#scentinthecity + giveaway

  

 

Hello my lovely people, it seems that scottnothingtodowithyou has went a little candle crazy lately ! So when I was invited to the #scentinthecity bloggers event at Shearers Candles I was over the moon, It was my chance to find out how my beloved candles are made. Shearer Candles is a family run business which has been owned by the same family for more than 3 decades although the actual company itself began back in 1897 - can you believe it?

I took a subway trip to the event, it was a gorgeous sunny day in Glasgow which is very rare so I had a little spring in my step and smile on my face. Upon my arrival to candle factory I made my way through the store and was automatically taken in by the mixture of scents drifting through the air, I later found out that this was actually the discounted gift shop where they sold candles and gifts at discounted prices due to the fact they where slightly damaged (I will let you in on a little secret - you couldn't even tell with the majority of items). In the next gift shops it was candles, reed diffusers galore as well as a selection of nibbles and prosecco awaiting us. 

Let the fun begin..

Rosey the Artistic Director of Shearer candles firstly gave us an insight into the company telling us about both the past and the present. We found out about the history of the company which I mentioned earlier and how it was founded in 1897 and how through the years it home moved from the Candleriggs to ibrox then on to its new premises in Govan. 

Rosey then spoke us through the fine art of creating the most perfect candle and let us in on a Shearer Candles secret lets just say its about getting the right balance, selecting the best ingredients having a strong passion and extensive experience. Although the candles are made here in Glasgow the ingredients, packaging and everything else needed to make a candle are sourced from some of the most exotic countries all over the world.

Shearer candles have many a ranges and also some major retail collaborations such as Tesco and Sainsbury's some of you might be saying "I've never heard of Shearer Candles before" but I bet you've had one burning away in your home without knowing. We also found out that a lot of celebrities are major fans of the candles - and why would they not be? These include the likes of George Micheal who is a massive fan of the Persian Lime, and we where told that Janet Jackson had been to the very gift shop we where all sitting in - AMAZING !

Chat over with and it was onto the factory where the magic happens! We where given a tour of the production line and got to see a  candle made from scratch to finish (see pictures below)

Production Line - Wick placed in candle, on route for wax pour.

Hot wax, if my memory serves me right it was peach!

Wax poured, time to set.

Cooling stage, depending on weather outside fans are used to help the cooling.

Complete, time to be packaged and boxed.

Different range of candles.

Some more factory pictures.

The hot wax runs from a container that's outside through pipes and into the factory.

After a few slips or two from me and the other bloggers on some of the wax it was time to put our candles making skills to the test and we all got to make our own candles FUN FUN FUN!

Tour over and back to the gift shop we went for some more prosseco and nibbles. Shearer candles where kind enough to let us choose 3 candles of our choice. After sniffing around for what seemed forever making sure I chose the best scents I decided on Watermelon, Hollyberry & Clove and Hogmanay. 

yummy cakes.

The girls at shearer candles also gave us a goody bad which had some gifts for us to give away to our readers.

 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

RREMEMBER I'VE BEEN SHORTLISTED FOR THE COMPANY MAGAZINE #stylebloggerawards MAKE SURE YOU CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW TO TAKE YOU TO THE VOTING PAGE

 

VOTE FOR ME

Well guys, yesterday they announced the shortlist for the Company Magazine #stylebloggerawards2014 and we done it ! scottnothingtodowithyou.com has made it and it's all thanks to you wonderful people for nominating me. I just want to say congratulations to anyone who entered and congratulations to those who made it through to the shortlist as well. I've made a little pack with myself to continue to deliver on my blog and that means working harder on my posts, showing you all my style more often and having FUN. I only started my blog back in October and can't believe we've made it this far so soon. It couldn't have been done without the support of my blogging community so thanks to all the #scottishbloggers out there ! and of course my followers and my readers too - keep coming back for more I won't let you down.

The voting page is here http://www.company.co.uk/magazine-hq/company-style-blogger-awards-2014 and can be a little tricky to vote - you can either vote for someone in each category or go straight to my category which is Number 7 - BEST MALE STYLE BLOG but then you have to continue to the end and leave your details (see photos below)

FLAMINGO CANDLES

Okey so it seems that everyone these days has a crazy mad candle obsession, or is that just me? Anyway I'm always sharing my new finds with you & next up is the one and only Flamingo Candles! 

Flamingo Candles is a company who strive themselves on being fun and quirky, and guess what? that they are! The candles are all handmade, organic and come in jam jar like pots with the statement acrylic flamingo attached which gives it its own very unique look. These candles are perfect for giving away as gifts and I already know of a few peeps that I'll be ordering some for, including myself.

To change my candle obsession up a little bit this time I decided to to try out the Flamingo Candle Scent Melts. Scent melts are like little circles of wax that you place in a burner and light a tea light underneath which of courses causes the wax to melt and fills up your room with a fantastic scent, it does a better job than what a candle does in my honest opinion. When my delivery from Flamingo Candles arrived with my six chosen scent melts I was super excited because before I could even open the box I could smell how AMAZING they where. After a couple of days waiting on my burner arriving I could finally get down to business and try out these scent melts that had been sitting in my bedroom drawer filling my room up with a mixture of different scents, yes they even worked when they where sitting in a drawer doing nothing believe it or not. Now I wasn't sure if you where to insert the full scent melt into the burner so decided to quarter it - I'm not sure if it would make a difference scent wise but it gave me the chance to move onto a new one quicker rather than waiting for the full scent melt to be burned up. The great things about the scent melts is that they can burn up to 15 hours but the smell lingers for what seems like forever!

The first melt I tried was Candy Floss Candy Shop Scent Melt and it filled the room up straight away, the scent must have took about 5 minutes for it to turn to liquid but the smell was just out of this world all I could think of was the smell of those American candy sweetie shops for some reason. When the tea light ran out the smell still lingered through the room, we had visitors up that night who complimented on the smell of the flat which I'm always paranoid because having two cats sometimes I get worried in case all they smell is cat haha! I tried this smell out in the bedroom and the next day the smell was still floating about which is great! I hate these candles that you buy and the smell just disappears immediately you feel done out of your hard earned cash.

The one I'm using at the moment is the Black Raspberry & Vanilla Scent Melt which is my favourite so far! My boyfriend who is a hairdresser had a friend coming over to have her hair done and as soon as she walked in she said the flat was smelling Funky Fresh and that's a good funky fresh of course! The scent totally filled up my hall bedrooms and living room. I think the key to having the scent travel is to have it positioned in a predominant area - for my I know we get a windy draught through the bottom of our flat door so placing it at then end of the hall means that when there is a gust of wind it will pull it through the rest of the house haha is that weird? I'm not sure but definitely give it a go you never know it might work.

 Green Tea & Lemon - £2 / Bubble Gum - £2  / Cranberry, Orange & Cinnamon - £2 / Fresh Peppermint - £2

I've still got another 4 scents to try but going on what I've already experienced I know I'm not going to be dissapointed! I'm totally in LOVE LOVE LOVE with flamingo candles and just want to try them all! Now that I've tried the scent melts I want to give the candles a go because not only will the make the flat smell adorable but they also add a bit of character to a boring old worktop or chest of drawers.  

Here are the four candles I have on my wish list!

Pink Lemonade

          White Tee & Mint                                                                              Cranberry Ginger Spice Tea

Vanilla Milk Bottles Candy Shop

May I add this is my favourite childhood sweet!

So there you have it the lowdown on Flamingo Candles Scent Melts! Have I inspired you? or have you already tried Flamingo Candles out? If so leave me a comment below and tell me how you got on if not then hurry up! 

 

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Please remember to vote for www.scottnothingtodowithyou.com under the 'Best Male Style Blogger' category over at the COMPANY website

SKINCARE

Skincare can be a very touchy subject for me, ever since I can remember I've been cursed with what I would say is the worst possible skin ever - oily, sensitive, bad breakouts, red you know the list goes on. When I think back I probably didn't have the best skincare routine I was always switching between high street brands and constantly trying new products on my face - all of which of course never worked. Since I've been blogging and reading a lot of beauty blogs I understand that sticking to a routine and using products that work for me are key. After speaking to Thom over at manfaceblog.com about the problems I had with my skin he recommended I go out & buy some clinique products. With my skin being over sensitive and oily I was advised to stick to gel based products especially when shaving so with a voucher I received from a Debenhams press day I made my way to the clinique counter before I started my shift one day.

Clinique for Men Aloe Shave Gel

The Aloe Shave Gel is great for sensitive skin, the gel works as a great lubrication and you honestly only need one pump as a little bit goes a long way. The gel itself is actually fragrance free and contains chamomile which helps to soothe and prevents razor bumps (which I had been getting a lot of thanks to my previous shaving foam). The best way to shave your beard or in my case strands of hair is to go with the grain. I only need to shave a couple of times a week but this is when I noticed my breakouts happening the most and knew I had to change up my shaving routine, I can honestly say after using this for a couple of weeks now my shaving routine is more enjoyable and I don't dread taking the razor to my face.

Anti-Blemish Solutions Clinical Clearing Gel

Sticking to a gel based product again here, the Anti-Blemish Solutions Clinical Clearing Gel is designed to help treat current and future breakouts. The gel contains Salicylic Acid, an ingredient I'm more than familiar with and anytime I use a product which contains it, it genuinely helps clear up my skin. The way I use the gel is after cleansing the skin I apply a small drop to my fingers and apply all over the face quickly. The gel drys up the skin super quick so you need to be fast and I usually keep my eyes closed as the salicylic acid gives it a kick and can make the eyes a little bit watery.

Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel

The bottle says its a gel but if I'm being honest it's more of a lotion with a rich silky feel to it. The gel has no heavy thickening agents and doesn't include any oils at all which is perfect for my skin . I tend to try and use a generous amount on my skin as after the first few days I noticed that my skin was still feeling a little dry so it really does help to just use that little bit extra. I try to stay away from products that are fragranced as these tend to irritate my skin so with this gel being fragrance free I'm in love.

 

Special Cleansing Gel

I got a hold of this special cleansing gel at an event months ago and it was just lying in the bathroom drawer doing nothing, waiting to be used. So when I bought my clinque products and didn't have enough left over for a new cleanser I knew this was the perfect time to give it a go with it being gel based. Again with this a tiny drop goes a very long way. After you rinse off of the skin you really can feel the face tighten a little, this is great for people who tend to break out a lot. The gel doesn't leave any oils on the skin but instead a slight moisturised feeling. This product is also fragrance free so is another one at the top of my list.

Daily Microfoliant

I've only used this product a couple of times as not a big fan on exfoliation. I know you will tell me otherwise but my skin just feels red-raw after using them and that's with me doing it gently. The microfoliant uses tiny grains and you can decide how much water you wish to add which makes it a little bit more fun I suppose? Depending on how much water you add to the crystals you end up with a different texture for me I added a lot of water as I wasn't too sure of how harsh the crystals would feel against my skin but in all honesty I couldn't tell I felt as if it was just another cleanser in a sense. After I rinsed the product away and patted my face dry I could tell that my skin was feeling a little smoother but dried out a little. I wouldn't use this product everyday but that is out of choice - As I stated I'm not an exfoliating fan but will continue to use it 2-3 times a week as works really well.

The order in which I use my products are;

Clinique Aloe Shave Gel 

Special Cleansing Gel 

Daily Microfoliant (every other day)

Anti-Blemish Solutions Clinical Clearing Gel

Dramatically Different Moisturising Gel

So I've been using these products for around about 2 weeks and I'm in love with them all. I've been getting so many compliments on how good my skin looks which really has given me a confident boost. 

I also just wanted to tell you quickly about my favourite hand product which is the Arran Aromatics Citrus Shore Moisturising Hand & Nail Cream - This is my favourite scent from Arran Aromatics - I go absolutely mad for it! The cream is made up with sheabutter and beeswax both known to naturally moisturise the skin. The smell is really uplifting and has an amazing citrus kick to it. I wasn't really a huge hand cream fan until I started using this so hopefully I've inspired you to give it a go to!

And if you want to know what scent was burning away in my picture I've been using the Flamingo Candles Black Raspberry & Vanilla which was only £2 !!!

Do you use any of these products? If so how have you been getting on with them, I'd love to know!

OOTD

Jacket - Tortured Genius @ BankFashion (not available)

Shirt - Topman (here)

Jeans - Nanny State @ BankFashion (here)

Shoes - River Island (OLD)

Before I made my way to the Topshop event I met up with my good blogging friend Jennifer, me and Jennifer met at our very first ever blogging event and have stayed friends since. You can find her writing over at http://www.glasgowfashiongirl.blogspot.co.uk/ or she can be found on instagram - http://instagram.com/glasgowfashiongirl. Jennifer kindly took these pictures on my camera. 

I'm really loving this brand new Topman floral print shirt, apparently it had just hit the rails the minute I walked into the store so for me it was a deal braker, straight to the cash desk I went. Then to my surprise later that night they featured it in their fashion show - picked a winner.



</>