Haul | Super Tarts (2)

I finally made my second Super Tarts order, I have been tempted many times during their regular clamshell restocks but I was always a few scents short of an order worth the shipping. When Brandy announced that she would be putting together a Lavender Sample, I knew I wouldn't be passing this one up. Several scents in this sampler have been getting lots of rave reviews and I am so happy to finally get to try it.

Data Lavender Cream, Pear Slices and Sugar Cookies
This is a surprising scent, I didn't think that a lavender scent can be classified as creamy and bakery, but there you are. There is hint of citrus contributed by the pear beneath the cream.

Donatello Lavender Cream and Honeydew Melon
Another surprising blend that somehow works. I find the Honeydew Melon note stronger than the Lavender, it's very juicy too!

Galactus Lavender, Raspberry Sorbet and Lovespell
This is a really sweet and unique blend. I can't quite describe it, not sure if I like this either.

Go To Sleep Lavender Cream and Pink Sugar
Great sleepytime scent! I am not surprised that this is such a popular scent.

Lavender Orange Dream Sweet Lavender mixed with our Orange Sherbet
Love this one! The Orange Sherbet is so sprightly and energetic. While stronger than the Lavender, I can still detect it.

Magneto Lavender, Strawberry Jam, Vanilla Buttercream
Unfortunately this has that stuffy-plasticky scent to it, I am guessing it's coming from the Strawberry scent. Which is surprising because ST's Strawberry scent is very popular.

Ravenclaw Blue Raspberry and Lavender
I can see why this is such a popular scent. The sweet Lavender smooths out the sharp acidity of the Blue Raspberry and they blend well together.

Sentinal Herbal Lavender, Blackberry Preserves, Marshmallow
Yummy, the Blackberry Preserves is the star here. I don't get much of the Herbal Lavender for now. I just can't get over how good the Blackberry scent is!

Spock Lavender Blueberry Cheesecake
One of my favourites of this sampler, like Sentinal, the Blueberry Cheesecake scent is the strongest and so good. Probably the best Blueberry scent I have ever sniffed. But unlike Sentinal, the Lavender emerges underneath and blends really well with the Blueberry Cheesecake.

Thanos Herbal Lavender Buds and Whipped Cream
Another favourite for its simplicity and deliciousness. This is the type of Lavender scent I would melt nightly to relax and fall asleep to.

Wax Notes | July 2015 (1)

I am getting back into the melting swing of things. With all my recent hauls, I am fairly obsessed with trying to melt the wax that I have had for at least a year. So a lot of repeat melts of I try to use wax that I cut up into smaller pieces.

Birthday Cake (SMT)
Simple and sweet-smelling. Medium throw and impact. My major beef with this tart is that it stained my warmer!

Nilla Strawberry Noel (Rosegirls)
The VBN is super strong in this scent, it's pretty much the main note I am smelling. A little disappointed that not more of a strawberry note is coming through. High throw, medium scent impact.

Squeaky Clean (Crabby Candle Co.)
This smells exactly like talcum powder, it's not unpleasant but not a scent I would buy again. High throw, medium high impact.

Twitterpated (Streetman Candle Co.)
This scent is really sweet, very much like candy! Medium scent throw, medium high scent impact.

Repeat Melts
Heads Up Seven Up (Enchanted Candle Co.)
Daydreamer (Two Timing Tart)
Rose Red (Two Timing Tart)
Sultan (Enchanted Candle Co.)
Fencing Masters (Thirty Street Crafts)
Pomegranate, Grape Muscadine, Blue Raspberry Slushee (Sniff My Tarts)
Tweetledee's Dilemma (The Bathing Garden)
Violet Mojito (Two Timing Tart)
Fruit Loops (Tiffany Candles)

Haul | Two Timing Tart (3)

Welcome to my Two Timing Tart samplers haul, this lot was bought and received a long time ago but I am just really slow at posting. At the moment, Two Timing Tart is closed while Becky the owner deals with some personal issues but it seems like an opening is on the horizon so keep a look out on their Facebook group! I feel like TTT gets the short end of the stick in the wax community, there is rarely any chatter about this company and if there is, rarely is it positive due to a rocky beginning. Personally I have always had a great experience with TTT's wax and their scent blends are some of the most interesting around and right up my alley!

Becky offered up several samplers for sale and since I was in the market for some TTT, I decided to take the plunge on three samplers - Fruit Loops, Lemon Curd and Vanilla Honey. I love both the basic Fruit Loops and Lemon Curd scents and I was interested to see what sort of combinations Becky could come up with. Because there are so many scents in these samples, I am going to be doing quick, first impression reviews of each scent!

Fruit Loops sampler

Sugar Cookie Fruit Loops
The Sweet Cookie scent is quite a lot stronger than Fruit Loops. It's a little sweeter than my preference.

Zucchini Bread Fruit Loops
Surprisingly this Zucchini Bread and Fruit Loops blend is quite equal, I can smell both. The Zucchini Bread is spicy and the Fruit Loops is a foil to that.

Clementine Cupcake Fruit Loops
Wow, I am really getting the buttery cake scent in here. It's actually quite nice with the Clementine tying everything together.

Pie Crust Fruit Loops
One of the blends with the strongest Fruit Loops scent,

Blueberry Fruit Loops
This is so so good! Like I can't stop sniffing. The blueberry scent is amazing, sweet, juicy and authentic!

Mandarin Plum Fruit Loops
This is a really good blend, I never would have thought of it. It's heavy kind of sweet and citrus. I can't differentiate between the Mandarin Plum and Fruit Loops.

Sweet Orange Fruit Loops
Really like this, sweet and simple.

Bite Me Fruit Loops
Another blend that I like. I am also weirdly detecting a ginger note in this. I like ginger so that's cool with me.

Key Lime Fruit Loops
Great blend, I think that the Lime melds really nicely with Fruit Loops

Raspberry Macaroon Fruit Loops
Yum, I love the Raspberry scent, it's super juicy and sweet!

Wildberry Scone Fruit Loops
Mm, very juicy wildberry scent coming through. This is a nice blend!

Lychee Coconut Fruit Loops

Another blend that I don't think anyone would have thought of. The sweet coconut blended really well with Fruit Loops. Even I can barely detect a straight FL even though I know it's there. That's how well blended it was.

Lemon Curd mini-sampler

Lemon Curd Cedar
This was one of the scents I was most interested to smell because of the interesting combination of citrus and woodsy. The Lemon Curd is very yummy but I barely get a hint of the Cedar. Hopefully it comes out more on melting.

Lemon Curd Black Cherry
Black Cherry > Lemon Curd.

Lemon Curd Fresh Herbs
My least favourite of this sampler, the Fresh Herbs completely overtook the Lemon Curd.

Lemon Curd Purple Sage Mint Leaf
This scent is the surprise of the sampler! So fresh, so acidic and not at all herb-y.

Lemon Curd Peppermint
I like this scent very much, again the Lemon Curd is the stronger scent of the two, with the peppermint being more of a soft whiff underneath. It reminds me slightly of a lemon cough drop as well.

Lemon Curd Lavender Martini
I have had TTT's Lavender Martini before but with the Lemon Curd, this scent is really amped up. It's a winner!

Vanilla Honey mini-sampler

Vanilla Honey Birch
This smells like really upscale potpurri, in a good way!

Vanilla Honey Myrrh
Another upscale potpurri scent. I think I prefer the Birch version but this is pretty good too.

Vanilla Honey Orange Blossom
I love Orange Blossoms so this scent is up my alley. The base Vanilla Honey scent sweetens it up.

Vanilla Honey Cinnamon
The cinnamon makes this scent sour. I am a little perplexed but I don't dislike it. It's interesting.

Vanilla Honey Gold Musk
This is made very perfume-y by the Gold Musk. I am not sure if I would wear such a scent though.

Vanilla Honey Sunflower
This is my second Sunflower scent, it's strong in this blend. It's also smells strangely soapy.

Order of the Odor | Volume 11

Happy Summer! We here at the Order hope your days are bright and sunny and the wax is melting in the warmers and not the mail boxes. Please join us in answering this month's questions:

If you could create any theme for a wax tart collection what would it be? What three scents would you have in this themed collection?

This is a really fun question that got my wax brain turning! I decided on a TRAVEL theme since I am writing this post from the Land Down Under - Australia! I decided to have the three scents be based on Singapore and countries I have visited this year - Australia and The Philippines

Garden City (Singapore): Take a morning stroll through this city in a garden and let the fresh cut grass, sweet-smelling bougainvilleas, seductive frangipanis and woodsy rain trees refresh you before you start another busy day!

G'Day Mates! (Brisbane): As you walk through the bustling Australian city of Brisbane, take a deep breath and inhale the scent of Flat White coffee, fresh air and blue skies.

Halo Halo (The Philippines): A popular dessert in The Philippines! Layer mixed fruits of cantaloupe, sweet potato and coconut, top with ice, a scoop of vanilla ice cream, a little drizzle of sweet condensed, and you have got a dessert to beat the Filipino heat!

Deb melted a tart from Dessa's recently that was so good, so strong that she is even saving it to melt and reuse again! It is a delicious fruity bakery that she thinks you need to try before she scoops them all up for herself. You've been warned.

Sunnee's Rosegirls sampler came this past month and it will full of brightly colored and highly fragrant chunks of happiness. See which ones stood out as her favorites and which just didn't make the cut. Get ready to feast your eyes!

Flaming Star Scents used to be Pic, Petals and Scents and Liz recently melted a nice huge chunk from PPS that has had plenty of cure time! So how did this old wax perform? And what has Liz been up to lately?

Subscription box popularity is going as strong as ever. Lauren bought a box recently that any waxy home fragrance lover would enjoy. It comes with three tiers of price points, amazing packaging and high quality candles to boot. Ready to be enabled?

Thirty Street Crafts creates a fun themed wax release about every month. June's release was built around a circus theme. Julie scooped up an order of her very favorite wax tart shape to date... any guesses?

Who doesn't love a "Favorites" post?! Michelle lays it out for us and lists her all time Top 5 Vendors for us and why in her most recent post. The best part? You can order from almost all of them right now!

Wax Notes | June 2015 (1)

When you read this post, I will be in Brisbane, Australia for a one-week vacation! :) I have been really looking forward to this week of vacation for a long time, having had a frantic few months of work! It feels so good to relax in laid-back Australia with good food, good coffee, wandering around and exploring a city I am slowly becoming familiar with.

Red Mac Apple (Ten Digit Creations)
A straight-forward sweet, crunchy fall apple scent. Medium high scent throw, medium scent impact.

Winter's Dream (Tiffany Candles)
It's always fun to try a new scent that you wouldn't normally buy on your own. This is a cinnamon, clove and mulberry blend. It's slightly spicy and I smell more clove than cinnamon. I imagine this is how a cabin set deep in the wintry woods would smell like. Medium scent throw and impact.

Creme de la Creme (Crabby Candle Co.)
Sweet and creamy, and just a touch more complicated than straight up vanilla. I keep thinking of cookies! High scent throw, medium high scent impact.

Marshmallow Cookie Jar (The Bathing Garden)
A sweet, marshmallow scent. I am was very disappointed by the throw on this wax and I am wondering is it because of the age of the wax? This was part of the January 2014 restock. Does anyone have the same experience?

Tweetledum's Dilemma (The Bathing Garden)
This scent says grape serendipity  but I keep thinking apple apple apple! This scent is really good! Medium throw, medium high scent impact.

Banana Best Friends Boo Berry (L3WW)
Another company that might be losing its scent with age, I smell a faint creamy fruity-banana scent. I am definitely not one for the banana scents.

So Fresh (Smelly Buttons)
I almost forgot I have a few of this Australian wax company's tarts that I need to use. They are approximately a year old as well. This is probably a dupe of a Marc Jacob's Daisy Eau So Fresh perfume, at least that's what Google told me when I googled So Fresh. It's a lovely, perfumey, powdery scent. Medium throw, medium scent impact.

Vanilla Lime (Ten Digit Creations)
This scent has ambitions of sweetening and softening a sour scent but I don't think it succeeded. Medium throw, medium scent impact.

Lemon Noel Smoothie (Rosegirls)
This scent is Fruit Loops without the cereal note! Very, very yummy! A little disappointed with the throw being weaker than I hoped. Medium throw, medium impact.

Fencing Master (Thirty Street Wax)
I really like this scent, so much that I would repurchase! A twist on your fruity scent with that dab of sea salt, it becomes a fresh seaside-esque scent! Medium high scent throw, medium scent impact

Sea of Tears (The Bathing Garden) - Not pictured.
I like this scent a lot on cold throw. On warm, it's a very soapy, perfumy scent and a little bit overwhelming.

Lime Coco (Smelly Buttons) - Not pictured.
So weak a throw I can't really discern any lime or the coconut. :(

Repeat Melts
Boo Berry Zucchini Bread Vanilla Bean Noel (L3WW)
Prince Humperdink (Thirty Street Wax)
Tweetledum's Epiphany (The Bathing Garden)
Pomegranate, Grape Muscadine, Blue Raspberry Slushee (Sniff My Tarts)
Happy (Streetman Candle Co)

Wax Favourites | June 2015

When I came back to the wax world last January, I was immediately struck by how much the wax world has changed with the various ways to make an order and the many different business models. It took awhile to figure out all these new processes, learn the new lingo and check out vendors I have never heard before previously. The community has also exploded. Before it used to centre around MakeUpAlley but now Facebook is king. I am not a big Facebook participant because I am not quite there with the community's rhythm and quirks but I do read most everyday and I like to share when I come across a scent I really really like!

(Wax Collection, June 2015)

With so many existing vendors to try and new ones popping up every month, it took me some time to work through enough vendors to figure out my favourites - businesses that excite me and I would re-order from again and again.

Before I start discussing my favourites, I want to give you some context into how I melt because it does influence my vendor preferences, given the range of wax products out there. I have two warmers that I use interchangeably at home. The smaller cream one can comfortably fit 0.8oz-1.2oz or approx. 2 clamshell cubes while the larger one works for bigger cups and chunks. I also have a third warmer in my office. Since I melt mostly in small spaces like my room or my office, I prefer to melt smaller quantities and I find it a hassle to have to cut up bigger pieces of wax. I find that bigger chunks does not always equate to a stronger throw. My theory is that a shallower/wide scent pool allows for the throw to "evaporate" further as opposed to a thicker/same width scent pool.

I have been thinking about this post for a long time and what are the criteria I use to define my favourites. I have come up with the following (in no particular order):

• Scent List Diversity: I am not a bakery lover, preferring fruity, fresh and floral scents so any company I like must have a diverse and interesting scent list.
• Product Performance: Must have a very good scent throw and impact.
• Customer Service: I think this goes without saying that all customers appreciate good customer service from a business.
• Communications: This could be categorised under customer service but I thought it deserved its own point. Constant communications from a vendor is very important especially as the TAT is a longer one. I find that it helps make the wait more bearable.
• Ease of Ordering: Be it via a website or a Facebook group, an always-open website or restocks, having clear instructions and a simple process for ordering smoothes the way to completing an order. Convoluted instructions and badly organised websites turns me off from ordering, no matter how raved about their products.
• Turn-Around-Time: Like everyone else, I prefer a company with a fast TAT but I am also fine with waiting a few months if the products are superb.

And finally, on to the list of favourites!

Enchanted Candle Company

Enchanted Candle Company, owned by Debra Henry Galvan, burst onto the scene early last year, I remember seeing some small hauls in a Facebook group and I was intrigued by the Disney themed scents, and went off to investigate the company. I found a delightful company with a diverse scent list of clean and elegant scent blends. I don't think I have come across a scent that I actively dislike, everything I received have been really really good. There is a clean and simple style to her branding and the wax shapes that she offers, sometimes themed to the collection (which is adorable). I like that the wax shapes she offers are smaller than most which allows for me to melt it in my smaller warmer. She also offers different quantities which is great once you have found a favourite! Her TAT is very reasonable and her wax consistently throws well for me! It's no wonder that this is my most-ordered company (5 orders)! Unfortunately, she has closed up shop this year to concentrate on her health and there are no plans to open back up.


Rosegirls

Rosegirls, by Jenny Oaks, is undoubtedly one of the biggest companies in the wax business and has even expanded to a retail store in their hometown! While they are famous for their bakery blends, Jenny also has a great range of non-bakery scents and blends. Her bakery blends are so yummy sounding and so talked-about that even I want to order them! The wax is beautifully made and one of the most colourful and distinctive chunks out there. However, they are sold in bigger quantities with no option for singles so be prepared to spend a little more. I have had two orders so far, a sampler and a customs order. Ordering is via an easy to use website with the very helpful feature of a wishlist registry. You have to join the Facebook group to receive information on the openings and what is available each time. It's also where Jenny communicates with customers throughout the TAT, she is very consistent and conscientious about it, which I really like. Another thing I really like is how she is always trying to innovate her business model to satisfy her fan base!


Ten Digit Creations

Out of the five companies, I have been ordering from Ten Digit Creations the longest! Ken and Amber offers an amazing scent list (heavy on fresh, fruity and spa scents), one of the best prices in the business with regular specials and a lot of flexibility in buying small or large quantities of wax. Their single wax melt is a perfect 1oz for my bigger warmer and I love unwrapping them to pop one full tart in. The branding is clean and simple, and very recognisable after their many years in business. They are almost always open and one of the best things about TDC is their ridiculously quick TAT (1-3 days)! This is a unpretentious, friendly company that I would recommend specifically for a wax beginner!


Tiffany Candles

Tiffany Candles is the latest entrant to make my list of favourites! Her wax have been throwing extremely well for me and I made a second order recently that includes my first TC scoopable! Like TDC, I love the size of her single wax melt in a traditional fluted shape (about 1 oz) and she has a range of wax products from small to large quantities. Her scent list is moderate, on the smaller side, but it covers all the basic scent groups and she has really interesting blends during her RTS restocks. Tiffany runs a hybrid ordering system where her website is open almost all the time with RTS stock and items from her re-stocks. For the first week of every month, you can also make custom orders. Her TAT is very quick (up to a week). Another plus for Tiffany, she refunds shipping overages!


Two Timing Tart

 

I love Two Timing Tart mostly for its scent list, it is probably the most unique list out there among the vendors. Becky Anderson creates scent blends like no other vendors! Like Rosegirls, TTT operates out of Facebook with updates about upcoming restocks for the website. The wax is priced very reasonably and the website is easy to use. Her current wax formula throws well for me and I recently have a new order to confirm this. However, her restocks are very irregular because Becky works on TTT on top of her regular day job. There is also an element of the unknown because different shapes, quantities and scents are offered at each restock and you never know which of your favourites is going to come back.

So there you go, here are my favourite companies as of June 2015! Do you have your own list of favourites, share them with me because I still like to try new companies even as I solidify my favourites! :)

Haul | Enchanted Candle Company (5)

I am finally posting up my mega Enchanted Candle Company haul from it's March re-opening. This is going to be bittersweet because this might be my last Enchanted haul ever, as Debra is halting her business to concentrate on her health. She mentioned that she might do some RTS now and then, so never say never right? I am just glad I made such a big order on this one because I really love her stuff. It's going to take a couple of years for me to use them all up but it will be a sad day when I drop that last piece of wax into my warmers. This order had a TAT of about a month.

For this order, I mixed it up with custom blends, new-to-me house blends and re-purchases of my favourites. As part of the special deal she was running during the order, I qualified for three 4-packs where I could choose the scents. It was such a great deal overall!

This is the first haul that I received with my own custom blends and I was really excited to sniff what I had created, would they smell great or would they smell like poop?

Cup of Earl + Honey Tree + Walt's Lemon Meringue Pie
These are three of my favourite scents and I thought they would meld together into for a tea-time scent. It's sweet and surprisingly pepperminty, with undertones of lemon if I sniff harder. I hope the tea scent will come out stronger upon melting.

Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice + Peppermint + Duchess
For this blend, I was trying to inject an added dose of minty freshness into the energy of the orange juice, sweetening the overall blend with Duchess. I think I succeeded! 

Honey Tree + Jack Frost
My take on a sweet, sleepy time scent, I really like this one!

Mac Apple + Cup of Earl + Powdered Sugar
I have been looking for an Apple Tea scent for awhile but since there isn't any blends out there, I thought I would just make my own, and it is yummy! I am loving this!

Bow Chicka Wow Wow Sultan, Rose Jam and Due at 6.02 (Created by Roselie Freeman)
What an interesting blend, I can't believe how well the leather scent from Due at 6.02 blends with Sultan and Rose Jam. I can definitely detect Sultan in there (because I love it so much).

Crisp Nectarine Vanilla, mint and nectarine
This is one of my favourite new scents from Enchanted! The nectarine scent is so sweet, so juicy and so energising! How do I get more of this?!

Fruit & Fluff Oranges, apples, pears and melons coasted in rich whipped cream
Another awesome fruity scent, with the oranges and apples being stronger than the rest, the whipped cream is in the mix, sweetening it out but not as strong as I thought it might be.

Liberty Tree An old towering oak tree with the added crispness of a Macintosh Apple
So much apple goodness in this scent! I don't really get the oak tree yet because the apple is so overwhelming.

Long Winter's Nap Vanilla, lavender, peppermint and pink sugar
Re-purchase!

Rose Jam Lush dupe of a very sweet rose and a hint of fresh strawberry
Now I know why this is such a popular scent,I am not sure if I would like it in a bath & body product, might be too overwhelming for me. But it's a great home scent, sweet and just a little bit fruity with that faint note of strawberry.

The Mash Apple, pumpkin and cranberry
This is the only kind of Fall scents that I like, the blend of these three scents are so good!

Tiana Waterlily with a touch of sweet, fresh mint
I have been eyeing this scent for awhile because it sounds so lovely, and it really is! Fresh, flora and aquatic, fit for a Disney princess!

Cashmere & Silk Fresh vanilla with sandalwood, patchouli, and musk accented by rose, violet and apricot (free sample)
A beautiful fresh and floral scent, and although it has no aquatic and watery accords I am somehow detecting them.

Lilacs & Lemonade (free sample)
Another winner! I really like how an acidic lemonade scent is tempered by the beautiful lilac floral note, and the lilac note is made more interesting by the lemonade! Someone find me another vendor who does this blend!

Thunderstorm Till Death To Us Part, Winds in the East, Riverboat (free sample)
A blend by Rosalie Freeman, this is a gorgeous, fresh scent that is sweeter and muskier than a real thunderstorm. I love it!

All of these 8oz bags are re-purchases because I love them!

Cup of Earl Sweet herbal cup of Earl Grey tea that is both fresh and clean

Number 17 Cherry Tree Lane English scones and a freshly brewed pot of tea

Springtime Breaktime Sweet sugared cookies, honey and a refreshing glass of lemonade

The Sultan's Moroccan Massage Oil Rosemary, peppermint and lavender

This was really a fabulous order, there is nothing in there I don't like! I can only hope Debra will be able to recover and possibly go back into business again someday because I really really want everyone to be able to try her wax and love them as much as I do. Not to mention, I never want to be out of Enchanted.