My Favorite Scents of 2013

Happy 2014 everyone!! I hope you all had a great holiday season filled with friends, family and fun. I love the holidays, but I don't know about you - when New Year's rolls along I'm so ready to be done with it all, tear down all the Christmas decorations and not have to look at them again for awhile. SO DONE.

Anyone have any waxy resolutions this year? I'd love to hear about them! Mine is simply to blog and make videos more. So here we are again today! I don't think I've written two blog posts this close together in ages. For me, the most time consuming part of blogging is the picture taking. I always want to share my orders and melted reviews with you guys, but the thought of taking all the pictures to go along with the entries is often very overwhelming. I tend to be a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to my blog photography. I will definitely get back to taking pictures soon, but for now, I figured if I at least start writing again that will help me get back into the swing of things. I hope you all don't mind another picture-less blog entry =)

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Today, I'd like to talk about my favorite scents in 2013. In my last post, I discussed what the scent trends were in the wax world as a whole, but this post is strictly about the scents that personally stood out to me for the year. Last year, I did a "Top 10 Scents" post as well, and I'd love to keep the tradition going and do something like this every year! Below is the link to last year's entry:

The Scholarly Nail's Top 10 Wax Scents of 2012

Looking back at last year's post, though my scent likes haven't changed so much, I've added so many more scents and vendors to my repertoire so it was infinitely harder to choose favorites this year.  I still love all of those scents on the list, and in fact there are several similarities between this year's and last year's list. It was also harder for me to narrow things down this year because I have favorite blends from certain vendors, and I also have favorite single note scents too. So I decided to break them down into favorite vendor blends and favorite single note scents.

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Because I tried SO MANY different scents this year (seriously, it's incredible to think about how much wax I've sniffed over the past year), the ones that made it to the list were the ones that honest to goodness blew my mind. These are the scents that I would sniff over and over and over again until my husband thought I had lost my mind. These are the scents that changed the way I felt about wax. These are scents that I can now never be without after they came into my life.

Without further ado (an in no particular order)...

MY TOP 10 WAX VENDOR BLENDS OF 2013

1.  Sniff My Tarts Chocolate Raspberry Truffle - This was a scent that I got from my very first SMT haul, a massive flash sale lot that I lucked out on on the SMT FB page. Up until this point, I was very hesitant about chocolate scents in wax. This scent changed my mind on chocolate and to this day I cannot get enough chocolate scents! SMT Chocolate Raspberry Truffle is an incredible blend of tart raspberry with smooth, creamy, rich chocolate with a hint of a liqueur note in the background. Unfortunately, I do believe that the fragrance company they ordered this raspberry scent from discontinued the oil so they are current searching for a suitable dupe. I'm glad I have a nice stockpile of this blend to tide me over until they find a replacement.

2. Rosegirls Monster Cookie Fluff Puffs - If you know anything about RG, chances are that you've heard of Monster Cookie Fluff Puffs. MCFP is a blend of their Monster Cookie scent and their Marshmallow Smoothie scent, which together makes the most amazing, creamy bakery scent I've ever smelled. This scent deserves all the hype it gets and then some. Their Monster Cookie scent is unlike any cookie scent I've smelled from any other vendor. Most sugar cookie scents are very sweet, and while this one has that underlying bakery sweetness to it, it's somehow more substantial than other cookie scents. It smells crunchy. I know that sounds crazy, but if you've smelled a Monster Cookie blend before you'll know what I mean. It almost has a bit of a bready undertone to it as well, with a hint of spice. I don't know what all is in there for sure, but whatever it is, it's a true gem.

3. Rosegirls Nilla Strawberry Noel - It was so hard for me to narrow down what RG scents to put on this list because I have so many favorites from there, but this one definitely stands out to me. Nilla Strawberry Noel is their blend of Strawberry Jam, Nilla Wafers, and Vanilla Bean Noel. Rosegirls Strawberry Jam is my absolute favorite strawberry scent, hands down. It is very realistic, with notes of both tartness and sweetness that don't overpower each other. Blended with the Nilla Wafers and VBN makes this the perfect creamy and bakery strawberry blend. Smelling this scent set off a lightbulb in my head that said "yes, I do need all the strawberry bakery scents ever." And even with all the strawberry bakery scents I have tried, Nilla Strawberry Noel reigns the queen supreme.

4. Candles from the Keeping Room Jelly Zucchini Donuts - I never thought I liked zucchini bread scents. That was until I tried CFTKR's Jelly Zucchini Donuts. This scent changed me, you guys. From the moment this scent hit the warmer, I knew it was the beginning of a beautiful relationship between me and zucchini bread. It is a wonderful blend of a creamy zucchini bread scent and a fruity, cakey jelly donut.  Carol came out with several amazing jelly donut blends this year but this is by far my favorite. I've tried this combo from a few other vendors, and hers is the absolute best. I will never be without a bag of this scent in my stash.

5. Candles from the Keeping Room Serendipity Marshmallow Delight - Serendipity has always been a favorite scent of mine, from any vendor. There are endless serendipity blends available, but this is the cream of the crop. CFTKR's Toasted Marshmallow scent is blended perfectly with Serendipity, creating a creamy, fruity and tropical explosion of awesomeness. This scent is pure bliss to my nose. I've smelled several other serendipity and marshmallow blends but Carol's is the best. I couldn't imagine my life without this scent. I always pop a few tarts of this into my warmer when I need a bit of a pick-me-up. Aromatherapy guys. It's for real!

6. Beezy Tarts Pumpkin Marshmallow - I am a pumpkin fanatic. There were so many amazing pumpkin blends that came out this year but this is the one that stands out among the rest. It is a sweet marshmallow scent blended with a true pumpkin scent and the slightest, perfect hint of spice. It's just the ultimate pumpkin blend. I recommend this scent to anyone who thinks they don't like pumpkin scents, as it just might change your mind. Beezy tends to stick to seasonally appropriate scents for his restocks but I'm hoping this one will be available one more time this season so I can stock up. I'll be melting this one year round for sure.

7.  Lasting Scent Candles Sweet Potato Muffins - I had another sweet potato scent on last year's list but this one blows that one out of the water. I first got this scent as a sample in an order, and I fell in love. This is such a true scent, it smells exactly like sweet potato muffins. You get the bready muffin note, you get the sweet potato note, and you get a creamy spicy note to it as well. I don't think I've ever smelled a bakery scent that was quite as true to life as this one. During LSC's last restock, there was a 2-per-scent rule and I really wish I would have been a rebel and broke the rules for this scent because now I will be hoarding my last 2 SS's of this scent forever.

8.  Front Porch Cotton Candy Marshmallow - Front Porch has some of the best cotton candy and marshmallow scents out there, and together, they are a match made in heaven. Cotton Candy and Marshmallow are two scents that are sometimes very weak in wax, but FP's versions of these scents are very strong. I had FP Cotton Candy Cookies in my top 10 scents last year, and it's funny that another FP cotton candy blend made the list this year. It just goes to show how awesome their cotton candy oil really is. Sweet, sugary goodness. You just can't go wrong with this scent, and it blends well with a lot of other scents as well.

9.  SMT Fruit Loops Vanilla Butter Fudge - Last year, I was all about the Fruit Loops scents. Unfortunately, I way OD'd on that scent and had a negative reaction to Fruit Loops scents for most of the year. That was until this scent came along. I picked up a small chunk of this scent in a round robin, and it re-invigorated my love for Fruit Loops scents and now I can't get enough of them...again. I am normally able to at least try to describe a scent in words, but I just can't with this one. It's as if the vanilla butter fudge turns the fruit loops scent into something new, something more than what it was. It's impossible to put how amazing this combo is into words. I am very picky with VBF and only like it in certain blends, but here, it's perfection. I'm so glad to have stumbled across this scent because I would have never ordered it on my own.

10. Front Porch Mulberry Marshmallow - This was another scent I would have never in a million years purchased for myself. I got this scent as a free pack in my VERY first Front Porch order back in 2012, back when they were still doing free packs and back when they picked the freebies for you. It survived elimination during destash round after destash round but for some reason, I never felt compelled to melt it. Finally this winter, I pulled the old bag out of the drawer and popped a tart in. Within minutes, I was greeted with the most amazing, sweet fruity punch scent. Guys. How did I not realize how awesome mulberry was before this? Now I have to have ALL THE MULBERRY SCENTS. The Bathing Garden did a particularly lovely lemon and mulberry blend this winter called Lemon Squares and Christmas Sprinkles that I would have never gotten if it wasn't for this lovely FP  blend! I will certainly be experimenting with more mulberry scents in 2014.

*edited to add* 11. Lasting Scent Candles Lemon Ginger Snaps - OMG you guys, I can't believe I forgot to put this one here in the first place. I absolutely love, love, LOVE this scent. It is definitely one of those scents though that I don't see a lot of people loving. It has a very strong ginger note to it that I think throws people off. However, the blend of that strong ginger with the sweet lemon with the slightest undertone of a cookie note is a huge winner in my book. My favorite time to melt this is after my husband cooks, the lemon+ginger combo makes it prime for odor elimination. I ordered a 12-pack when they were still accepting custom orders and I am getting to the end of my stash. I don't know what I will do when they're gone!

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Next up is....

MY TOP TEN SINGLE SCENTS OF 2013

1. Strawberry - Strawberry is probably my number one favorite scent of the moment, and possibly of the year. Every new vendor I try, I have to see what their strawberry smells like. If I don't like their strawberry, there's a good chance I won't be ordering from that vendor much (the one exception being Front Porch - their strawberry stinks but the rest of their scents make up for it). My ultimate favorite strawberry scent is Strawberry Jam from RG, but CFTKR and HHS's strawberry scents are a close second.

2. Marshmallow - At this point in time, most vendors have caught onto the fact that we waxies like a strong marshmallow scent, but there's still a few duds in the bunch. Luckily, I have found several vendors with the same strong marshmallow scent, such as FP, RG, CFTKR, HHS, and more. For me, marshmallow is the ultimate blending scent. While some people blend everything with Vanilla Bean Noel, Pink Sugar, birthday cake, etc., my golden standard is always a good, strong marshmallow for blending. Name one thing that wouldn't be made better by the addition of marshmallow. I bet you can't!

3.  Cinnamon donuts - This scent made my favorites list last year too! I just LOVE a good cinnamon donut scent. The best cinnamon donut scents are always the ones that have a background of bakery, flaky goodness blended with just the right amount of sweet cinnamon. I've smelled some pretty gross cinnamon donuts scents but most of them are delicious. My favorites are RG Dunk My Donut and LSC Cinnamon Sugared Donut. They are awesome to blend with too, I tried so many pumpkin and apple donut blends this fall that were simply phenomenal. I wouldn't be surprised if cinnamon donuts makes my favorites list again next year.

4.  Peppermint - I used to hate peppermint scented and flavored things as a child, they would legitimately make me gag. Now it's just the opposite, I can't get enough peppermint things! While peppermint is always a favorite around the holidays, I love it year round. I especially love peppermint blended with sweet bakery scents. My favorite peppermint blends for the year are RG Peppermint Coconut Mallow (OMG SO GOOD), RG Strawberry Peppermint Ice Cream, VDC Peppermint Bark, SMT Pink Peppermint, and CFTKR Peppermint Marshmallow. Believe it or not, peppermint blends well with so many different scents.

5.  Blue Hawaiian - Though most of my waxy friends cannot stand Blue Hawaiian, I can't seem to get enough of it! It's Serendipity's more pineapple-ish sister, while still being heavy on the cherry and coconut. I like Blue Hawaiian on it's own but I'm also experimenting with Blue Hawaiian blends but some of my favorites are RG's Blue Hawaiian Smoothie and HHS in Hawaii. I recently did a Blue Hawaiian muffin club with some friends for the RG opening and I can't wait to see how those blends turned out! The one I'm most excited about is strawberry blended with Blue Hawaiian. Yeahhhhh buddy!

6.  Caramel - I always worry that my orders don't contain enough caramel scents, and I'm always going back to make sure I have enough caramel in them. I am a caramel fanatic! It has to be a true caramel scent though, none of that weird popcorn-y note that some caramel scents have. My favorite caramel scents are from RG, SMT and LSC. They are pure, sweet and rich caramel scents with no weird undertone to my nose. While my favorite caramel blends are mostly with other bakery scents, it blends well with some fruits as well - like apple, pear and even peach! I'm not even normally a peach fan but blend it up with some caramel and you've reeled me in.

7. Pumpkin - As I said before, I am a huge pumpkin fan. Once fall rolls around, I have to try all the pumpkin scents ever. As I've found, however, not all pumpkin scents are created equal. There are some that are incredibly awful, but in the same token, there are some that are so perfect and true to life. While I am very picky with pumpkin, I've found several pumpkin oils this year that I love, such as Pumpkin Crème Brulee (various vendors), Pumpkin Cupcake (various vendors), Pumpkin Cream Cheese Roll (various vendors) and whatever the heck kind of pumpkin Beezy uses. Good stuff right there folks!

8.  Chocolate -  As mentioned above, I used to be very leery about chocolate scents in wax. I've had some chocolate scents go horribly wrong. But when they're good, they're incredible. I've found a lot of amazing chocolate scents this year and in fact, my drawer full of chocolate scents is one of the fullest ones in my stash! I especially love chocolate blended with caramel, mint and berry scents. My favorite single note chocolate scents that I've found this year come from RG, SMT, VDC, and LSC. I'm so glad that I now know how awesome chocolate scents can be.

9. Butter brickle - I was debating putting butter brickle alongside caramel since they are in the same family, but I wanted to feature butter brickle separately because I have done so many blends with it this year! Butter brickle is a much sweeter caramel scent, with the slightest buttery undertone. My favorite butter brickle blend is when it is paired alongside cotton candy, of course, but I love it with all kinds of other bakery scents! I haven't tried it with any fruity scents yet but I have a strawberry butter brickle blend on its way to me that I'm dying to try. If you are only to try one butter brickle scent this year, make it RG's Caramel Butter Brickle Ice Cream Pie. It will change your life, people!

10. Zucchini bread - This time last year, I would have never imagined that zucchini bread would have made it into my top ten scents list. I'm still pretty picky on the ZB front, it has to be a super creamy version for me to like it, as the corn chippy type still scares me a bit. I still can't do ZB plain or blended with lighter bakery scents but blended with berry and citrus scents or other strong bakery scents like sugar cookie, celtic moonspice, or a strong marshmallow and I'm ALL about it! My favorite ZB blends of the year were CFTKR Jelly Donut Zucchini, RG Strawberry Mallow Bread, FP Marshmallow Bread Noel and HHS Sweet Zucchini Cakes. I can't wait to discover more awesome zucchini scents in 2014!

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Well folks, that concludes my favorite scents of the year. Thank you so much for reading and maybe (hopefully?) I'll be back with another entry soon!

I'd love to hear what some of your favorite scents were for the year!!