Chimes Ginger Chews - Marshall's - Marlton, NJ

Chimes Ginger Chews - Marshall's - Marlton, NJ

One of the things Cybele and I mentioned on Candyology101 this year was trying to overcome our dislike of certain flavored sweets. She is trying to overcome her dislike of cherry, and I've been trying to warm up to ginger. So far, it's been going pretty well. I really liked Super Ginger, and I've been drinking more ginger-based beverages and sodas. I used to feel like the strong flavoring was similar to a cleaning product, but now I've come to really appreciate it's unique spiciness.

Since I'm trying more ginger products, and I'm a sucker for a pretty package, I couldn't resist picking these up when I was at Marshall's. (Where I still can't find any jeans that fit me and aren't flares. I swear, I will burn the women's clothing section to the ground.)

Sailor Moon Chocolate Packaging Review!

This is a (pretty clumsy) video I shot looking at the packaging for the Sailor Moon chocolates I ordered from jbox.com. I'm in the process of taking photos for a full fledged bog post, or three, they'll be really photo heavy, so I might have to break it up, but for now, watch me fumble with packaging and check out the beautiful pastel artwork of Sailor Moon! (I mean, let's not kid ourselves, I bought this for the packaging, the chocolates are just an added bonus.)

Sorry for the jumpy editing, all I have in Movie Maker and I had to edit out some clips where my dog was barking and what-not. I have to get better at this YouTube stuff.

© Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net

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Ice Corn Snack - H-Mart: Cherry Hill, NJ

Ice Corn Snack - H-Mart: Cherry Hill, NJ

Time for something wintery and unexpected, Korean corn snacks you put in your freezer! That's right, these are sweetened corn snacks that you're supposed to chill before eating, I'm not sure if it's meant to be a unique snack, or if the refrigerating process is meant to make these vanilla corn snacks taste like vanilla ice cream, either way, this is going to be really fun!

Chocolate Passport - Trader Joe's: Marlton, NJ (Tanzania)

Chocolate Passport (Tanzania) - Trader Joe's: Marlton, NJ

Today I'll be taking a break from all my pumpkin posts (we're almost done!) to show you this freaking gorgeous chocolate gift-set from Trader Joe's. I was walking around the shop, buying my usual treats, when I saw this on a wooden table by the checkout lines. The packaging caught my eye, so I made a beeline right to it and tossed it into my cart. I thought this might make a nifty little gift item for those of you still shopping for the holidays, so I thought I'd take a moment to review it and let you know what I think.

Moist & Chewy Cake - H-Mart: Cherry Hill, NJ

Moist & Chewy Cake - H-Mart: Cherry Hill, NJ

I've seen this package in a few Asian grocery shops and I had always passed it by. I'm not a fan of snack cakes, I always feel like they're really oily and processed, so these little fish-shaped sweets never appealed to me. I really don't know what caused me to finally buy them, but I'm very happy I did.

Fentimans Curiosity Cola - Wegman's: Cherry Hill, NJ

Fentimans Curiosity Cola - Wegman's: Cherry Hill, NJ

Even though I have reviewed, and enjoyed, a Fentiman's product before, I was iffy about buying this specific flavor. My track record with organic and botanical sodas hasn't been that great, and I feel like they always taste medicinal and perfume-y. I don't think I've liked any of the botanical sodas I've reviewed, but I had to buy this one just for the packaging.

Chamane Coffee Energy Drink - Whole Foods: Mt Laurel, NJ

Chamane Coffee Energy Drink - Whole Foods: Mt Laurel, NJ

Time for another Whole Foods beverage review! This time I have something that I found very graphically interesting, but off putting flavor-wise. Chamane, pronounced Sha-man, is made with two things that I very rarely enjoy.

Carolina Honey Argo Tea - Whole Foods: Mt Laurel, NJ

Carolina Honey Argo Tea - Whole Foods: Mt Laurel, NJ

Remember how I used to complain about my local Whole Foods being in a really inconvenient location? Well I started my new job last week, and now I drive past it every day. This means I can grab some interesting items to review in the near future and it'll actually be convenient. (Any suggestions on items I should review?) Last week I tried to pick up a new bottle of the 100% Raw Tea, but it was nowhere to be found. (I hope Whole Foods didn't stop carrying it. It was a really interesting product.) Since I was there anyway, I decided to grab another fancy tea to review.

Chocolove XOXOX - Target - Cherry Hill, NJ

Chocolove XOXOX - Target - Cherry Hill, NJ

(Still cleaning out my stash a little bit. I'll get back to pumpkin posts tomorrow.)

Remember that love letter themed chocolate bar I reviewed a few months back? Well I couldn't resist their packaging, and I bought another bar. Since I talked about the packaging in my other post, this will be a relatively short review that focuses on the chocolate itself.

Like always, the packaging has a lot of detailing. As you can see there is a lovely foiled logo that mimics a wax seal, bold colors, and cute faux stamps that relate to the specific flavor combination inside. I absolutely love this wrapper and I wouldn't change a thing about it.

Kabaya Karipori Candy Stick - Ramune Review - SunSeng Market : Pennsauken, NJ

Kabaya Karipori Candy Stick - Ramune Review - SunSengMarket : Pennsauken, NJ

Sorry for the brief hiatus. Things are finally starting to settle down a bit and I can get back to my regular update schedule. Thank you so much for your patience and understanding.

I already discussed the packaging and the cola flavored candy. (Posted HERE!)

So today we’ll focus on the ramune candy and it’s wrappers.

Potato Wish Chips (Tomato flavored) - ??? : Chinatown, Philadelphia, PA

I am a slave to good package design. I bought these tomato flavored chips even though I am mildly allergic to tomatoes!

What do I mean by mildly allergic? My throat doesn’t swell up, but my stomach will hurt and I may or may not throw up. It all depends on the acidity levels and the amount I have eaten.

Two handy packs.

The product concept isn’t new, I mean these are simply more sophisticated looking Pringles, but the overall packaging is really well thought out.

First of all the colors really stand out on the grocery shelves. This package is able to pull off green and red designs without making me think of Christmas, and the photograph of the product is very appealing.

The container is a tall, irregularly shaped, cardboard box that contains 2 individually packaged stacks of baked potato chips. That means you can easily split this into two portions or toss a pouch of these into your lunch. Beautiful AND handy. I love it!

When I opened the first pouch I was actually a little horrified. The chips look absolutely delicious, but they smell like canned Spaghetti O’s. That is like poison to me. I could never eat them as a kid because I would very likely throw up, and these chips smell just like them. It’s that sweet, ketchup-y, canned tomato sauce smell.

Urg…

 I am not looking forward to this taste test.

Nice thick cut chips. Too bad they smell like tomato poison.

Well, I grabbed a chip and popped it into my mouth. Thank goodness these aren’t as strongly flavored as they are scented.

The chips are pretty thick, so they have a really satisfying crunch, and only once side is seasoned. The unseasoned side tastes like a normal, thick cut, potato chip, but the other side tastes like canned zesty pasta sauce smeared onto a chip.
This was NOT the most appealing flavor for me, but I like the concept and the packaging.

I will be buying more of these chips, but not in this flavor. I just can’t handle the tomato-y taste.

© Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net

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Wild Ophelia Peanut Butter & Banana Bar - Target : Moorestown, NJ

Wild Ophelia Peanut Butter & Banana Bar - Target : Moorestown,  NJ 

I was actually more excited about this chocolate bar than the Beef Jerky one!

The packaging is pretty much the same as the other flavor, reviewed here, so I’ll skip over that and focus on the taste.

Peanut butter, banana and chocolate. What else could you ever want? (Maybe bacon.) Most of you might already know this, but Elvis Presley popularized the combination with his love of grilled peanut butter and banana sandwiches. Personally, I love bananas, but banana flavoring can be tricky. I don’t want this to taste like that artificial banana Runts flavoring mixed with peanut butter and chocolate. (Just typing that makes me cringe.) I am really hoping that this has a nice, realistic, banana flavoring to it.

Wild Ophelia Beef Jerky Bar - Target : Moorestown, NJ

Wild Ophelia Beef Jerky Bar - Target : Moorestown,  NJ 

These were part of my Target chocolate haul. The packaging looked as interesting as the flavor combinations, so I grabbed two different bars to review.

I was impressed because this package design has quite a bit of detailing. It starts with the outside cardboard box with it’s bright colors, embossing, and bold text. The attention to detail doesn’t end there, because Inside that box there is this bright, neon red, cowgirl patten of wild horses, the WO logo, flowers and horseshoes. I really liked all the detailing and the patterns, but when I got to the bar itself and it was in a plain foiled plastic wrapper with a boring geometric pattern. After such bright colored and patterned packaging, it felt out of place. (Maybe add the pattern to the silver packaging so more people can see it. You only see the beautiful pattern if you rip the box open like I did.)

Mandarin Key Lime oogavé - Home Goods :Moorestown, NJ

Mandarin Key Lime oogavé - Home Goods :Moorestown, NJ

This is my first post from my Home Goods Haul. I love window shopping for furniture, but the Home Goods foodie section has interesting stuff too. (Like this strawberry sugar.) During my last trip I picked up a few bottled sodas and jams.

I feel like this brand has a minimalistic design, even though the logo is a bit elaborate. (Since is has those little bushes/leaves above the ‘oo.’) Logo aside, the text and images are kept to a minimum.

With a green gradient background and crisp text the cardboard tote has a very refreshing design. Just looking at it makes me feel calm, which is a good thing. Not all beverages need to be so in-your-face with their design elements. Even the bottles are minimally designed. They are crystal clear and the only major design element on them is the logo itself.

Lion Soda Kids Candy - Asian Food Market: Cherry Hill, NJ

Lion Soda Kids Candy - Asian Food Market: Cherry Hill, NJ

Because this candy has 6 flavors, and such amazing packaging, I am splitting it up into multiple reviews.

Check out THIS POST on the aesthetics.
And THIS POST for the other 3 flavors.

Today I’ll review 3 flavors of this soda candy:

• Cola (brown)
• Orange (orange)
• Lemon (yellow)

Lion Soda Kids Candy - Asian Food Market: Cherry Hill, NJ

Lion Soda Kids Candy - Asian Food Market: Cherry Hill, NJ

Because this candy has 6 flavors, and such amazing packaging, I am splitting it up into multiple reviews.

This review will focus on the aesthetics.
You’re not supposed to judge a book by it’s cover, but sometimes I buy things just because of the packaging.  When I saw this on the shelf, I just had to photograph it. There is so much going on! There are colorful flavor-sentai, bold text, and bright foiled backgrounds. I love all of the colors! Although the design is very busy, I would love to have this blown up as a pop-art piece.

Botan Rice Candy - Five Below : Cherry Hill, NJ

Botan Rice Candy - Five Below : Cherry Hill, NJ

This was a little gift from my mother. She likes to read my posts (hi mom!) and wanted to get me a little something to review. I’ve actually had this candy before, but it was so many years ago I can’t remember what it tasted like, so I feel like I am reviewing it for the first time.

The packaging features large, bold, illustrations against a neon red and a true green background. While the colors are bold, they work quite nicely with each other. The illustrations and black text give the box a vintage look and feel.

According to Wikipedia, "The candy’s name, Botan (kanji: 牡丹, hiragana: ぼたん), means "peony" in Japanese. A peony blossom is shown on the label, next to an inu-hariko, a dog-shaped traditional toy for Japanese children."

I like this packaging, but I wish the “Botan Rice Candy” was written in white instead of black. I think the black is easily lost in the background.

Meiji Grape Punch Tablets -Asian Food Market : Cherry Hill, NJ

Meiji Grape Punch Tablets -Asian Food Market : Cherry Hill, NJ

As a kid I hated grape flavored candies, but now I can’t get enough of them! I tossed these grape punch tablets into my cart the second I saw them.

The box is pretty small, roughly as big as a pack of cigarettes, and it features three purple cartoon-y grape mascots. (The one on the far right looks a lot like Mr. Sparkle to me. Maybe it is an intentional joke?) The color scheme is purple heavy, but the little hints of orange, red, and green prevent it from looking monochromatic and boring. The design and exaggerated expressions are playful, so I can see this appealing to kids more than adults.

Dragon Ball Soda - SunSengMarket : Pennsauken, NJ (PHOTO HEAVY!)

Dragon Ball Soda - SunSengMarket : Pennsauken, NJ

Since the cans are so awesome I had to split the review into two posts.

This one will focus on packaging, and the next one (tomorrow) will be the taste of the actual soda.

I grew up with Dragonball and Dragonball Z. (I used to wake up early and watch it on Saturday mornings, along with Sailormoon before they went on Toonami.) So I had to buy these when I saw them. The store didn’t have all the designs, so I picked my top three characters.

• Bulma
• Master Roshi
• Yamcha

The packaging is very detailed and nostalgic. The front of each can looks like the torso of a main character and includes a side kick, or related item. (Like Bulma’s dragonball locator). The backs have a scene from the show, a little description, and a line up of all the available character cans.

Super Lemon - Asian Food Market : Cherry Hill, NJ

Super Lemon - Asian Food Market : Cherry Hill, NJ

Look at this packaging! Honestly, the packaging alone made me want this candy.

The overall design is very similar to Roy Lichtenstein’s work with it’s bright colors and comic book paneling. The back of the package actually has a mini comic showing a woman eating some Super Lemon and exclaiming, “Oh! Powerful candy!” with a little diagram giving us more information about the candy itself.