Category: “& More!”

Video: Magical Candy from Harry Potter World

Today we bring you a different kind of post that is still book related (I mean it’s Harry Potter!): Today Kim will be sharing a video of the different candies she recently bought during her return trip Harry Potter World at Universal! Be ready to be entertained…

Y’all know I’m a Potterhead, I don’t hide it. So when I had the privilege to visit HPW again, I went ham. I even warned Ivan that I was going to get and try as many treats as possible! Definitely a great idea! I rode all the rides again, plus the new Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure. That ride blew my mind; absolutely worth the wait in line. Then as Ivan and his brothers explored the rest of the park, I headed for Honeydukes and the Weasley Joke Shop. I basically picked up one of almost everything. And in the video, you see the result! Yet another victory for Universal, Warner Bros. and nerddom!

A Review of Olay’s New Foaming Whip Body Wash

Today’s review will be different.  This is where the ‘& More’ part of Jessica’s Reading Room comes in: from time to time I will review something other than a book! 

I received a sample of Olay’s new product Foaming Whip Body Wash.  The scent sample I received was shea butter and the sample size was 2 oz.. I consider myself a huge ‘bath snob’ and was looking forward to trying it out. 

Olay sells four scents of their Foaming Whip Body Wash in 10.3 oz cans
-Shea Butter
-Purifying Birch Water & Lavendar
-White Stawberry & Mint
-Soothing Orchid & Black Currant

This is the Product Description from Olay’s website https://www.olay.com

Turn shower time into a rich, luxurious experience with Olay Foaming Whip Body Wash and awaken your senses with the scent of shea butter. This unique, whipped foam gently cleanses your body with a thick, creamy lather that envelopes your skin then effortlessly rinses away to leave it feeling refreshed and weightlessly soft. Just a little of this luxurious foam goes a long way, making enough rich lather for 30+ showers per bottle.

Ingredients:

Water, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Isobutane, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Fragrance, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Propane, Sodium Chloride, Sodium Benzoate, Citric Acid, Disodium EDTA, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone


Jessica’s Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

The sample can resembles a shave cream can, and even the way the product dispenses is like shaving cream. To me the body wash was also similar texture of shaving cream.  I even used it as shaving cream.  The big plus for me was that the Shea Butter smells really good! I love the Shea Butter scent!   I would be interested in trying out the White Strawberry & Mint Scent.

It takes a lot of product to use as a body wash.  It felt like I was putting shaving cream all over my body.  It did leave my skin feeling soft and smelling great afterwards.

Olay sells it on their site for $4.99 and I saw it in my local Target for $5.49.  I personally can’t see spending that much on glorified shaving cream.  The foaming whip body wash wasn’t for me.  Even with the $1.00 off coupon that came with the sample, the cost is too much for me.

**Thank you to Olay for sending me a sample of foaming whip body wash to try out!  I wish it had been a product for me.**

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A Review of Royal Essence Products

Today’s post is a little different.  This is where the “& More!” part of the site comes in. It IS a review but not of anything book related: It is a review of some of Royal Essence’s bath products!  If you have been following me on Instagram at all, you know I am a bit of a bath snob and love my bath bombs and bath related products! I’ve been ‘mini-reviewing’ them on Instagram as I use them, and today I am featuring one of those companies! 

My Instagram: @jessica42980

I found out about Royal Essence via an ad on Facebook and decided to give them a try. They are located in Adelaide, South Australia and the products are hand made and personally packaged! You can also tell from the products themselves that they are not mass produced. 

Royal Essence sells a variety of products with jewelry inside! They sell:

candles (including special occasion editions)
diffusers
bath bombs
bath scrubs
bath crumbles
whipped soap

There are three kinds of jewelry you can order in their products: rings, earrings, necklaces. For a short time they had “essential bath bombs” which came jewelry free and cost less than the bath bombs with the jewelry.

All of their jewels are guaranteed 925 sterling silver with semi precious stones or man made crystals. Each jewel has a minimum RRP (Recommended Retail Price)* of $90 (Australian dollars).

* RRP is an approximate value of how much your jewel could sell in a jewelry store in Australia.

Every purchase of a Royal Essence product gives you a chance to win a jewel worth up to $5000 made with 14 or 18 Carat White/Yellow/Rose Gold with natural gemstones and conflict free diamonds.

For me it is NOT about the jewelry, it is about the product. The rings are a nice bonus.  I will buy the product if I like it and I found a product I love: the Cookie Dough Whipped Soap!

At first I was not sure of the scent but it slowly grew on me. There are even some real chocolate chips at the top of the soap. The soap really is whipped and I LOVE the texture! Sadly, they discontinued the chocolate chip  cookie dough whipped soap. When I found that out I ordered several of the soaps, not caring about the ring size. I loved the soap and had to stock up!

I was excited when they added a necklace option. They also offer earrings, but I am not an earring person, so I did not order any earrings in products.  Here is my necklace I got in my candy kisses whipped soap:

Packaging: 5 stars These items arrived VERY well packaged! Again, they come from the other side of the world: Australia!  I was pleasantly surprised with the packing with my first order. Great care was apparently taken with my order to ensure the products arrived safely!  Bravo Royal Essence! 

Shipping Time: 5 stars I was thinking it would  take at least three weeks to a month for my orders to arrive.  I was pleasantly surprised that each time I have ordered my packages arrived in as little as 1.5- 2 weeks!  One time I had to go to the post office to pick up my package and sign for it, the other times it arrived on my doorstep.

Customer Service:  5 stars A stone in one of my rings fell out not even a couple of weeks after getting it. I had worn it maybe a handful of times. I contacted Royal Essence about this (either through email or Facebook messenger- I can not remember which). I was not expecting much about this but then…. They sent me another ring at no cost to me to replace the one with the missing stone! I did not have to send the other ring back.  They just wanted a picture of the ring with the code that had the RRP (which I still had). It was not the same ring, but of a similar RRP.  At first i did not like the replacement ring, but it  has since become one of my favorites! I wear it a lot:

Cost: 4 stars  The products can be a little costly, but remember you are getting the product and a pretty piece of jewelry!  Part of the magic is finding out what your pretty jewelry item looks like! You can also enter the code online to find out what the value of the item is. It seems like their is no free shipping to the USA, but the shipping hasn’t been bad, if memory serves, it was just around $8.00 (which was why I expected a long arrival time).

Products: 5 stars I have ordered from Royal Essence four times! I have ordered the bath bombs, essential bath bombs and  the whipped soaps. The whipped soaps are my favorite by far. It is a texture thing and I LOVE it!  Maybe at some point I will buy a candle to try, but not yet. I have enjoyed all of the products I bought! and the bath bombs are huge!  The one pictured below was an essential bath bomb( no jewelry inside) and it was so large it could have been used for two baths! 

Giveaways: (not rating)  Royal Essence seems to have giveaways/sales a lot and free items shipped on orders- but only if you are in Australia. I wish I could participate, but I understand: I am on the other side of the world from them!

Reward Program: 5 stars They have a reward program where you can earn points based on what you do: enter a birthday, share on Twitter, and even ordering items: You can earn 5 points for every $1 you spend! It adds up quickly and you can get money off of future orders: from $5 to $50! I have personally received the $10 off reward.

 

Overall, I rate Royal Essence 5 stars! They seem to be a great smaller company and when you buy from them it truly matters and helps! As previously mentioned, I have ordered from them four times and will continue to use them! They are a great company!  I am so glad I discovered them.

They currently have their Christmas products available.  They had some products for Halloween as well. I look forward to seeing what products they offer in the future. I am and will continue to be a repeat customer! 

Contact Royal Essence:
Website
Email: support@royalessence.co
Instagram @royalessenceco

I WILL be reviewing more companies with similar products. If you know of anything you want me to review let me know, and if I am interested, I may look into it. 

**These orders to Royal Essence were from my own money, that I purchased on my own. I was not compensated in any way for a review.

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