How to Repurpose a Candle Jar for Makeup Storage

Due to my love of Bath and Body Works Slatkin & Co. Candles I have ended up with a lot of used candle jars, which I have repurposed and used for cosmetic storage. Here are a couple candles I used up during the winter holiday season and the process I use for removing the wax. 

1. Put the glass jar with the wax in the freezer for at least 1.5 hours. When you are ready to begin the wax removal process remove the jar from the freezer.

2. Take a butter knife and gently insert it into the wax. The wax will start cracking. 

3. Once the wax starts cracking, remove each piece.

4. Keep cracking the wax until all the wax is in pieces and can be removed from the jar. 

5. If the wicks are glued to the jar of the candle, slowly use the same butter knife to lift each wick and separate the glue.  

6. Remove each wick and as much of the glue and wax residue as you can.

7. Fill a small pot with about 1-2 inches of water and heat it up until the water is about to boil. Turn off the heat and put the glass jar in the water. 

8. The heat from the water will melt the wax/glue residue and you should be able to wipe it off with a paper towel or cloth. Remove as much as you can.

9. The heat from the water will also loosen the glue from any labels on the jar, so this is a good time to remove all labels. 

10. Wash the jar with dish soap and/or put it in the dishwasher. Once the jar is clean, if there are any small amounts of glue remaining, try soaking the jar in soap and water, or use a product like Goof Off to easily remove the glue. Once the jar is completely clean, you are ready to use it for storage!

These jars are the perfect height for Q-tips, so I put a piece of cardboard in mine to act as a divider and I used half for Q-tips and half for cotton balls. You can use these for storing soaps, lipsticks, liners, makeup brushes or whatever your heart desires. Happy organizing!

Holiday-Perfect Fragrances from The Soap and Paper Factory: Pure Soy Candle and Solid Perfume Reviews

Ok, so I have changed the look of the blog yet again. I was having some issues with Wordpress and honestly I just don't have a huge chunk of time to sit down and figure out how to fix everything. Many of the photos from recent posts are not showing up but I will be fixing that in the next couple weeks. 

Back to the post.

Since I was a teenager I have loved candles. Not just collecting or admiring them, but I love to burn them. When I was younger my dad was always paranoid that I would knock one over so he made sure I was super careful, and I am glad he did, since my love for candles has only grown and I burn them quite frequently, so safety is #1. 

Soy candles are all the rage now and I was excited to have the opportunity one of the Pure Soy Candles form The Soap and Paper Factory. 

I love Vanilla fragrances, especially during this time of year, so the scent Burnt Vanilla is perfect for me. Well, it would have been perfect if it actually smelled like vanilla. I burned this candle for 3 hours and my living room only vaguely smelled like vanilla, and that too after I walked out of the room and backed in. When I was just sitting in the room I couldn't smell a thing The fragrance itself is nice when I hold the candle up to my nose, and it supposedly lasts 55 hours, but to justify the $18 price tag I believe the company needs to make the fragrance more powerful.

One product that the company did get right is the Solid Perfume:

This is a typical solid perfume that is great for travel or sticking in your handbag for touch-ups on the go.  The website says you can use this as a typical fragrance on the body's pulse points or even apply a little to the hair as a pomade. I mainly used this as a perfume, because it is quite thick and I don't want to use up half the product on one hair application. 

The fragrance I tried is Amber Absolute and it smells exactly like Amber Romance from Victoria's Secret. This too has a bit of a vanilla-y scent but much for sensual due to the sandalwood and amber combination. 

On the skin this fragrance lasts about 2 hours and then starts to fade, but I can still smell it faintly after 5-6 hours. The solid perfume retails for $18 and I especially like it for travel because of all the restrictions these days on liquids in carry-on luggage. I am anxious to try out the scent called "Close" because it smells of sandalwood, vetiver, oakmoss, a combination that is just up my alley.