Product Reviews - Pocketful of Joules

Diamond Candle Review: YES, it’s a RING in a CANDLE!

Do you guys remember that Reese Witherspoon movie, Sweet Home Alabama, where she says incredulously something like, “You have a BABY in a BAR?!” Well, that’s how I feel when I explain Diamond Candles to my friends. Yup, that’s right ladies… it’s a RING in a CANDLE!

When I was contacted by my new friend at Diamond Candles and asked if I’d like to do a review and giveaway on my blog, my response was something like “HELL YEAH” inside but a nice and ladylike “Oh, that would be wonderful. Thank you!” The reason I was so excited was that Diamond Candles are pretty much like Cracker Jacks for grownups! You get a delicious smelling all-natural soy candle that has a ring hidden inside.

So, not only do you get to enjoy the wonderful smells wafting around the house… you get a PRIZE!

The rings range in value from $10 to $5,000, so it’s kind of like playing the lottery. A nice, pretty-smelling kind of lottery where you’re guaranteed to walk away with something.

I chose a Vanilla Lime scented candle and waited with baited breath for it to burn down enough for me to grab out the ring. Even though lots of people are “diggers” and cut into their candles with a knife to get the ring goodness out ASAP, I wanted to try to play by the rules and wait patiently.

Ok, not so patiently. But I DID wait. Luckily my ring was pretty close to the top, so it only took a couple sessions of burning to unearth the foil wrap.

I grabbed out the foil with some makeshift chopsticks and only realized later that you’re supposed to blow the candle out first. Oopsie. Well, at least I didn’t burn myself.

As soon as I had that hunk o’ foil free, I unwrapped it as quickly as possible!

Once I got the ring out, I washed it off with some dish soap and here it is!!

Pretty cool, right? The first question everyone asks is how much the ring is worth.

Well, there are a couple ways to find out. First, you check the inside of the band to see if there are any markings. If you see “China” or “Thailand” it is a $10 ring. If you see nothing marked at all, the ring is valued between $10 – $100 and you can get it appraised if you’re curious of the exact value. If you see a marking of 14k or 18k, or something karat-like, get yourself to a jewelry store and have that bad boy appraised to see if it’s worth $100’s or $1,000’s!

My ring looks like it’s possibly a sterling silver and peridot mix. Or maybe just something super cheap that looks pretty. Either way, I like it a lot. Unfortunately, it’s a bit large for my fingers so I’ll either get a cheapo ring sizer to snap on the back or give it away to someone with larger fingers.

I can see how Diamond Candles can be addictive, as soon as I dug my ring out (and checked the Diamond Candles Facebook page to see if anyone had something similar) I immediately started pining for another candle… I think that this could be the perfect gift for bridesmaids, someone hard to buy for like your Mother-In-Law or a super cute anniversary gift for a wife (hint, hint).

How about you, do YOU want a candle? Well, my friend at Diamond Candles has generously provided me with one to give away!

Click here to enter using Rafflecopter!

The contest closes on September 16, 2013, so get your entries in so you can qualify!

Disclosure: Diamond Candles provided me with a free candle to review; however all thoughts and opinions in this review are my own. The contest winner will be chosen by the Rafflecopter widget and I will email the winner their special promo code once chosen.

9/16/13 Update: The winner was chosen randomly by Rafflecopter. Congratulations to Merete Sorum! If you are Merete, please check your email because I just sent you your special prize code which will give you your Diamond Candle for FREE!

Twice IS pretty nice

First off, I want to STRESS that this is not a paid promotion or advertisement in any way. I know that I make it pretty darn clear when I am compensated in some way for doing a review or giveaway (and only give good reviews to products that I actually really like), but I get a little gushy in this post. Okay, I get a lot gushy… but it’s just because I’m super excited about this website and I think you, my awesome readers, might like it too. In fact, the company doesn’t even know that I tried their service and decided to blog about it.

Ok…let’s move on to the awesomeness.

In the past I’ve shared my seasonal switchover process of packing up all my off-season clothes to make way for the next season. I do this partially because I don’t have a lot of closet space, partially because I like the space I have to be super organized so I can actually find what I’m looking for, and partially because it makes me furious to pull out something to wear that doesn’t fit.

Wow, that’s a lot of partially.

Anywho, at the end of every summer I pack away my summery dresses and skirts and bring out my heavier sweaters and tights. I usually end up with one bag of clothes that due to various reasons ends up being donated to the thrift store so someone else can pop some tags.

In the past, I had thought about consigning some of my nicer items. However, I never really felt like dealing with the hassle of taking clothes to a consignment shop and waiting to be paid a percentage of their sale. I was creeping on My Year of Fabulous one day and a reader suggested that Holly try out Twice clothing, an online consignment store.

When I clicked around the Twice site, I saw that they would send you a FREE bag so that you can send in your brand-name clothes to be consigned. Once they receive your clothes, they check them out and make you an offer. You can accept the offer, or decline and pay $5 to have your clothes returned. The reason I liked this more than your typical consignment store is that you don’t have to wait to find out if someone buys your item to get paid; they pay you and then deal with selling your clothes.

I decided to try it out for myself and when I switched from winter to spring I came up with 7 items to consign. There was nothing really wrong with the clothes; I had just bought some larger sizes to wear when I was in the early phases of my pregnancy. Everything was in great shape and the brands were all on Twice’s approved brand list. So I gathered them up, stuck them in the bag that Twice sent me (for FREE!) and dropped them off at the post office.

Within a couple weeks, I received an email offer of $25.00 for my clothes and chose to be paid in store credit since it gave me a little extra money. I then started stalking the site on a daily basis to decide how to spend my “found” money… and came across this shirt and dress:

I placed my order and within a couple days the clothes were delivered to my house. While I LOVED the dress and wore it one night at BlogHer, the shirt wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for. So I printed out a free return form, repackaged it and stuck it back in the mail. For FREE!

twice 3 — Here’s my Ann Taylor dress from Twice… I LOVED it, especially for only $24.95!

It was incredibly easy and I was really impressed at how quickly my money was refunded to my account. I’m definitely going to start including Twice when I sort through my clothes that I want to get rid of at the end of the season. While $25 doesn’t sound like a lot of money, it is nice to “find” some fun money to spend on myself. Also, I’m still donating a small bag of clothes to the thrift store… so everyone wins (and yes, I write off the donation on my taxes).

With the Fall coming so quickly, I think this is a great chance for you to try them out too. Right now they’re running a referral bonus where you can get $10 off your first purchase (for new sign ups that use my special link) AND if you decide to sell your clothes you can get an additional bonus payout of $10 in store credit. Here is my special code: liketwice.com/Ddm2y

Disclosure: I was not rewarded by Twice for reviewing their company on my blog. I reviewed their service because I feel like you guys might benefit from having an easy consignment option for getting rid of your old clothes. Or buying other people’s consigned clothes. If you decided that you want to click through on my special link, I will receive credits on my account (click here to access my special link) and you will receive money off of your order!

So what do you think, is this a company that you would use? Is there a website that you found that you’re totally in love with and gush about to all of your friends? If so, please share it in the comments!

Reviewing Kismet Box: DIY Beauty

I’ve written about my love for subscription boxes before and have been thrilled to receive Citrus Lane boxes since Jack was born. There is just something about getting a fun little surprise in the mail that makes me so happy.

I mean, 9 times out of 10 when I open my mailbox it contains bills, junk mail or a rogue spider… so opening it to THIS instead really adds a little wiggle to my walk:

When the nice people at Kismet Box contacted me about reviewing their very first subscription box, I was intrigued as to WHAT they would include in a DIY Beauty Box. I mean – I totally understand DIY – but DIY Beauty?

I actually used to have a beauty book from years ago where you could make your own beauty projects, but after a try at a ‘natural’ sugar waxing treatment for my legs left me with sticky, hairy legs… I pretty much gave up. So I was super excited that this kit included everything you need to make your own watermelon lip balm!

Included in the box:
– 2 disposable pipettes
– 1 (incredibly cute) mini whisk
– 1 mini measuring spoon
– 1 spatula
– 6 lip balm tubes
– 2 squeeze tubes
– Lip balm base
– Castor oil
– Watermelon flavor oil
– Coral lip-safe sparkle mica powder

I really loved that the kit included everything I needed to make the lip balm and even gave me ideas for how to decorate the tubes. As an added bonus, their website had some different ideas for how you can store the lip balm if you run out of tubes.

For my first try, I used 1/3 of the ingredients and ended up with three tubes full of pretty lip balm. I had some washi tape sitting around the house, so I wrapped each of the tubes in a few strips of washi and then sealed them into place with some packing tape. Cute, right?

I added enough color to the mix that it shows up as a sheer coral color on the lips, which I love!

Ok, that picture isn’t the best. I look a bit… odd. I was hoping to get a picture of my sister’s and me all wearing our lip balm (I gave the other two tubes to them), but forgot to do it when we were all at the beach this weekend. You’ll just have to believe me when I say that I apparently rock at making lip balm and the color is super pretty.

So thank you to Kismet Box for sending me this super fun kit to review and I’m really curious what will be in next month’s kit. DIY lotion, make-your-own nail polish or even a sugar waxing kit? Ok, not the waxing kit… I’m still a little scared of that. I did LOVE this kit though and like that I still have enough ingredients to make at least 6 more tubes of lip balm (or I could add a little extra mineral oil and make shiny lip gloss in the squeeze tubes they provided).

If you’re interested in treating yourself to a DIY beauty product box, The Kismet Box is pretty awesome! For a monthly subscription price of $23.95 (with free shipping), you will receive the tools and materials for a seasonally themed beauty project. If you want to get the watermelon lip balm kit that I reviewed, you need to place your order by August 15th.

This would make a really cool gift for the lady in your life who is super hard to buy for. Like me. You know, if you wanted to give me a gift. Or your sister. Or maybe a friend who pretty much has EVERYTHING and you need to figure out something for her birthday ASAP.

So tell me, have you done any DIY beauty products at home? I feel like there is a whole world of DIY that I didn’t even know about!

Disclosure: I was provided with a free Kismet Box to review; however all thoughts and opinions in this review are my own. I am not rewarded or compensated in any way if you click through to purchase a Kismet Box.