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Yankee Candle A Child's Wish
by Drewster_Rooster
"A Child's Wish", the rather ambiguously named new-for-2013 Yankee fragrance has sat in my stash of candles since I bought it earlier in the year. I like to try the new releases when they come available and as Yankee tend to release fragrances every 3 or 4 months there's always plenty of choice. This particular one didn't ... appeal to me to be honest, the sentiment behind the name was rather off-putting I thought but finally getting round to burning mine earlier in the week I have to admit that it's not half bad after all.
I'm rather straight-forward when it comes to selecting what fragrances I want to burn in my home and prefer to buy either the fruity or sweet products that Yankee produce as that way I pretty much know what I'm going to get with them. A Child's Wish gives no indication as to what it's going to be from it's name though it's green colouring and illustration of a small child blowing a dandelion clock did make me assume that this was going to be one of the lighter 'grassy' or natural scents that Yankee like to produce every now and again and removing mine from its plastic confines revealed a lightly floral fragrance that confirmed by suspicions.
A wax tart as many readers will now know is a flat piece of fragrance infused wax, they're designed to be melted on a tart burner by means of a lit tea light that gently heats from underneath and as the wax turns to liquid the fragrances and essential oils contained within the wax are released into the air around your home. Generally you can expect to get around 8 hours of fragrance from a single wax tart though this is dependent on what you buy as some of the weaker fragrances don't last that long and some stronger ones can last well over 10 hours if you're lucky. In my experience with Yankee fragrances the fruity or sweet ones tend to last the longest when compared to florals and nature-inspired and "A Child's Wish", whilst nice, doesn't have the longevity of the stronger scents that are available to buy.
To my mind "A Child's Wish" is Yankee's attempt to replicate the feelings and sensations of a breezy Summer's day. It's a light, gentle floral fragrance which is rather subtle at first but makes its presence known after 10 or 15 minutes. It's certainly not as strong as some floral scents which can be nose-achingly obvious but instead gently freshened the air in my living room and sat rather subtly in the background. It's definitely a Spring/Summer scent, probably best experienced when it's a warm day outside and is a rather nice attempt at bringing the outside indoors and whilst not one that I would immediately choose to buy again I did think that overall it was rather pleasant.
I got around 6 hours worth of fragrance from my wax tart which is average really, it's not a complex scent that builds interest as it develops but would be perfectly pleasant for having in a home on a warm day when you've got the windows open. It's not a fragrance that masks other smells in a home so not really suited to a kitchen but for a living room or conservatory I think it would be rather nice and whilst I wouldn't be in a rush to buy this one again I do think it made a nice change for me away from my usual choices that I tend to buy. It doesn't provoke a strong reaction so should have wide ranging appeal so from me A Child's Wish gets a good average rating of 3 stars along with my recommendation to give it a try if you see it available for sale.
Being a new 2013 release it will be in all Yankee stockists where the wax tart variation should retail for around £1.25, thanks for reading my review.
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Annie Sloan Chalk Paint
by ginger321
I have used about 5 tins of this stuff - yes it is more expensive than single malt per litre, but if you want ease of application and a lovely finish, you can't do better than Annie's paint.
Main benefit is that you can literally just paint it onto the surface you are painting, no need to rub down so long as the surface is ... clean and has no lose bits. It also seems to paint well on a multitude of surfaces such as wood, melamine, stone, and even some plastics giving the same finish. This is great if you have a mish-mash of furniture and want it all to look very similar in the end.
One word of warning, make sure you seal it with wax afterwards (preferably Annie Sloan). If you don't the surface is easily scratched or chipped and while this initially may add to a "distressed" look, you don't want to reveal too much of your old MFI wood print chipboard underneath as this does spoil the effect a bit!!
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Ariel Excel Gel
by emmad5689
I had never actually used Ariel gel before but a few months back I had a £1 voucher and it was on offer at £4 so I decided to give it a try as I thought £3 for 24 washes was decent value for a branded laundry product. The usual selling price is £8 for a 24 wash bottle or £6 for a 16 wash bottle however it is one of the products that Asda ... have reduced at the moment so you can get 24 washes for £4 from there.
The product comes in a mainly white plastic bottle, there are 2 different varieties and I bought the gel with Febreeze which has a turquoise coloured lid which is stands on and then there is a dosing pot which clips on the top of the bottle. On the front of the bottle you are told this can work at 15 degrees, it can be used for whites and colours and that it has actilift technology.
On the back of the bottle you have the dosing information, the dosing pot holds 37mls of product and you are told that for a 4-6kg wash you should use,
Soft water and clothes a little dirty - 25mls
Soft water and clothes very dirty - 46mls
Medium water and clothes a little dirty - 37mls
Medium water and clothes very dirty - 46mls
Hard water and clothes a little dirty - 46mls
Hard water with clothes very dirty - 46mls
You should add an extra 12mls for a bigger washload.
You are also told this isn't suitable for handwashing, shouldn't be used on silks or wool and you shouldn't put the dosing pot in the dryer, I put the pot in the dryer simply because I forgot to take it out when I set the drier off and there wasn't any problems. I personally used about 30mls per wash and I live in a medium water area but I didn't feel the full amount was needed and it still worked well and of course meant that I got extra washes from the bottle.
To use the product you simply flip the lid open and squeeze the bottle into the dosing pot, the gel is thick so doesn't come out of the bottle too fast making dosing easy and it smells nice and fresh and of the original Febreeze. You then place the pot into the machine and then set off your wash, there is a see through strip on the side of the bottle so you can see how much you have left in the bottle which I found useful.
I personally wash my clothes on 30 degrees unless it is bedding or towels when I wash at 60 degrees, I found the gel very easy to use and the bottle was ideal for dispensing the product. I found that my clothes have come clean without any problems and it washed out chocolate, mud and blood so it does have great stain removing power. I will buy this again at £4 for a bottle but there is no way I would ever pay £8 for the bottle as that is far too much to pay to wash clothing in my opinion. I give this 5 stars as I found it left my clothes soft, smelling fresh and clean.
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