Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Sniff My Tarts December Order - Cold Sniff Reviews and First Impressions

Hi everyone! Hope you all had a fabulous holiday weekend! Today I am here to share with you my long anticipated order from Sniff My Tarts!



I placed this order on December 5, 2012 and it was shipped out on May 6, 2013 which makes this order have a pretty much exact TAT of 5 months. It is by far the longest I've ever waited for an order, and I have absolutely no regrets. Some people may think I'm nuts for waiting so long for an order but I can definitely say that it was well worth the wait. I think one of the reasons why I was so willing to wait for this order was because it was so big. I had invested a lot of money in it, as well as a lot of time coming up with the blends for the chunks. I've seen other people who waited just as long as I did for much smaller orders and I can definitely understand the disappointment of waiting 5 months for a very small order.

For those who don't know the history behind Sniff My Tarts, they had a HUGE sale on December 1st and got so many orders that it took them more than 4 months to complete all those orders. Having ordered just a few days after that sale, I knew up front that I was going to have to wait awhile for my order. I never thought that it would take 5 months, but when it did, I was okay with it. I don't think I would have been so patient if I wasn't able to snag both a large Facebook lot and a large SMT destash, however. Regardless, I am overall very pleased with my order.

Amy (one of the owners) was very willing to let me change my scent combos throughout the process, which was fantastic. In the 5 months that I was waiting for my order, my scent tastes changed quite a bit. My order started out with combos like Orange Zucchini Bread and Wildberry Mousse Corn Pudding. Yuck!! I will admit, it was a bit frustrating to hear "Your order will be done soon!" every once in a while when I would update my scents, when in reality, it was still a few months away from being completed. I saw other people ask an approximate time frame on their order being completed on FB, and I couldn't help but feel frustrated for them when the answer was always the same: "Soon!" I understand that they didn't know how long it would be taking them to finish the orders, but it would have been helpful to know how many orders were in front of yours or even a very rough time frame. I know the whole time while they were completing December 1st sale orders was a trying time for a lot of the customers, so I can only imagine how stressful it was for Amy and Donna as well. I give them kudos for doing as well as they did!

Amy was very sweet to me throughout our correspondence, and was very kind to throw in several extras in my order. Not only did they throw in extras, but each bag of chunks I received had at least 4 oz. more wax in them than what I paid for which was incredibly generous, especially considering I ordered 20 bags of chunks! Some were as much as 8 oz. more than what I paid for. Absolutely amazing. I don't know of any other vendor who would do that. After they reopen, they will be a mainly RTS vendor with the option for customizing loaves as well. This is excellent news for everyone who doesn't want to wait a few months for their orders. I'm excited to see how this new way of doing things will work out for SMT!

Before I show you all the chunks, I want  to discuss the packaging quickly. I have to say that I am not a huge fan of the packaging. They pack them in large resealable cello bags tied with curling ribbon. Then, once you get the chunks, you take off the ribbon, peel off the sticky stuff and use the resealable portion of the bag. First off, the bags get really wrinkled from having the ribbons around them so they don't look that nice when they are taken off. Second of all, the labels were placed on the bags after they were packed with chunks. This doesn't seem like it would be a problem, but sometimes when labels are put on top of something that's already bagged, they can rip when moved. Also, the labels weren't placed in regards to the resealable sticker. So, some of the labels were ripped after the sticky portion was stuck on them. In the grand scheme of things, these are minor issues that can easily be resolved by rebagging the tarts. I think with a few little tweaks, the packaging would be much better. Here is a pic of a few of the bags:



Now, I'll get into the exciting part: THE CHUNKS!!! There were a few in here that I didn't really care for as much as I thought I would, but overall, they are absolutely amazing. And really, that's what we're all here for, right? The awesome wax! No one can deny that SMT has some of the best wax out there. As I mentioned previously, I ordered 20 8-oz. bags of chunks. Here they all are!


  • Lemon Bundt Cake/Ripened Raspberry - This blend is AH-MAY-ZING!!! I have smelled several other raspberry/lemon blends and none can even hold a candle to this one. Lemon Bundt Cake is a very lemon-y bakery scent that smells a whole lot like Fruit Loops. Though I'm not a huge fan of this one on its own, with the Ripened Raspberry, it's awesome. Ripened Raspberry has got to be one of my favorite raspberry scents ever. It's SO STRONG and very sweet without having a fake candy sweetness to it. It also has a bit of a tart bite to it like real raspberries do. I definitely smell a bit more raspberry in this blend but the lemon is very prominent as well. So yum! I cannot say enough good things about this one. 
  • Caramel Butter Cookie - This was a blend that I had gotten in the FB lot that I won and I knew I had to have more of it. I'm not loving this batch as much as I loved the last one but it's still really, really yummy! I get equal notes of both the caramel and the butter cookie. I get the tiniest hint of a popcorn scent from this bunch of chunks that I didn't get from the last one but I don't mind it. I have been REALLY into bakery scents lately so this is a welcome addition to my stash for sure.
  • Pink Sugar/Chocolate Truffles - I love a good Pink Sugar/chocolate blend and this is definitely one of the best I've ever smelled. Their chocolate truffle scent is SO GOOD. It's a true, rich chocolate scent with the slightest note of chocolate liqueur. Very decadent. Combined with Pink Sugar, the two are a match made in heaven. Can't wait to melt these bad boys. 
  • Fresh Strawberry/Cotton Candy Bliss - This is a great blend, though not one of my favorites of the order. I wasn't sure what strawberry scent to order because I had only tried one (Nanny's Strawberry Jam) and I didn't care for it. There were a few other strawberries on the scent list and I figured this one sounds the most realistic. However, the Cotton Candy Bliss scent overpowers the strawberry in this blend, so I can't really tell if it's a good strawberry or not. What I smell from these chunks is a definite cotton candy note, a strong bubble gum note (?) and perhaps the slightest hint of fruitiness. Good, but not what I was expecting. Hopefully the strawberry will come out more when melting. 

  • Pink Lavender/Sticky Marshmallow - This was another blend that I had gotten in my FB lot that I loved enough to reorder. Unfortunately, this version does not smell a whole lot like the original batch that I had. This lavender has a very strong laundry undertone to it, which I am not a fan of at all. The original batch that I had gotten had a very sweet, non-laundry lavender in it that I just loved. I ended up giving away all but this chunk of this blend. However, if you're a fan of laundry-type lavender scents you'll love this one for sure!
  • Lemon Bundt Cake/Toasted Marshmallow - This was my attempt at a lemon marshmallow scent. Unfortunately, the lemon bundt cake was not quite the lemon scent that I was looking for. It is a very strong lemon scent akin to Fruit Loops as opposed to a lemon pound cake kind of scent. It's definitely a good blend though not a favorite. The Lemon Bundt Cake overpowers the Toasted Marshmallow where I was hoping for a more balanced blend. Still quite good though!
  • Senedipity/Coconut Cream Pie - This blows every other Serendipity/Coconut Cream Pie blend out of the water. This is such a well-balanced blend of the two. In most other Serendipity Cream Pie blends, all I can smell is the serendipity. Here, I can definitely smell the bakery coconut sweetness of the Coconut Cream Pie along with the Serendipity. Pure heaven. I have another chunk order out with them and I'm thinking of switching one of the blends to this so I can have more backups. It's amazing!!!
  • Ice Cream Scoop Bread/Waffle Cone - This was a blend I had gotten out of a RR and I knew I needed to have more of it!! I think this is where my recent love for Ice Cream Scoop Bread began. It smells just like walking into a place that is baking fresh waffle cones. So delicious! You get both notes here and they blend together to make such a creamy bakery scent with a bit of crunch to it. This one might be loaf worthy when they reopen!
  • Gingerbread/Caramel Sticky Buns - This is such a rich and decadent scent! I got this combo in a scent shot in a destash and I needed to have more of the scent in chunks!! The caramel sticky buns note is the prominent one here, but the gingerbread adds a subtle spiciness that works really well with the caramel note. SMT has amazing an amazing gingerbread scent, I've smelled it in lots of blends and it always smells fantastic. Although it does have gingerbread in it, I can definitely see this one being a great year-round rich and creamy bakery scent.
  • Peppermint Smoothie - These chunks are so cute with the little crueller donuts on top! This was another blend that I had gotten in my FB chunk lot that I wanted more of. The blend in my lot was called "Smoothie Sugar Peppermint" and I'm not exactly sure what the "sugar" portion was, so this one is a bit more pepperminty and less sweet than that one. Either way, this one smells awesome and I'm always down for a good creamy peppermint scent. 
  • Pink Coconut/Acai Berry - This was a blend I created because I had Acai Berry tarts from CFTKR that smelled like a less creamy version of Wildberry Mousse, which I thought would be great to blend with Pink Coconut. It turns out that SMT's Acai Berry pretty much smells like grape candy. Definitely not my favorite scent. I will admit, the grape note does smell really nice with the coconut but I'm still iffy on this one. I ended up giving most of these away as well but I kept a few to see how I like them when they are melted. We shall see!
  • Serendipity Marshmallow Smoothie - There's nothing like a good Serendipity and marshmallow scent!! I will say that I like the Serendipity Cream Pie scent a bit more from this order but this one is good too. I can smell both the Serendipity and the vanilla marshmallow note. Serendipity Marshmallow Delight from CFTKR will probably always be my favorite Serendipity/marshmallow blend but this one is definitely up there. As I always say, you can never have too much Serendipity!!
  • Chocolate Raspberry Truffles - This right here is a pure scentgasm, you guys. This is the most true to life chocolate raspberry scent I have ever smelled. This scent has a cult following among SMT lovers, even among those who don't even care for chocolate scents. I got a bag of this in my FB lot and I knew I would regret it if I didn't get more. As I mentioned before, their chocolate truffles scent is scarily accurate, right down to the note of chocolate liqueur. Blended with my beloved Ripened Raspberry scent, it's perfection. You need this scent. YEAH YOU. Try to get your hands on some of this, even if you think you don't like chocolate scents. This will make you a believer.
  • Ripened Raspberry/Fresh Strawberry - This is a great scent, although the raspberry definitely overpowers the strawberry in this blend as well. I get a strong scent of the ripened raspberry with a hint of sweet strawberry goodness. This is another favorite of the order. SO GOOD! Another one that could potentially be loaf worthy!
  • Georgia Peach/Pink Sticky Mallow - I had never tried their peach scent before so I took a bit of a risk ordering it in two blends, but I'm so glad I did! It's such a sweet, juicy peach scent with the slighest hint of a candied note to it. So yummy! I've been loving Pink Sugar and peach blends lately so this was an easy choice for me. I can smell both the Pink Sugar and the peach equally with a soft marshmallow-y background. LOVE! Since I've gotten this order, I've shared every other scent with people except for this one. I'm keeping this all for myself =)
  • Pink Noel/Orange Chiffon Cake - I'm also loving PS/orange bakery blends as well and this one is AMAZING! I don't like fresh orange scents on their own, but orange bakery is one of my faves. I felt like Pink Sugar was way overused for awhile but now I'm learning how to use it sparingly enough in blends that I don't get sick of it. I can smell all three notes here - the Pink Sugar, the Vanilla Bean Noel and the Orange Chiffon Cake. Mouthwateringly delicious!

  • Gingerbread/Vanilla Cake Pops - This is another awesome gingerbread blend. The vanilla cake pops scent almost has a bready note to it which makes this blend smell kind of like a spicy version of Ice Cream Scoop Bread. Fantastically yummy! Again, despite the gingerbread note in here, this doesn't have that seasonal vibe at all and can be used all year round. Love it!
  • Lemon Berry - This is one of SMT's house blends that I couldn't resist getting in chunks. The lemon is the dominant note here and the "berry" scent to me pretty much smells like blueberry. Really amazing blend and I can see why this one is so popular. There's nothing like a good blueberry/lemon blend. Heck, pretty much any citrus/berry blend is okay in my book. I have a feeling this blend will make it to RTS so I'll always make sure to have some of it in my collection.
  • Honeydew Melon/Cotton Candy - I got a chunk of this in my swap with Sarah, and immediately upon smelling it, I knew I had to have a whole bag for myself! The honeydew is the dominant note here, but it is sweetened up nicely by cotton candy. I feel like Honeydew Cotton Candy is one of the "trendy" blends this summer along with Strawberry Satsuma. I've smelled Honeydew Cotton Candy blends from a few other vendors and this one is by far the best I've smelled so far.
  • Georgia Peach/Gourmet Sugar Cookie - I don't really get much sugar cookie here, mostly a really, really sweet peach scent. This is probably one of my least favorite blends of the bunch. I switched this blend last minute. It was originally supposed to be Georgia Peach/Blueberry Muffin and I wish I would have kept that blend instead. Oh well. This one still smells nice and I'll still definitely melt it! I was hoping for more of a bakery note in this, however.
And here are the freebies I got in addition to the extra wax in all of my chunk bags! I ended up giving a few of the freebies away in swaps and RRs, but here is what I kept for myself out of those freebies:
  • Caramel Sticky Buns Latte (cinnamon roll minis)- I got four of these mini cinnamon roll tarts in a bakery bag. This smells so awesome! I'm not really a fan of coffee scents so the name scared me off a bit, but I really can't smell much coffee at all! Just a really rich caramel bakery scent. Love!
  • Cotton Candy Marshmallow (lollipop) - I haven't taken this one out of the bag to sniff yet, but it is certainly adorable! It's two-toned with sprinkles on top. I love cotton candy and marshmallow scents so I'm sure it will be a hit!
  • Mystery (grubby) - This mystery tart smells like a blend of key lime pie and coconut cream pie. I love this one so much that I am getting a bag of Key Lime/Coconut Cream Pie chunks in my next order. Really awesome!
  • Caramel Apple Pie (grubby) - This one smells like a spicy apple pie with a hint of caramel drizzled on top. From the name, I was expecting more of a caramel apple scent but it's actually more of a spicy apple scent. Either way, I still love it!
  • Mystery (scallop) - This two-toned scallop smells to me like the Banana Kiwi scent I've smelled from other vendors. It's a nice scent but not a favorite. 
  • Banana Strawberry Cupcakes (mini cupcakes) - This was probably my favorite freebie of the whole bunch! I got a bakery bag with 5 of these adorable mini cupcakes in them! Strawberry/banana is a favorite scent blend of mine that I can't believe I didn't order in chunks! Amy and Donna must have read my mind! It's definitely a candied banana scent with a distinct strawberry undertone. Amazing!
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And so concludes my much anticipated SMT December 5th order! I really am quite pleased with my order and I'm so glad I took the plunge and ordered a lot because their stuff really is phenomenal! I wish Amy and Donna the best of luck with their new RTS endeavor and I hope that it will eventually become easier for everyone to get their hands on this amazing stuff!! 

What do you all think? 5 months too much? Are you going to order once they go RTS? I'd love to hear what you all think!

14 comments:

  1. Jacqui! You do such an amazing job describing the scents and you were extremely fair evaluating the TAT and packaging.
    I'm with you on the packaging, it looked like a mini disaster. I never take a well packaged product for granted :)
    5 months is ...wow. yeah, that would be hard, but some things are worth the wait and it sounds like they are. I will for sure be ordering when they go RTS.
    Great post, thanks Jacqui!

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    1. Thank you!! I definitely like to share both sides of the fence because even the best of the best has its pifalls as well. Yeah, I'm really not a fan of the way these are packaged. The ripped labels are the worst part, about 5 of my bags have ripped labels and a few more with the torn portions from the resealable bags. But yeah, still worth the wait1 I hope you are able to snag some goodies when they open again =)

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  2. You got some great scents! I agree with you on packaging, I didn't like how mine came, even in scent shots. Mine were very messy (wax residue and popped off lids/broken lids). I like their wax and would love to get chunks in the future, but my order was smaller. I wish I had placed a bigger order with chunks! I was just dipping into wax then and wasn't aware of chunks and didn't know smt had a sale at the beginning of Dec.! Lemon bundt cake/ ripened raspberry sounds amazing! I remember getting the sugar peppermint smoothie scent from you and it was awesome!! I'm glad I snagged a chunk of a ripened raspberry and strawberry scent from your RR!

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    1. Yeah, there is a lot to be desired when it comes to their packaging. At least the stuff inside is awesome! Hopefully you are able to snag some chunks when they reopen with RTS =) You'll have to let me know how you like that raspberry/strawberry chunk when you melt it, it's SO GOOD on cold sniff!

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  3. wow. amazing!!!! must order from them. GREAT ORDER!

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    1. Thanks! Yeah, I'd definitely recommend placing an order with them if you get the chance =)

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  4. So... how much do I have to pay you for some of that!? :-D SMT is the ONE vendor I'm just dying to try and haven't been able to snag! The minute they open I AM ON IT!!! Ahhh those chunks are so pretty!

    The packaging does look shoddy and wow at the TAT, but if they smell as great as they look, it was worth it!

    :)

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    1. LOL! Yeah, definitely keep your eyes peeled for when they reopen, shouldn't be too much longer now! Yeah, I'm less than thrilled about the packaging but at least what's inside is awesome =)

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  5. WOW! You got so many good scents!!! Chocolate Raspberry Truffles and Serendipity Coconut Cream Pie sounds AMAZING.

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    1. Thanks! If you get the opportunity to try either of those blends, YOU MUST!!! They are so incredible, I can't even describe in words lol. You will love them =)

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  6. Jacqui! Amaaaaaazing haul! I can't wait until they RTS open, I'm going to try and snag some morE SMT goodness! Honeydew Melon/Cotton Candy sounds really interesting.

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    1. Thanks!! Honeydew/Cotton Candy is amazing!! I hope they bring this one to RTS, it's such a great summery scent =) I hope you are able to snag some RTS sooner rather than later =)

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  7. AMAZING! I need to try Raspberry Chocolate Truffles for sure! Love the pics!

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    1. Thanks love! OMG you need it for sure!! I could have sworn I sent you home with a chunk when you were over. I'll be sure to send you one soon =)

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