Weekend Wax Review: May 17-19

First off, I'd like to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my husband Josh! YAY! His birthday was yesterday, and we had a really nice day. :)

Also, I'd like to say hello and good Monday mornin' to all my waxy friends! Let's get into my weekend melts!

First up, I melted Heavenleigh Apothecary's Lemon Curd in the bedroom. This. Was. The. Best. Lemon. Scent. EVER (??). It was just brilliant, a bright lemon, not cleaner, not bakery, just LEMONS! It was insanely strong and made the house AND my clothes smell like lemon curd for about a day after we had turned this off. It lasted over 12 hours! On cold sniff, 7.5/10. While warming, 10/10. The throw was a 10/10, too, for a total of 9/10. JUST WOW! I would repurchase this forever!

For Friday's nighttime melt, I decided on Apple Cream Lavender from Candles from the Keeping Room. I requested it as a sample in one of my orders because I heard tons of people talking about how it was a fantastic bedroom scent. This was a nice mix of apple(ish) and lavender with a hint of some form of creaminess, but it was light. In fact, I left the room and came back and barely smelled a thing. On cold sniff, 5/10, and while warming, the same, 5/10. The throw was a 4/10, for a total of 4.5/10. I don't know if I'd repurchase this one, but I reckon it lasted about 4 hours.

The next morning, and keeping with the lemon theme, Josh chose Haley's Heavenly Scents' Iced Lemon Cookies. I got this in SarahFace87's round robin. We were both unimpressed with this, there was barely any lemon! The cookie note was too buttery for my liking. The throw was decent, but I tossed this out after it had melted all the way. I just didn't like it. On cold sniff, 6/10. While warming, it bumped down to a 3.5/10. The throw was a 5/10, for a total of 4.5/10, rounded slightly down. I would not purchase this.

Noticing a theme? While the Haley's scent shot was going in the bedroom, I figured, why not go all-out lemon? Put 2 cruller tarts of Hey Sugar from Candles from the Keeping Room in the kitchen. This had a decent strength, but not as strong as the Lemon Curd discussed above. Also, this lemon was more of a cleaner lemon with wisps of pie crust/bakery melded in between. It was nice, but not sure if I exactly liked it, if that makes any sense?? No?? Oh well! On cold sniff, 6/10, and while warming, 5/10. The throw was a 6/10 also, for a total of 5.75/10, slightly rounded up, but not much because it does deserve credit. I wouldn't repurchase this, but want it to go to a better home, so I may destash it, if someone wants it. (Also, I will have a destash box ready soon, so keep your eyes peeled!)

In the bedroom, I melted 4 fortune cookies from Lil' Kitchen Candles in Apple Cinnamon. I think it was a bad day for cinnamon scents and my nose because I did not like this at all. I don't feel right giving this a proper review, so I am including photos, but not a review. This had a balanced apple and cinnamon scent, and since I have 4 more, I will review these later! Keep in mind, Lil' Kitchen Candles is closing down.

In our spare bathroom at the same time, I melted Streetman Candle Co.'s Strawberry Rhubarb/Morning Sunrise from the Simply Sensational Sampler. This was just lovely! The strawberry and rhubarb mixed well together, and I have no idea what's in Morning Sunrise, but it was a great addition! On cold sniff, 6.5/10. While warming, 7/10. The throw was about a 6/10, for a total of 6.5/10, and I would repurchase this blend! It lasted in my Scentsy bathroom warmer all night. I don't think I'll melt non-Scentsy wax in that warmer again, though, it was a pain the the butt to get out of there!

After the cinnamon apple blend weirdness, I needed something bright and cherry to melt! So, I decided on a Snap Stick from Streetman Candle Co. in Fun in the Sun! This really was a great summertime scent, filled with fruit and general happiness. On cold sniff, 7/10. While warming, 6/10. The throw was a 7.5/10, for a total of 7/10, rounded up slightly. Loved this, it lasted about 5 hours, and I'd repurchase it!

After Hey Sugar was done, I melted Tiffany Candles Lemon Grass in the kitchen. WOW, who knew this scent would be so awesome!? I would have never thought I'd like a lemon grass scent because I'm not a huge fan of it in food, but this was great. Bright, citrusy yet earthy, sort of "dirty" (in a good way!), a great kitchen scent that lasted the rest of that day until I turned off the warmer. On cold sniff, 7/10. While warming, 7.5/10, .5+ for the surprise factor. The throw was 7.5/10, too, for a total of 7.5/10! Greatness and a repurchase!

Saturday's nighttime melt was Serendipity Peppermint from The Scented Princess. I love Dawn's stuff, it's just great, and she allows you to come up with your own blends! I tried this, and while it was strange, I sort of liked it. It was strong, too! On cold sniff, 6/10, while warming, 6.5/10. The throw was a 7.5/10, for a total of 6.75/10, slightly rounded up. I would repurchase this, but with pink sugar next time (SUGAR MINT SERENDIPITY FTW), since that's my favorite scent from TSP.

Forgot to show you the cute design I got on my box from Candles from the Keeping Room! LOVE IT!

Sunday morning we melted Faith, Hope and Love from Rosegirls. Josh picked this one, and while he loved it, I just couldn't get into it. Something in here didn't agree with me; it smelled like grape and bubbly and something floral. I didn't like it, and even he agreed that on warm throw, something changed in the composition of this tart (DAVID). On cold sniff, 5.5/10, while warming, 4/10. The throw was insanely strong, 8/10, for a total of 5.5/10, slightly rounded down. I wouldn't get this again, and I only melted it an hour, though it would have gone on all day, I'm sure.

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That's all for the weekend, after we tossed the Rosegirls chunk, there wasn't much else because it was Josh's birthday. Anyways, have a fabulous weekend, my waxy friends, and happy melting! :)

Melt-a-Palooza: "The Mints" Edition, Part I

I think I've found "my thing." At least once a month, I am going to do these Melt-A-Palooza posts, showcasing a particular scent, vendor, or anything I choose and put them all up a mega-post with ratings and thoughts! Yay, nay?

This Melt-A-Palooza is going to be broken down into either 2 or 3 parts. It's "THE MINTS!" In Part I, I will be showcasing some of Candles From The Keeping Room's mint scents; I will also let you know what the differences seem to be between them! Let's get started!

I decided to go in alphabetical order for this Melt-A-Palooza, starting with Buttermint. Buttermint is based off of the popular candy, those little yellow pillow mints! Delicious, right? Well, this scent was completely underwhelming  unfortunately. It was more sweet than minty...in fact, I hardly got any mint with just one tart, so I added another.....and another....until the warmer was almost overflowing. While it did smell like the candy, it left much to be desired in the way of mint. 5/10.

Candy Cane Stars is next. This one has the vanilla, candy sweetness of the popular Christmastime treat mixed in with a slight minty note. But, like Buttermint, Candy Cane Stars is more sugar than mint. I like this one better than Buttermint because it's a bit stronger. 5.5/10.

Above, we have the scent Peppermint Marshmallow. This was CLEARLY the strongest of CFTKR's mint scents in this edition of Melt-A-Palooza. I put this in before I picked Josh up from work (we were gone, oh, 40 minutes, tops?) and we were met with an extremely intense peppermint scent mixed with a slight fluffiness. AND. IT. WAS. AWESOME. It lasted all night and well into the next day. 7/10.

Peppermint Meringue is a more subdued version of Peppermint Marshmallow, in my opinion, definitely not as intense as its strong counterpart. With two tarts, this smelled pretty nice, but again, it lacked something. Maybe it's the addition of too much sweetness. I want it to smell like Vicks VapoRub WITHOUT the camphor. I just can't find that anywhere, and it's not Carol's fault. This is a solid 6/10, though, I enjoyed it.

Finally, we have Pink Sugared Peppermint, my favorite scent of the bunch. Next time Carol restocks this scent, I am going to buy at least 2 bags of it. In my opinion, it is in my top 3 favorite pink sugar + peppermint combinations. This is actually more pink sugar, but I don't mind. Well, I take it back: they are a good mix of one another. 7.5/10.

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Whew, I was LONG overdue for a Melt-A-Palooza, and I've had this idea in my head since January! Finally got to sit down and put all my photos together. I have MANY MORE mint scents, so look our for pat II of the PePpErMiNt ShOwDoWn soon enough! :)

Review: Granny's Kountry Candles' Hawaiian Sugar

In the past, Granny's Kountry Candles and I have not mixed well with one another. My mistake was buying scent shots instead of their other melts in cello bags (used to be foil, but they were breaking in transit); I know lots of people who have had both bad AND good luck with their scent shots. Me? not so much.

...but this was AMAZING.
Granny's Kountry Candles always puts in amazing samples in the Simply Sensational Sampler, and the May bag was no different. One month, it was a 16oz. butterball candle. The next, May, a teacup candle AND this little wax melt!

(I actually won the May bag and did not have to pay for it! Heather Streetman offered a contest where, if you had made a YouTube video of your thoughts or unboxing of the bag, you could enter however many videos you'd made for that same number of entries. I had made 3 videos, and I was the winner! YAY!)

Anyways, the scent of this wax melt is Hawaiian Sugar. There is most definitely pink sugar in here on a bed of tropical fruits and hula scents. I don't see this offered on her website, but if it was, I would buy it in bulk. It lasted over 3 days with scent! It is contained in a little metal casing (I tried to remove the wax, as you can see it started to come apart from the edge, but no dice, so I just let it melt OVER the metal piece, and it was no biggie). This was a lovely scent and makes me want to (eventually) repurchase from GKC again. :)

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Granny's Kountry Candles' Hawaiian Sugar
Cold Rating: 7/10; super strong on cold sniff. Great mix of Hawaiian type fruitiness and pink sugar.
Lit Rating: 8/10; for both scent, scent throw and longevity, this gets an 8. Just a brilliant mix of scents! Love that it lasted so long, and love that I could smell all of the different layers of this scent.
Throw Rating: 7/10; great throw, could smell this throughout the entire house.
Overall Rating: 7.5/10; rounded slightly up on this one because it deserved it. Love of pink sugar remains. Want to go on vacation. Reinventing GKC in my mind. Other general niceties.

Review: Jaimie Lauren Cupcakery and Confections in Wax's Cinnamon Vanilla

Ahoy, waxy friends! Another weekend has almost come and gone, and I want to say HAPPY (belated) MOTHER'S DAY not only to my mother, but to all the mother's out there reading my bloggy-blog. Hope you had a fun weekend celebrating you! Sorry this post is late, Josh and I were celebrating our wedding anniversary! Now, let's get into a review, shall we?! :)

I melted Jaimie Lauren Cupcakery and Confection's in Wax's Cinnamon Vanilla the other day. This was a very nice scent, though it was a sweeter cinnamon than I like. In my opinion, as I've stated in the past, there is a heartier type of cinnamon and then a sweet type...this definitely had that sweetness, which can go either positively or negatively, depending on your scent-mood. This also had an underlying note I did not much care for, perhaps something bready or bakery? Needless to say, it was nice and I did enjoy it. It lasted only about 3-3.5 hours, and I might repurchase it in a blend with vanilla bean noel or something creamier! Don't let my reviews EVER deter you from discovering something on your own, it's also been documented that I'm sort of nuts. :)

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Jaimie Lauren Cupcakery and Confections in Wax's Cinnamon Vanilla
Cold Rating: 6/10; nice on cold sniff, but nothing too strong. Medium, I'd say. Everything about this was just fine!
Lit Rating: 6/10; minus the fact that this is sweet cinnamon and has a stranger undertone, I enjoyed this! Might be good mixed with either vanilla bean noel or Nana's Kitchen/another cinnamon type of scent.
Throw Rating: 6/10; could smell this into the bathroom, but not past there. Didn't stick around too long, lasted just around 3-3.5 hours only.
Overall Rating: 6/10; Sweet cinnamon mixed with creamy vanilla. Medium-ish scent throw in bedroom. strange undertone threw me off from liking this more. Would have liked to see this scent last longer in my warmer!

Review: Candles From The Keeping Room's Cinnamon Indian Bread

...okay, I figured out what it is.
I am trying to get rid of some CFTKR scents to make room for the order I placed on May 2 (my self-given birthday present).
Yeah, I got "some" stuff.

As you may very well know, as it has been thoroughly documented in this blog, I am not big into "bread" scents. Bread scents seem to generally be very wet/moist-smelling, someone once described them as smelling of "tortilla chips," which I find ridiculously accurate. Zucchini bread scents can also smell like cigarette ashes under some circumstances. BLECH.

When I got a sample of Cinnamon Indian Bread from Candles From The Keeping Room a couple of months ago, I thought, "oh, this sounds sweet, let's give it a try!"
...and then it sat. For a long time. And then it sat some more. Things kept piling up that I'd rather melt. I felt bad for these little toasts because they were so cute. On cold sniff, they smelled like nice sweet breads.

Well, the other day, it was their time. They were the chosen ones. These toasts has met their maker...
...and I can't say this was my thing, either.
Granted, this was better than zucchini bread, but not by much. I'm still not a fan of bread. The cinnamon note in this was paired nicely with the sweetness of the Indian bread, but...something always hinders me from enjoying these yeasty delicacies.
Most of you ladies and gents who LIKE bread scents would definitely dig Carol's Indian bread line...it's different from zucchini in that it's much sweeter. This had a good throw, so I'm sure the other fragrances do, too, it's just not my cuppa, so I wouldn't repurchase, but you might love it!

PS: HEY, BLOGGER, STOP REFORMATTING MY POSTS!!!!!!!!

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Candles From The Keeping Room's Cinnamon Indian Bread
Cold Rating: 5.5/10; cinnamon and the sweetness of the Indian bread pair nicely together. I've noticed Carol uses both sweet cinnamon AND regular cinnamon in her wax, and this is definitely the sweet type (but I usually prefer her more straight baking cinnamon).
Lit Rating: 4/10; better than most bread scents I've smelled, but that's not saying much.
Throw Rating: 6.5/10; definitely had a nice throw; I melted this in the kitchen and it lingered throughout the house (but didn't go into the back bedroom).
Overall Rating: 5/10; slightly rounded down. Love of bread overshadowed for disdain for wax-bread. Still searching for the perfect bread scent I actually enjoy. Sweet cinnamon < baking cinnamon. Others would enjoy this.

Review: Candles From The Keeping Room's Watermelon Cotton Candy

As far as fruits go, watermelon is not my favorite. Pineapple? Yes. Oranges and bananas? Sure! Watermelon has the same problem as lettuce, it's too "watery" tasting. (weird, huh?)

This little tiny tart, however, smells amazing. It's fruity, juicy, sweet, and deliciously strong. Though I don't enjoy watermelon the food, I find I like watermelon in wax! I am glad because Watermelon Cotton Candy from Candles From The Keeping Room warrants an entire bag! Watermelon seems to mix well with the overpowering cotton candy, and Carol's take on this popular fragrance is pretty spot on. The throw was very strong, I could smell this throughout the house. This lasted about 7.5 hours, and only started to fizzle out the last hour or so of melting. I would definitely repurchase this...the blend is amazing!

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Candles From The Keeping Room's Watermelon Cotton Candy
Cold Rating: 6/10; surprisingly, this was pretty strong...most of the time, I think that, since Carol uses strictly paraffin wax, I won't get any cold sniff scent, but with this, you got a nice mix of both cotton candy and watermelon.

Lit Rating: 8/10; again, surprisingly, lovely! You got the juiciness of the watermelon, the sweetness of the cotton candy, and the two blended very well together. IMPRESSED!
Throw Rating: 8/10; great throw with this scent, too! I got this in the far corner of the bathroom, and could even smell it when I went outside to empty the trash.
Overall Rating: 7/10; hatred of watermelon turns into love of the wax scent. Strength of this tarts means I will repurchase. Cotton candy reminds me of how much I hate clowns.

Weekend Wax Review: May 3-5

My birthday is on Tuesday and I'm feeling old...do you know what that means? Well, you'll find out soon. Let's just say, stay tuned! ;)

I've been melting a lot more lately, but am still trying to figure out my place at this new house as far as wax goes. The guys who were fixing our bathroom took 3 times as long as they said they would, so we've not been able to get the shelving we needed to make put together and finished. Here's a photo of our DVD storage, THAT we DID finish!

We have so many DVDs that we had to custom make DVD shelves in our TV room closet. Tore everything out and built them ourselves, and it was fun!

...and here's our collection, untagged, for your pleasure, so you can see everything we've got. I think we counted...almost 600 DVDs and TV shows! ;)

Started this weekend off with an item from the Simply Sensational Sampler, by Elaine's Creations, I think? I have no idea what this is because the card got lost, so I'm guessing. It was just alright, didn't have very good throw, and I suspect that's because it was in the wrong type of packaging that sucks out the wax scent. This was really waxy. On cold sniff, 4.5/10. While warming, 4/10. The throw was a 4/10, for a total of 4/10. Not impressed with this, and it was a HUGE ice cream scoop. This lasted 3 hours, and it was about 2.5 hours too much.

Again, no idea who sent this sample into the sampler, but it was definitely orange or tangerine scented. It was just alright, but I have no idea who the vendor even was on this! This was a 5.5/10 across the board, it smelled good, but wished it would have been stronger. This lasted 2.5 hours in the kitchen.

I've really been on a Fruit Loops kick lately, and when I saw this bag of Fruity Loops from Candles from the Keeping Room (also, from the gift Josh bought me for Christmas!), I had to try it out. Well, I must say, something was off about this fruit loops type! It smelled more cereal-y than fruit loopsy. Something about this didn't rub me the right way. Anyways, on cold sniff, 6/10, but while warming, I give it a 5.5/10. The throw was decent, with a 5.5/10, for a total of 5.5/10, slightly rounded up. I don't think I'd repurchase this again, but it did last 4.5 hours in the kitchen.

A nighttime melt: Candles from the Keeping Room's Rosemary Mint, the original, not the reformulated one. I really like this on cold sniff, but something happened to it while warming...it fizzled within an hour and a half, so I ended up turning off the warmer. I wish I had a ton of those warmers with the spout (the herbal green one), but alas, I must freeze and discard for fear of spilling wax all over the new bedroom, lol. On cold sniff, 6/10. While warming, 5/10. The throw was a 5.5/10, for a total of 5.5/10. I had high hopes for this, but it didn't last very long. :(

Next, we've got another Simply Sensational Sampler item! This is a GIGANTIC scent shot from Valencia Triple Scented Soy Wax Melts in the scent Manhattan. This was a lovely scent, sort of masculine yet for of like perfume...it was really, really nice!! It didn't have a huge throw, but I enjoyed melting it. On cold sniff, 7/10, just great. While warming, 6/10. The throw was a 5.5/10, for a total of 6/10. The Here's a comparison of the scent shots:

On the right, we have a regular 2oz. scent shot, and on the left, we've got the Valencia scent shot...I'm willing to wager this has about 4-5oz. PER SCENT SHOT. Insanely huge!

I just noticed this post is mainly CFTKR-centric...anywho! Cotton Candy Frosting is simply amazing, one of the truest cotton candy scents I've smelled; it's not sure strawberry like some other I've tried, but really like spun cotton candy! The frosting element just adds more sugariness. This lasted 6 hours! On cold sniff, 6.5/10. While warming, 7.5/10. The throw was a 7/10, so the total is 7/10!

Another nighttime melt: Peppermint Noel from CFTKR. Another minty scent I was hoping would blow me away, but didn't. This was more noel than peppermint, unfortunately. It was just okay. I give this one a 5.5/10 across the board. It lasted until about 3am.

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Hope you enjoyed my recap! I have put my photo-tagging program on my laptop, so hopefully there won't be big stretches of time without an update like there have been (PS: I seem to have fixed whatever problem I had with posts not releasing). Enjoy your week! :)