Shaker & Spoon Subscription Box Review!

We have another special post for you today! We were sent a subscription box from Shaker & Spoon to review on the site! For those who don't know, Shaker & Spoon is a subscription box service unlike any other. This one is all about alcoholic beverages, and if you know us, you know we often like to partake in some delicious cocktails while watching movies at home and in the cinema! We're going to review each drink and pair them with movies we think you'll love while sipping in style!

Let's break down this service a little bit more, shall we? Each box comes with everything you need to make three completely different drinks, and each box revolves around one specific liquor. All of the ingredients you need to make these drinks are provided in the box except for the booze. Why you might ask? Well, several states have restrictions about shipping alcohol, so this way, the box can be shipped anywhere in the U.S. and doesn't need a signature when delivered to your house. Each box costs $50/month, and the price goes down a little bit if you subscribe to a 3-month, 6-month, or 12-month plan. We think this is such a fantastic, interesting way to try alcoholic beverages you never thought to try on your own! Without further adieu, let's jump into this box!

Here's a picture of all the ingredients! This box was February's "Time to Afterparty" box, which the company still had available for us to review. Now, we are *huge* champagne/sparkling wine fans, so this jumped out at us immediately. We decided to go with this one because we almost always have a bottle of bubbly around the house, you know, just in case of a spontaneous brunch. We took our time to make these three drinks, and then over the next few weeks, we made them again to test how the syrups held up! And speaking of syrups, the other awesome part about Shaker & Spoon is they make all of their syrups in-house! Take a look at some of the ones they sell here.

The first drink we decided to make was The Original Sin. Here's the drink recipe:

Holy. Cow. This drink was phenomenal! This was my absolute favorite drink from the box. We were a little bit concerned when we pulled out the syrup and saw "apple-balsamic shrub" because we wondered what the hell that was! Balsamic vinegar in a syrup for a drink!? WEIRD. It's not weird at all, IT'S GENIUS. This drink tastes like a little bit of fall in the thick of summer. It's invigorating and crisp from the shrub with a little kick from the bitters, all rounded out nicely with the bubbly. Mmmmm. It was so sad when this syrup ran out! It's delish!

This drink may get you hot and bothered, so here are some movies you might want to watch while drinking The Original Sin:

• "Original Sin" (2001), starring Angelina Jolie and Antonio Banderas (an obvious choice, sure, but it doesn't get much more sinful than this!)
• "9 1/2 Weeks" (1986), starring Mickey Rourke and Kim Basinger (that scene in the kitchen...*shivers*)
• "Body Heat" (1981), starring William Hurt and Kathleen Turner (because nothing says spicy like Hurt and Turner!)

The second drink we got to make was the Time After Thyme cocktail. It had the following instructions:

I really enjoyed this one, and this was BigJ's favorite of the bunch. Again, we got nervous about the cucumber-thyme syrup and the celery bitters because it's got things you wouldn't normally put together in a cocktail. By God, those flavors meld together extremely well to create a fragrant, refreshing, bright, zesty, complex drink. So good. Just don't get curious and try the celery bitters without anything else because "you just want to see what bitters tastes like" on its own. Bad decision!

Here are some movies you might enjoy while sipping on your Time After Thyme beverage:

• "The Hundred-Foot Journey" (2014), starring Helen Mirren and Manish Dayal (because sometimes you have to put a new twist on an old classic)
• "Julie & Julia" (2009), starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams (because when you think of spices, who do you think of? Julia Child!)
• "About Time" (2013), starring Domhnall Gleeson and Rachel McAdams (because while time is fleeting, you can enjoy this drink all movie long)

Last up is the Chinese New Year cocktail. Here's the drink recipe:

We love Chinese five-spice. We've used it in our cooking for a couple of years, ever since we saw our favorite local chef Sam the Cooking Guy use it in a chicken recipe and subsequently found out that Trader Joe's carried it for super cheap. This one seemed the most straightforward of the trio, so we assumed it'd be our favorite. Upon the first sip, BigJ and I both really liked it. After a while, however, the flavors got extremely overwhelming. The syrup overpowered everything else in the recipe. We tried this one two other times over the course of the month to see if our minds had changed, and they hadn't. It's not bad by any means, it's just a very specific flavor that you need to brace yourself for when enjoying.

Here are some of our favorite movies that are spicy, colorful, and intricate, just like the Chinese New Year drink:

• "Hero" (2002), starring Jet Li, Tony Chiu-Wai Leung, Maggie Cheung (because it's one of the most gorgeous movies we've ever seen, and it highlights the beauties of China by bringing together the country into one cohesive nation)
• "Brotherhood of the Wolf" (2001), starring Samuel Le Bihan, Mark Dacascos, and Jérémie Renier (because it's French with a little bit of an Asian influence)
• "Brazil" (1985), starring Jonathan Pryce, Robert De Niro, and Kim Greist (because it's intricate and complex, but may be a bit of an acquired taste)

Thanks very much to Shaker & Spoon for letting us try this incredible subscription box! We loved this one and really enjoyed being taken out of our comfort zone to discover some great new flavors! Are you planning on trying this subscription box?

Please be sure to check out Shaker & Spoon all over the internet!

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*We were sent this subscription box for an honest review. We were not further compensated for this post and all opinions are our own.

Happy Piranha Geeky Candles Review!

We've got another awesome post to share with you today, movie lovers! It's full of geekdom wonderment, but it doesn't have anything to do with film reviews. No no, today, we have a set of candle reviews to share! We were sent a package from Happy Piranha for smelling and review purposes.

This is a candle company who knows its way to the heart of any nerd! Do you like Harry Potter? There are candles for you! Pokemon Go more your style? Look no further than Happy Piranha! Just looking for some aromatherapy stuff to help you chill after a long week? You've come to the right place. Now, let's get into what we were sent in our package!

First, we had to share their absolutely adorable business card! We've never seen anything like it. It's so cute, and you definitely need to see both sides. It's unique, quirky, and colorful. Love it!

Here's a close-up of the three candles we were sent to review. Each candle costs about $11.05 USD and has an average burn time of 35 hours. The scents we were sent are named and described as follows:

• Ogden's Olde cinnamon flavoured Fire Whiskey ("Warming scent of apple and cinnamon like someone has just popped the cork on an aged bottle at the inn!") (website link | etsy link)
• Jigglypuff's Lullaby ("plump marsh mellows and cotton candy,") (website link | etsy link)
• Hunger Games inspired Mockingjay candle ("juicy clementine ginger and orange") (website link | etsy link)

The first thing we noticed upon opening this parcel is the insane amount of detail Happy Piranha puts into their labeling. Dear god, it's truly A+ packaging. Let's get a closer look at those lids in all their glory (same order as the scents listed above, left to right).

Love these little details. The lids and labeling really take these candles to their ultimate geekiness and set them apart from other brands. Each candle is also a different color, each has a single wick, and each is in its own metal tin.

So, how did they all smell? Our favorite was Ogden's Olde cinnamon flavoured Fire Whiskey, and not just because we are huge Harry Potter fans. The throw on this candle was pretty darn good! Whenever we walked into the room, we were greeted by the inviting, alluring blend of cinnamon and apple, which is a personal favorite combination of ours. We burned this bad boy for a few hours at a time, and every time, it was awesome.

Next we tried Jigglypuff's Lullaby. While we love the look and smell of this candle before it's lit, it was also the weakest of the three by a wide margin. In fact, we had a hard time smelling it in a larger room. Our kitchen/living room/TV room are all on an open floor plan, and we could only smell faint wisps here and there of this gooey marshmallow cotton candy confection (both of which can definitely be lighter scents in general). When I brought into a smaller space, the spare bathroom, which is much more enclosed, the throw was a little better, but still pretty weak. We are bummed to say that as pretty as this one looks and as much as we love Pokemon, this candle was a miss for us.

Finally, we tried the Hunger Games inspired Mockingjay candle. This one looks the coolest out of the three we tried. Absolutely adore the Hunger Games details! This candle had a low-medium throw in the big room, but once we moved it to our bathroom (which is bigger than the spare bathroom, but not by much), it had a bit more success. This one is fruity and a little bit complex because of the ginger element. The clementine is sweet, but not too sweet, though I think the mixture interacts with one another before it's burning. It smelled strange when we huffed it before lighting the candle, but when it was burning, it was a lot more straightforward. I wish this had been a teensy bit stronger, though! Provided you burn this in an smaller/more enclosed space, you'll most likely enjoy it if you like warm/citrus blends.

We want to say a huge THANK YOU to Happy Piranha for letting us try these candles and sending them all the way to the states from Cornwall, England! We really appreciate you taking the time to do this for us, and we even have our eye on some other candles to order when we're finished with these three!

Please visit Happy Piranha all over the internet for your geeky/nerdy candle needs!

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*these candles were sent to us free of change for review, but we were not further compensated and all thoughts are our own.

Gaslamp Popcorn Review!

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We've got another fun post to share with you today, cinephiles! We were sent a package by Gaslamp Popcorn so we could try and review a few bags of their most popular flavors! Of course, movies and popcorn go hand in hand, so we are really looking forward to sharing our opinions with you hardcore movie lovers.

Before we jump into our thoughts, we wanted to tell you a little bit about this company. All of their popcorn is made in small batches. It's all natural, non-GMO, gluten free, and comes with just a tiny dash of sea salt in every bag. Movie theaters are notorious for slathering butter and salt all over your bag of golden popped nuggets of goodness, so it's nice that Gaslamp Popcorn dials the flavor profile waaaay back to let the popcorn be front and center and shine!

Also, this company has local roots! Two decades ago, Gaslamp Popcorn began making popcorn in the Gaslamp District of San Diego, which is practically right down the street from us! They have since expanded into other major markets, and it was cool when we discovered this company started right here in America's Finest City. You can read more about the company's origins here!

We had been out all day when the package arrived at our house, but when we got home, we noticed this huge box at the front door. When we opened it up, we were blown away by the different varieties they sent us and we started trying them immediately. Let's get into the reviews.

The first variety we tried is their classic Sea Salt & Olive Oil. We figured we'd get a baseline for the true flavor of their popcorn this way. This is a simple, stripped down, straightforward popcorn with just enough salt to keep you interested. This is good by itself, but better to mix with other items like cinnamon red hots or caramel M&Ms (both of which are delicious), or to use in popcorn balls. If you're like us, you may want to check out the varieties down below because we enjoy lots of spice and flair in our snacks. The best part about this variety is it's only got 37 calories per cup, and the bowl pictured above shows one serving (3.25 cups). If you're into just a teensy, tiny little bit of sea salt like Ariel and Sebastian here, grab yourself a bowl and watch "The Little Mermaid" while you're at it.

For fans of cheese, look no further than Gaslamp's California crafted Authentic White Cheddar flavored popcorn. This was the second variety we tried. While a lot of the cheddar popcorns we have tried in the past have been too greasy and/or too artificial tasting, Gaslamp's version finds a way to transcend both of those ick factors and blends tanginess and their already delectable lightly salted popcorn to make some truly savory morsels. Can't get enough of the cheese? Companion movies for this flavor include "Howard the Duck" and the original "Sharknado!" Aren't those Funko Pop! dolls adorable?!

Gaslamp's Authentic Kettle Corn was next up on our list. This stuff is dangerous, but in the best way imaginable! It's not too terribly sweet, which we appreciate. Some kettle corns are far too sugary for our liking. It's has the perfect amount saltiness, like our good but touchy pal Anger, and just the right touch of sweet glacé like Bing Bong. "Inside Out" will give you a perfect incorporation of emotions while eating this variety!

The last flavor we got to try is the Malibu Mix, which combines the three aforementioned varieties in one bag for the ultimate salty and sweet combo. This was our absolute favorite. It's got the tang and saltiness from the white cheddar popcorn mixed in with the sweetness from the sugary lil' kettle corn nuggets, plus the regular sea salt and olive oil blend...PERFECTO! We have demolished a bag and a half of this variety and see no end in sight to our newfound addiction. Wow. It's so good.

Thank you SO much for letting us try your incredible products, Gaslamp Popcorn! You have made two new lifelong fans in BigJ and I, and we are now on the hunt to find your Cinnamon Caramel flavor!

Please be sure to check out Gaslamp Popcorn all over the internet!

GaslampPopcorn.com | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest | Twitter

*while these products were provided to us free for review, we were not compensated in any other way, and all opinions are our own.