Haul | Bath & Bodyworks (2)

I happened to be in the area of the Bath & Bodyworks store last Thursday for a work appointment and of course I had to drop in check out the new spring scents. After a quick sniff, I picked up 4 scents in wallflower refills, Watermelon Lemonade, Fresh Linen, Cheers to Capri and Island Margarita. All fresh and citrusy scents! I have a couple of work trips coming up and I am thinking of bringing a wallflower with me to scent up my hotel rooms.

In other news, I have three orders out for delivery this week - The Bathing Garden, Two Timing Tart and Sunnee's destash. #happydance. The package just left Ohio and is bound for Hong Kong, if all goes well, I might be able to get it Saturday or Sunday? I can't wait to share them with you!

Shipping with comGateway

So I mentioned in my Hello! post that I was testing out a shipping company called comGateway because less and less wax vendors are offering international shipping and if they do, shipping fees are really expensive and generally charged at USD25 per package for Priority International. What comGateway does is that it gives me a US shipping address (in Portland, Oregon) to shop at US-only retailers and provides the option of repacking and combining packages to save on international shipping fees. Registering for the US shipping address is entirely free and I am only charged for the international shipping of my packages (by DHL) according to volumetric weight, fuel surcharge and insurance.

The last of my three packages finally arrived in Portland last Friday and I immediately set about combining my packages and getting them out for shipping. For this first shipment, I applied a complimentary coupon code for Express Shipping (est. 3-5 days).

The Bathing Garden

Order: $35

Shipping: $6.5 (International - $24)

Two Timing Tart

Order: $14

Shipping: $8.98 (International - $24)

Front Porch

Order: $25.20

Shipping: Free (International - $24)

CGW shipping fees: $34.85

Total with individual international shipping: $146.20

Total with comGateway shipping: $124.53

Savings: $21.67

As you can see, the savings are rather substantial which makes this a win-win situation for me. The more packages I ship together, the more I save, which means ideally I should always plan for 3 orders to maximise my shipping savings. Not going to complain about that! Delivery was facilitated by DHL and the shipping info was constantly updated, I was tracking my package from Portland to Cincinnati to Hong Kong and finally Singapore! Now, it's time for me to go roll around in my new wax!

Haul | Bath & Bodyworks (1)

The first Bath & Bodyworks store opened in Singapore last weekend, and as a scent fanatic, I had to visit as soon as I could! Luckily for me, it happened on the following Tuesday. My aunt introduced me to BBW 7 years ago when we were holidaying in the US. We visited the store at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas and it was during the semi-annual sale, needless to say we went crazy. At that time, I mostly bought bath & body and lipbalms (loved those C.O. Bigelow lipglosses!)

This time round, I bypassed the bath & body and headed immediately to the candle section! I spent a scent-tastic 30 mins in there sniffing every single candle and every wallflower bulb tester in there. There were three collections of candles available, Signature Collection, Sweet Shop and Fresh Picked. Wallflower and home fragrance scents were mostly from the Signature collection. As I sniffed my way through the candles, I decided that I am really not a fan of cake scents, they are too cloying for me and in this constant tropical heat, it's just too much for me. Scents I did like included Merry Mango, Sweet Clementine, Sugared Lemons, Lavender Marshmallow, Eucalyptus Mint and Moonlight Path.

But beyond the candles, I was most excited to pick up some Wallflowers plugs and refills. And I was so glad that they are priced affordably at $10 each. For the opening week, the Wallflowers were on sale at $9 each, and 4 for $35. I picked up a White Wedgewood Gate (designs are limited to basic conicals and the wedgewoods) and three refills in Sweet Pea, Paris Amour and Renew & Refresh. I have the Sweet Pea switched on right now and it has a really good throw! I can't wait to pick up more scents soon!