October Haul - Part 1 - Home Accessories - Next, Poundland, Primark, And An Introduction To Busy Bee Candles

Whilst I'm not always the biggest fan of my house,or it's location, I do love my home. When you spend so much time in the one place you can get a bit fed up but I do love it, and it's the place where I feel the calmest and the safest.

I want to make my living and working environment as calm and welcoming as possible so recently I've been making a few changes to both my bedroom and our spare room, which is now my new home office. It's definitely a work in progress, I didn't realise just how much stuff I own! but I've started picking up a few things to make my surroundings a bit more inviting and a bit more me.

I'm a huge, huge candle fan, I find watching a candle flame one of the most relaxing things that you do, and scented candles are just an added bonus. I'm a real Yankee Candle devotee, but recently I've started to branch out a bit and try some other brands. I'm always wary of trying new things, as I've been disappointed so many times in the past but last month I took the plunge and placed an order from Welsh company, Busy Bee Candles.

I've heard so much about this brand on twitter and various blogs that I just felt I had to give them a go. I didn't go for a candle as such, instead I went for a couple of varieties of their Magic Beanz, and a few of their Soy Wax Tart Melts. I love any form of wax melts, they are so much quicker to use than conventional candles, and they normally give a purer, stronger scent throw.

First up the Magic Beanz. These are a Busy Bee exclusive and basically what they are, are over sized coffee bean shaped, pieces of wax. 

You get about 15 or so in each pot and all you do it put about 5 in either a oil, or wax burner, and light a tea light underneath, so the wax melts, and the fragrance is released. Afterwards the wax hardens so you can use it as again.

I've used one up to now which was Gingerbread and I have to say I'm really impressed. The scent was gorgeous, exactly like a warming, spicy ginger cake, and the scent filled the entire house. Admittedly I live in quite an open plan home but the scent throw was really impressive, and 6 hours in, it's still going strong.

As well as Gingerbread I also got Snow Angel, a combination of mint and butter cream, and with a hint of floral,

and I got Golden Caramel. This seems to be the strongest of all the fragrances that I bought, and I could actually smell it before I even opened the box. It's very, very, sweet and sugary, almost burnt caramel fragrance, with just a hint of coffee. I actually cannot wait to burn this, but I definitely think this will be a lounge or kitchen fragrance rather than an intimate bedroom aroma.

I also got 3 of their Soy Wax Tart Melts, these work in exactly the same way. All you do is pop it into a burner, and put a tea light underneath. The first fragrance I got was Pumpkin Pie.

Pumpkin Spice Latte eat your heart out :) This smells exactly how that tastes ginger, cinnamon and mixed spice, with just a hint of sweetness - Yummy!

Everything seems to be quite foodie so far but I did get a fresher, more floral scent. My sleep is awful at the moment and I need all the help that I can get so I got the Sweet Dreams melt. I'm not a fan of pure lavender in candles but this is a combination of lavender, chamomile and eucalyptus, I'm going to be melting this one in my bedroom just before I go to bed.

I have to say my first experience of Busy Bee Candles is pretty positive, I haven't tried everything I bough yet but the fragrances are amazing and the scent throw is exactly what you would expect from a quality melt. I'm definitely considering buying some melts and definitely some more Magic Beanz, maybe in some of their festive fragrances. If you have any Busy Bee recommendations I'd love to hear them, and if you've never tried them, you can find their website here.

This haul seems to be all about the scent, and yet again, Next have come up trumps with their Festive Spice fragrance.

Over the years I've had both the reed diffusers and the candles and the scent is amazing. It's a real Christmas combination of fruits and spices. My mum's not big on bird related things in the house but I couldn't resist this little guy. 

He's a oil burner, and with him you get 2 tea lights, and a bottle of the Festive Spice fragrance oil. The dish isn't huge but I also think you could put in a few Magic Beanz for more intimate fragrance. He is so, so cute and I think he's going to live on my desk. He was £10 and you can find him in Next stores and on their website.

Going along with the festive theme I also picked up a couple of home things in Poundland. I'm not big on Halloween decorating, yes I do my pumpkin, and sweeties for the trick or treaters, but that's it. This year ghostie made his Halloween debut.

So many people seem to have bought these this year and I couldn't resist, he's a cutester and I'm really debating leaving him out all year round. I also got one of the Christmas themed tea light holders. From what I gather you cam also get a tree, and a snowman which I'll also be trying to get my hands on, but all they had left was the pudding. These are pretty decent for a pound and I think I'm going to make a little display on my office windowsill, using battery powered tea lights for cat safety.

Candles are brilliant for home fragrancing but sometimes you want something to scent the house without any flames and any effort. Reed diffusers are one of the best things to use and they can make such a difference to any home. The idea is simple you get a bottle of highly fragranced liquid and some wooden sticks - all you do it pop the sticks into the bottle and they gradually suck up the liquid, fragrancing your room. All you need to do it put them on a coaster or something to protect your surfaces, and once a week turn your sticks around to refresh the fragrance.

I'm a huge lover of the Next diffusers and of course Yankee's are amazing too but I picked this blackcurrant and orchid one from Primark. Primark I hear you cry? Well I'm a huge, huge lover of Primark's home wear, I have one of their duvets, one of their throws and a couple of cushions. Their candles aren't too bad for the price either. I was having a little sniff last time I was in store and this fragrance was my favourite. It's a bit fruity, and a touch floral. I haven't opened it yet but I'm hoping this is as nice as the candles were - it was only £3 so it was worth a try x This is going to go in my office too, on a high shelf out of the way of nosey paws and whiskers.

So this was my October home wear haul x I'm really getting into my home style at the moment so I can see these home hauls becoming a regular thing. If you have any questions please leave me a comment x Thanks for reading x