Trader Joe’s Kitchen Garden Scented Candle Collection

First off, HOW ARE YOU?  Are you safe?  Are you hunkered down in your home?  And when you venture out, are you staying at least 6 feet away from humans that you do not live with and wearing your mask??  I hope so!

We are squirreled away in our house.  I have worked from home (by choice) for a few years.  Given that fact, you would think that this quarantine life would not be that different for me.  I should be used to it, right?  Alas, it is not that easy.  I have actually been finding it really depressing.  I made a huuuuuge list of things I planned to get done while “stuck” at home, and I swear I have done maybe 1/12^th of them.  It is just hard to get motivated these days!  Between watching the news, reading the newspaper, and keeping an eye on my social media feed, I feel overwhelmed with Covid 19 about 17 hours of the day.  (But ahhh, those glorious 7 hours of amazing dreams…)  

Spotted on a walk

We get out and take a walk around our neighborhood at least once a day, but the only places we have been are GROCERY STORES.  And, of course, the one we go to most is our favorite, Trader Joe’s.  I think this was our 3^rd trip there in the last 6 weeks.  That’s great for us, since we love grocery shopping and normally go every couple of days.  But we are trying really hard to stay home and help flatten the curve.  That means insanely long receipts when we check out now!  Instead of buying 3 or 4 items we are buying a CART FULL (well, more like 2 carts full this last time, but hey, lots of it was stocking up on wine!!). 

We may have gone a little overboard...  But we won't have to buy WINE again in a long time!

When we went to TJ’s this time we brought along 25 $5 Starbucks gift cards and a thank you note.  The cards were purchased with money raised at a Kindness Yard Sale last Spring.  I gave them to a manager and asked that he hand them out to staff working.  Oh my goodness, it was fun!  Grocery store workers are “keeping the light on for us”.  They are stocking shelves.  Wiping down carts.  Making sure lines are distanced appropriately.  And checking out orders – ALL WITH A SMILE.  Well, you can’t really SEE their smiles now because they are wearing masks, but you can see the grin in their eyes.  Next time you pop into TJ’s please be sure to thank the workers.

Have mask, have Starbucks gift cards, READY TO GROCERY SHOP!

OK, let’s finally get to the review.  It’s been so long since I reviewed a Trader Joe’s product, and I think it is past time!   When we were in the store rushing to shop and exit, I peeked at the “New Products” end cap and saw something we hadn’t had before.  It wasn’t a FOOD item, and it was nothing we NEEDED really, but still I plopped one in our already overflowing cart.  And so, on deck for today’s review is Trader Joe’s Kitchen Garden Scented Candle Collection

The collection comes with 3 candles. The scents are Lemongrass, Tomato Leaf, and Fresh Mint (much like a little KITCHEN GARDEN!)  Each is a soy candle in a 3 oz. glass jar, sealed with a metal lid.  They are quite sweet looking.

Sorry, I didn't save the packaging to show you what they look like on the shelf at the store. 
But here is what they look like when you bring them HOME!

The Tomato Leaf sounded like the strangest scent to me, so it was where I began.  Smelling the candle before it was lit – WHEW, was that a strong scent!!!  The first whiff I took I was not so sure this was going to be a pleasant experience.  Then I closed my eyes and took another try.  Hmmm…  Instead of overwhelming and weird, it smelled like…  Like what??  Ahhhh – I figured it out!  It smelled like SUMMER.  It smelled like working in the garden, picking tomatoes, watering plants.  Then coming back inside and noticing that your hands smell like TOMATO LEAVES!  They nailed it!  And the scent when burning the candle is not as strong as it is when you are sniffing it unlit. 

Next up I tried the Lemongrass candle.  It is a bit of an overpowering scent, much like Trader Joe’s Lemongrass body oil.  I like the smell (and taste when it is in food) of lemongrass, but I guess a little goes a long way. 

Finally, Fresh Mint.  It smells nice and airy and MINTY.  I think this one should be in a bedroom.  It would be a nice pre-sleep scent. 

In order of best to not as good (I won’t say best to worst, because none of them were bad…) I rank them Tomato Leaf, Fresh Mint, then Lemongrass.  They all light very easily and hold a steady flame.  I think they are great candles.

I guess the thing I like most about them is that they brought a little bit of indulgence into my “focused on getting through his shit” life.  They bring a new light, a new scent into what is feeling like a stale environment from being locked in it for so long.  And the Tomato Leaf scent made me remember that no matter how bad it is right now, summer is right around the corner.  The days are getting longer and warmer.  The sun is shining.  The fresh tomatoes in the garden can’t be too far away.

Price:  $9.99

Rating:  4.5

STAY SAFE!!!

Mango Tangerine Scented Candle

As you know if you read the post before this one, we just went to India.  It was our first visit there and I spent the whole time with eyes wide open in amazement at all there was to see, smell, taste, and do. 

And while we were there – IT WAS MANGO SEASON!  And when it is mango season in India – It.  Is.  Mango.  Season!!!  There are loads of different varieties of mangos there, and they are insanely delicious and juicy!! 

Mangos at Crawford Market in Mumbai, India

Anyway, we are now back in the US.  And of course, one of the first places we went upon our arrival was TRADER JOE’S.  I mean, one has to get fresh half and half for coffee, right???  But after we unpacked, did laundry, and caught up on a bit of sleep, we went back to TJ’s to see what was new and stock up on some fresh veggies, etc.

Guess what?  IT IS MANGO SEASON AT TRADER JOE’S, too!  I mean, boy HOWDY is it mango season!  The first thing we saw when we walked in the door of the Fairfax, Virginia TJ’s this sunny Saturday afternoon was a display of some new mango coconut popcorn (which of coooourse we bought but haven’t tried yet, review to come…).  Oh man, TJ’s has gone NUTS!!!  There is mango EVVVVERTYHING – mango WAFFLES, mango SHAVING CREAM, mango mini pies (we got those!), mango cereal (got it!), mango ice cream, mango mochi, mango margarita mix, mango, mango, MAAAAANGO!  Let’s just say, in Trader Joe’s terms, JUNE is to MANGO as OCTOBER is to PUMPKIN.  If you have ever stepped foot in a TJ’s in the autumn season you will know exactly what I mean.  They’ve gone a wee bit overboard in the mango department (one worker told us there were gonna be, like, 50 mango items in the Fearless Flyer….)

So this is my first of several MANGO product reviews!  Drum roll please….  May I present the MANGO TANGERINE SCENTED CANDLE!

Candle in a metal tin

This candle comes in a metal tin.  I like to buy metal tin candles in small sizes to throw in my toiletries bag when I travel.  They are great for helping out musty smelling hotel rooms.  This candle is 5.7 oz though, so is too big to be called a travel candle.  But I grabbed one anyway.  In fact, let’s not lie, I grabbed 3.  1 is for me and 2 are for gifts!

Had to take a little sniff in the store to make sure it smelled good...

Then I came right home and lit mine.  I mean, I needed to make sure it is a nice candle before GIFTING it, right???  Turns out, it is!  The scent is nice – strong without being too strong and not overly in your face mango.  It is a nice balance of the mango and tangerine – it smells fruity and summer-ish. 

Ahhhh, mango and tangerine scent filling up our house

The label tells me the wax is a natural coconut-soy blend and the wick is lead free cotton (which is not something I am concerned about, but if YOU are there ya have it, this is a fancy wick). 

So it is a nice scent, natural wax, metal tin, and fancy wick, all at only $3.99!!  That is a really reasonable price for a good candle if you ask me.

This is a good candle at a really good price - go get yourself (and a friend!) one

I hate even listing the price here, and I hope that the people I am gifting these to don’t feel like I am a cheapskate…  But I want You guys, the readers who I am not gifting these to, to realize how cheap they are and go grab 1 (or 2!) now while it is “mango season”.  Cuz you know how it goes; just like pumpkin time, Trader Joe’s won’t keep these around forever. 

Price - $3.99

Rating – 4.5

Day 285 - Pumpkin Body Butter

I was not going to buy this.  One of the premises of this blog is that I would not buy anything that I anticipated before even trying it I would dislike it – that does not seem fair to the ratings to go into with a negative attitude.  But I was curious about this body butter…  I love lotion – I use it every single day.  And I really like body butters (oh man, the unscented generic one from Sephora is amaaaazing and David often gets me a tub of it for Christmas!).  So I wondered about this Trader Joe’s one, but I was afraid I would not like the scent.

Look, it is LUXURIOUS, it says so right on the label!!!

One night recently when I was checking out at Trader Joe’s I asked my checker if he has tried this product yet.  He had a stack of them sitting at his register.  He said he hadn’t tried it (secretly I was hoping he would say, “Should we open one up and give it a whiff??” but he didn’t).  But then I overheard the cashier right behind me offering some to HIS customer to try!  Well, you don’t have to ask me twice (technically, no one had asked me once, but go with it…)!!  I turned around and inserted myself into their conversation and grabbed a blob of the body butter to rub on my hands.

Of COURSE it is a "Flyer Item" - it is OCTOBER!  Every pumpkin product is a flyer item this month.  :)

It was nice!  The texture seemed good and the smell was not overpowering (as I had feared it might be).   It seemed to smell more like AUTUMN, more like SPICE, than stinking like a PUMPKIN PIE.  It was nice.  I thought maybe I had previously just had a bad attitude toward pumpkin scented things and I should get with the program. 

In store selfie...  I was a little bit nervous about this product...

I would have picked up a tub of it then and there but my cashier was done ringing me up and had everything bagged so I finished up and left.  But the next time I went into a TJ’s I got a tub of the Pumpkin Body Butter.  I was still NERVOUS, mind you, but the little sample on my hands had gone well enough that I thought a tub might be just the thing for the autumn weather.

That charge of $4.99 for this product will soon be a refund…

I put this body butter on today after my shower.  I mean – I PUT.  IT.  ON.  Everywhere.  All over my whole body.  It is sticky going on.  Once it was all on and rubbed in it was not too sticky, however…

I SMELL LIKE A CANDLE.  I smell like a rust colored pillar candle in the middle of a harvest centerpiece on the Thanksgiving table.  David said, “You are bloody AUTUMNAL is what you are!!”.

If you like smelling like a human sized pumpkin pie this is the body butter for you.

I don’t really smell so much like – well – I smell more like a PIE than I would like.  I am not the sort of person who likes fragrances that smell like FOOD.  Case in point, you will not see BIRTHDAY CAKE scented lotion in my cupboard (even though I really like one manufacturer who mistakenly (IMHO) makes that scent…).  That is disgusting!  If I want to eat a birthday cake I will EAT A BIRTHDAY CAKE.  I don’t want my ARM to smell like a birthday cake!!!

So, to wrap this up, this body butter goes on sticky.  After you get it on the texture is okay.  And the scent is good IIIIFFF you want to walk around smelling like a big pumpkin pie (or centerpiece candle).  If you do not want to smell like a pumpkin pie, just use some from a sample jar one time on your hands when you are at Trader Joe’s.  Trust me.  Learn from my mistake.

I have to give them points for the lid.  It's quite ingenious.

Because this is not sticky after you get it on, and because some people actually want to smell like walking desserts, I do not feel I can give this product a zero score (even though I am going to return it and ask for my money back).  I mean, some people might LIKE this…  It is not HORRIBLE.  It did not make me throw up and I did not jump in the shower and wash it all off.  Oh, it also has a really cool lid , you can either unscrew it like a traditional body butter lid or you can pop the middle of the top off. 

Because of those positive, I will not give it this product a zero.  J

P.S. – lest you think I hate all things pumpkin, make sure to read tomorrow’s review of MINI PUMPKIN PIES!

Price - $4.99

Rating - 2