Neom Candles Haul

After using up all my Christmassy scented candles I felt it was time for some new scented candles in 2F3. My only dilemma was which scents and which brand on a limited budget, it is still January after all.

As I was buying my candles online (no time for shops at the moment) I was unable to choose based on smell - odd for this kind of purchase I know! So I decided to try a highly recommended brand taking a risk on the scents but not on the quality. I therefore opted for the popular and natural based Neom range in 75g pots costing £13 each. The smaller than my average purchase size of candle but also smaller price tag allowed me to rid myself of all gilt for guessing at which scents I would prefer. Neom candles are made natural vegetable waxes and pure essential oils rather than artificial fragrances and paraffin wax.

I eventually opted for 'Tranquillity' (English lavender, sweet basil and jasmine) and 'Sensuous' (Ylang Ylang, frankincense and Patchouli) and on first smell prefered the 'Tranquillity' scent being much fresher and zestier than the 'Sensuous' scent. However this may be different after being lit and allowing the aroma to perfume a room. I know generally the larger sized candles produce a stronger scent but I am hoping the smaller Neom candles will give me the confidence to splash out later in the year on one of their 3 wick candles priced at £37. I have not burnt either of the candles yet but will be tonight so I will post an update of my opinion after an evening of either pure tranquillity or sensuousness. However my first opinion is they both smell utterly gorgeous and I much prefer the idea of something more nautural ingrediant based. So far I love them.







I bought my candles from Beautybay.com along with some other products I will be reviewing soon.

These include:

Alpha H - Liquid Gold

Philip Kingsley - Pure silver shampoo

Ciate - Nail varnish in skinny jeans

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New Me - update

So its been a few weeks since my first 2012 blog post and some of my resolutions are in full swing here at 2F3.

I have been hitting the gym hard, going running 4 days in the week. I have also been eating really healthy (apart from a few slip ups for birthdays, trip to Holland) and have begun to feel the benefits already. I have lost 4.5 lbs and am well on my way to achieving my target, which by the way I have changed. I have decided I want to reach 8 stone 7lbs and see how I feel at that weight.

Here is an examples of my food diary:

Breakfast: White coffee with sweetener, 1 large poached egg on toast

Lunch: Ham salad seeded roll

Snack: Fruit

Dinner: Quorn sausages and salad in a brown pita

Nothing exciting or ground breaking here but it works for me. I have to eat carbs or I get too hungry especially if I am exercising vigorously, which I have been.  I also cannot cut out my morning coffee at the moment as I have drank it every morning for years and is just too much for me to give up while I have cut out most other bad things.

I have found a nice little sweet treat if you fancy a sugar hit after your evening meal. They are called strawberry pencils or cables, consist of only 40 calories per sweet and just the one satisfies me. Whats more a packet of 6 only costs 45p from Sainsburys.



Regarding my hair... I had my appointment and have had a hair overhaul. Here are the before and after pictures.

Before (slightly damp but you get the idea)

After (blonder, bouncier and much prettier) 

On a side note, my boyfriend and I have recently started watching the TV series boxset Prison Break and we absolutely LOVE IT! For anyone bored of bad January TV check it out. It is action packed, gripping, not to mention full of eye candy. The main character, Michael Scofield, who commits a crime in order to be imprisoned where his brother is currently facing death row in order to break him out is played by Wentworth Miller and he is Gorgeous with a capital G!



So, if after the gym on a boring work night while eating your healthy salad you are looking for something good to watch pick up the boxset. It's not cheap at £50 for all 4 seasons but it is well worth it as it is over 56 hours of watching, That's less than a pound per episode. Or you could do as we did and borrow. The boxset is a few years old now so a lot of people have it.

New Year, New Me!

Okay so 2012 is here, the year the Olympics come to the UK and more importantly my last full year in my 20's which means plans are afoot in my head, and now on this blog, to make it a really great year and not to sound too clichéd but hopefully my best year yet.

Now, such an ambitious outlook is never fulfilled without some well thought out plans. So here they are both trivial and challenging.

• New hair cut - It has to be done. My hair is a mess both colour and cut so I think new year, new look, new me.  Appointment is booked for 19th Jan so until then hair research and idea gathering is a must. In the meantime I have bought this to see me through the remaining bad hair days. It gets great reviews and is on sales in Boots at the moment at only £15.49.

• Secondly and probably most commonly with new year resolutions, I want to lose weight. I did really well last year to lose about 10 pounds and I felt great too. I had loads of energy and my head was less stressed as when I 'm not keeping fit and eating well I really do worry a lot and I find I am a lot grumpier. Therefore hopefully if I reignite my enthusiasm for fitness and put more effort into my meals I will feel less stressed and happier too, not to mention get that bikini bod for Summer. I weighed myself this morning fully clothed and I weighed 9st 13lb! Ah when did this happen... anyway my aim is to reach 8 stone 13lb and maintain there or there abouts until the end of the year.  I have joined a gym and will blog about it at a later date but my stone in weightloss starts now.

• Hopefully in combination with my above goal I would like to run a 10K this year for charity. I have always wanted to run a race to raise money for a good cause and have been talking about it for years now. This is the year!

• I would like to do more travelling this year with my boyfriend.  We got off to a slow start travelling in our relationship as my boyfriend spent the first 2 years of our relationship trying to get over his fear of flying. We have now reached that stage and in fact have taken some great holidays together. However I feel we could both have utilised our holidays and money better last year so I am going to be the leader of all things sun, sea and surf orientated. I have holiday brochures gathered and have my Summer wardrobe at the ready.

• This doesn't really support the above goal but I really need to save money this year as I would like to buy a house before I am 30.  I have some money saved but not very much so this year is the year for some frugleness. This does not mean no spending, this just means some serious saving and less frivolous shopping on things I really don't need. I have set myself a monthly saving plan so hears hoping I stick to it.

• After this Christmas, and a somewhat long and tiresome game of 1983 trivial pursuit I realised my pathetic and embarrassing lack of general knowledge. Hence I aim to rectify this by reading more factual books as well as fiction, to spend more time trying to retain some facts and most of all whooping my younger brothers ass next Christmas. I have bought a book about the 100 most influential people in history as I figure that's a good place to start. Once I have finished that I will find a new factual book to study - God I am like a 28 year old student! Now that is depressing.

So those are my resolutions or ambitions for this year and I intend to fulfill them all. I will keep you updated on the progress of them all on a regular basis as another side aim is to blog more. But until next time life here at 2F3 just got a whole lot more focussed.

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