God, We Love a Bargain

A couple of days ago, we "sacrificed" one of our "good" candles -- meaning, one that came from a suite or a gift bag. We hoard them and use them sparingly and lovingly.

The candle we chose smells so amazing. It's Guavapeel and it reminds us both of something we can't identify and a long-ago memory of childhood (we had an actual guava tree in our sideyard). The candle maker is Bluewick and we're pretty sure it came in a gift bag -- but given that we're now often ladened with senior moments, we cannot remember.

We made our weekly pilgrimage to one of our favorite discount department chain stores, and headed to the candle section -- we've found good deals on lovely Root tins, and occasionally, Yankees.

BeansTalk can give you a good tip: never buy candles that are not made in the U.S. this will insure that there is no lead in the wick, and frankly, that the candle will burn better and not create a toxic environment. We don't care how pretty the packaging is (the outside box, the vessel the candle is in), it must say MADE IN U.S.
Many women love candles, but hate the faint fog of black that manages to wind its way onto the ceiling and corner crevices, making it appear as though you live aside a freeway, and are catching exhaust.

We have waxed rhapsodic about he tremendous advantages to soy candles (pure soy) and realize that they're harder to find and much more expensive. But they're worth it.

But back to that lovely candle -- Bluewick. So, as we were saying, we were visiting our favorite "for Less" store and there was a bevy of boxes. We looked closely: they were Bluewick! Granted they are now "discontinued" or "retired" lines -- the HAPPY series and the ILLUMINA series, but there they were, boxed and beautiful.

We knew we were getting a deal, but had no idea how much of one. We picked up a Cait 20 oz. candle from the Illumina collection for $4.99 -- and found that it retails on line (some vendors are still selling) for $49! We also picked up two of the votive Landas for $1.99 each. The 12.5 oz. Happy series (we got five different kinds, one box, unfortunately, was immediately chewed through by our furry roommate), which retail for $26 each were also $4.99.

Yay! We love a good deal. And this was a super good one.

For more on Bluewick's latest collections: www.bluewick.com