazer.  I have a couple of them but I have recently been looking for a black one that is worthy of entering my collection.  Welcome to my life black divided blazer from H&M, I have finally found you!  Like you can see in the photo, there is nothing special about this blazer but it's just perfect.  The fit is a little boxy, but that is what I was looking for.  The reason I like this style and prefer it is because its professional and comfortable without sacrificing one or the other.  Amazing, amazing, amazing price tag on this of $15!  As you can see on the tag that I also have pictured, that is down from $24.95, AHHH!

My third finds at the mall was at Bath and Body Works.  Now I absolutely love this store and it's a store that I can't leave the mall without going to, if that makes any sense at all.  The candles are 2/$22 right now and that makes me soooooo happy.  The sale used to be 2/$20 but it hasn't been that way in a really long time, and I don't know if they'll end up bringing that price back.  With all that being said, I actually ended up not picking up my candles today, I plan on going and getting them tomorrow.  While I was in the store, I picked up these amazing Scentportables.  I LOVE these things, they are so adorable.  I remember when Bath and Body Works first launched them there were a couple of different shapes and they were a fun accessory to have in your car.  Now, they have a ton of different colors, shapes, animals, decorative things and more!  I got the scents pictured above for mine (which is currently a flamingo, my favorite animal ever!).  Usually the deal is buy three and get one free; today's deal was buy four and get two free, how can you pass that up?  The discs are $3 each!

My final stop of the evening was Target and it was here where I picked up a couple of things worth mentioning in this little haul of mine.  First of all, I needed two new toothbrushes!  One of course for my teeth, and one for my lips.  I hope I'm not the only weirdo that exfoliates by brushing her lips, but not with the same toothbrush I use for my teeth!  Secondly, I picked up more Crystal Light Liqud.  Now I know these things obviously aren't the best for you but they are a great way to add a little flavor to your water and spice it up a little.  The Dasani Drops are great too as you can see (I couldn't even wait to take photos, I had to open two of them!).  Finally, I got my absolute favorite trail mix, "A Handful of Everything," it has all of the amazing flavors listed on the packaging and is under 200 calories.  I like this for dessert on the weekend sometimes!

I hope you all enjoyed this little haul or Fabulous Finds Friday! :)  Is there anything you think I MUST try?  Have you guys just purchased anything interesting?  Send me a tweet and let me know!  Thank you for reading.

Xoxo-Brit.

Where I have been, Christmas and Desperate Housewives.

Everyone!  Hello!  I am so excited to be writing here again.  I kind of knew that it wasn't going to be long before I stopped writing because of school.  Everything was so intense this semester and a lot more work than I thought it was going to be.  I cannot believe that it is over, but I am done with all of my undergraduate coursework!  It is insane to believe but I have earned my Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism!  How insane is that?!  Ahhhhh!  Well this is provided that all of my grades are passing, but duh! ;)  I worked so hard this semester that I just cannot wait to have these next couple of days off.  With that being said, I also can't believe that I have nothing to be doing for the next couple of days.  I cant believe that I have nothing due or no deadlines right now.

I had such an amazing Christmas (yesterday).  I really am so thankful for everyone that I have in my life.  My dad is phenomenal and truly my hero.  I am so excited to be able to say that I got a new laptop!  I am very happy so also say that I got a brand new Michael Kors watch to add to my collection.  Thank you, Dad!  I also got some amazing candles which my dad knows that I love and a perfume, Viva La Juicy, that he also knows that I wanted.  Everything is beautiful and I am so excited!  I will post pictures of everything maybe tomorrow or something.

For dinner and festivities, we went to my "aunt and uncles" house.  They are amazing.  I guess maybe you can actually call them cousins, I dont know.  Every holiday we spend with them now for the past two years or so and i could not be more thankful.  They are the most amazing people and I love going there, spending time with them and getting together for amazing food and company.  We actually went to their house for Hurricane Sandy and "evacuated" our house (this can be a whole other post).  We were nervous that grandpa was not going to make it home from the hospital because he was there due to pneumonia (not good at all, he was there a couple of days).  He was able to come home midday on Christmas, just in time for dinner.  It was literally amazing and made the day a whole lot better.

Okay, well, I think I will go now and finish watching Desperate Housewives, I am so addicted to this show.  I started watching on Netflix and I could not love it more.  I dont think some things here will even make sense because I keep pausing to watch.  Hahahahaahhahahaha.

I am very excited to be writing here again and I cant wait to post more regularly.  Send me a tweet if you read this and leave some comments!

@brittanyirvine

Candles galore, finally found boots and a stand for my iPad!

So my day was great.  Yesterday I was anticipating an amazing day and I have to say that it was pretty good.  I didn't get a chance to get to the Seafood Festival but thats because I was too busy shopping, so that makes me happy.  I went to the Bath and Body Works thats near my house because I wanted to keep myself away from the mall, but I ended up there anyway.  I did have something that I wanted to return to Forever 21.  Here is a picture of what my hair currently looks like (random, but I look like Alf Alfa, too funny not to share).

I got amazing candles that I was so excited about.  I don't know if I have mentioned them yet but there are only two candles that I really love.  The Eucalyptus Mint scent is my number one, all time favorite.  I don't really know how to describe it but I first purchased it when I was in B&BW picking up soaps one day.  I was looking for something that would alleviate stress and the sticker on the candle of the Eucalyptus Mint said that it would.  I purchased the candle because I liked the way that it smelled and it said that it would help stress and it ended up being absolutely amazing and became my all time favorite.

The other scent that I picked up was Autumn.  This is my favorite one of the moment.  Normally around this time the candles that come out are all the same.  I don't know, they all just smell like cinnamon or pumpkin and I don't love either.  I also don't want my room/house smelling like sweet things or pumpkins.  Am I the only one that feels this way?      I love something that reminds me that its fall, but isn't over powering.  This candle Autumn is great.  According to the Bath and Body Works website the scent is "autumnal scents of dark pomegranate, sweet red apple and woodsy fir balsam."  It may sound so simple, but the candle is something that I have never smelled before.

The best part about buying the candles?  A little surprise was that they were 2/$20!  I know that I mentioned it before, but this is my favorite sale.  I love the candles from B&BW so much so when they're on sale, thats the best part.  I started off with two candles (2/$20), every candle after that is $10 so I got another one which made my total $30.  I had a coupon from last time I was in so I got $10 off my purchase of $30 and only paid $20 all together.  Not only this, but they were running a promotion that said make a home fragrance purchase, and you get a free mini candle (normally $10), so I got another candle!  I ended up getting four candles all for about $22 after tax.

After Bath and Body Works, I headed to Old Navy.  I really didn't have an intention of buying anything in there because lately I haven't found anything like.  It's weird, but I was walking by because I wanted to go into Marshalls so I decided to stop into Old Navy.  I found these adorable boots!  I literally died and went to heaven because I have been looking for boots for the fall time sense the end of August when you're supposed to start seeing them and I haven't been able to find ANY!  The picture explains them in their entirety but they are a light tan that matches with literally everything.  I was going to get the darker brown ones but I figured that If I wanted to wear them with black leggings, this color would look better.  Last year when I was looking for boots, a lot of them in my size wouldn't fit over calves but sense I have lost the weight, they fit much better.  These are adorable and have little buckle detailing on the size and a small zipper on the inside.  The best thing?  They were on sale for $3o, originally $39.94.

The only other thing that I got was a stand for my iPad, it was only $5 that I got from Five Below (couldn't find it online).

Did you guys make any purchases today?  Tweet me a picture or let me know!

Nutella, candles, and saving up.

Nutella.  NUTELLA!  I don’t know how I lasted this long in life without it.  Nutella is a very dangerous thing, but its amazing.  I was shopping about 2-3 weeks ago with my dad in Stop and Shop and saw it on the shelf.  It was so trendy so I never really wanted to try it (how hipstery of me), but boy was I mistaken.  Sense then, I purchase like two more containers of it and I, as well as my family, love it.  Needless to say, as soon as this last one is gone, we will not be buying it again until Thanksgiving or something.

Happy weekend everyone!  I am on vacation from work so I was off this whole day and the whole week.  Another thing I have neglected to say is that I took the two vacations that I get from my job, back to back this year.  I have two weeks in a row!  Seriously, this is the best feeling in the entire world because there is nothing better than two weeks, work free.  All day, my plan was to go shopping and that is what I did.  I heard that Macy’s was having a huge sale but I went and didn’t find anything amazing, only $58 Chanel Foundation that works amazing on my skin and I didn’t purchase it because, well, it was $58. 

After I was done in Macy’s, I went into the rest of the mall and found myself in Bath and Body Works looking at the candles.  This is normally what happens.  I love the candles there and they are on sale almost all the time.  Either the three-wick candles are 2/$20 or the smaller ones with only one wick are 2/$10.  Last week, I picked up three candles actually because I had a coupon for $10 off your purchase of $30 or more.  I got three candles that would have originally been $60, for only $20.  Enough math.

After that, I went to a couple more stores and I didn’t get anything.  I’m actually okay with this because I really should be saving more money than I am spending.  Granted, I do need clothes because of all the weight that I have lost.  I will have to take a break on the spending though because I really want to make a dream come true that I have been dreaming about for a long time.  I want to move to LA.  This dream has become a closer reality when I just recently started talking to an old friend that I have known for a while but moved away some years ago.  She had said that she is moving to California in May when she graduates and I told her that I would come with her.  Needless to say, I cant wait to make this dream more of a reality.

Im watching some 24 right now with my dad so I think im going to let you go.  I love this show, its my all time favorite.  Have you guys ever heard of 24, and do you like Bath and Body Works candles (My favorite of all time is Eucalyptus Mint)?

Follow me on Twitter and let me know, here.