The Bathing Garden January Orders

Good morning everyone! I hope you all are having a splendid weekend. I wanted to pop in with another quick post to show you all my combined January Bathing Garden orders!

The Bathing Garden is always a vendor that has been at the top of my list. For some reason, TBG kind of fell off my radar for awhile when they first starting selling only on Facebook. Truth be told, I enjoyed that rush of trying to order through etsy and when she moved operations to Facebook, it became too easy to order. Crazy right? Most people in the wax world are dying to have a vendor that easy to order from. Me, I craved that rush that comes along with stalking and having to quickly order from vendors. Or at least I did. Now I am absolutely thrilled that Shannon only takes orders through Facebook. I still have my vendors that I will always stalk, but I am happy to have a vendor that takes that stress away from the consumers.

For those unfamiliar with The Bathing Garden's ordering process, it is quite simple. You must be a member of the Facebook group, because in there Shannon will post the restock list. She will give a timeframe during which she will be taking orders. And all you have to do is e-mail her with what you want, pay the paypal invoice she sends you, and voila. Pain free ordering. No refreshing the page to see when stock is added. No staying up way past your bedtime just to get an order in. Just plain, simple e-mail. She always only has a limited amount of scents that she is offering at each opening, which helps keeps the work and TAT down for her. There was talk of her maybe doing things a bit differently for the next opening, so I'm not quite sure how that will work but I do believe things will still be done through Facebook. 

Here is a link to The Bathing Garden's Facebook group: The Bathing Garden on Facebook

There are a lot of things I love about Shannon's wax, but first and foremost it performs well for me. On average, I use about 2 cubes in pretty much any warmer and I generally get a great throw. Sometimes I only need 1 cube, and sometimes I'll need 3, but overall her wax performs consistently for me. And of course, I enjoy a great deal of the scents that she offers. Shannon carries some very unique blends in her lineup, and I appreciate having something a bit different now and then. She carries a lot of standard scents as well so there's always something for everyone. Lastly, but certainly not least, her wax is gorgeous. She does mainly clamshells, with the occasional shape or block tart. The combination of embeds, glitter, wax crumble, and dried flowers that she uses make for a stunning presentation. Looks wise, TBG is one of my favorites. 

So here is what I ordered from The Bathing Garden in January. She did 2 restocks, and I placed small orders from each one. Enjoy! Oh, and these pics look so much better if you click them to enlarge =)

• Guava Berry Gelato - Guava, raspberry, strawberry, creamy gelato. To me, this smells like the Strawberry Raspberry Guava scent from other vendors, which is an absolute favorite. It's a lovely sweetened up berry scent with a hint of creaminess. I don't really smell a "gelato" note per se, but I can definitely imagine this scent in the form of some sort of iced treat. Really beautiful and always a favorite from TBG.
• Pomegranate Lime Sweet Tart - Tart lime and pink pomegranate. This was probably the scent that I was most excited about but I ended up strongly disliking, unfortunately. The lime in here reminds me of a lemon or lime cleaning product, and I don't get a whole lot of pomegranate. A friend of mine said this smelled exactly like a Sweet Tart candy, but sadly my nose didn't pick up on that at all. I passed this one along in a round robin, as I know it's a popular scent and I'm sure will find a loving home.
• The Berry Scandal - Ripe raspberries, red strawberries, blackberry and guava topped with buttercream, candy corn and cake batter ice cream. Basically in this tart, I smell a strong scent of strawberry passion fragrance oil, a scent I've come to recognize from other vendors who carry it. It's more on the fresh side as far as strawberry oils go, with a hint of powdery sweetness. It's not my favorite strawberry oil, but it does smell nice with the creamy cake-y top layer. I'm still torn on this scent, I'll probably have to melt for the final decision.
• Pirate Punch - Coconut, pinapple, tiare and plumeria flowers. To me, this is the perfect light tropical scent. I get a touch of floral in the background but I mostly smell the sweet coconut and pineapple notes. It's a great combination of floral with tropical fruits that allows this scent to be fresh and fruity at the same time. After a month of curing, this is still quite light but I think it will be a perfect scent to bring with us to Maui in May. Yes, I will be bring wax with us on vacation and yes, I am already thinking about which scents to bring. This was a freebie in my first January order.

• Tricky Banana Treats - Vanilla cupcake, banana, caramel, cinnamon and cream cheese frosting. I had been dying to get this scent for over a year now, and I'm so glad to finally have it in my possession. It is your standard banana caramel cupcakes scent, I'm not sure if Shannon has added anything else to this scent because it smells like the same scent that I've had from other vendors. I really like this type of scent from anyone so I'm happy to have it, but I was hoping for a bit more of a unique spin on the scent. Oh well, at least this tart is absolutely adorable with all the glitter and that mummy embed! 
• Almond Macaroon Cheesecake - Cheesecake, almond macaroon. I'm really enjoying the almond macaroon part of this tart, which luckily, seems to be the bottom layer so I can smell it the strongest. However, I'm not so sure about her cheesecake scent. I should have remembered that I didn't care for her famous lemon cheesecake scent either. However, I am still going to melt this one because I adore almond scents and I am hoping that the cheesecake note will blend well with the almond while melted. Fingers crossed!
• Caramel Velvet Coffee Cake - Ground coffee beans, espresso, caramel, cake bites. I have been absolutely loving coffee scents lately after over a year of not liking them, so I of course had to snag this one. I smell mainly a strong, true coffee note but that caramel note in this blend helps it from being too bitter. I don't get any obvious cake note, but I'm sure it just lends to the creaminess of the blend. This is undoubtedly one of my favorites of the order, and now that these are all cured, I will be melting it as soon as possible. You can't tell from my picture, but this tart is absolutely gorgeous as well. 
• Marshmallow Cookie Jar - Marshmallow and sweet cookies. The cookie scent Shannon uses in this blend is phenomenal. It's a strong, crunchy cookie note with a hint of a rich, bread-y undertone, akin to Rosegirls' Monster Cookie, but a tad sweeter. The marshmallow in this blend is the top layer an adds a nice creamy sweetness to that rich cookie note. Another definite favorite of the order. I had this tart once before and wasn't impressed, but I'm glad I gave it another shot because it smells different this time around. Better.
• Zucchini Cake Noel w/ Wild Berry - Zucchini cake, Vanilla Bean Noel, wild berry. Shannon's zucchini bread is undoubtedly one of the more savory zucchini bread oils out there. I wouldn't exactly call it spicy, but it does have a hint of that "corn chip" type of note that in the past would have sent me running the other direction but have now come to love. The VBN with that swirl of wildberry (wildberry mousse, I'm assuming because that's what it smells like to my nose) helps tone down the savory aspect of the zucchini bread and adds a nice sweetness to it all. Really love this one!

• Brown Sugar Cream Rose Bouquet - Whipped buttercream, brown sugar, sugared rose petals. I was hoping this one would be heavier on the brown sugar aspect, but I smell mostly rose in this blend. I do enjoy rose scents, but like I said, I was hoping for more of a bakery scent with a touch of rose. I'll stick with Lemon Curd and Rose Milk for my rose fix from The Bathing Garden. 
• Illusions of Labyrinth - Mandarin, musk, sugar and violet. This is a dupe of a Lush scent. I'm not sure quite which scent it is a dupe of, but I can say that I am generally not a fan of Lush dupes in wax. I do enjoy them in the Lush products themselves but most of the time I'd rather not have my whole house smell like them. The exception is Pink Candy Fluff/Snow Fairy dupes - yum! But I digress. This one is nice, but I don't see it being a favorite. I went out on a limb with this one because there were so many raves about it. I smell mostly a sweet citrus with a prominent floral background. I actually usually love violet scents but this doesn't smell like the type of sweet violet note I am familiar with. I am definitely going to hang on to this tart for when I want something a bit different but it won't be a regular scent in my lineup.
• Faded Opulence - Fizzy clove, ginger, blood orange and cola. This scent is fantastic. I love cola scents, and they are hard to find these days. I smell mostly the fizzy cola note, with the scent of citrus lingering in the background. It does have a perfumey aspect to it, but not so strongly that it turns me off of this scent. It is a nice, fresh effervescent scent that I can see myself melting year round. And this is probably one of the most gorgeous tarts I have ever received from The Bathing Garden. You can see a closeup of this scent below.
• Ophelia in Gold - Raw honey, jasmine, lily, rose, bergamot, musk. This was a freebie in my second January order, and I can say without a doubt that this is my least favorite scent I've ever smelled from The Bathing Garden. To me, it smells like a old lady perfume. I hate to use that term, but it's all I can think of when smelling this tart. I cannot imagine how anyone could like this scent in perfume, let alone in wax. However, I have seen a lot of people raving about this scent so it just goes to show how everyone's noses are so different. It is a gorgeous block tart and I'm sure I can find a new, loving home for it. It is very generous of Shannon to give samples at all, let alone such a big one, so I am grateful for it whether I enjoy the scent or not.

SCRUBS! This is the first non-wax product that I've ever featured on my blog but The Bathing Garden is famous for her sugar scrubs so I had to include them. They are super creamy, no oily residue with these bad boys! I got them in two scents, Guava Berry Gelato and The Smitten Diaries, which is a new coconut scent. I love them both and I was happy to get a sample in Honeyed Toffee as well. I can't wait to dig into my new scrubs! I'm not a huge body scrub kind of gal but I can't help but get excited about these. 

And to conclude this post, here are a couple closeups of the gorgeous tarts. I swear, this batch of tarts I received from Shannon are some of the most beautiful I've seen yet. Enjoy! 

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Thanks for stopping by everyone! Have you recieved an order from The Bathing Garden recently? What are your favorites? If not, are you plotting an order from them? Let me know! 

Have a great weekend <3

Some Highlights from my Recent Orders

Hello my lovely readers and happy Monday! I hope you all are doing well. My life is pretty boring these days, and consists mainly of work and school, more work and more school which sadly means that I haven't been able to keep up with blogging as I had hoped I would have this summer.

However, the orders have been coming in steadily over the past few months and I wanted to share with you some of the highlights of these orders. I brought a list of some of my new favorites from my recent wax orders into work today to type out during my down time. Unfortunately, there won't be any pictures today but my blog was looking pretty lonely these days so I figured anything new would be better than staring at the same old video that has been up for a few weeks! 

I have found my wax preferences shifting significantly lately. While I am still loving the fruity scents that I couldn't get enough of this spring, I find myself now reaching more for deep and rich bakery scents over my lighter scents. Usually I'm one season ahead in terms of my scent preferences though I don't seem to want to melt my spicy fall scents quite yet. But anything caramel, chocolate, cake or cookie scented? Sign this girl up! The shocker among all shockers these days seems to be the fact that I'm actually tolerating bread scents much more, and *gasp* even enjoying them! I'm really into Amish Friendship Bread and Ice Cream Scoop Bread scents, and yes, even the occasional Zucchini Bread scent. I still have a violent negative reaction to most ZB scents but I am tolerating the sweet and creamy ones quite well these days. I don't know what's gotten into me lately but I'm just going with the flow and stocking up on lots of bakery and bready scents. 

And now, without any specific order, here are the highlights from my wax hauls over the past few months! I hope you all enjoy and maybe even find a new favorite amongst this mess of randomness!

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Sugar and Spice Gourmet Soy

Marshmallow Jelly Donuts - Sugar and Spice has quickly been climbing to the top of my favorite vendors list. Her stuff is always amazingly strong, for the most part her scents are awesome and since it is an RTS company the TAT is lightning fast. This was a scent that I originally got as a freebie in one of my orders and I loved it so much that I bought a 1 lb. bag of brittle in it during her last opening. It is your typical jelly donut scent that a lot of vendors carry, heavy on the berry jelly with a hint of a fried dough note. But with the addition of marshmallow in this blend, it takes it to a whole new level of awesome. I'm a sucker for a good marshmallow scent and this is definitely a good one. Winner winner! It's just pure creamy berry bakery goodness.

Creme Brulee Zucchini Cupcake - When I had originally ordered this scent, it was listed on the site as "Creme Brulee Cupcake" without the zucchini note. When I received my 1 lb. bag of this, I was a bit disappointed to see the zucchini note listed but upon first sniff of this scent, I was in love! Sugar and Spice was probably the first ZB scent that I actually liked as it is one of the most mellow and creamy zucchini scents I've smelled thus far. It's definitely still mainly a creme brulee scent but the little hint of breadiness helps this from becoming too sweet. Awesome blend!

Chocolate Butter Brickle Croissant - I have been insanely in love with both chocolate and butter brickle scents as of late and the two together in this blend is a home run! The chocolate croissant is a very unique chocolate bakery scent; it has a strong, almost boozy chocolate note mixed with a slightly buttery crust note. Blended with the butter brickle oil, it becomes this delicious confectionary delight that, yes, I have contemplated tasting because it smells so fantastic. I am going to request that she makes this in big bags of brittle next time she opens up her shop in the fall. 

Lollipop Fluff Cake - I am head over heels for Sugar and Spice's Lollipops scent. If you've never smelled it before, you absolutely must. It is certainly a nostalgic scent that takes me back to my childhood as it kind of smells like those scented dolls I loved as a kid. It's basically the most realistic fruity candy scent ever. A few other vendors have this scent as well, but I wish more vendors would carry it because I would buy it from everyone. Lollipop Fluff Cake is a blend of Lollipop, marshmallow and cake fragrance oils. The lollipop definitely takes center stage in this blend but the marshmallow and cake notes amp up the sweetness and add the slightest hint of a bakery undertone. It is the ultimate sweet scent in every way. This is another one I'll be requesting in 1 lb. bags of brittle so I'll never be without it. 

Peanut Butter Marshmallows - I've tried a few peanut butter scents from other vendors and they were all pretty underwhelming. I don't even really like peanut butter that much in real life, so when I saw this as a freebie in one of my orders, I figured I wouldn't like it before even opening the lid of the scent shot. However, it was true love upon first sniff. It is such a realistic peanut butter scent with the added creamy goodness from the marshmallow. So amazing! I'm looking forward to trying out different blends with this scent as well. I think it would be really fantastic blended with her Jelly Donuts scent! 

Haley's Heavenly Scents

Raspberry Zinger - Haley's is another vendor I've really been loving lately. If you are in the HHS group on Facebook, you've probably seen me raving about this scent. Raspberry Zinger is a raspberry coconut cake scent, supposedly duping the now defunct (?) Hostess Raspberry Zinger cakes. I've seen this scent at several other vendors, and I don't know if HHS uses a different oil than all the others or just a higher concentration of the oil, but their version of this scent is absolutely phenomenal. Take any other raspberry coconut scent you've smelled before, amp it up 10 times, and you've got HHS Raspberry Zinger. During their recent 4th of July sale (wax ban be damned), I ordered a big bag of Raspberry Zinger on it's own and did two blends with the scent as well! I can't wait!

Strawberry Ice Cream Scoop Dough Bread - Although CFTKR will always have my favorite strawberry scent, HHS is nearing in at a close second these days. It's a strong, true strawberry scent with a slight tartness to it that adds a realistic aspect to the otherwise super sweet scent. Another recent favorite scent, as I mentioned above, is Ice Cream Scoop Bread scents. I'm OBSESSED with ice cream scents anyways so ICSB is an obvious win-win situation for me. The Ice Cream Scoop Bread note blends flawlessly with their strawberry oil to create one of the best strawberry bread scents I've come across. 

Lemon Ice Cream Cake - All of HHS' lemon blends are flawless, really. If you watched my 45 minute long melted reviews video, you know I have a deep affection for her Iced Lemon Cookies scent as well. Lemon Ice Cream Cake is a new discovery in a recent order. It is a blend of lemon poppyseed and cake batter ice cream. So. Amazing. It's a bakery lemon scent (with no touch of the astringent, cleaner lemon that sometimes  pops up in lemon pound cake scents) with the added creaminess from the ice cream scent. I actually blended this scent with Raspberry Zinger in my recent order and I can't wait to see how that turns out! 

Candles from the Keeping Room

The "Jelly Donut" family - It's no secret that CFTKR's Jelly Donut scent is one of my favorite fragrances of all time. Recently, Carol has started coming up with these amazing Jelly Donut blends that she has been sending out as testers in people's orders. The first blend to be officially released was Jelly Filled Sugar Cookie, and you better believe I got myself a bag the day it came out! Other blends that she's done lately were Jelly Filled Zucchini Donut and Jelly Filled Flapjacks, both incredible blends. In fact, I melted the Jelly Filled Zucchini Donut sample that Carol had sent yesterday and I was absolutely BLOWN AWAY at how phenomenal it was. She's working on some other jelly donut blends as well that I'm super excited to try! In fact, Carol has been coming out with a TON of new scents lately that I can't wait to get my grubby little hands on.

Sugar Cookie and Flapjacks -  I had a bag of this earlier this year and for some reason, I ended up selling in a destash. With my recent bakery obsession, I ended up regretting destashing it and bought myself another bag. Man oh MAN, I don't know how I could have ever let this bad boy go. At the very peak of my love for bakery is my love for sugar cookie scents. I just can't have enough cookie scents, I need them all! Carol's sugar cookie oil is one of the best, it is very, very sweet yet crunchy at the same time. Blended with her dough-y flapjacks scent (that, by the way, has the slightest hint of maple syrup) is one of the best bakery scents I have found thus far. Front Porch has apparently come out with a Sugar Cookie/Hotcakes blend recently and I can't wait to try that one as well to compare and contrast the two.

Fruit Cocktail - So even in the throes of my bakery-palooza, I've managed to find a new favorite fruity scent! Fruit Cocktail is a blend of peach, pears and cherries, just like the sweet canned fruit cocktail that is served in elementary school and at hospitals. It smells EXACTLY like opening a can of fruit cocktail, right down to the sweet syrup in which the fruit is suspended. Yes, it is a bit of an artificial fruit smell with that cherry note thrown in there but it is fabulous. This is what I wanted all those generic "fruit slices" scents to smell like. Luckily for my nose, I don't smell any citrus notes in here. Just the super sweet scent of cherries, pears and peaches. I'm so glad I stumbled across this scent. 

"Strawberry" anything - As I mentioned above, Carol has the best strawberry scent in the business. It's a true strawberry that is sweet yet fresh all at the same time. All the strawberry blends are awesome as well, like Strawberry Noel, Strawberry Flapjacks, Strawberry Cookie, Pink Sugared Strawberry, and a new favorite, Strawberry Dew (strawberry mixed with Mountain Dew). Her strawberry generally sell out pretty quickly when they're listed, so you have to be fast! They're like Pokemon, you've gotta catch them all! Haha I think that's the first time I've ever made a Pokemon reference in my life. Anyway, moving right along...

Victoria's Designer Creations

Cotton Candy Milkshake - I believe I've reviewed this scent on my blog before but I recently received a loaf of this scent (my very first loaf ever!) and it's so darn good that it's worth mentioning again. This is probably one of the best, if not the very best, cotton candy scent I've ever smelled. It has an extra level of sweet, sugary goodness while still retaining that "cotton candy" scent that we've all grown accustomed to, whether it's from cotton candy flavored bubble gum or cotton candy scented body spray in the 90's. Best thing about this particular cotton candy scent is how unbelievably strong it is! Cotton candy scents are notoriously light, but not this one. I'm so glad I have a loaf in this scent because I will be melting this one in large quantities for sure.

Sniff My Tarts

Sugar Cookie Brulee/Deep Fried Ice Cream - This was a combo that I did in a scent shot in my second SMT custom order. It's so amazing that I'll probably never use it because I only have one scent shot in it! I'm  kicking myself for not ordering this blend in chunks. This is the first time I've ever had the pleasure of smelling a Sugar Cookie Brulee scent but it certainly will not be my last. Sugar Cookie Brulee is an amazing, rich bakery scent that is mainly the "brulee" note of burnt sugar with a slight undertone of cookie crunchiness. Brilliant! I wish more vendors would carry this scent. And of course, blended with the deep fried ice cream scent it becomes even more amazing! Maybe one day I'll win a custom lot and be able to create this blend myself again. My second custom SMT had more duds in it than the first but this was definitely the standout of everything that I ordered. 

Butter Brickle/Cotton Candy - Surprise, surprise a butter brickle and cotton candy blend! Shocking, I know. Though I'm not the hugest fan of the way they are doing chunks now (in individual molds as opposed to doing large batches and cutting them into chunks), the Butter Brickle/Cotton Candy blend that I received in my order really knocked it out of the park. The cotton candy was the overpour and the butter brickle was the chunks, so it was definitely a bit heavier on the cotton candy but still a really nice blend of the two. I don't know what it is about butter brickle and cotton candy, but they are just so darn fantastic together! By the way, if you've never smelled a butter brickle scent before, it's kind of like a super sweet candied caramel fragrance. Really rich and delicious smelling! 

The Bathing Garden

Peppermint Bubbles - Though TBG hasn't really been knocking it out of the park for me lately, this blend is a new favorite among all the TBG scents I've ever tried. It almost has a frosty, cool quality to it that makes it stand out from all the other peppermint scents in my stash. It's a very sweet peppermint scent, blended with marshmallow, whipped cream and meringue. The sweet, fluffy notes in this scent give it an almost bakery-like quality without having it actually smell like a typical bakery scent. That probably makes no sense, but you'll just have to take my word for it. If sharp peppermint scents scare you, definitely give this one a try! I bet this scent would be amazing in a scrub as well.

Rosegirls

Taste the Rainbow - This scent was a surprise favorite for me. Though I didn't actually order it, I stumbled across a chunk of it in an RR and I knew I had to grab it. I've smelled one other Skittles inspired scent before from Dutch/Crabby Candle, and while that one is really nice, this one is like Skittles on steroids. I was weary about this blend when it was introduced to the RG lineup in April because it contains chunks of both satsuma and grape, two of my arch nemesis fragrances in the wax wax world. However, the grape and satsuma scents blended with key lime chunks and the Chicks Dig It overpour creates this completely awesome fruity blend that really smells like a bag of Skittles. On steroids.

Key Lime Swizzle Sticks - Rosegirls has the absolute best Key Lime Pie scent, bar none. It's such a realistic key lime scent, right down to the slight graham cracker crust note. I'm super picky about my lime scents but they're always a major win from RG. Their swizzle sticks scent is described as a sugary sweet glaze, which to me, smells a little bit like the above mentioned lollipop scent from other vendors. Together, the blend is flawless. I'm almost wishing I would have ordered a large pie in this scent instead of just a regular sized bag. But hey, now I have more room in my stash to try other key lime blends. And try them I will!

Pomegranate Watermelon Slush - This was another new scent that I got out of an RR that moved right up to the top of my favorites list. Pomegranate scents seem to be all the rage these days and this one is one of the best I've smelled thus far. The tart, berry-like pomegranate scent combines effortlessly with the super sweet watermelon slush scent to create a divine summer drink blend. I saw on one of my wax groups somewhere that someone wanted to pour some booze into this scent and drink it, and I wholeheartedly agree! Perfection.

Sweet Lemon Confection/Swizzle Sticks/Pomegranate (custom blend) - Someone in one of my wax groups did this blend and I had to borrow the idea and make a medium pie in it for myself. I did the pomegranate as the overpour which was an ideal decision because this scent smells like the absolute best pomegranate lemonade you'd ever taste in your life. Yes, it smells like the way it would taste. Thank you to whoever suggested this blend because my pomegranate-loving self would never have been the same without it!

Strawberry Jam/Sweet Lemon Confection/Monster Cookie (custom blend) - This was another custom blend that turned out even better than expected. First off, Rosegirls Strawberry Jam scent is one of the best out there, probably tied in second place with HHS' strawberry scent. When strawberry jam is blended here with the lemon bakery note and RG's famous Monster Cookie, it's truly a match made in heaven. This was actually a blend that Dana and I created to split a large pie in, and I'm so glad I have half a pie in this one because it's SO FREAKING AWESOME! I'm also a huge fan of RG's Strawberry Lemon Custard scent but I think I like this one a bit better because of the added bakery note here. As a rule of thumb, you can't really go wrong with any blends containing Strawberry Jam, Sweet Lemon Confection or Monster Cookie because they're all really top notch.

Pics, Petals and Scents

Vanilla Buttercream Waffle Cone - I recently got a long awaited (3+ months) custom order in from PPS, and while I generally liked everything in my order, the real standout of the whole lot was a freebie that she sent in Vanilla Buttercream Waffle Cone! I'm feeling a little burnt out on descriptions right now but I will say that the buttercream is the stronger note in this blend, but the waffle cone isn't far behind. Usually buttercream and waffle cone scents are very light but in this scent, they are strong as can be! Awesome, awesome, awesome!

Up the Creek Scents

Coco Mango/Pomegranate/Peach (custom blend) - Up the Creek is a new-ish vendor that has been all the rage in my Facebook groups lately. Their stuff is incredibly strong, well blended, and best of all - super inexpensive! I believe the 3 bags of custom blended brittle cost me somewhere in the ballpark of $15. Not to shabby! Anyways, this was obviously a custom blend of mine that really turned out well. I did make this blend before my aversion to peach scents began, but luckily I mostly smell the sweet Coco Mango scent blended with the tart pomegranate. I don't know what ever possessed me to make this blend, I mean, you've got to admit that it's kind of random, but these notes work really well together to create a really unique and awesome tropical fruity blend.

Pink Sugar/Sweet Orange and Chili Pepper (custom blend) - Usually I can't stand orange scents, but there is something about the sweet orange and chili pepper oil that I love. I've seen lots of Pink Sugar and orange scents so I figured these two would be great together and boy was I right! The sweet, perfume-y notes in Pink Sugar blend surprisingly well with the tart orange scent. After doing this blend, I've been dying to try other Pink Sugar/orange scents. Next on my list to try is CFTKR Pink Sugared Orange Juice. If you have any other favorite PS/orange blends, do let me know =)

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Well folks, that's all for now! I'm actually now finishing up this at home this evening as it took me a lot longer to write than I thought! I hope you all are having a great day and I'll see you all soon =)

My Current Top 5 Favorite Wax Vendors!

Hi everyone!! I'm waiting until this Sunday to post my weekly reviews, and I have one more post in store for you this week, but for now I figured I'd pop in with a quick post about my current top favorite vendors. I get asked who my favorite vendors are all the time so I thought you all would enjoy it! In addition, I tag all of my fellow wax bloggers to do the same!

This was definitely a difficult post to write because there are so many wonderful vendors out there and it's tough to narrow it down to five favorites. There's several things I took into account while compiling this list, including customer service, turnaround time, variety of scents available, etc., but in the end the most important thing for me is performance of the tarts. I want tarts that smell like what they're supposed to smell like, last a reasonable amount of time, and most importantly - they have to be strong! There's nothing worse than having a tart smell great on cold throw but when you put it in the warmer, you get nothing. AIN'T NOBODY GOT TIME FOR THAT!

Keep in mind, no vendor is perfect. Every vendor has their own drawbacks, and I will be listing those as well. Obviously, the good things about these vendors far outweigh the bad so that is why they are in my top 5. Also, just because a vendor is not listed here does not mean that I don't like their products. These are just the ones that stick out in my mind and that I continue to order from time and time again.

Without further ado, I present to you my top 5 favorite wax vendors! Please note that these are in alphabetical order and not in order of preference (that would have been even more difficult)! Oh and I apologize for the lack of pictures, this was a very spur of the moment post. Anyway, here we go!

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1. Candles from the Keeping Room

Candles from the Keeping Room (CFTKR) has been a favorite company of mine for many, many years. It is run by a lady named Carol who is so sweet and helpful to her customers. She has a TON of different scents and blends, probably one of the biggest and most diverse scent lists of any vendor out there. Her tarts are generally strong, and although I've had a few more duds than usual with her lately, the majority of CFTKR tarts are great. Also, CFTKR is a ready-to-ship (RTS) company so even when she is slammed (which she has been lately), you will still get your order within a week. When things aren't as busy, I have received my order within 2 days. A lot of vendors these days have TATs upwards of a few months so it's refreshing to see a vendor who sticks to a short TAT.

There are a few things to consider with CFTKR. First of all, you can't normally order single tarts. Her tarts come in 4 oz. or 8 oz. bags only. But, they are VERY reasonably priced so that's not a huge deal. Also, Carol has skyrocketed in popularity lately and it has been very hard for her to keep things in stock. I am thrilled for her, but at the same time, it is very frustrating when you can't get the scents that you were hoping for. She does restock quite frequently but lately things have been selling out instantly. Carol is currently closed but will be reopening at the beginning of May, so if you are planning on ordering, plan on waking up super early that day so you can get what you were hoping for!

2. Front Porch

Front Porch was one of the first vendors I ordered from when I got back into wax and I continue to order from them quite frequently (much to the dismay of my wallet). Front Porch is a RTS company as well, and they actually restock their site every day Monday-Friday which is great because there is always a lot of stock on hand. Besides the fact that they have great scents, their tarts are some of the strongest and long lasting around! Because they have such a huge scent list, they take requests from customers and every single time I have requested a scent, Angie (the owner) has listed it within a few days of my request. So cool! Another thing that I love about Front Porch is the fact that they never (or at least not in my recent memory) close down shop. Front Porch tarts will always be a staple in my collection for sure.

Some people seem to feel that Front Porch tarts are a bit expensive for what they are. A 4-pack of 1-oz. grubby tarts are $5.25 and the single grubbies are $1.75. Dollars for ounce, they do appear to be some of the more expensive tarts on the market. But here's the thing- they have free shipping, ALL THE TIME! No matter if you order a single tart or a huge $200 order, your shipping will always be free. Thus, the price of shipping is built into the price of the tarts. Some people still feel like FP tarts are too expensive, but I'm more than willing to pay a bit more when I get free shipping in the end. Another thing to consider about FP wax - it has a bit of a peculiar base smell, akin to friend dough or hot oil. It does affect the scents on cold throw but usually when melted, they smell just fine. I have found, however, that some fruity scents don't work well with the base smell so it's a trial and error situation. However, bakery scents are always AMAZING in Front Porch's wax.

3. Lasting Scent Candles

LSC was the very first vendor I placed an order with when I got back into wax and they are still in my very absolute favorite vendors list. Quite simply, LSC is amazing. They have some of the best and most authentic scents in the biz, their stuff is always SUPER STRONG, and I love the variety of scents that they have. They variety is definitely not as diverse as CFTKR, FP, or RG but what's awesome about their scents is the majority of them are custom blended by them. A lot of vendors just use stock oils, but LSC makes sure that their blends are the best of the best, and sometimes it requires a bit more than just tossing in some stock oil into some wax. Awesome, awesome blends! Another thing that I love about LSC is their labels. Each scent has it's own colorful picture on the label, they are all absolutely adorable.

A major downside of LSC is the TAT. Generally the TAT for custom orders runs about 21 days, but they got so overwhelmed with orders recently that they had to close up shop for a little while. For me, 21 days isn't a big deal as I've been waiting on orders for a few vendors for upwards of 3-4 months but I know some people prefer not to wait that long. But luckily, for those in need of instant gratification, LSC usually has a great selection of RTS tarts available. Also, they don't have a huge variety of products available. I believe they do carry room sprays and possibly home fragrance oils, but in terms of wax, there's only 1.5 ounce scent shots. That's it. No scoopables, no brittle, no chunks, no scallops. Just the 1.5 ounce scent shots. That doesn't bother me at all, though I know some people would prefer to have a variety of different product options.

4. Rosegirls

Ahh Rosegirls. I absolutely LOVE Rosegirls. Rosegirls is a more unique vendor in that they only offer chunk tarts and pie tarts. No scent shots, no scallops, no clamshells. Just chunks. And WOW are their chunks fantastic. They offer around 200 or so different chunk blends that they keep in stock and then they also offer custom blending options, where you can create any scent that your heart desires! I've had a few weaker tarts from them but overall, their stuff is super strong and both their house blends as well as custom blends, are all blended so well that you can smell all the specific notes in them! Gotta love that. These girls really know what they're doing. It's honestly like Christmas when I open an order from Rosegirls.

Here's the thing with Rosegirls. They are so popular that they can only open up shop once a month for a few hours. That means that you have to make sure that you are awake early, have your list planned out and your credit card at the ready because the site is absolutely SLAMMED when they open. It's a rush ordering from RG for sure. But rest assured, they will announce on Facebook when they have to close the site based on how many orders they have received. Some people find this system infuriating, but I absolutely LOVE it. They know their limit and they would much rather only accept as many orders as they can handle so they don't get overwhelmed and end up with TATs that are several months long. Much like many wax vendors these days, they have skyrocketed in popularity recently so their TAT has extended a bit, even with the current system. I don't mind waiting a bit longer because they are very upfront about their TAT and do everything they can to prevent from going over that.

5. The Bathing Garden

The Bathing Garden definitely has some of the most beautiful looking tarts around. If you've never seen Shannon's tarts before, you're missing out because they're absolutely gorgeous! She only does clamshells, and she has beautiful colored wax covered in glitter and various embeds that correspond with whatever scent   they are. I've had great luck with TBG's tarts, there have been a few duds but the majority of them are super strong and long lasting. Another great thing about The Bathing Garden is how unique her scents are. If you're looking for your typical Sugar Cookie or Blueberry Muffin scent, you need to look elsewhere because these blends are definitely out of the ordinary. With cult favorites such as Lemon Curd and Rose Milk, she has a knack for blending florals in a way that even floral haters will love. Shannon is also a sweetheart and is always willing to help her customers out. Really great stuff and great customer service as well!

A major downside of the Bathing Garden is you never really know what scents she will be listing. She had some major surgery back in December and is now unfortunately dealing with a family issue, so her restocks as of late have been a bit inconsistent. Totally understandable but just something to think about. If you are dead set on going to the site and being able to order your favorite scent at that very moment, it's just not going to work like that. However, Shannon has been working on opening up her own website outside of etsy and hopefully being able to carry more stock at a time. This may be a ways down the road due to current events in her life, but I'm patient and for now, I'm totally okay with stalking her etsy page on the chance that she may restock.

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And so concludes my top 5 favorite vendors!! At the time of publishing this post, all of these vendors are currently closed with the exception of Front Porch, but I anticipate them all opening back up again very soon. Like I said before, just because a vendor isn't listed here doesn't mean that I don't love their product. But these are the top 5 vendors that I consistently have great luck with and will continue to buy from again and again.

I'll be back this week to share with you guys a new vendor and later on with some melted reviews! Thanks for stopping by today and I'll see you all very soon =)

Weekly Wax Meltdown #7 - 3/24/2013 to 4/13/2013

Hey ladies (and gents)! Long time no see yet again, eh? I can't believe I haven't posted in almost three weeks! I've been busy with various things these past few weeks and in addition to slacking on the blogging, I haven't been melting a whole lot either. At the same time, my stash seems to have grown exponentially recently due to several swaps and RR's that I've been participating in. This means 2 things - first of all, I absolutely need to make an effort to be melting more when I'm home and second of all, DESTASHES! So, keep your eyes peeled for some destashes from me very soon! 

Also, I've started doing YouTube wax videos! A lot of my YT friends have been requesting that I do some videos and I finally gave in. I'll mostly be doing swap and Round Robin videos there, and I plan on keeping the majority of my melted reviews and hauls on this blog. So if you're interested in checking those out, here is the link to my YouTube channel: Scholarly Nail on YouTube. 

I may have another exciting announcement for you guys soon as well, but I'll keep that on the DL until things pan out with that. And no, don't worry, I'm not knocked up! For now, let's get into what I've been melting these past few weeks!

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• Front Porch Lemon Cotton Candy (1 tart) - Man oh man was this one awesome! I believe I've reviewed this scent before so I won't go into to much detail but it was truly phenomenal. Front Porch has one of the few cotton candy oils that is SUPER STRONG as well as long lasting. FP also has one of my favorite lemon scents so the two of these together is pure heaven. This little grubby tart lasted me over 12 hours in my 24 watt hotplate. I'm on a wax ban right now but I made sure I had another 4-pack on hand before that started =)
• Front Porch Iced Cinnamon Rolls (1 tart) - I got this one out of a recent RR box and when I went to put it away, I realized the bag was ripped so I just tossed it into one of my warmers. I'm not sure how old this tart was or how long the bag had been ripped, but I didn't get a whole lot out of this one. It was a generic spicy bakery scent, and I got a nice medium throw in my 18-watt hotplate but it quickly fizzled out after a few hours and started to get that waxy smell to it. I think I have a newer tart of this scent that I'll try before I come to any conclusions about this one. 
• Front Porch Blueberry Cheesecake (1 tart) - This was a nice scent from Front Porch but not really anything special. It had a very generic blueberry scent to it and I didn't get a whole lot of the cheesecake note in it, which was a bit disappointing. Overall a good tart but not a favorite. It had a medium-to-strong scent throw and lasted a good 8 hours in a 24-watt hotplate warmer. Probably won't be repurchasing this one, as I much prefer the Blueberry Cheesecake scent from Tiffany Candles. 
• Candles from the Keeping Room Strawberry Cookie (1 tart) - Okay, now this one was AMAZING. Wow. Wow wow WOW you guys. If you haven't tried Carol's Strawberry Cookie scent, you absolutely must. It smells a lot like her Strawberry Milk scent with a cookie undertone. You get the strawberry note, you get the crunchy cookie note, but then there's this underlying milky sweetness that is present as well. If I had to name this scent myself, I'd call it "Strawberry Milk and Cookies." It was a nice medium-to-strong scent throw in my 24-watt hotplate and it lasted about 6 hours before it started to fade. I'm so glad I have another sample and a 4-pack in this one because it is a new fave for sure! 
• Closet Full of Wax Blushing Peaches (1 Mickey shaped tart) - This was the first thing I've ever melted from CFoW and I was pleasantly surprised! I've heard that this vendor has been hit or miss for people and I can definitely see how, just based off of cold sniff of the ones I've smelled, but this is a definite winner! This is a very sweet peach scent with a bit of a berry undertone. I'm really big on peach scents lately for spring and summer so this one was right up my alley. Medium-to-strong scent throw. Lasted about 6 hours. I got back a pack of scallops in this scent in my RR and I have this scent from CBV as well so I think I'm good and stocked up for awhile.

• Lil' Kitchen Candles Twinkie (1 large teddy bear tart) - I just really have not been having great luck with LKC these days. This was a HUGE bear tart, probably around 1.5 ounces or more and I really didn't get much from it. I don't know if my order was a bad batch or what. I could smell a faint sweetness when this was melting but that's pretty much it. Light throw in a 24-watt hotplate. I ended up dumping this one out after about 3 hours because it just didn't do much for me. I have a scent shot from LKC in Twinkies Cheesecake that is a bit stronger on cold throw so I'll try that one to see if it does better for me. 
• Lil' Kitchen Candles Strawberry Banana Smoothie (1.5 scent sticks) - As a last ditch effort to try to get some of my LKC stuff to work for me, I threw 1 and a half of these sticks into my 24-watt and surprisingly, this one did really well for me! I got a medium-to-strong throw off of it. The blend was really nice too, you could smell the banana and strawberry notes equally. The banana was more of a Runts banana as opposed to a fresh banana so this scent was very sweet and candy-like, which I loved! Lasted a good 6 or so hours. I'd probably repurchase this one if I order from LKC again.
• Tiffany Candles Jelly Donuts (1 scallop tart) - Yum! This is Tiffany's new Jelly Donuts blend, which is actually a jelly donut scent blended with their infamous Donut Shop fragrance. I definitely get the fruity jelly scent but I also get that wonderful undertone of spicy fried dough coming from the Donut Shop scent. SO good! I was surprised that it performed so well for me, usually 1 scallop from Tiffany's doesn't really do it for me but this was pleasantly strong. Medium-to-strong scent throw, lasted about 6 hours. I'd definitely repurchase this and in fact, I bought a jar of scoopable wax in this one! Can't wait to try that out =)
• Tiffany Candles S'mores (1 scallop tart) - Meh. This wasn't all that strong on cold throw but I figured that since this is paraffin wax, it would come alive a bit more when melting. It didn't. At first, I got a slight hint of chocolate, a whole lotta marshmallow, and maybe the littlest bit of that graham cracker note but after about an hour it just faded into a generic sweet scent. Light throw. Lasted not even 2 hours. Definitely will not be repurchasing this one. I much prefer Campfire Dessert from Sniff My Tarts.
• Tiffany Candles Strawberry Banana - This was another great strawberry-banana scent. It was less candy-like than LKC's strawberry banana, probably due to the slight green undertone in the background. Medium scent throw. Lasted about 8 hours. Definitely not my favorite strawberry banana scent so I probably wouldn't repurchase. My current fave strawberry-banana scent is Rosegirls Strawberry Banana Bubblegum but it's not quite perfect so I'm always on the hunt for others (suggestions welcome).

• Candles by Victoria Banana Coconut Cream Pie (half a scent shot)- Two of my favorite scents in one, pure heaven! I could smell both notes equally, the sweet banana bakery scent mixed with the sweet coconut bakery scent. I just can't get enough coconut or banana scents lately!  Strong scent throw, lasted about 12 hours in my 24-watt hotplate. I ended up ordering this scent in a scoopable from her! Can't wait to see how CBV's scoopables work for me. 
• Shayz Crystal Light Peach Lemonade (1 scent shot) - This one was nice, but a bit odd. Shayz' lemonade scent isn't really a true lemonade scent and instead smells exactly like a fizzy pop scent. Okay with me, but I know a lot of people do not care for Shayz lemonade scents. Anyway, this scent did pretty well in my 24-watt hotplate, I got a strong scent throw for the first few hours of the fizzy pop blended with a nice peach note but after a few hours the peach fizzled out and it was all fizzy pop. Not bad but I wish the peach would have lasted longer. Not a repurch, as I don't see myself ordering from Shayz again in the near future.
• Haley's Heavenly Scents Cotton Candy (1 scent shot) - This is one of those super light cotton candy scents that just don't perform all that well melted. I got a faint cotton candy note when this was melted but not much else. I'm not too surprised because it didn't smell like all that much on cold throw and cotton candy scents are notoriously weak. Not a huge loss, as I got this one out of a RR box. Very light throw. Melted for about 2 hours before I tossed it. Not a repurchase. 
• Nene's Kitchen Melts Strawberry Buttercream (1 mini scent shot) - This was a really awesome strawberry and frosting scent. I absolutely love buttercream scents, and it didn't have that plasticky note that some frosting scents can have. The strawberry was sweet but not too sweet so the addition of the buttercream note didn't send it into that "too sweet" category. Unfortunately, this faded after a few hours in my 24-watt warmer. I am going to melt my Nene's stuff in lower wattage warmers from now on to prolong the scent throw. 
• Lasting Scent Candles Blueberry Muffin (1 scent shot) - I looooooove LSC's blueberry muffin scent. A lot of blueberry muffin scents are too heavy on the blueberry note but I get a great doughy note in this one as well. Strong throw in a 25-watt lightbulb warmer. Lasted 12+ hours. I have had amazing luck with my LSC tarts in general and they continue to be one of my go-to vendors so as long as they keep offering this scent, I will keep buying it!
• Lasting Scent Candles Candy Land Dreamin (1 scent shot) - I am getting to the end of my stash of this scent and I am bummed because it is SO DARN GOOD. It is a blend of lavender and peppermint with a slight hint of vanilla. It reminds me of something I used to buy from Lush way back in the day (Ickle Baby Bath, perhaps). Strong scent throw. Lasted about 8 hours in a 24-watt hotplate. To me, lavender mixed with peppermint is the ultimate relaxing/spa kind of scent and Candy Land Dreamin is BY FAR my favorite lavender/peppermint blend from any vendor. Unfortunately, it was limited edition for the holidays and is now discontinued. I'm now on the hunt for a lavender/peppermint blend that is just as good and I have not found one yet that can even hold a candle to this one!
• Lasting Scent Candles Pink Marshmallow Shortbread (1 scent shot) - HOLY COW YOU GUYS. This one is slap your mama good. I've been really into Pink Sugar blended with bakery scents lately and this is one of the best I've smelled thus far. I get the Pink Sugar and the marshmallow notes but the shortbread scent is the star here. Super rich and buttery, it blends amazingly with Pink Sugar. I need to get my hands on more of this for sure. Strong throw. Lasted about 8 hours in my 25-watt lightbulb warmer. Definite repurch!

• The Bathing Garden Cheshire Cat (2 cubes) - This was a nice raspberry/lemon scent but it honestly wasn't really anything special for me. I know, I know! It's such a popular Bathing Garden scent but something about it was lacking for me. The lemon scent was leaning towards a bakery lemon  so that was fine but the raspberry was oddly floral. Medium-to-strong scent throw. Lasted about 6 hours. Not sure I'll be melting the rest of this one. I'll probably pass it along in a swap or RR. 
• The Bathing Garden Cinnamon Cookie Dough (2 cubes) - This one I was unsure of on cold sniff but once it was warmed, I really loved it!! The cookie dough scent is very, very sweet and although this scent is very heavy on the cinnamon, that sweetness helps it from becoming too spicy. I melted this one in a tealight warmer because it was the only one I had open at the time, which is definitely not the ideal warmer for soft waxes like The Bathing Garden's. It only lasted about 3 hours but I know it will last longer in a different type of warmer. Really good!
• The Bathing Garden Gardenia Coconut Cream (1 cube)  - This is, hands down, the best gardenia scent I have ever smelled in my whole life! Absolutely incredible!! I didn't really smell a whole lot of the coconut on its own but it added a really nice sweetness to the gardenia scent. Gardenia scents can often be too sharp of soapy, but this one was soft, sweet and very pleasant. I enjoy floral scents and this one has to be one of my top favorites now. Strong scent throw from just 1 little cube! Lasted over 12 hours in a 24-watt hotplate. I hope she lists this scent again one day because I'll definitely need a backup of this one! 
• The Bathing Garden Lemon Curd and Rose Milk (2 cubes) - This is another one of The Bathing Garden's signature scents that I was thrilled to be able to get my hands on. Now this lemon blend was a definite winner in my book!! The lemon scent in this blend was not a bakery lemon, but it wasn't a cleaner-type lemon either. Just a nice fresh, tart lemon that blends really well with the floral and slighty sweet rose milk scent. This is pure genius scent mixing right here, folks. It is a very unique scent, I don't believe I've ever seen another vendor with this blend before. Strong throw! Try it, you'll like it =)

• Sniff My Tarts Raspberry Chocolate Truffle (half of a medium sized chunk) - I don't think there will ever be a SMT scent that I love more than this one. It is PERFECTION! I have been really into chocolate scents lately which is quite odd because I don't even really like chocolate all that much in real life. Anyway, when I do like to eat chocolate, my favorite is the raspberry truffles from Godiva. This, my friends, smells exactly like you are taking a bite into a delicious raspberry truffle!! It's truly wonderful. There is a slight boozy note to the chocolate scent but somehow that makes it seem all-the-more of an authentic chocolate scent for me. I can't get enough of this scent you guys! I recently passed a chunk of this on in a RR and I'm kind of regretting that because I want it all to myself. I did half of a chunk in my 24-watt hotplate and this bad boy lasted over 12 hours for me. So not only does it smell amazing, but it lasts forever too. I may have to switch out one of the bags in my pending SMT for this scent so I can have backups. 
• Sniff My Tarts Smoothie Sugar Peppermint (1 chunk) - This is a really awesome peppermint and vanilla blend. I've realized that as far as minty scents go, I much prefer a straight up peppermint to "candy cane" scents, which have an odd undertone to my nose. Anyways, this was very strong as well, lasted about 8 hours in my 24-watt hotplate. I'm not sure what the "sugar" note in this one is supposed to be, but I'd definitely order this blend again once I actually figure out what that sugar note is. Sugar cookie? Warm Vanilla Sugar? Either way, it was a winner for sure. 
• Sniff My Tarts Campfire Dessert (1 chunk) - This scent blew Tiffany Candles S'mores out of the water!! You get notes of chocolate, graham cracker and chocolate evenly in this one and they all blend together quite nicely (much like an actual S'more!). Medium scent throw, lasted around 6 hours. I was really hoping for a bit of a stronger throw with this one but it was good nonetheless. I think I'd repurchase this blend, but probably only in scent shot form because they tend to be stronger than the chunks. 

• COMBO: Candles from the Keeping Room Serendipity and Birthday Cake (1 tart each) - I thought this sounded like a great blend idea and it was good but strangely, the Birthday Cake scent really seemed to dominate the Serendipity in this blend. I found this odd because usually Serendipity is a strong scent and birthday cake scents generally aren't as strong. I did end up liking this one but next time, I'll try only using half of a birthday cake tart to see if the Serendipity comes out a bit more. Medium scent throw. Lasted about 6 hours in a 24-watt hotplate warmer. 

• Candles from The Keeping Room Acai Berry (1 tart) - This scent started out AWESOMELY! It reminded me of a wildberry mousse scent but without the creaminess that WB mousse scents have. It was really fantastic for the first couple of hours and then it fizzled out quite quickly in my 24-watt. I hate to say it but I haven't had the best luck with CFTKR tarts as of late. I find that I'm starting to need 2 tarts to get the scent throw and longevity that I want from them. This is from a more recent order so I wonder if it's just a recent batch issue? Who knows. This would have been a new favorite scent if it would have lasted longer.
• Candles from the Keeping Room Pineapple Upside Down Cake (1 tart) - This did pretty well for me! I didn't get much cake, but I sure got a nice, sweet pineapple scent from this tart. I'm getting into pineapple scents lately, especially with the warmer weather on the horizon. I would have preferred a bit more of a cake scent from this but it was really yummy nonetheless. Medium scent throw. Lasted about 6 hours in my 18-watt hotplate. 
• Candles from the Keeping Room Fruit Loops - Toasted Marshmallow (2 tarts, 1 in each warmer) - This is one of Carol's most popular scents, I've heard nothing but raves for this one. It was really nice, you get both the Fruit Loops and Toasted Marshmallow scents (by the way, I LOVE Carol's Toasted Marshmallow scent) but the throw wasn't quite as strong as I had hoped. I melted one tart in a 24-watt hotplate and one in a tealight warmer. I got a medium throw from this scent in both warmers. Lasted about 6 hours in the hotplate, 4 in the tealight. I really like this scent I just wish it were stronger. 
• Candles from the Keeping Room Cotton Candy Frosting - Now this one was AWESOME! I love Cotton Candy Frosting from any vendor, I find it to be one of the strongest cotton candy oils available. Carol's version did really well for me, I got a medium-to-strong scent throw from it and it lasted a solid 6 hours. I'm trying to not order from Carol when she reopens because I have so much CFTKR already (plus that whole wax ban thing), but if an order happens, I'll definitely need to grab another bag of this one!

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Alrighty guys, that's all I've melted for the past few weeks. Definitely some hits and misses in that bunch. Thanks to everyone for stopping by today and I'll see you all again very soon! xoxo

The Bathing Garden Collective February Haul - Cold Sniff Reviews

Oh hey there. Back again to finish up my haul posts! We had a rough day yesterday in the Scholarly Nail household so things were a bit scrambled so forgive me if I seem a bit out of it today. But never fear, I won't leave you guys hanging. I have my lovely Bathing Garden collective February haul to share with you guys today! 

(This picture looked way cooler in my head)

As you may know by now, The Bathing Garden is one of my favorite vendors. Her tarts are beautiful, they are strong, she has unique scent blends and her TAT is pretty quick! She posts new stock every week or so in her etsy shop so I often make a few orders here and there throughout the month as she posts new items. This haul today is actually a combination of two separate orders but I figured I'd post them together because one was fairly small. 

Without further ado, here's what I picked up from The Bathing Garden this month:

• Raspberry Hearts - This was one of her Valentine's Day scents. It is a blend of strawberry, raspberry and cake. It's really yummy! I get mostly a fresh, tart raspberry scent that is a nice change from the usual sweet and powdery raspberry scents that a lot of vendors have. I can definitely smell a nice background of the cake, with perhaps a slight almond note. This is fantastic and a must for all raspberry lovers!
• Vintage Circus (freebie) - This is a layered tart with Winter Candy Apple on the bottom and blue cotton candy on the top. I already had this scent in my stash so I passed it on in a Round Robin. Anyways, this smells really good. If you've never smelled Winter Candy Apple before, it does have a bit of a perfume-y note but that is tempered nicely by the cotton candy. 
• Gardenia Coconut Cream - This is one of the best things I've ever smelled from this company! It's a wonderful, creamy gardenia scent. I can't pick out the coconut per se, but I know that is what is making this blend so fantastic. Perfect for spring! Obsessed. Also picked one of these up for a friend =)
• Strawberry Hearts - This is a blend of strawberry cotton candy, marshmallow and a chocolate drizzle. It smells really good, almost like a Neopolitan ice cream! I have since stumbled on the perfect Neopolitan ice cream scent ever (details to come soon!) so this is not a favorite, but it's still a nice scent. 

• Pumpkin Sticky Buns - The rest of the tarts were all in a bundle package so I don't have the exact scent descriptions for these but most of them are pretty self explanatory. The sticky buns is definitely the prominent note here, it's a very sweet and caramel-y scent but the bit of pumpkin spice brings it down to a level I can tolerate and appreciate. Really am digging this one.
• Frosted Pumpkin - This smells very similar to my beloved Yankee Candle Frosted Pumpkin. Just a really strong spicy pumpkin scent with the slightest hint of maple frosting. My friend Shelby picked up a bar of this for me too. Deeeeeeeeeeeeelish!
• Honey White Maple and Clove - This is one of the oddest things I have ever smelled. I definitely get a strong honey note but I have no idea what else I'm smelling here. It's not maple and it's not clove. It's a very odd cologne-y scent that is overly sweet at the same time. This is definitely a miss for me.
• Brown Sugar Cinnamon Donuts - You know me and cinnamon donut scents, I just can't resist! This is pretty much your standard cinnamon donut scent with a hint of extra richness that comes from the brown sugar note. I can't wait to melt this one!
• Caramel Custard Praline - This smells exactly like buttered popcorn, I'm not really getting too much of a sweetness out of this. I like sweet popcorn scents, and this is just too buttery. Now, if this actually smelled like caramel corn I'd be all over it! 

• Vanilla Chocolate Cheesecake - I just love The Bathing Garden's cheesecake scent! It's so good. If you haven't tried one of their cheesecake blends yet, you must! I mostly smell chocolate in this one, which is okay with me because I love chocolate. It's definitely a favorite of the order.
• Cinnamon Cookie Dough - This one is pretty heavy on the cinnamon. I'm not getting much of a cookie dough note but that's probably because the tart is sprinkled with cinnamon. I hope I get more of a bakery note out of this when its melting. Still like this one though!
• Chocolate White Cake - Another chocolate scent that Shannon knocked out of the park. It smells like chocolate frosting to me. Heavenly.
• Sugared Pie Crust - This is a very light scent right now. I get a faint sweetness and a hint of crunch. Not much else. I've heard good things about this one though so I'll give it the full cure time and a melt before I pass final judgement.
• Spellbound Slumbers (freebie) - This is another really light scent. The bottom layer on this is blue cotton candy and the top is marshmallow. I'll definitely be using this one to blend and tone down scents that are otherwise too strong or spicy for me. 

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That's all for now! Last night, TBG restocked with a bunch of new spring and Easter tarts so expect that haul in the next couple of weeks. Heck, expect lots of Bathing Garden from me in general because this is a vendor I always go back to. 

The Bathing Garden January Haul - Cold Sniff Reviews

I'm back with my last haul of the day from The Bathing Garden! 

The Bathing Garden is run by a lovely woman named Shannon and she is one of my favorite vendors for several reasons. First of all, these clamshells are GORGEOUS! She decorates each and every one so beautifully. I don't mind undecorated wax, but there is something about Shannon's clamshells that shows that she puts a lot of time and effort into her products and takes pride in her work. Her clamshells are always full to the brim! Also, she has really unique blends that I can't get from any other vendor. Lemon Curd and Rose Milk, Sandalwood Layered Coconut, and Summer Melon and Mint are just a few examples of the countless unique blends that she has. Also, TBG tarts always perform very well for me. The throw is strong, the scent lasts a long time and best of all, they smell fantastic! 

Right now, Shannon is operating through etsy but is working on her own website which will be ready soon! She has been posting tarts as she makes them lately, so all of her stuff has been RTS as of late. However, with the opening of her website, I am under the impression that she will begin to have more stock available. It's fun though to pop onto etsy every few days and see what she has available. 

The Bathing Garden is another vendor I would recommend for people who are new to wax. She doesn't have a whole lot available on her etsy website right now because she is making the transition to the new site. Once that is open, I think it will be a great way for the wax newbies to try some unique and excellent blends that are not available elsewhere.  Sure, I love my Fruit Loops and Pink Sugar blends just like everyone else, but sometimes it's necessary to branch out and try some new things. Also, her TAT is excellent. This post is a combination of 2 different orders and both got to my house within a week of ordering. 

Here are the beautiful tarts that I ordered from The Bathing Garden in the month of January. Enjoy!

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• Lemon Cheesecake (x2) - The Bathing Garden is famous for their lemon cheesecake scent. This was actually sold out when I wanted to purchase it, so Shannon was kind enough to make a customer order of them for me. These tarts are dual-layered, with the top a lovely, sweet lemon scent and the bottom is a rich, creamy cheesecake scent. I can see why everyone loves this one. It's SO GOOD.
• Strawberry Nonsense (freebie) - Another reason why I love TBG is because Shannon is very generous with free samples. She states on her site that she will not be giving away free clamshells anymore, but for the majority of my orders, and the orders that I see from others, she has still been giving away free clamshells. So generous! This scent, however, is not a favorite of mine. It is a blend of strawberry and zucchini bread. Obviously, I'm not a fan of zucchini bread but I can say this this is a nice blend of the two scents. I may even keep this one around and give it a try one day when I'm feeling adventurous.

• Raspberry Lemonade - Look how pretty this one is with the pink glitter and the little raspberry embed. So cute! This smells different than most Raspberry Lemonade scents I've smelled. It's definitely heavier one the lemonade, which is fine with me! I'll have to give it a try in the warmer to see how I like this one.
• Cheshire Cat - This is a blend of lemon meringue, vanilla frosting and raspberry. This clamshell is so full that the embed is poking out the clamshell a bit! This one is amazing! I can smell mostly the bakery lemon and vanilla frosting with a hint of raspberry. So good!
• Ruby Dressed in Red - This is a ruby red grapefruit scent, and by far my favorite grapefruit scent I've ever smelled. It's so tart and juicy! This is what I wish all grapefruit scents smelled like. Divine.

• Mad Hatter's Tea Party - This is another one of Shannon's most popular blends. It is a lovely mint tea scent.  I know it's hard to see from the picture, but the embed is a cute little tea bag! This one is really nice. I can see why it's a popular one.
• Guava Berry Gelato (freebie) - This one smells amazing! I almost ordered this one but haven't had much luck with guava scents so I ended up passing. I'm so glad that she sent it to me to try! It's a great sweet berry scent. I am super excited to melt this one.
• Vintage Circus - This is an awesome two-toned tart. The top is bright blue for the Blue Cotton Candy scent and the bottom is red for the Winter Candy Apple scent. The blue cotton candy is a lighter scent but it blends nicely with the Winter Candy Apple. With layered tarts, it's hard to get the full effect of the scent off of cold throw so I'm curious to see how this will smell when it's melting.

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Thanks for stopping by today everyone! Hope you've enjoyed these little hauls today. As always, let me know if you have any questions or comments! Have a great day =)