Sweet Fixations Haul - First Impressions and Cold Sniff Reviews!

Happy Weekend everyone! Today I am back to share with you my very first haul from Sweet Fixations!

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I have been interested in ordering from Sweet Fixations for quite some time but I heard mixed reviews on their products. I finally decided to take the plunge and try them for myself and I'm so glad that I did because they smell absolutely fantastic off of cold throw. Sweet Fixations has both RTS (ready to ship) and custom products available. I decided to go with a custom order because there were several scents that I wanted to try that weren't available as RTS. Even with the custom order, TAT was only 7 days. 

I have heard that these do best with a longer cure time so I will let these sit for about a month before I melt them. As I'm writing this, I've already had them for over 2 weeks so it won't be long now before I can melt these bad boys! Overall, I am really enjoying these off of cold throw and I hope they perform well. Also, I love the labels she uses, the are very colorful and the pictures correspond with the scent. So cute! I ordered mostly scent shots but I also ordered a mystery sampler that came in the scallop tarts. I always tend to go for scent shots over scallops just because I do have a larger house so the more wax, the better! 

Let's just jump right into what I ordered. Keep in mind, these reviews are off of cold throw only.

• Strawberry Lemonade Cake - Yum!! The lemonade is the strongest note in this with hints of sweet strawberry and cake. This is really good but I was hoping for a bit more of a cake note. Maybe it will come out more with some curing. Either way, super delish.
• Cotton Candy Frosting - This is that same cotton candy scent as the one from Ten Digit Creations. Smells like the body spray from my childhood! Super sweet and so good.
• Grapefruit and Strawberries - This one was okay. I'm having a hard time finding a vendor that has a true, tart grapefruit scent. This one smells kind of fake to me. The strawberry is your typical fake strawberry as well which I do like. It's not bad, and perhaps it will do better when melted.
• Pink Rose - This is supposed to be a blend of Pink Sugar and rose. I smell absolutely no Pink Sugar but that's okay because I love rose scents and this is a good one. Maybe I'll throw in a PS tart with it to bring out that note.
• Bread and Butter - This is fantastic! This isn't a zucchini bread scent (thank goodness) but rather a sweet bread scent. It almost reminds me of Sugar Corn Pudding with a buttery note to it. I love this one!
• Brown Sugar Cake - This one is super weird. I was expecting a sweet, brown sugar note but the brown sugar in here is actually the Brown Sugar and Fig scent. I do like Brown Sugar and Fig but it has a perfumey note to it that doesn't blend all that well with the cake note. Kind of strange. 
• Butter Brickle Crunch - The notes in this are vermont maple, toffee and butter. I smell the toffee with hints of maple and butter. Definitely has that "crunchy" aspect to it. Not a scent I normally gravitate towards but I'm glad I got it because it's really good. 
• Peach Cobbler - This is a typical peach cobbler scent, nothing special. I get a sweet peach note mixed with a crusty note and the slightest hint of spice. Good but not one of my favorites. I prefer brighter, fresher peach scents.

• Banana Waffle Cone - I absolutely LOVE Sweet Fixations banana scents. This one is a nice, fresh banana scent with a background of crunchy waffle cone. Very yummy!
• Banana Caramel Pound Cake - This has replaced CFTKR Banana Caramel Cupcake as my favorite banana scent ever. It is PHENOMENAL! It smells exactly like freshly baked banana nut bread. The banana scent is like a ripe banana, not fake at all, and then you can smell the caramel and cake notes. DROOLWORTHY. 
• Pink Banana Cream - This is a blend of Pink Sugar and banana. This is a great blend, as I can smell both parts equally and they smell really good together. Another winner!
• Lemon Almond Cake - OMG this one is fantastic! This is a sweet lemon with almond cake. Simple yet so delicious. Yet another Sweet Fixations tart that smells exactly like its name.
• Yellow Polka Dot Bikini - This one is a blend of lemon and coconut, which on their own are two of my favorite scents. Together though, I'm not so sure. There's a sweet, powdery note to it that kind of makes me sick to my stomach. Meh. 
• Lemon Noel - Lemon and vanilla bean noel. Classic, delicious and strong. Yum!
• Satsuma - Satsuma is another name for a mandarin orange. I was hoping this one would be a dupe for The Body Shop's Satsuma, but it was not. It's a strange, fake orange scent. Not a winner.
• Mango and Tangerine - Now this one is good. Fresh mango with a kick of tartness from the tangerine. Very juicy smelling. Love it!

• Fizzy Pop - I was hoping this was going to be a dupe for my beloved Wildberry Fizzy Pop incense. It was not. But that's okay, because I've found a perfect dupe in OLC's Lemon Lime Twist. Anyways, Fizzy Pop is a super strong sweet, fizzy, citrus scent. It kind of smells like a shoe store? Weird, I know. Not really a fan of this one.
• Jamaica Me Crazy - This is a blend of tropical fruits - coconut, banana, melon, citrus, etc. Yuck. It smells like a cheap, fruity air freshener. Very strong.
• Lavender Serendipity - This is a blend of Serendipity (basically, cherry and coconut) with lavender. Not a favorite. The herbal quality of the lavender brings out the medicinal quality of the cherry. Could be good when melting, though. The jury's still out on this one.
• Blue Hawaii - Like the drink, this one is a blend of orange, pineapple, lemon, cherry, rum and coconut. This is MUCH better than the actual drink. I get mostly cherry and coconut in this one. So yummy! Now if only they made a Mai Tai scented tart...

Now here is the mystery sampler. Obviously, I did not know what scents would be in this one but I was pleasantly surprised. 

• French Toast - Oh so yummy. The notes are bread, cinnamon and sweet vanilla. It smells like cinnamon toast! I would expect a french toast scent to have that maple note to it but I don't mind that this one does not because it is amazing! What can I say, I love my cinnamon bakery scents =)
• Sweet Lullaby -  This is a blend of lavender, vanilla, and "clean sheets." Smells like fabric softener. NOT laundry detergent. Yes, I can detect the difference. And I actually kind of like this one! Definitely a surprise, and I would have never ordered this one on my own.
• Red Velvet Cake - This one is very heavy on the chocolate note, with a hint of frosting. It's good, but it doesn't beat Front Porch's Red Velvet scent. Not a repurch.
• Lemon Pound Cake - Good, standard lemon pound cake scent. Every vendor needs a good lemon cake scent and this one fits the bill.
• Sugar Cooke - This is a very sweet sugar cookie scent. Has an almost fruity note to it. Not my favorite sugar cookie. I'll probably just blend this with something else.
• Berry Creme Brulee - YUMMM! This smells very similar to their Berries and Pancakes scent but that's okay because it's simply delicious. I don't really get a "burnt" note that creme brulee scents tend to have, it's just a lovely, creamy berry scent. LOVE LOVE LOVE!

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That's all for now! It's a fairly big order for a first purchase from a vendor but there were so many yummy sounding scents on her scent list. I am very pleased with this order and I can't wait to see how they do in a warmer. 

Thanks for stopping by today <3 I'll be back tomorrow with my very first weekly melt reviews! I'm so excited!!

Ten Digit Creations Haul - First Impressions and Cold Sniff Reviews

Good evening everyone! Today I will be chatting about my first order with Ten Digit Creations. I first heard about this company over on Makeupalley but I hadn't heard much from other wax blogs or youtubers. Then all of a sudden, there was a Ten Digit Creations explosion in the wax community! They had a sale one day and then the videos of TDC hauls started rolling in. I took a look at their scent list and saw that they had quite a few unique scents so I decided to hop on the bandwagon and place an order. 

TAT was SUPER fast, 2 days from the time I ordered from the time my order arrived on my doorstep. Gotta love that! The MO of Ten Digit Creations is simplicity. Their tarts have no color or dyes, they are made in simple aluminum cupcake wrappers and labeled with simple brown labels. The simplicity cuts down drastically on cost and time required to make them. I'm still not clear whether or not these are RTS but either way, I'm very impressed with that aspect of the company.

As far as the scents that I got, I definitely had more hits than misses. Off of cold throw, I was definitely impressed. It's great to see a vendor that has more than just your standard bakery and fruity scents. I branched out of my comfort zone with a few of the scents and I'm glad that I did. I have heard mixed reviews on the performance of these when melting, however. Some say that the throw is not so great but I am going to let these cure for a good month or so and I will let you all know what I think of them. Hopefully they do well because I already went ahead and placed a second order for a few more =) For the price of these, I'm willing to have a few duds to find some real gems. 

Anyways, here are the freebies and the first part of what I ordered.

• Sparkling Citrus (freebie) - Definitely not a fan of this one. I don't really smell any citrus, it smells like a cheap handsoap. Yuck.
• Forget Me Not (freebie) - This is absolutely amazing. Such a true, fresh floral scent. I can even smell hints of freshly-cut green stems in this. I'm not quite sure what forget-me-nots smell like, but this tart is definitely one of the best floral scents I've ever experienced. I picked up one of these in my next order =)
• Lemongrass & Sage - When I worked at Bath and Body Works, we had a scent called Lemongrass and Sage, and it smells exactly like this. The thing is, we had heard that it made a good bug spray so that's what I used it for many years. To me, this smells like bug spray. It's not a fresh lemongrass and crisp sage scent. Just bug spray. 
• Serendipity - This is the typical Serendipity scent that is all the rage these days. Cherry, coconut, orange and vanilla. Delicious!! Smells like all the others.
• Berry Verbena - I really like this one! The sweetness of the berries tones down the sharpness of the verbena nicely. I'm not sure I'd reorder this one but it will be a good one to melt on a spring cleaning day when I want something nice and fresh.

• Spiced Apples & Peaches - This is a very strong spicy scent. I quite like it, but I wish the fruity notes came out a bit more. I think this would be even more delicious blended with a vanilla cakey scent of some sort. 
• Monkey Bread - I had heard raves about this one so I had to try it! The notes are brown sugar, caramel, walnuts and cinnamon. It's definitely another strongly spicy scent, but the caramel adds an extra sweet kick. Love it, and I've heard it throws really well so I'm excited for this one.
• Cotton Candy Frosting - This smells exactly like those cotton candy body sprays I OD'd on in the 90's. Brings back good memories! I have a Sweet Fixations tart in this scent as well and whatever one throws better I will be ordering more of. Scrumptious!
• Ginger Ale - Hands down, my ultimate FAVE of this order. It is phenomenal! It is a blend of that citrus-y fizzy pop scent with a sweet ginger. So basically, a citrus ginger scent with bubbles. I want to drink this!! Another familiarly nostalgic scent. Ordered a few more of these ones in my second order. 
• Blackberry Tea - This one is very heavy on the tea note, and their tea scent is very heavy on the rose. I LOVE rose so I'm quite pleased with it. The blackberry is very faint and adds just a hint of sweetness. I know a lot of people were disappointed in this one because they were looking for more of a blackberry scent but I love it! If you shy away from florals, this is definitely not the scent for you.
• Coconut Blast - A nice, sweet coconut scent. Not one of those freshly-cracked coconut scents but perhaps more of a candied coconut. I like this one a lot and I just hope that it throws well! 

• Fig and Melon - I usually associate fig scents as being very deep and green, but I don't get that with this one. It is a very sweet fruity scent that is dominated by the melon. Almost candy-like. Definitely not what I expected and I'm not really digging it. There's something off about it.
• Black Licorice - I have a slight obsession with black licorice scents. Sadly, this is not one of my favorites. I prefer the sweeter, candy like versions of licorice and this is a very strong herbal licorice. I still do like it and I want to blend this with a sweet apple scent for the fall. Licorice + VBN + apple? Could be pretty good, I think! 
• Tahitian Orchid - Smells like shampoo. Not a fan. 
• Aphrodisiac - I was intrigued by this one because the notes are a blend of fruits and tomato leaf and I love tomato leaf scents. I definitely get the tomato leaf but there's something else in there that isn't agreeing with my nose. I think it may be a bit headache inducing when I melt it. The verdict is still out on this one.
• Rattlesnake Grass - This is a blend of green notes and orange blossom. The orange blossom definitely takes center stage in this one but the green notes are there. Again, there is something in this that feels like it could be headache inducing while melted. This is one of those instances where I hope it's not as strong while warmed as it is on cold sniff.
• Magnolia Blossom - This one is absolutely beautiful. It is a dupe for the now-discontinued Bath and Body Works scent of the same name, which happened to be one of my favorite scents ever. It's a nice sweet floral scent that is very delicate and pleasing to the nose. Even my husband, who isn't a fan of florals, said he liked this one. I may have to order this in some body care products as well! 
• Laundry Day - This is one of TDC's most popular scents so I've heard raves about this one. I am not really a fan of laundry scents but I figured I would give it a try anyways. It's definitely nice and I can see why a lot of people like this one. In the end though, I just can't see myself melting this. I'm sure I'll find a good home for it though as many people absolutely love this one.

Here are the clearance 4-packs that I got. When I ordered, I didn't see the link to scent list so I ordered them blind. If I would have seen that scent list beforehand I probably would have gotten a few other ones instead of a few of these. Oh well, they were super cheap so no harm done! They came packaged with curly ribbon but I replaced them with my own twist ties after I opened them to sniff =)

• Cherry Slushie - Ah-ma-zing! This is a fizzy pop scent blended with a sweet, maraschino cherry scent! It smells exactly like cherry pop!! So refreshing.
• Lavender - This is a fantastic herbal lavender scent. I'm not really a fan of all the vendors' "sweet lavender" scents (a.k.a Downy Lavender Vanilla, a.k.a laundry detergent) so I'm so glad to have found a nice, true, herbal lavender. 
• Mandarin Coconut - Meh. It has a weird chlorine-like scent to it. Not digging it. 
• Island Nectar - This one is okay. It's a blend of tropical fruits and vanillas and musk. Very run-of-the-mill. Double meh. 
• Lemon Poppyseed Cake - A very yummy lemon bakery scent. Smells a lot like Tiffany Candles Lemon Poppyseed. I've heard that a lot of their bakery scents tend to be duds so I hope this one does okay when melting!

So that's it for that order. Like I said, I placed another order after this one because I wanted to try a few more scents. Overall, I am pretty pleased with my choices for this order and I'm glad I branched out of my comfort zone a bit. It's nice to switch it up sometimes =) 

Have you ordered from TDC? Would love to hear your experiences with their products!

Have a fantastic evening everyone!

Candles by Victoria Haul - First Impressions and Cold Sniff Reviews

Let's just hop right into this one! This post will be all about my first haul from Candles by Victoria.

Candles by Victoria is a very popular company in the wax world, and she has been on the scene for over 10 years. Not only does CBV do wax tarts, but they have absolutely beautiful candles. My friend Shelby (of Shelby Swatches over on youtube) sent me a few CBV shots and a CBV candle and they all smelled amazing! I placed a CBV order straight away to try some of her other scents.

I have to say, I wasn't as impressed with my order as I was the ones that Shleby had sent me. I don't know if I just picked the wrong scents or what. I can't say I'm not disappointed, especially because her scents shots are among the most expensive around at $2 a pop. However, of all the good things I've heard about CBV I'm willing to chalk it up to bad scent choices and I think I will place another small order with some different scents. I really want to find a scent that is worthy of getting in one of those giant glitter candles! So essentially, the goal is to find a glitter-worthy scent. So far, I don't think I've found one.

TAT for this order was 7 days, pretty standard and well within her stated TAT time. The scent shots came packaged in a cardboard box and they were just tossed in with packing peanuts. A few of the lids arrived detached from the cups but luckily it was easy to determine what scents they were from. The cups themselves were pretty messy, wax everywhere and the packing peanuts got stuck under the labels so that added to the messiness. Most vendors at least wrap up the scent shots in cello bags to hold everything together. Overall, not really impressed with the presentation of these either. But again, with all the good things I've heard about the performance of these tarts I'm willing to give this company another shot.

Anyways, onto what I ordered:

• Boston Creme Pie - This was a scent that my friend Shelby had sent me that I fell in love with! The one she sent me had a strong pie crust note with a hint of creamy chocolate. For some reason, this one smells nothing like the one she sent me which is odd because there were only a few weeks difference between her order and mine. This Boston Creme Pie smelled mainly of fake chocolate with only a hint of pie crust. Odd. Definitely prefer the one Shelby sent!
• Oatmeal Raisin Cookie - Gross gross gross. Very weird, plastic-y bakery sent. Not even close to what a delicious oatmeal raisin cookie smells like. Though I have to say, I've smelled another oatmeal raisin cookie scent that was equally as offensive so maybe I just don't like that scent in general.
• Cinnamon Donuts - Not bad but not my favorite cinnamon donuts scent. Not nearly as rich and doughy as some others I've tried and has a bit of a fake cinnamon note. Meh.
• Granny's Pie Crust - This one's not bad. A little bit less of a zucchini note than I picked up in the Nene's version of this scent but it's still there. I could tolerate this one. However, it's very light off of cold throw.
• Banana Brown Sugar Drizzle - Another miss for me. You kind of get the banana caramel scent, but there is a weird, sharp almost minty note that I'm picking up on. Not a fan.
• Lemon Peach Pound Cake Preserves - This one is okay. The peach preserves scent is oddly buttery, but it does mesh well with the Lemon Pound Cake scent. Good but probably wouldn't reorder this one.
• Cajun Cornbread - This is a blend of their peach preserves scent with their cornbread scent. The butteriness in this one is so fake and overwhelming that I just can't handle it. Usually I love buttery scents but this one is just not doing it for me. Note to self: steer clear of the CBV peach preserves scent.
• Apple Raspberry Crumble - I've heard great things about this scent and while it is probably the best from the order, I'm still not sure that I love it. The raspberry scent in this is a true, tart raspberry scent which is impressive because it's hard to find a raspberry scent that isn't candy-like. However, I'm not so sure I like it blended with the apple. It's almost too tart. And I don't really get any "crumble" notes - just a tart raspberry and apple scent. 

Next, I ordered a tropical sampler. Huge mistake. This is one of those samplers where you don't know what scents you are getting. I don't know what compelled me to order this one! Unfortunately, I was very disappointed in these scents. They were generally very generic and blah.

• Tropical Vacation - This one wasn't bad. However, there's no notes listed on the site so I don't know what all is in this one. I smell a generic tropical, fruity scent with melons. Meh.
• Tropical Blast - Another generic fruity scent. I mainly smell coconut with some other fruits. Double meh.
• Jamaican Vacation - Again with the generic fruityness, although this one had a note of lilac in there to mellow it out. Not bad. 
• Lotus Blossom - Generic floral scent. Not bad, not good.
• Palm Island - This is a scent that I also have from Candles from the Keeping Room that I thought I liked, but am now realizing that I don't. It smells like a very sharp men's aftershave scent. Soapy. Weird. Not entirely unpleasant but definitely not great. 
• Pina Coloda - Generic pina colada scent. Boring!
• Water Lily - This smells exactly like a bathroom air freshener. So gross!!
• Coconut Hibiscus - A yummy, freshly-cracked coconut scent. I'm not getting any hibiscus in this one. Probably one of the only ones I actually liked from this order! A great coconut scent.

And the freebie:

• Twilight Woods - A pretty dead-on dupe for Bath and Body Works Twilight Woods. It's not one of my favorite scents but I like it well enough. A good one! 

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I feel like my reviews of these scents were pretty negative so I'd like to reiterate that I feel like I just chose the wrong scents for this order. I have heard great things about this company and their scent list is so extensive that I think I was overwhelmed and was really off the mark with my choices. I have been working on making a list of what I'm going to order next time around an I think I will have better luck. For now, I am going to melt a few of these and see what I think and I will let you all know. 

Until next time friends! Thanks for stopping by! 

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

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

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

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

The scent shots came in this cute little bag:

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

Here's what I ordered:

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

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

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

And the freebie:

• New Gingerbread - Very good gingerbread scent. It's not one of those frosted gingerbread scents, but just a true ginger, spice and bread scent. Not much sweetness but that's how I like my gingerbread scents. Very yummy!

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Overall, I am SUPER impressed with this order from Nene's Kitchen Melts. Pretty much everything smells absolutely fantastic and I can't wait to melt these. It's gonna to be pretty tough to let these cure because they already smell so good. I can definitely see another order with Nene's on the way if these smell as good melted as they do on cold sniff!

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

Top Ten Wax Scents of 2012!

Good evening my fellow wax lovers! I saw that SoCalCandleGirl did a top 10 scents of 2012 post and I loved it! It's so interesting to see other people's favorite scents because sometimes you discover some really amazing things that you may not have discovered on your own if you were just browsing through scent descriptions. Like SoCalCandleGirl, I'm not extremely picky with my scents. I like pretty much everything. So when I list something as one of my favorites, it's definitely something special!

I started ordered from online vendors (again) in mid-October and mainly stuck to the same few vendors at first. Starting in December, I became comfortable enough with what my likes and dislikes were that I started branching out to new vendors. However, a lot of these orders didn't arrive until January and although some of those scents may be my favorites now, I am strictly sticking to stuff that I tried in 2012. Next year there will probably be a much bigger variety of vendors on my favorites list!

It was definitely hard to narrow down my favorites. I ended up choosing them based on several factors: whether I felt a strong need to repurchase, how they performed both cold and hot, and whether or not I will continue ordering that scent this year after having tried several new vendors and scents this year.

Without further ado, here is the list, in no particular order. Enjoy!

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The Scholarly Nail's Top 10 Wax Scents of 2012

1. Tiffany Candles Winter Dreams - This is an amazing spicy-fruity blend with mulberry, cinnamon and hints of pine. The scent description makes it sound like your average spicy holiday scent but it is so much more special than that. It is hard to describe if you haven't smelled it. It's a wonderful creamy, spicy, fruity scent that while perfect for the holidays, will for sure be melted all year round in my house. Before she closed up shop for the holidays, I placed an order for 24 heart tarts in this scent. It's that good! (Tiffany Candles).
2. Candles from the Keeping Room Grapefruit Mango - It's no secret that I love grapefruit scents and this one is at the tippy-top of my list. The mango mellows out the tartness of the grapefruit and together they create an almost spa-like, fresh scent. I can't get enough of this one, and will be melting tons of this once spring rolls around. (CFTKR).
3. Lasting Scent Candles Peppermint Marshmallow Snow - I was super bummed that Bath and Body Works didn't bring back their Marshmallow Peppermint candle so I was determined to find a dupe from an online vendor. This one from LSC was pretty close! It lasted forever in all the warmers I tried and it lingered in my house for days. Love at first sniff! (LSC).
4. Cinnamon Donut scents (various vendors) - I am positively OBSESSED with cinnamon donut scents. This is a common scent with most vendors and I have tried it from Bath and Body Works, CFTKR, LSC, and Tiffanys and I'm sure I will try many more this year. They all have that wonderful scent of walking into a bakery. If you haven't tried a donut scent yet...what are you waiting for?! 
5. Candles from the Keeping Room Jelly Donut - Yes, another donut scent. This one doesn't have the cinnamon note but a deliciously sweet raspberry jelly note along with the fried dough scent. So sweet, so good. And it lasts FOREVER. Like, 2 days in a 24-watt warmer. If only all my other tarts would last that long!
6. Froot Loops (various vendors) - Another favorite scent that is carried by many different vendors. They all smell the same - a strong citrusy blend that smells EXACTLY like the cereal! It's amazing! I especially love Froot Loops blends, with other fruity scents as well as with bakery scents! Yum! I'm trying really hard not to OD on Froot Loops but I could melt this scent for days and days on end and I'd be happy =)
7. Front Porch Cotton Candy Cookies - This is an amazing blend of cotton candy and sugar cookies. It's hard to find a good, strong cotton candy scent but this one definitely fits the bill. Blended with the sugar cookie scent, it is absolutely amazing. I'm kind of iffy on Front Porch these days but I've yet to find another cotton candy scent that is as good as this one! (Front Porch).
8. Beezy Tarts Sweet Potato and Brown Sugar - This scent is phenomenal. It smells exactly like sweet potato and marshmallow casserole that is so familiar to American Thanksgiving meals. It's uncanny. You can smell the spices, the brown sugar, the marshmallow and most importantly, the sweet potato. It's amazing, and has a super strong scent throw to boot! (Beezy Tarts)
9. Serendipity (various vendors) - This scent is all the rage in the wax world right now. It is a blend of cherry, coconut and some other stuff. Some people say they smell more coconut or more cherry in certain vendors' Serendipity scents. To me, they all smell the same - DELICIOUS! Serendipity is seen in a lot of blends as well and so far my favorite Serendipity blends usually involve some sort of marshmallow. 
10. Candles from the Keeping Room Banana Caramel Cupcake - Aaaand yet another CFTKR scent. What can I say, she's my favorite vendor! Anyways, one day my husband mentioned that I didn't have enough banana scents so I ordered a big bag of this one for him. I am so glad that I did because it kicks butt! You can smell the caramel, the banana and the cupcake notes in this one. The banana scent isn't cloying or fake and it really blends nicely with the other notes.  Every since purchasing this scent, I have become obsessed with banana scents and am on the hunt for good ones. I've found some winners but this is still at the top of my list! 

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Well there you have it folks. My top 10 scents of 2012. I'd love to hear what yours are so I TAG EVERYONE!! 

Tiffany Candles Haul - Cold Sniff Reviews

Another post today! I'm on a roll! Actually I meant to write these posts up this weekend but didn't get a chance so I'm playing catch up now =)

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The next order I'd like to share with you is my most recent order from Tiffany Candles! Tiffany Candles is based out of Texas and is run by husband and wife team Tiffany and Gary. This is my third order from Tiffany Candles and each time I've had great experience with customer service and quick shipping.

Tiffany recently switched her wax over from a soy blend to straight paraffin. The wax community seems to be very torn on this issue. Some people prefer the old wax and say they got a much better throw from it, while others prefer the new wax and say that the scent throw on the new wax is superior. I've only tried one scent in the new wax (Winter Dreams) and it MOST DEFINITELY had a much better throw than the same scent in the old wax. However, I can't judge the new wax off of one scent so we will have to see once I melt some tarts from this new order. One of the major pros of the new wax is that there is no cure time, and to me that's worth giving it a shot!

I'm very torn on Tiffany Candles in general. On one hand, some of her scents perform very well for me and I quite enjoy them. On the other hand, from some of her scents I have gotten absolutely no throw. Granted, my experiences have been mostly with the old wax but I have heard from several people that her new wax still isn't as strong as they would like. I tend to feel like many of the oils they use are inferior to the oils from other companies. For example, I have had a few scents from this company that smelled like cheap, dollar store candles (Cinnabon, Mrs. Frost, Banana Bread and Cinnaberry, off the top of my head). Sure, you get some hits and misses with every order but these scents were just bad bad bad. Overall, I was pleased with the scents from this order but there are definitely some scents on her list that just are not on par with some of the other vendors I shop from.

For this purchase I decided to order scent shots only, for a few reasons. Even though I love her 3-pack scallop tarts, I decided to go with the scent shots because first of all, they are bigger than the scallop tarts. I know that you get 3 scallop tarts per pack, but I've heard that you still need 2 of her tarts when melting, even in the new wax. Well if you have to melt 2, then you are left with just one of the scent and that drives me nuts! So I figured if I got a good throw from the scent shots then maybe I could eventually go back to the scallop tarts. Does that make sense? I'm still a bit delirious from the flu so forgive me if I'm just babbling along here!

Anyways, despite my qualms about Tiffanys, I decided to place a fairly sizable order to try some new scents as well as my favorites in the new wax. From the time I placed the order to the time it was delivered to my doors was 6 days. Super fast TAT!! Anyways, here's what I ordered!

First up are the samples they sent of two of their upcoming scents:

• Vanilla Sandalwood - I really like this one! It smells very similar to Bath and Body Works/Slatkin Vanilla Sandalwood. I get mostly sandalwood but the vanilla tones it down and makes it a bit creamier. I bet I would like it even better with a bit more vanilla thrown in. Perhaps I'll mix it with a vanilla scent when melting.
• Honey Bunny - This is a dupe of Lush's Honey I Washed the Kids scent. LOVE this one! It is a floral honey scent. If you are not a floral person, don't let those notes scare you off. It's such a warm and comforting scent that is loved by many! 

Then I ordered the 10-pack of scent shots, and with this option you chose 5 scents and got 2 of each. I decided to go with previously ordered favorites in this set.

• Birthday Bash - This is a blend of birthday cake, marshmallow and Froot Loops. YUM! It's a very creamy, bakery Froot Loops scent. I can't pick out the cake and marshmallow notes on their own, it's a very well-blended scent. Can't wait to melt this one! 
• Cheesecake -  Tiffany's cheesecake is probably my favorite of all the ones I've tried from other vendors. You get the creamy cheesecake note and the crunchy crust note with the slightest hint of cinnamon. SO GOOD! I had to use all 3 of my scalloped tarts in the old wax to get a scent throw from this so hopefully it will perform better in the new wax because I am in love with this scent!
• Donut Shop - As I have mentioned before, I am OBSESSED with donut scents. There is something about them that smells like you are walking into a bakery! So good! This one is no exception. Tiffany has a line of Donut Shop blends but I and a purist and prefer the original because I get the most cinnamon from that one. I also love cinnamon. Basically, cinnamon scents + donut scents = home run! 
• Strawberry Cheesecake -  This is definitely an artificial strawberry scent, but I happen to love fake strawberry scents so I'm a fan of this one! I had this in a scent shot in the old wax and it was STROOONGGG so I'm hoping this one performs as well as that one did.
• Blueberry Cheesecake - Yes, another cheesecake scent. This one is a good blend of the blueberry and cheesecake. Had this one in the old wax and it wasn't quite as strong as I would have liked so hopefully this one will work better for me. 

Then I have all the individual scent shots that I ordered:

• Paradise - This one is a blend of Strawberry Passion and vanilla. I LOVE this one! I'm a huge fan of the Strawberry Passion scent, as the strawberry in that one is a very unique, green strawberry note with hints of cotton candy. Definitely a hit!
• Cherry Vanilla Zucchini Bread - Ugh, I really need to stop trying with zucchini scents. I absolutely love cherry vanilla scents so I was hoping that the zucchini bread note would take a back seat in this blend. Unfortunately, I get the strong corn chip scent that all zucchini bread notes have to me and only a hint of the cherry vanilla scent. Again, people love zucchini so I'm sure I'll have no trouble finding this one a new home.
• Pink Panties - A blend of Love Spell and Pink Sugar, two favorite scents of mine. I don't think I would ever be caught dead wearing Love Spell as a body scent anymore but I do love smelling it in wax! It's a great blend of the two scents, another winner.
• Strawberry Banana - I was hoping for a scent that was similar to Strawberry Banana Starbursts and I have to say, it's actually pretty close. However, it's very weak off of cold throw. I know that by nature, paraffin gives off much less of a cold throw than soy so I hope it is stronger when it is melting. 
• Serendipity Splash - This is one of her new scents, and is a blend of Serendipity (the ever-so-popular cherry and coconut scent) mixed with Pink Sugar, marshmallow and peppermint. I honestly get no marshmallow or Pink Sugar whatsoever from this. All I really smell is the overwhelming smell of her Candy Cane oil (which I HATE, smells like cheap, fake peppermint and crayons) and a hint of Serendipity. Definitely a major miss. Not a fan at all. Yuck yuck yuck! 
• ComeOnIWannLeiYa - This is a blend of pineapple, coconut and mango papaya, and is one of Tiffany's most popular blends. I do like this one! I get mainly the mango papaya scent with a slight hint of other tropical fruits. This one is pretty weak off cold throw as well so we shall see once it's melted.
• Pumpkin Creme Brulee - Another favorite in the old wax. Amazing spicy bakery scent with added richness from the "brulee" note. So good. Hoping it performs well in the new wax, as it did great in the old wax for me! 
• Coconut - Seems to be a good, fresh coconut scent. However, the scent throw off of cold sniff is almost non-existent so I'm hoping it will be stronger when melting. 

• Lemon Cheesecake - A really good bakery lemon scent. The lemon is tart and the cheesecake adds a nice creamy aspect to it. One of the better lemon cheesecake scents I've smelled. Wish I would have gotten two of these!
• Mango Papaya - Love this one! You get notes of both the mango and the papaya in this one. Very tropical and fresh! Not much else to say about this one except for YUM!
• Creamy Fruit Slices - Okay, I almost gagged when I smelled this one. It is a blend of creamy vanilla and fruit slices. I've seen the fruit slices scent with lots of other vendors but I've never smelled it and I'm assuming that is the note that I don't like in this one. Very fake and plastic-y fruit scent. YUCK!! 
• Lemon Poppyseed - This is one of my favorite lemon bakery scents ever. Such a great blend of cake and sweet lemon. No "lemon cleaner" notes whatsoever. Another one I should have ordered two of!
• Monkey Kisses - This is a favorite scent of mine from several vendors and Tiffany's smells fantastic! It is a sweet, fruity banana blend. I had it in the old wax and it performed very well so I'm hoping it will do as well in the new wax! 
• Coconut Lime Verbena - This is a dupe of the popular Bath and Body Works scent, and it's pretty dead on! Very light scent throw off of cold sniff so hopefully it will do well while it's warming because this is one of my ultimate favorite scents ever!
• Loopy Verbena - This is a house blend of Coconut Lime Verbena and Froot Loops. Yummy! The Coconut Lime Verbena adds a bit of creaminess to Froot Loops while adding a hint of freshness with that verbena note. Really awesome blend, kudos to the person who came up with that one!
• Lime Cheesecake - Yes, yet another cheesecake scent! This is a good blend of lime and cheesecake, and is a bit heavier on the lime note. A good one!
• Cucumber Melon - This is another Bath and Body Works dupe and it smells pretty similar, although not as close as I would have liked. The original seems to be a bit sweeter. This one too is pretty weak off of cold sniff so hopefully it will blossom once it's been melted. 

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And there we have it folks, my most recent Tiffany's order! Overall, I was generally pleased with the scents that I chose. It is clear that the new wax gives off much less of a cold throw but I expected that so it's no big deal. The real test will be when I melt these bad boys! I will certainly update you all when I have melted them =) The jury is still out on how I feel about Tiffany Candles but I'm feeling optimistic after this order so I am keeping an open mind and am hoping that I will be pleasantly surprised. 

First Orchid Lake Candles Haul - First Impressions and Cold Throw Reviews

Happy Monday everyone! I've been sick with the flu for the past few days so I hope you've all had a better weekend than I did. I'm here today with my first - and certainly not last - wax haul on the blog! Woohoo! Without further ado, let's just hop right in!

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The company that I will be talking about today is Orchid Lake Candles! Orchid Lake Candles (a.k.a. OLC) is based out of Florida and run by a lovely woman named Wendy. She makes all of her products by hand and besides wax tarts, she also sells candles, incense and bath and body products. I only purchased tarts from her this time around but I may throw in a few bath and body items in my favorite scents next time around. I have heard a lot of good things about OLC from several youtubers so I was very excited about this order. 

TAT (turnaround time) for this order was 14 business days which was within her stated TAT of 15 days. It seemed a bit longer than that because the order was placed before Christmas and New Years so I did have to go back and count the days to make sure but it as I said, it was within the stated TAT.  

She has a good variety of shapes and sizes of tarts available, such as scent shots, clamshells, small bags of shaped tarts and large bags of shaped tarts. I went for the 2 oz. scent shots for my first order but the 1 oz. scent shots seem to be her most popular item. I did the 2 oz. ones because I have large rooms with tall ceilings in my home and I'd rather have a punch-you-in-the-face-strong scent than a weak one.  

A cool thing that Wendy does is tie-dying the tarts. This is a free option that you can select when ordering and I figured why not get my tarts tie dyed?! Some tarts had a better effect than others and some that I ordered didn't seem to be tie dyed at all. No biggie. It is noted on her site that some types of wax take to the tie dying better than others. Anyways, here are some of the best tie dye effects of the tarts from my order:

First up, I will start with the samples she sent.

So generous of her to send so many samples! I only learned after I placed the order that you could request samples so everything I got was picked out by Wendy. She did a great job picking scents that I would like based on what I ordered! 

• Grapefruit Jasmine - This is lovely! I'm a huge fan of grapefruit scents so this one was right up my alley. You can definitely pick out notes both the tart grapefruit and the jasmine and they compliment each other well. The floral note is not too overwhelming. Definitely going to get a full size of this one in my next order.
• Tropical Madness - Meh. A very nondescript fruity tropical scent. I couldn't find the notes listed anywhere on the site so I'm not quite sure what's in this. Not bad but nothing special. Wouldn't order again.
• Juicy Pear - Great pear scent! Love this one. Would consider reordering if I was in the mood for a plain, straight up pear scent.
• Passion Fruit and Guava - I ordered a scent shot in this as well. I'm not a fan. There's a weird,  generic floral smell to this that I'm not digging and not a juicy, tart fruit scent like I was hoping. The husband really likes this one so I'll at least melt the sample to see how it is when warmed.
• Bread and Jam - Yum!! You definitely get that bready note with the tart, fruity jam. I prefer the Bread and Jam scent from Sweet Fixations so I probably wouldn't order this one again. The SF version is a bit sweeter while this one is more of a true, crusty bread scent. If that's what you're into, this one is definitely for you!
• Neroli Blossom - I'm so glad she sent this one because I was actually considering getting this one in my order! Neroli is a favorite scent of mine for perfume, it is a sweet floral scent. This version is very strong, and it smells great on cold sniff but I could see it becoming overwhelming while melting. We shall see!
• Fruit Loops - Just your standard and delicious citrus-y Fruit Loops scent. Smells exactly like the cereal. Divine! I have a lot of this scent from other vendors so I'm not sure I'd order it again but nonetheless I'm glad to have more of it =)

Now onto what I actually ordered! I'll start out with the ones I wasn't too keen on:

• Mary Jane -  EW. I had to try this one because there was lots of buzz about it on Facebook. It's supposed to smell like marijuana. To me, this tart smells like the stale smoke of a Christmas tree that caught on fire. Strange, unpleasant and weird. But hey, you've gotta give it points for uniqueness! 
• Yuzu - This is the scent of a yuzu grapefruit. Wildberry, my favorite incense brand, used to make this amazing Yuzu incense. It is now discontinued and I was hoping that this would smell like it. Sadly, it did not. It had that same weird, artificial soapy smell that the Passion Fruit and Guava did. Not fresh. Not bright. Just yuck. 
• Zesty Lemon Zucchini - I think I need to just give up on Zucchini scents at this point. To me, they all smell like a bag of Fritos. Sure, there's a hint of lemon in this one but it doesn't cancel out the corn chip smell. I know lots of people love Zucchini Bread scents so I'm sure I won't have a problem finding this one a new home.
• Passion Fruit Guava - I got this one in a sample as well so I talked about it above. In short, not the fruity scent I was hoping for. 

Now onto the ones that I did like!

• Cucumber Cantaloupe - I had to get this one because it is one of my favorite Yankee scents. This version of it tends to be heavier on the cucumber. I prefer the Yankee version because it is heavier on the cantaloupe but it's still pretty close. Not bad but probably not a reorder. I'll stick with the original version from Yankee. 
• Cherry Cola Cake - So cool! You can smell the cherry cola note and you can smell the cake note! I'm not sure if I will actually like this while melting but it is a fun scent and I can't wait to at least give it a try.
• Chubba Dubba - This is definitely a strong, fresh citrus fragrance. I can smell mostly the lemongrass and a sweet orange scent. This scent is actually marketed as an appetite suppressant. I don't know about all that but it sure smells fantastic! 
• Grapefruit Blackberry - This one is okay. It's like 90% blackberry and 10% grapefruit. I would prefer more grapefruit but overall not bad. The blackberry has a bit of a floral note to is as many blackberry oils do. Maybe I'll throw in the Grapefruit Jasmine sampler with this one to amp up the grapefruit note in it.

• Pixie Dust - So good! This is a blend of pomegranate, berries, peppermint and vanilla. I smell mostly pomegranate with a hit of mint to freshen it up. I absolutely love love LOVE this one. A reorder for sure. The pomegranate scent in here is delicious. Is it true to the scent of an actual pomegranate? I don't know about that. But it smells pretty fantastic!
• 7 Up Pound Cake - This is a scent that most vendors carry, and for good reason. It's so yummy! OLC's version smells like the rest, a citrusy cake scent with a slight hit of effervescence. One of my favorites. 
• Exotic - This is a dupe for The Body Shop's Exotic fragrance oil, one of my favorite scents ever. The notes in it are apples, pear, melons and berries. I can't pick out any of the specific notes but I can tell you it smells EXACTLY like Exotic from The Body Shop. It's a deep, fruity fragrance that's just hard to explain. If you like fruity scents and you've never tried Exotic, you must! It's amazing. 
• Sinus Relief - This is the scent of Vick's Vap-o-Rub. Strong, medicinal smell that seems like it would be perfect for clearing sinuses. 

And here's my favorites from the order:

• Lemon Lime Twist - YES!! This one is phenomenal. It smells EXACTLY like my beloved Fizzy Pop incense from Wildberry. I have a Fizzy Pop tart from Sweet Fixations and that does not smell nearly as good or as close to the original as this one does. It's a bright, effervescent citrus scent. You can almost smell the bubbles hitting your nose. Will reorder this one again for sure!!
• Raspberry Lemonade - I just love lemonade scents and this one is definitely one of the best. It is the same raspberry lemonade scent as most other vendors have but it's so good that it is always a favorite. You smell the lemonade and the raspberry scents. The raspberry adds almost a hint of a floral note to the scent but not in a bad way. LOVE!
• Blueberry Zinger - Hands down, the absolute BEST blueberry scent I've ever smelled. EVER. This is an OLC blend of blueberry, coconut, and cake. I assume it is modeled after the popular raspberry zinger scent. And indeed, this is like a blueberry version of the famous Hostess raspberry zinger cake. The coconut note blends so well with the blueberry scent and the cake note brings it all together. I need a truckload of this. DIVINE. 
• Caramel Coconut Cookie - Caramel, Coconut and Cookie. Not much more to say about this one except it's delicious. Another hit and another one to add to my reorder list.
• Pearamel - A fantastic blend of pear and caramel. It smells like a caramel apple except with pear instead of apple. The pear is bright and juicy and the caramel is rich and sweet. They two compliment each other perfectly and I can see this becoming an ultimate favorite for fall. Or whenever. In fact, I might throw this in my warmer right now!

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Overall, and off of cold sniff alone, I am pretty pleased with my first order from OLC. I ended up getting 17 different scents in the OLC wax blend (a soy and paraffin mix) and along with those, Wendy sent 7 samples of other scents. There were a few misses but overall I generally liked everything. She has a huge scent list with lots of unique scents that other vendors don't have, so if these perform well while melting I can definitely see OLC becoming one of my favorite vendors!