Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Nene's Kitchen Melts - First Impressions and Cold Sniff Reviews

Good morning everyone and Happy Hump Day! Hope you all are a bit cozier than we are here in the CLE, it's only 7 degrees Fahrenheit (a.k.a -13 degrees Celsius) and while I love winter, that's just a touch too cold for me. My poor little wiener dogs can barely walk outside!

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Anyways, I'm back again today with more hauls! I've gotten a lot of wax orders in lately so be prepared for lots more. In this entry I will be talking about my haul from Nene's Kitchen Melts. As I mentioned in my wax tag post, Nene's Kitchen Melts was one of my favorite vendors back in the day so I was super stoked when I saw that she was still open! Nene's is run by a lady named Millicent (a.k.a Missy) and she is based out of Ohio. The order took 7 days from the time I ordered to the time it shipped. 7 day TAT is great for a non-RTS company so I was quite pleased!

Nene's doesn't seem to be as "hot" a vendor as she was a few years ago so I don't see a whole lot of people talking about her stuff but those that do always have great things to say. I ordered 18 different 1 oz. scent shots and I also received a free sample. Off of cold sniff, I am super impressed with everything and I hope that these perform well while melting because I can see myself ordering from her often!

The scent shots came in this cute little bag:



With the normal, flimsy scent shots that most vendors use, I would have been worried that the lids would fly off with the product all thrown together in that bag. Not with Nene's scent shots! She uses very high quality scent shot cups where the lid actually seals on. No chance of these bad boys losing their lids! Even with these HQ cups, her 1 oz tarts are still only $1 so that's pretty fantastic.

Here's what I ordered:





  • Strawberry Mango Smoothie - OMG! This is absolutely incredible! It has such a true, ripe and juicy mango fragrance with a fresh strawberry fragrance. This is one of the most realistic fruity scents I have ever smelled. So good!
  • Strawberry Butter Cookie - I remember loving this one years back and I have to say, I was a bit disappointed in this one. A super sweet, fake strawberry scent and not much butter cookie. I remember this one smelling better when melted so we will have to see.
  • Strawberry Buttercream - Now this one is fabulous. This is what I wanted Yankee's Strawberry Buttercream to be. It's definitely heavier on the strawberry but the buttercream adds a soft creaminess to it. Love it! 
  • Raspberry Zinger - This is your typical Raspberry Zinger scent - raspberry, coconut and cake. This is one of my favorite scents ever and Nene's is dead on. Delish! 
  • Cherry Chip Cake - This reminds me of something from my childhood that I can't quite put my finger on. I want to say a Strawberry Shortcake doll but that wouldn't make sense because this one is definitely a cherry note. Either way, it is so good! A creamy, cherry cake scent. A very nostalgic scent for me.
  • Pink Lemonade - Out of all the lemonade scents offered by vendors, Pink Lemonade is my favorite. No, the "pink" is not Pink Sugar, but a mix of sugary, sweet fruits. You can smell the lemonade and the extra sweetness of the pink. LOVE!

  • Papaya Clafoutis - This is not a scent I have seen before with any other vendors so I had to try it. It is phenomenal! I get mostly a juicy, fresh papaya scent with a hint of creaminess. Wowsa! A definite must-try if you like fruity scents. 
  • French Apricot Cake - Apricot bakery scents are another rarity among online vendors so I was happy to see this one! Unsurprisingly, it's yet another winner. It reminds me a bit of the Bath and Body Works Apricot Vanilla Scent. I don't get too much cake in it at the moment but I don't mind a bit. It's yummy!
  • Coconut Cream Pie - This is always one of my favorite scents so I tend to try it from lots of different vendors. This one is pretty on par with the rest, though not my favorite. Front Porch's Coconut Cream Pie is still at the top of my list.
  • Lemon Sugar & Candied Violets -  I love violet scents and I love lemon scents so I figured you couldn't really go wrong here. Well, it's not my favorite. The violet in here is pretty overpowering and has a bit of a pencil shavings note that violet scents sometimes have. I hope the lemon comes out more when it's melting.
  • Lemon Bundt Cake - Just a fantastic lemon bundt cake scent. A sweet lemon balanced perfectly with cake notes. One of the best scents of its kind that I've tried!
  • Lemon Blueberry Loaf - Pure, unadulterated HEAVEN! A very authentic blueberry note mixed with a lemon bakery scent combines to one delicious scent! It reminds me of when I am baking my famous lemon blueberry cupcakes. Another winner!

  • Baklava - Oh so good! This was another favorite back in the day and I was so excited that she still had this scent in her lineup! Very similar to all the cinnamon donut scents out there, but with a hint more cinnamon. Not one for those who hate cinnamon, but for us cinnamon lovers it's scrumptious!
  • Banana Crumble - This one was gross. It had that weird, burnt scent that zucchini scents seem to have for me. The banana was also overly fake. Not good. 
  • Banana Foster - This banana scent, however, was pretty fantastic. It smells a lot like my beloved Sweet Fixations Banana Caramel Pound Cake scent. Definitely a true banana scent with caramel and sweetness. Yum!
  • Granny's Pie Crust - Smells exactly like creamy Zuchinni Bread. If you're into that, you would like this but for me? YUCK!
  • Vanilla Sugared Grapefruit - A very true tart grapefruit mixed with vanilla. The vanilla has a bit of a powdery note that I'm not loving but overall an okay scent. Hopefully the awesome grapefruit note overpowers the weird vanilla when melting.
  • Satsuma Guava - This one is pretty true to The Body Shop's Satsuma scent, but with a hint of extra sweetness from what I'm assuming is the guava. Very good!
And the freebie:


  • New Gingerbread - Very good gingerbread scent. It's not one of those frosted gingerbread scents, but just a true ginger, spice and bread scent. Not much sweetness but that's how I like my gingerbread scents. Very yummy!
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Overall, I am SUPER impressed with this order from Nene's Kitchen Melts. Pretty much everything smells absolutely fantastic and I can't wait to melt these. It's gonna to be pretty tough to let these cure because they already smell so good. I can definitely see another order with Nene's on the way if these smell as good melted as they do on cold sniff!

Thanks for stopping by and I'll be back shortly with another haul review =)

5 comments:

  1. I am drooling over your scent choices over here!! Strawberry Mango Smoothie, Pink Lemonade, Lemon Bundt Cake, Lemon Blueberry Loaf, and Banana Foster sound to die for!! Gotta let me know how those work out :) My mom's best friend is Lebanese and I've had Baklava numerous times, but I don't remember it being a cinnamon-dessert. Nonetheless, the scent sounds yummy!

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    1. I definitely picked some good ones this order!! I will for sure let you know how they are when I melt them. Yes, baklava is phyllo dough with nuts and honey! Definitely not really a cinnamon bakery but that's what the tart smells like lol. Mmm now I want some baklava.

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  2. Mmmm, Strawberry Buttercream & Papaya Clafoutis sounds so good!

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  3. Hey, thought you and your readers would want to know that Nene's just introduced a new wax melt scent in their Spring/Summer Seasonal line called FRESH BAMBOO. It's a dead-ringer for Bath and Body Works' Fresh Bamboo candle--absolutely amazing! After being frustrated with B&BW for unreliable inventory of my favorite Fresh Bamboo candle, I'll be ordering the melts from Nene's instead from now on.

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