Candles by Victoria is a very popular company in the wax world, and she has been on the scene for over 10 years. Not only does CBV do wax tarts, but they have absolutely beautiful candles. My friend Shelby (of Shelby Swatches over on youtube) sent me a few CBV shots and a CBV candle and they all smelled amazing! I placed a CBV order straight away to try some of her other scents.
I have to say, I wasn't as impressed with my order as I was the ones that Shleby had sent me. I don't know if I just picked the wrong scents or what. I can't say I'm not disappointed, especially because her scents shots are among the most expensive around at $2 a pop. However, of all the good things I've heard about CBV I'm willing to chalk it up to bad scent choices and I think I will place another small order with some different scents. I really want to find a scent that is worthy of getting in one of those giant glitter candles! So essentially, the goal is to find a glitter-worthy scent. So far, I don't think I've found one.
TAT for this order was 7 days, pretty standard and well within her stated TAT time. The scent shots came packaged in a cardboard box and they were just tossed in with packing peanuts. A few of the lids arrived detached from the cups but luckily it was easy to determine what scents they were from. The cups themselves were pretty messy, wax everywhere and the packing peanuts got stuck under the labels so that added to the messiness. Most vendors at least wrap up the scent shots in cello bags to hold everything together. Overall, not really impressed with the presentation of these either. But again, with all the good things I've heard about the performance of these tarts I'm willing to give this company another shot.
Anyways, onto what I ordered:
- Boston Creme Pie - This was a scent that my friend Shelby had sent me that I fell in love with! The one she sent me had a strong pie crust note with a hint of creamy chocolate. For some reason, this one smells nothing like the one she sent me which is odd because there were only a few weeks difference between her order and mine. This Boston Creme Pie smelled mainly of fake chocolate with only a hint of pie crust. Odd. Definitely prefer the one Shelby sent!
- Oatmeal Raisin Cookie - Gross gross gross. Very weird, plastic-y bakery sent. Not even close to what a delicious oatmeal raisin cookie smells like. Though I have to say, I've smelled another oatmeal raisin cookie scent that was equally as offensive so maybe I just don't like that scent in general.
- Cinnamon Donuts - Not bad but not my favorite cinnamon donuts scent. Not nearly as rich and doughy as some others I've tried and has a bit of a fake cinnamon note. Meh.
- Granny's Pie Crust - This one's not bad. A little bit less of a zucchini note than I picked up in the Nene's version of this scent but it's still there. I could tolerate this one. However, it's very light off of cold throw.
- Banana Brown Sugar Drizzle - Another miss for me. You kind of get the banana caramel scent, but there is a weird, sharp almost minty note that I'm picking up on. Not a fan.
- Lemon Peach Pound Cake Preserves - This one is okay. The peach preserves scent is oddly buttery, but it does mesh well with the Lemon Pound Cake scent. Good but probably wouldn't reorder this one.
- Cajun Cornbread - This is a blend of their peach preserves scent with their cornbread scent. The butteriness in this one is so fake and overwhelming that I just can't handle it. Usually I love buttery scents but this one is just not doing it for me. Note to self: steer clear of the CBV peach preserves scent.
- Apple Raspberry Crumble - I've heard great things about this scent and while it is probably the best from the order, I'm still not sure that I love it. The raspberry scent in this is a true, tart raspberry scent which is impressive because it's hard to find a raspberry scent that isn't candy-like. However, I'm not so sure I like it blended with the apple. It's almost too tart. And I don't really get any "crumble" notes - just a tart raspberry and apple scent.
Next, I ordered a tropical sampler. Huge mistake. This is one of those samplers where you don't know what scents you are getting. I don't know what compelled me to order this one! Unfortunately, I was very disappointed in these scents. They were generally very generic and blah.
- Tropical Vacation - This one wasn't bad. However, there's no notes listed on the site so I don't know what all is in this one. I smell a generic tropical, fruity scent with melons. Meh.
- Tropical Blast - Another generic fruity scent. I mainly smell coconut with some other fruits. Double meh.
- Jamaican Vacation - Again with the generic fruityness, although this one had a note of lilac in there to mellow it out. Not bad.
- Lotus Blossom - Generic floral scent. Not bad, not good.
- Palm Island - This is a scent that I also have from Candles from the Keeping Room that I thought I liked, but am now realizing that I don't. It smells like a very sharp men's aftershave scent. Soapy. Weird. Not entirely unpleasant but definitely not great.
- Pina Coloda - Generic pina colada scent. Boring!
- Water Lily - This smells exactly like a bathroom air freshener. So gross!!
- Coconut Hibiscus - A yummy, freshly-cracked coconut scent. I'm not getting any hibiscus in this one. Probably one of the only ones I actually liked from this order! A great coconut scent.
And the freebie:
- Twilight Woods - A pretty dead-on dupe for Bath and Body Works Twilight Woods. It's not one of my favorite scents but I like it well enough. A good one!
~~~~
I feel like my reviews of these scents were pretty negative so I'd like to reiterate that I feel like I just chose the wrong scents for this order. I have heard great things about this company and their scent list is so extensive that I think I was overwhelmed and was really off the mark with my choices. I have been working on making a list of what I'm going to order next time around an I think I will have better luck. For now, I am going to melt a few of these and see what I think and I will let you all know.
Until next time friends! Thanks for stopping by!
Oh man it seems like you had a huge miss with this order! Surprisingly, I haven't had much success with my CBV scent shots yet. I'm melting Snickerdoodle now and it's way too plastic-y or yeasty or something weird! I think I've had better luck with her candles so far rather than scent shots. Coconut Hibiscus sounds really nice! I recommend cinnabon- I got it in a candle and the smell is lovely :)
ReplyDeleteThat's a bummer that you haven't had much luck either! I loved all the ones you sent me off of cold throw. I will definitely try the Cinnabon with my next order. I think I'll do about 10 more scent shots and if those ones don't work for me I may have to call it quits with CBV.
DeleteI haven't tried most of the scents you ordered. I had read somewhere (or maybe heard in a YouTube video) that these shots smell better after you let them cure. That tropical sampler you got had some really random scents! I loooove some of CBV's tropical scents but none were in your sampler. What a bummer. Indonesian Delight, Treasure Island and St. Lucia are some good ones.
ReplyDeleteThey've been curing for about a week and a half now but I'll definitely give them more time. I just looked up scent descriptions of the ones you suggested and they all sound great! Definitely adding them to my list for the next order. I agree, the tropical sampler had some super random scents. Two of them were straight florals, and not even tropical ones! haha
DeleteFirst off, love your blog! I know this is a few months past your original post but I have had the same problem with CBV. My first order was many of the "popular" scents and I was so surprised that I did not like any of them. Was it me? I reordered a 2nd time and still did not have any success. Of the approx 30 scent shots I ordered, I like maybe 5 of them. I let them cure for weeks. I had other people smell them and they were not impressed either. The only ones I "like" are Coconut Cream Pie, Granny's Apron and Granny's Pie Crust. I hated Elvis and Cajun cornbread. The all seem to have a scent that is just off. Oh well, you live and learn!
ReplyDelete