Lil' Kitchen Candles Haul #2 - Cold Sniff Reviews

Just kidding you guys! I'm actually back with another small order review =) This time, it's from Lil' Kitchen Candles!

LKC is one of the newer vendors on the block, and I'm super impressed with her products and customer service from the 2 orders that I've placed so far. I love the fact that she only opens her etsy shop every once in a while with the exact amount of stock she has on hand, which really cuts down on the TAT of the orders. Because she only opens a certain times, you have to be aware of when the opening is so you can be there to get what you want. I literally placed this order while I was at an afternoon movie in the theatre with my husband! Don't worry, we were the only ones in the theatre so I wasn't distracting anyone with my cell phone use =)

Anyways, there were a few mistakes in the order when I first received it but Tonya was very sweet about it and send me replacements right away! Like I said, excellent customer service. She even sent samples with the replacements which was so unexpected and generous. 

It was another small order but I'm starting to learn what I like and dislike from her scents and I imagine I'll do another larger order in the future. One of the things I love about LKC is the variety of shapes and products they offer.  She has loaves, big clamshells, teddy bear shapes, Hello Kitty shapes, pop tart shapes, lego shapes, cookie shapes, etc. So fun!

Anyways, here's what I ordered. Enjoy!

• Frosted Blueberry Biscuits (6 oz. bakery bag of Hello Kitty shapes) - This is unlike any blueberry scent I've ever smelled. It almost has a powdered sugar note to it along with the blueberry. Maybe that's the biscuit note that I'm picking up on. I really like this one! If you're not a fan of blueberry scents, I'd still try this one. It is not that typical overpowering blueberry that is used in most other blueberry blends. It's somehow softer and sweeter.
• Twinkies (wax bears) - How adorable are these bears?! They are HUGE, 2.5 oz each for a total of 5 oz. of wax. The scent, however, I'm not too sure about. I know this is a popular scent of hers, but all I'm smelling with this one is a super sweet, almost butterscotch-like scent. I do like it but I was hoping for more of a cake-y note. I'll have to melt this one to see if it smells more cake-like when warm. 
• Bear Claws Cheesecake (Pop Tart) - Again, how awesome is the shape of this tart?! It is the exact size of a real Pop Tart! This is a really nice blend of a sweet, nutty, and almost maple-y bear claws scent with a creamy cheesecake note. I definitely get more of the bear claw but the cheesecake tones it down quite nicely.
• Strawberry Banana Smoothie/Orange Dreamsicle (12-count clamshell) - This thing is HUGE! Even the cubes are bigger than those of a normal sized clamshell. What I was going for here was I wanted something that smelled like strawberry banana orange juice. It doesn't smell quite like that because the orange dreamsicle is more creamy than tart, but these scents do smell amazing together! It is fairly light right now so I'll be letting this one cure for awhile to ensure a strong throw. 

Here's the samples she sent with my replacements. I also got two other samples with the first part of this order that I forgot to take pictures of, but I will describe them anyways. They were all in the adorable Hello Kitty head shapes =)

• Jelly Donut (freebie) - This is not like the typical jelly donut scents that I'm used to. This one has much more of a strong dough note than a jelly note. Not a favorite but I can see how a lot of people would like this one.
• Fruit Loops (freebie) - This is your average strong and delicious Fruit Loops scent. Smells like the cereal! 
• Lemon Sugar (freebie, not pictured) - This is a fresh lemon scent, not a bakery lemon scent. This has replaced her lemon lush scent for the time being in the lemon bakery blends. It smells to me exactly like Fresh's Lemon Sugar perfume, which does have a bit of a fizzy lemon cleaner note to it. I do like this scent on its own but I'm not sure how I would like it mixed with a bakery scent. 
• Sparkletini (freebie, not pictured) - This is a nice cocktail blend of cranberries and champagne. As I'm not much of a fan of cranberry scents, this one didn't call my name but I know it's one of her most popular scents and I can see how people would like this one. 

Okay, now that is definitely my last order I have to share with you today and my next post will definitely be my weekly melts! See you back here soon =)

Candles from the Keeping Room Combined Valentine's Day Week Haul!

Good morning everyone! Before I'm back with my weekly melts, I am going to show you my latest Candles from the Keeping Room order! You all know by now that CFTKR is one of my favorite (if not my very favorite) vendors and she restocked some scents I was looking for last week so I couldn't resist an order! Actually, this is 3 smaller orders. 2 were made on the same day so Carol was gracious enough to combine shipping on those 2 and send them together, and the I made another one a few days later. I am now officially on a wax ban until April so because this will be my last CFTKR order for awhile, I made sure to stock up on some of my favorite scents.

Again, CFTKR uses paraffin wax for their tarts and paraffin wax does tend to give off a lighter scent throw than soy and soy blended wax, so take these cold sniff reviews with a grain of salt. Sometimes paraffin will smell differently when melting than it does cold. 

Anyways, here's what I got! They are all 4 oz. bags with the exception of one. Enjoy =)

• Acai Berry - I got a sample of this in an order awhile back and I loved it! It is a unique, tart berry scent. It does have a bit of a floral undertone to it but not enough to take away from the fruityness of it. Really love this one.
• Coconut Strawberry Cake - Wonderful! I smell all the notes in this one - the coconut, the strawberry and the cake. I'm really big into coconut scents right now so the moment I saw this one, I knew it had to be mine!
• Strawberries and Cream - I'm also obsessed with strawberry scents right now. Strawberries and cream is a favorite, it's a really nice, creamy strawberry blend. Very sweet! 
• Fresh Picked Strawberries - This one is my husband's favorite strawberry scent! He tried to get me to melt my sample of this one on several occasions and I wouldn't let him until I knew I had a bag of it coming! It's a very true strawberry scent, not overly sweet or tart. Love this one!
• Cotton Candy Frosting - I got a single of this in my cotton candy sampler and I loved it so much I had to get a bag of it. It smells exactly like cotton candy body spray or cotton candy bubble gum. I think this one would be great on it's own or blended with something else. Fresh Picked Strawberry and Cotton Candy Frosting I bet would be amazing together.
• Wildberry Mousse and Toasted Marshmallow - My love for Wildberry Mousse scents continues!  I got a cuttable pie in this scent during her reopening and I wanted a bag of it so I can finally melt that pie. It's a great blend of the two scents, not one not overtakes the other. Gorgeous!
• Blackberry Jam Butter Cookie - Can you believe this is the first time I've tried a Blackberry Jam B.C. scent? I always hear people raving about this scent from various vendors so I picked up a bag to see what all the commotion was about. I really like this one! I can smell a fruity berry note with the buttery cookie note. Yum!
• Bite Me - This is another favorite of my husband's. It is a fizzy citrus and cherry scent. It smells kind of like a cherry sprite or something. I am in love with effervescent scents and this one is at the top of my list! 

• Butter Pecan - This one smells like butter pecan ice cream to me! This one is pretty light off of cold sniff so I'm hoping it blossoms when it's melting. I've been into rich, buttery scents lately and this one definitely fits the bill.
• Cinnamon Struedel - This is the sole 8 oz. bag of the order, only because this was the only size in stock of this scent. Anyways, I melted the sample I had of this the other day and I was blown away! I am a huge fan of cinnamon bakery scents and this one is a new favorite. It has a nice cinnamon scent to it but it's not so strong that you can't smell the flaky, pastry note as well. This will definitely be a staple in my stash.
• Vanilla Shake - I've heard good things about this one so I went ahead and ordered a bag. I'm really glad I did! It's a nice, creamy vanilla scent with the slightest hint of a crunchy, sugary note. This is another one that will be great for blends!
• Amish Cinnamon Bread - This is another scent that I received in a sampler in my reopening haul and fell in love with! This is an amazing cinnamon bakery scent. It doesn't have that strong zucchini bread note to it, but more of a sweeter, crisper bready scent if that makes any sense. I gave my friend Dana a sample of this last week and she is currently loving this one as well!
• Lavender Noel Zucchini - Yes, a zucchini bread scent. No, I am not losing my marbles. This is actually one of the only zucchini bread scents I've ever liked! The ZB note in this is very faint, and adds only a slight bakery note to the blend. The sweet lavender and VBN notes are the stars in this blend. Simply amazing! 
• Sour Cream Spice Cake - This was the only miss of the order for me. Another one that I had heard good things about but never sniffed for myself. I smell a zucchini bread note in this that is turning me off. ZB is not listed in the notes of this scent but this is what I get! I do smell a nice, spicy scent with this but I'm smelling bread instead of cake. Perhaps I'll have to melt this one to give it a fair shot.
• Caramelized Banana Cake - Yet another favorite from a sampler. This does smell very similar to their Banana Caramel Cupcake scent, but this one seems to have a bit more of the banana and less of the caramel to my nose. I could be wrong but they smelled different enough for me to warrant getting a bag of this even though I have a huge bag of the cupcake blend =)

And now onto the samples. I am always blown away by Carol's generosity in giving samples. Best of all, she always seems to know what I would like! Keep in mind these samples are from 2 separate orders. 

• Fruit Loops and Toasted Marshmallow - You just can't go wrong with Froot Loops and marshmallow blended together. This is a nice creamy citrusy blend with that cereal note. Delish!
• Sugar Milk and Cookies - This is one of CFTKR's most popular scents and I'm so glad to finally be able to try it! I get a nice, crunch cookie note with a sweet milk note as well. I can see why this one is so popular. Love.
• Banana Nut Bread - As much as I love banana scents, I tend to not like banana nut bread scents (strange, I know). They always have a bit of a soapy note to my nose? This one's not bad but definitely not a favorite.
• Holiday Treats - This is described as a sugar cookie and VBN noel scent. It brings me back to LSC's Santa Treats which smelled to me like pie crust! The two scents smell very similar and I'm not realizing that that pie crust note I was picking up on in the LSC one is actually more of a VBN scent. Really digging this one!
• Fresh Picked Strawberries - I requested this one before she restocked a 4 oz bag of it because I really wanted to melt that sample I had! I will be sending this one off to a friend =)
• Strawberries and Cream - Again, this was requested before she restocked a bag in this scent. My friend will be enjoying this one too now that I have a bag in it.
• Mojito - This is a really unique scent. I smell the mint but I get a bit of a cologne-y note to it as well. I wouldn't categorize this as a drink scent but more of a fresh scent. Maybe the lime note in this is what is smelling cologne-y to me. Either way, it's a really great scent. Definitely not something that I would have ordered on my own but I'm glad to get the chance to try it!
• Raspberry Sorbet - Another favorite! This is a nice sweet and tangy raspberry scent with the slightest hint of a candy note. This definitely smells like raspberry sorbet.
• Coconut Marshmallow - This is one of my all-time favorite scents from CFTKR. The coconut is a freshly cracked coconut scent blended with that sweet toasted marshmallow. It's fresh and sweet at the same time. So, so good.
• Banana Flapjacks - This one is pretty good. I'm not sure I'm digging the flapjacks note but I can see how other people would! I don't really smell a maple note in it, just more of a batter scent. The banana scent is between a ripe banana and a banana candy. 
• Banana Caramel Cupcake - As I've mentioned, this is an absolute favorite of mine. Strong caramel note with hints of banana and cake. So yummy!

And as if those samples weren't generous enough, I got two big samples as well! Thank you so much to Carol for these. 

• Coconut Marshmallow - This is a terrible picture of this gorgeous, huge heart shaped tart! So cute! I should have taken it out of the cello to show you guys. It is in the shape of a valentine, with the ruffled edges and all. So cute! 
• Strawberry and Toasted Marshmallow (cuttable Fruit Pie) - SO generous of Carol to stick in one of these pies! I can't say enough good things about this one. The pie filling is strawberry and the crust is toasted marshmallow. So good. 

And so concludes my last CFTKR order before my wax ban. Hope you enjoyed and I'll see you all back here a bit later with my weekly melts. Ta ta! 

Rosegirls Sampler Order - Cold Sniff Reviews

Hi everyone!! I slept through most of the day today due to a pretty substantial migraine, so here I am at 4 AM and I can't sleep for the life of me. Since I'm up, I figured why not do something productive and show you all my most recent Rosegirls haul!

Rosegirls is quickly becoming a favorite vendor of mine. I've been sucked into the world of chunks and there doesn't seem to be any turning back. I mentioned in my last post about Rosegirls that they only open one day a month for orders, and on that day they will have a limited number of samplers available. The samplers contain a random assortment of 20 different chunks for $30. Because these samplers are so limited in quantity and in such high demand, you have to stalk to site and hop right on it when they open. So, on February 1st, I set my alarm for 6 AM and I was right on time to snag myself my very first sampler from Rosegirls!

TAT on this was about 2 weeks, which is on the very early end of their stated 2-5 week TAT. I also did a fairly large order for some bags as well, but that order was placed a bit later in the morning (closer to 7 AM) so I don't expect that order to arrive for another few weeks or so. I'm glad to have these sample chunks to tide me over until then! 

This package contained 21 chunks, so I assume one was sent as a sample. Very thankful for that! As these lots are random, I'm not sure which is the sample and which are the scents in the sampler. I've seen one youtube video so far of someone's chunk sampler haul, and they got pretty much the same scents I did with the exception of maybe 2 or 3 differences. Anyways, that's not important. What's important is how amazing these gorgeous chunks smell! Part of the fun of getting a sampler box is that it's a gamble. You don't know what you're going to get! I did have a fair amount of likes and dislikes in this box. So, let's jump right into the cold sniff reviews.

The site is closed for ordering right now so I do not have access to the scent descriptions for these. I am fairly certain what is in these blends though, and the ones I was unsure of, I inquired about on the RG Facebok page so I've come prepared =)

• Pumpkin Chai Bread - Right off the bat, I am hit with the super strong scent of zucchini bread. Yuck. This is not the creamy zucchini bread note, but more of a spicy, corn chip zucchini bread note. I know a lot of people like this kind of scent so I will be passing it on to another home. I don't get much pumpkin in this but there is a slight hint of spice.
• Caramel Apple Puff Pastry - This is amazing. When I first saw the scent description I thought it would be a caramel bakery scent with added bakery but it's actually a spicy apple pie scent with added caramel. YUM! I think I may have to grab a bag in this in an upcoming order.
• Blueberry Cobbler Bread - Okay, definitely do not like their bread scent at all. Again, this has that strong spicy zucchini bread note. The blueberry cobbler does tone it down quite a bit but it's still too much bread for me. I can see how this would be a popular scent for zucchini lovers. 
• Simply Amazing Bakery - This is very similar to Front Porch's famous Amazing Bakery scent with perhaps a teensy bit more apple. I can smell the pink sugar, zucchini bread and apple pie notes in this. Not a favorite but I'm sure this will make another wax lover very happy!
• Zucchini Bread Noel - Again, not a fan of zucchini bread. I can smell the VBN in this but it doesn't tone down that strong ZB note enough for me. Another one I'm going to pass on.
• Orange Danish Coffee - This was a huge surprise for me! I normally don't like coffee scents but there's something about the way it's blended with orange here that I actually really like. I kept putting this one on the swap pile, sniffing it again, taking it back, putting it back on the swap pile, taking it back and so on until I finally decided once and for all that I will give this one a fair shot! You get a really nice creamy orange bakery scent mixed with a coffee note. I can smell both notes equally. Really nice blend!
• Royal Sweet Potato Pie - This is a blend of their royal sugar cookie and sweet potato pie scents. I do like it but I have enough sweet potato scents in my stash that I felt that someone else would probably get more enjoyment out of it than I would.

• Spa Retreat - This one is a relaxing blend of herbal lavender and eucalyptus. Really digging this one! I asked about the notes on this one on Facebook and have learned that sadly this blend has been discontinued. Maybe I'll make some custom muffins in this scent one day. The lavender has a bit of a powdery note in this that compliments the eucalyptus nicely. 
• Peppermint Noel - This is a great strong peppermint scent blended with VBN. You can't go wrong with a peppermint vanilla scent! The VBN cuts the sharpness of the peppermint and adds a nice sweetness. This one is a huge chunk! I'll definitely be able to get a few uses out of this one.
• Lavender Marshmallow - This is a nice blend of sweet lavender and marshmallow. Pretty standard, nothing too crazy. I did like it but it didn't wow me. 
• Berrylicious Lavnder - Now this one was definitely a WOW for me. It is a blend of berries and lavender. It smells EXACTLY like the Teavana blueberry tea that my husband got me for my birthday. I put the tea and the chunk side-by-side and they smell the same. Amazing! Definitely bag-worthy.
• Turkish Bazaar - This was another scent that I was waffling on and have finally decided that this one will not find permanent residence in my stash. It is a blend of exotic spices and soft woods. The "soft woods" note is quite perfume-y and powdery and unfortunately, is the dominant note in the blend. If only the blend was heavier on the spice notes, I think I would like this one a lot more. Not a keeper for me, though I can see how people would like this one.
• Cranberry Lodge - This was yet another scent that I had to keep smelling to determine whether or not I was going to keep. In the end, I really like this one and I will be keeping it. I'm really picky with cranberry scents so I didn't think I was going to like this one. The "lodge" part of the scent is a spicy pine note I believe. Or maybe the spice I'm picking up on is because it is a spiced cranberry scent. Either way I'm really digging this blend. This is another huge chunk that I will be able to get multiple uses from. This is another great thing about samplers - you get to try things you would have normally never ordered yourself. 
• Ooh La La - This is a blend of Pink Sugar, strawberry and vanilla musk. The PS and musk notes stand out the most to me, so it's not a favorite. I wish the strawberry stood out a bit more in this. However, it is one of RG's most popular blends so I'm sure someone else will be delighted to have this one. 

• Grapefruit Swizzle Sticks - HOLY PIEROGIES THIS IS PHENOMENAL. This is THE grapefruit scent I have been waiting for my whole life. Okay, maybe not my whole life but you get the idea. The grapefruit scent in this smells exactly like slicing open a grapefruit, tart and juicy. The swizzle sticks scent is described as a super sweet sugary glaze, so this makes the chunk smell like a fresh grapefruit sprinkled with sugar. I have been disappointed by grapefruit scents lately so I didn't order any bags in this scent in my Feb. 1st bag order. Big mistake! I'll definitely be needing a truckload of this next time they open. 
• Apple Eclipse - This smells exactly like an apple Jolly Rancher. I hate fake apple scents so this one is a no-go for me. I'll be finding a new home for this one.
• Cereal Killer Noel - Cereal Killer is their Fruit Loops scent, which is blended here with VBN. Love Fruit Loops, love it blended with VBN so this is definitely a keeper! Usually Fruit Loops scents overtake whatever they're blended with but I get a lot of VBN with RG's blend. Really looking forward to melting this one!
• Candy Land - This is a blend of cotton candy and bubble gum. I like sweet scents but this one borders on the edge of too sweet for me. I like the idea of it but I don't think I'll be keeping this one. Maybe it would smell better blended with a fruit scent, like strawberry. Ooooh I think I'm getting an idea for a custom pie! 
• Siren's Song Noel - Siren's Song is their dupe for VS Love Spell. A lot of people hate Love Spell and feel that it is overdone but I will always love it. I've never smelled it blended with VBN but it's truly amazing! Love this one. It was an LE for Valentine's Day, so I'm not sure if they carry this one year round.
• Kaelyn's Banana Bubblegum - This is a really fun blend! Here is an example of how bubble gum smells much better blended with some sort of fruit. You all know me, I love my banana scents so this is definitely a winner for me. The banana is a very sugary, banana Runts kind of scent so it is quite sweet. This is the kind of sweet I can do!
• Raspberry Swirl Ice Cream - Love this one!! It's a nice tart raspberry scent blended with a creamy vanilla ice cream note. I have a bag of Raspberry Marshmallow coming so even though this one is quite nice, I'll be passing it on in a RR box for someone else to enjoy. 

Here are some of the beautiful chunks up close and personal:

All in all, I'm so glad to have gotten this sampler. Even though I'm going to end up partying with half of these, it was a great investment to help determine what I like and don't like from Rosegirls and it helped me plan out some of my future orders. I don't think I've ever been more excited about a wax order than I was about this one. It was like Christmas when I opened the package! 

Alrighty, that will be all for now, I'm going to try to get some shut eye. Hope you all had a fantastic weekend and I'll see you again tomorrow (well, later today) for my Weekly Wax Meltdown!

Small CFTKR Haul - Cold Sniff Reviews!

Hey there! Back again with another Candles from the Keeping Room haul! 

This was just for a few random scents that I forgot to pick up when she re-opened at the end of January. I believe I placed this order on her "second re-opening" day. Again, CFTKR is one of my all-time favorite vendors and I am never disappointed with her stuff! If you haven't tried this vendor yet, I highly suggest you check them out ASAP =)

Here's what I purchased:

• Wildberry Mousse Noel - Wildberry Mousse is a favorite scent of mine, and it smells really great blended with VBN. I always seem to prefer the original but the blends are always great too!
• Wildberry Mousse - Just plain old, straight up Wildberry Mousse. This is a fantastic creamy mixed berry scent. Everyone needs to smell this at least once in their wax career. I find that it's a pretty universally liked scent,
• Lemon Noel Sugar Cookies - This is a great lemon cookie blend. It does smell similar to her Frosted Lemon Cookie Snap but with that added zing of the Vanilla Bean Noel. Really like this one!
• Lemon Pizzelle - This is my favorite of the whole order. For those who don't know, a pizzelle is an italian cookie that is pretty much a flattened out waffle cone. They are my favorite cookies ever! Pizzelles are often flavored with anise, which has a licorice note to it. This scent has that licorice note to it! So excited! Blended with the lemon, this is a great lemon-y cookie scent with a hint of almond and anise. Obsessed!

• Toasted Marshmallow - I love Carol's marshmallow scent, it's strong, sweet and makes for a great blender! I bought this specifically to blend with the Pumpkin Apple Butter, but I'm sure I'll come up with more blends for this as well.
• Pumpkin Crunch Cake -  I wanted to pick up a few more pumpkin scents because my stash of pumpkin scents was running a bit love. This one is okay. I smell mostly the "crunch" cake with a hint of super sweet pumpkin. I'm pretty picky about pumpkin scents and this is not a favorite. I'll  melt one to test it out because, as I've mentioned before, paraffin does not give off as much of a cold throw as soy wax does, so I'll have to melt it to get the full experience.
• Pumpkin Apple Butter - I bought this after melting my Pumpkin Apple Butter Mallow chunk from Sniff My Tarts and falling in love with it. This smells exactly like the pumpkin apple butter oil that SMT  used! I'm so excited to blend this with the toasted marshmallow to try to duplicate that scent.
• Pumpkin Butter Brulee - I like this one more than the Pumpkin Crunch Cake but it's still not a favorite pumpkin scent. Again, this has that overly sweet, fake pumpkin note that I'm not digging. It does have some spice to it though so that it making it more pleasant to my nose. 

And now the freebies! As always, Carol is super generous with the samples.

• Rainbow Sherbet - This is a nice, tangy citrus scent. It's not a favorite but I have a friend who may like this one so I'll pass it onto her.
• Marshmallow & Butter Brickle Pie - This is a new favorite scent from CFTKR and I'm so glad I got an extra! It's super sweet, with that crunchy, caramel-ly butter brickle note and then the marshmallow tones it down a bit. So good!
• Country Bake Shop - This is nice, general bakery scent. It smells to me like sugar cookies with a soft background of spice. I like this one!
• Lemon Lifesavers - This really smells like lemon lifesavers! I have no idea how these oils can capture the smell of a lemon hard candy, but it has. Really tangy and tart. Love this one!
• Lemon Fluff - This is another one of my favorite scents from CFTKR. It's an amazing blend of marshmallow and lemon. I know I've mentioned this, but it's worth mentioning again - Carol has amazing marshmallow scents!

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That's all for today! I hope you've enjoyed my small little CFTKR haul. Let me know if you have any questions, comments, concerns, and so on! Have a great start to your weekend everyone <3

Victoria's Designer Creations Haul #1 - First Impressions and Cold Sniff Reviews!

Happy Friday everyone!! I'm always excited for the weekend so let's kick it off with a few hauls, shall we?!

First up today is my haul from Victoria's Designer Creations! From the beginning of my becoming aware of this vendor, I had heard mixed reviews. However, I decided to give VDC a try because her wax was absolutely gorgeous. Vickie is truly an artist with the way that she designs her wax. I have even done the unthinkable - considered buying a whole loaf of wax - when I saw her gorgeous loaves posted on her Facebook page.

My experience with this vendor was mixed as well. First of all, her site is pretty confusing. There are no scent descriptions listed anywhere so you have to make your purchases based on scent name alone. Not a big deal for some, but I like to know what oils are in the wax that I'm purchasing. But I went ahead anyways and bought some small items in scents that sounded good, and I ended up being quite pleased with the majority of the scents. So that's definitely a plus. Her stuff is gorgeous AND it smells good.

And now comes the TAT discussion. Her TAT is not listed on the site. I've seen others ask her about it on the Facebook page, and she never gives a straight answer. I supposed I'd rather have a vendor not give me a set TAT time if they know they will not be able to meet that promise but it would be nice to know an approximate amount of time. After 2 months of no shipping notice, I contacted Vickie and she let me know that my order was complete and she would be sending it out in the next day. A week later it was finally sent out and I received my order. I know her family had a nasty virus during that time so that is why there was a delay and I didn't mind. So, the TAT for this order was over 9 weeks. 

The long TAT wouldn't bother me so much if I didn't know that people who had placed their orders well after I did were receiving their orders before mine. Vickie is in the process of switching over to RTS so apparently people were getting their orders much quicker than I did because they had ordered items that she had already in stock. Not too thrilled about that but again, I can't complain too much because I have my order here with me. 

There is another issue that I would like to address with this vendor, which is the matter of cigarette smoke. Several people have noted that their products from this vendor have arrived smelling like cigarette smoke. However, lots of people have said that their products from her did not smell like cigarette smoke. The box that I received from her did, in fact, smell like cigarette smoke as did the packaging materials she used. However, the vast majority of the wax products smelled fine. There was only one product that had the problem of smelling like smoke, and it was a freebie, so I wasn't too concerned with it. Had I received an item from her that I paid for that smelled like cigarette smoke, it probably would have bothered me much more. Everything I paid for smelled absolutely amazing, so I'm not too phased by it. But for those who are sensitive to cigarette smoke, I would recommend that you skip this vendor.

In the end, Vickie was very kind and apologetic throughout my correspondence with her and her products are beautiful and smell great, so I am willing to give this company another shot. However, I will be waiting until she has switched over completely to RTS. 

As she does not have scent descriptions, these will be on my nose's observations alone. Here's what I received:

• Raspberry Filled Donuts -  This is SO YUMMY! I figured this would be like a typical jelly donut scent, but it's very different. This is a spicy donut scent with added raspberry. I don't think I've ever smelled a spicy bakery scent with raspberry in it as well. It's amazing!
• Cinnamon & Sugar Donuts - This one is very light on the cinnamon scent and heavier on the sweet sugar note. I usually expect cinnamon donut scents to be cinnamon-heavy so this was a nice surprise. Really like this one!
• Pink Sugared Delights - This one is baffling me. I definitely smell Pink Sugar and a  bakery note, but there is also a sweet, fruity note to it as well. It smells really good, very unique from any other PS blend I've smelled before.

• Coconut Colada Cake - I can smell the coconut and the cake notes in here, but there's also a really sweet note in here that's almost bubblegum like. I'm not sure I'm loving this one but it is nice. 
• Divine Sunshine Cake - This one is awesome. I smell a very strong note of pineapple, plus brown sugar and caramel perhaps? Never smelled anything quite like this one either, really unique and delicious!
• Paradise Pound Cake - This is another amazing scent. I smell coconut, pineapple, a hint of citrus and a cake note. This is one of my favorites of the order, can't wait to melt this one! If it performs well while melting, I can see myself reordering this one for sure.
• Praline Pound Cake - Not really a fan of this one. I have found myself becoming very picky when it comes to praline scents, I only like the ones that are super caramel-ly. This one is not, it smells like weird stale nuts. Blah.

• Pink Sugared 7 Up Cake - This is a nice blend of Pink Sugar ad 7 Up Pound Cake. It seems to me like this one has some extra lime added to it. It's a very fresh scent! I'm not getting much cake out of it at the moment.
• Pink Orange Chiffon Cake - Love this one! I get mostly the orange chiffon cake but with a slight background of the Pink Sugar. Just when I think I'm over Pink Sugar, a blend like this pops up and I fall in love with it all over again!
• Lemon Chiffon - This is just a standard lemon bakery scent. It's a sweet lemon, not a strong cleaner lemon. Very yummy, though not unique.
• Lemon Blueberry Coconut Chiffon - This is still pretty heavy on the lemon chiffon scent but with a nice hint of blueberry. I don't get any coconut out of this one, unfortunately. Still love it though!

• Cherry Chip Cake - I've had this scent from a few other vendors and it's always a favorite of mine so I decided to pick up a little cake bite of it from VDC. This one smells as good as the others, a nice, sweet cherry scent mixed with cake. No medicinal notes here. LOVE!
• VDC's Iced Spice Cake - This is definitely my favorite scent of the entire order. It is incredible. You all know that I am a huge fan of spicy bakery scents, and this one is among the best I've ever smelled. It smells exactly like the cinnamon raisin bread that I make. Obsessed! This is definitely a loaf candidate! 
• VDC's Coconut Cake - This is a yummy, sweet coconut cake scent. Simple yet awesome. I can see this becoming a favorite if it throws well.

• Orange Creamsicle - This is a great creamsicle scent. It's very heavy on the orange but there is a bit of creaminess to it. Really like this one! 
• Cotton Candy Milkshake - This is a close second for favorite item in the order, following closely behind the amazing VDC Spice Cake. This is phenomenal! It's a strong, creamy cotton candy scent. It's a bit different from all the Cotton Candy Frosting scents out there in that it is a bit creamier. In LOVE with this.
• Blueberry Cheesecake Ice Cream - This is very heavy on the blueberry scent with an added creaminess from the ice cream and cheesecake notes. Not my favorite blueberry scent ever but it is very yummy!

And now for the freebies:

• Unnamed mini pie (freebie) - This is the one that smelled like straight up cigarette smoke. It didn't have a scent label on it and I could not, for the life of me, figure out what scent this was. All I could smell was the smoke. It was wrapped in cello, but I took it out to air it out for a few days and see if the smoke scent would dissipate. It did not. A shame because it's so pretty!
• Peach Sugared ZB (freebie)- I am not a fan of Zucchini bread scents, but I do love peach scents so I was excited to see a peach scent in the bunch. The peach note is very nice, but unfortunately it is dominated by the ZB note so this will be finding a new home. 
• Bursting with Blueberries ZB (freebie) - Again, not a huge fan of ZB but this one is pretty heavy on the blueberry so I am going to try melting this one. It smells great, and I haven't even taken the cello off yet. Very strong. And how adorable is it with the blueberries all over?!

Since you can't see the true beauty of these through the cello, here's a few of the things I ordered outside of their wrappers to see the detail on them.

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In the end, there were some problems with the whole experience but overall, everything smells great and I am willing to overlook the problems I had and give this vendor a chance. I've melted one thing from her so far and it smelled incredible so in the end, great smelling wax wins out every time!

Thanks for stopping by! Be back shortly with another small haul =) 

Lasting Scent Candles Haul - Cold Sniff Reviews

Back with a haul from Lasting Scent Candles!

Lasting Scent Candles (LSC) is one of my favorite vendors. Their tarts are strong, scents are true-to-life and they have a great variety of fragrances available. They did recently discontinue a large amount of scents, which was kind of disappointing, but they do still have a good selection.  And who can resist the adorable labels? Love them!

The one downside of LSC is the long TAT. It is usually around 21 business days, and they generally stick to it. I've gotten orders sometimes a day or two early but usually their TAT is right on the money. However, they do usually have a small selection of RTS tarts available, and those ship within 5 days. I generally go for the pour-to-order stuff because I don't mind waiting and I like to be able to shop from their entire scent list. This particular order was mostly to stock up on favorites. I got a lot of the scents in multiples but only showed a photo of one of each. 

LSC is another vendor I would recommend to wax newbies, but I would definitely suggest ordering from the RTS section first. They are closed for ordering at the moment to catch up on orders but will be opening again soon. LSC is one of the first vendors I placed an order from when I got back into tarts and I've been hooked ever since! Keep in mind that their wax is very soft and will work best in a lightbulb warmer to help the scent last longer. They work fine in all warmers but they tend to lose their scent faster than others in hotter warmers (i.e. high-wattage hotplate and tealight warmers). 

Enough of the chit chat! Here's what I ordered:

• Pink Lullabye - This is a blend of lavender, chamomile and Pink Sugar. First off, I really love LSC's lavender scent. It is a sweet lavender, but not that awful laundry lavender scent that some vendors try to pass off as sweet lavender. Anyways, this is a really nice blend. The lavender is the strongest note in this blend, but the Pink Sugar peeks its head out a bit. I don't melt scents at nighttime, but if I did, I think this would be the perfect scent for that!
• Autumn Dreamin (x3) - This is a blend of lavender and pumpkin pie. Boy oh boy is this one fantastic! It is a reorder, and you may have seen my review of this in one of my weekly meltdown posts. It may seem like lavender and spicy bakery wouldn't smell good blended together, but they really do! I stocked up on this one since it's a seasonal scent. 
• Sweet Dreams - Another lavender blend, but this time with Pink Sugar, marshmallow and lavender. I can definitely smell the sweet marshmallow in this along with the lavender. Again, the Pink Sugar is in the background here but you can smell it. Another awesome blend.
• Lavender Mallow Bread - Do you see a pattern here? This is lavender, marshmallow and bread. Usually I'm not a huge fan of bread scents but they do a great job blending and I can tolerate their bread scent in some blends. I would say it's a very creamy zucchini bread scent, but the fruit or other notes definitely take center stage in the blends. Anyways, this is another great lavender blend. This one may possibly be my favorite of the bunch. A sweet lavender bakery scent.
• Island Relaxation - This one is lavender with coconut milk. Amazing! Definitely my favorite lavender and coconut blend I've ever smelled. The coconut in this is quite strong!

• Sugar Cookie Royale - This is a typical sugar cookie scent. Smells exactly like CFTKR sugar cookie. Not my favorite but not bad.
• Brownie Batter - I'm still trying my hand at chocolate scents and this one is definitely not my favorite. It has a very strong fake chocolate scent. I've smelled better. In fact, my in-laws got me some amazing chocolate candles from Root Candle for my birthday and they smell fantastic. Can't wait to try them!
• Birthday Cake - This is an awesome birthday cake scent. You can smell the cake and the frosting. Reminds me of funfetti cake batter. Mmmmmmm cake. 
• Serendipity Scone - I don't smell any scone with this but it is a really nice and strong Serendipity scent! I can smell cherries, coconut and vanilla. You can't go wrong with Serendipity!
• Pink Sugar Buns - Strong Pink Sugar with a hint of a bready note. Nice but not my favorite. I think I'm over scents where PS is the main note......or maybe not. I just smelled it again and it really does smell good. Ahhh I can't make up my mind! I'll have to melt it to give it a final verdict.

• Sugared Lemon Creme (x3) - This is a nice, sweet lemon scent. Not sure why I ordered 3 as it's not exactly unique or special. It does smell good though! 
• Sweet Lemon Bread - This is a lemon bread scent. This is one of the instances where I'm not feeling the bread note. I get a hint of cigarette smoke in this one, which is common for some zucchini bread scents. Sometimes bread scents smell better when melting so I may keep this one around and give it a shot. On the other hand, while I love citrus bakery scents I never like citrus-y bread scents when they're melting. Still deciding whether or not to destash this one. 
• Blueberry Muffin (x3) - This is one of my favorite blueberry muffin scents from any vendor. Sometimes blueberry scents can be really strong and almost astringent, but this is a very sweet blueberry bakery scent. It reminds me of those cans of blueberries that you get in blueberry muffin kits. Om nom nom. Can you tell I'm hungry while I'm writing this post?
• White Nectarine and Pink Coral - I have been wondering about this scent for awhile so I just bit the bullet and got one. It's awesome! It's a very sweet peachy-nectarine scent. Not sure what the "pink coral" note is, but I'm really only getting the nectarine in here. There's perhaps a slight hint of sweet freshness akin to Yankee's Pink Sands, but it's very faint. Either way, I love this one!
• Strawberry Mallow Bread (x3) - Delish! This is another re-order. Love the sweet strawberry and marshmallow mixed with the bread note here. The bread note is very light and the strawberry definitely takes center stage. 

Now I present to you the discontinued scents. No idea why they would discontinue these gems! Moving right along...

• Sugar Corn Pudding (x3) - LSC has my favorite sugar corn pudding scent of any vendor. It has a little extra sweetness to it that makes it oh so delectable. So sad to see this one go!
• Raspberry Jelly Donut (x3) - This is a yummy jelly donut scent with an extra helping of raspberry filling. The raspberry in this one is tart just like real raspberries!! Again, no idea why this one wouldn't be a good seller. It's amazing!
• Maraschino Cherry Bread (x3) - I love this one. This was one of the first scents I bought from LSC, and when I melted it, it traveled up two floors all the way into my bedroom. It is amazingly strong and is the perfect blend of cherry and bread. I don't know about you but I've never seen "cherry bread" in real life, but I sure would like to! I often feel like trying to make recipes out of tart names. Weird, I know. Anyways...

These are the seasonal scents that I ordered. As of now, they still have the fall and Christmas scents up and I'm not sure when they will take them down, but I assume it will be soon.

• Pumpkin Sugar Donut (x3) - Pumpkin and donut. I don't think I could find a more "me" scent if I tried. This is an awesome blend of pumpkin, spice and donuts. I wish I would have stocked up on more pumpkin scents but this one will tide me over quite nicely. Obsessed with this scent!
• Lemon Ginger Snaps - Gingersnaps with lemon, just like it sounds! I think I would like it better if there was a sweet frosting note to it but it is nice. It's a good blend of these two scents, I can smell both equally. Very strong off of cold throw!
• Sugar Berries and Crushed Cloves - This is an attempt to find a replacement for my beloved Cherry Clove Chutney from Scentsy. This is definitely not the same scent, but it is good. This is more of a mulberry scent, which tends to be a heavy and grape-y berry scent. The clove is very faint in this one. 
• Strawberry Pine Cones - This is a blend of sugared spruce and strawberry. I wasn't too thrilled with this one because I am not a fan of sugared spruce but I like the idea of it. I'm going to try some other strawberry/pine scents next Christmas. 
• Candy Land Dreamin (x3) - This is another one of those ones that smells like something in Lush that I can't quite pinpoint. The scent is a blend of lavender, peppermint and vanilla. It smells amazing. I would say that it's an even blend, maybe a smidge heavier on the peppermint. Very relaxing!

And now the freebies:

• Serendipity Ambrosia (freebie) - This is Serendipity blended with sugared fruits and marshmallow. It's really nice, I can smell hints of citrus that remind me a bit of Froot Loops. It's almost a fruit loops/serendipity blend. Really like this one!
• Carmello (freebie) - This is a blend of caramel and marshmallows. Amazing!! So decadent and rich. Definitely going to order another one of this next time around.
• Coconut Macaroons (freebie) - They could not have picked out better scents to send me. This one is amazing as well. A nice, sweet bakery coconut scent with a hint of extra sweetness. Amazing. Will be ordering this one next time too!

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That's all for now! I am super impressed with my LSC order, as per usual. Great company with great customer service and a great product. I couldn't ask for anything more!

Can-Do-Candles Haul - First Impressions and Cold Sniff Reviews

Hi everyone! Back here with a couple hauls today. 

First up is my very first haul from Can-Do-Candles! I first heard about this company years ago when I was into tarts but never had the chance to order. I've heard good things about this vendor recently as well so when they reopened on January 31st, I placed an order right away! Their scent list is smaller than most, but they have a lot of unique scents that I have never seen anywhere else. 

Can-Do uses a paraffin blend for their tarts. While it is 100% paraffin, they are softer than most paraffin wax I've used before. Donna, the owner, said that they don't need any cure time. I haven't tried any of them yet but I think I will be popping one in the warmer today. TAT on this order was very fast, I received the order 4 days after it was placed. Not too shabby!

I definitely had some misses scent-wise in this order, but I went out of my comfort zone for quite a few scents so that is bound to happen. Overall, I'm quite impressed with my ordering experience with this company and I can't wait to see how these perform in my warmers!

Here's what I ordered:

• Raspberry Violet - This is amazing. You get notes of both the sweet raspberry and the powdery violet scent. This is the type of violet scent that almost smells like candy, so that's pretty fantastic! Definitely one of my favorites of the order.
• Tiny Violets - This is the sweet, candy-like violet note without the raspberry. Again, I really like this one. 
• Kiwi, Sage & Ginger - This was the huge surprise of the order! Back when I was younger, Bath and Body Works had zodiac perfumes and this one smells EXACTLY like the Aquarius one! I have been searching for years and years for that perfume on eBay and I never thought I would smell this fragrance again. So crazy! It's definitely a fresh scent, but the ginger adds a bit of spicy warmth. Absolutely gorgeous. Very excited about this one.
• Raspberry Tomato Leaf - This is ALL tomato leaf and no raspberry whatsoever. Super strong. I don't think I'm a fan of tomato leaf scents after all. It's a very sharp and astringent green scent that would probably give me a massive headache when melting. Yuck! 
• Pink Carnation - Carnations are one of my favorite flowers (yes, really!) and I'm always on the lookout for a good carnation scent. I have a really good one that I got from a perfumery in New Orleans that has a really nice spicy note to it. Sadly, this one is just a straight-up floral, with no deep, spicy notes that I was hoping for. It doesn't really smell like carnations. Sadly, not a fan of this one.
• Plumeria Milk - This is a blend of plumeria flower and coconut milk. I've always loved plumeria scents and this one is just okay for me. It's pretty light, and the coconut milk scent is even lighter. I know that paraffin sometimes doesn't give a great cold throw so I'm hoping this one will be better when I melt it.

• Banana Island - This is a really nice blend of bananas and some sort of unspecified greenery. So basically, a floral banana scent. Really love this one. I love banana scents and it's always nice to smell one that isn't your typical bakery banana scent. Very unique and beautiful.
• Sugar Butt - The description of this is "creamy custard goodness." I would say that this is just that. A really sweet, creamy, custard-y scent. It's a really sweet vanilla without venturing into that buttercream territory. Love it!
• Pomegranate - This is your typical pomegranate oil, which is actually a blend of strawberry, vanilla and a few other fruits. Fantastic, as is the case with all other pomegranate scents that smell like this. Definitely doesn't smell like a real pomegranate but I'm okay with that.
• Pink Sands Type (freebie) - This is pretty much a dead-on dupe for Yankee's Pink Sands, which is a blend of citrus, florals and vanilla. It's a beachy scent without smelling like sand or sunscreen. You can't go wrong with Pink Sands, I think it may be one of the most universally liked scents in the history of Yankee.
• Lessie's Coco-Mint Frost - This. Is. Phenomenal. It is a blend of creamy coconut and mint. This was the scent I was trying to duplicate last week (which, if you need a refresher, failed miserably). The coconut in this is super sweet, it is more like a vanilla marshmallow frosting coconut scent, and the mint adds a fresh burst without being too minty. Everyone needs to place an order for this ASAP. You need it in your life. 

• Ginger Spice Cake - This one is okay. It's a typical spicy cake scent, but it has a note that I really don't like. Even though it's not listed in the scent description, I smell a strong scent of zucchini bread in this. Not a favorite.
• Home Sweet Home - This is another supposed Yankee dupe, but it didn't do it for me. I tried a dupe of this from CFTKR and that one wasn't great either. The oil that the suppliers have for this scent just isn't an exact dupe. This one is too strong and heavy on the cinnamon. I've tried this from two different vendors and it's safe to say that I will be sticking to the Yankee version from now on. 
• Amish Apples - This is a blend of apples and spice. All I can smell in this is the heavy scent of rancid apple juice. Do not want.
• Powdered Cinnamon Donuts - This is a cinnamon donuts scent, I don't really smell any powdered sugar in this one. It is good but I tend to prefer others (such as the one from Lasting Scent Candles) where you can smell both the cinnamon and the fried dough. This one is pretty heavy on the cinnamon.
• Honey Pear Cider - This is a dupe for the Scentsy scent of the same name. Very nice! HPC is a favorite from Scentsy and this one is pretty dead-on. It's just a nice, sweet pear scent with the tinest hint of spice. A perfect fall (or in my case, any time of year) fragrance.
• Mimi's House - I have heard good things about this scent from a few people so I went ahead and ordered it. WARNING: THIS SMELLS LIKE KEROSENE. Terrible, horrible, awful and possibly the worst tart I've ever smelled in my life. It's supposed to be a blend of apples, spices, potpourri and wood floors. All I smell is the most awful, chemical smell ever. Maybe they meant the cleaner used on wood floors. I have heard of people referring to a "fuel" smell from some fragrances but I never quite knew what they meant. I do now. YUCK! 

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Even though there were a few big misses in this order, I did enjoy the majority of what I got and I'm really excited to melt these! 

Thanks for stopping by! Be back in a bit with another haul =)