Belinda

@SSB, when you say TCS, do you mean The Candle Source, The Candlemakers Store, or Texas Candle Supply?

I second you'll love their sugar cookie! FB's is great too!

Oh wow! Thank you for sharing!

@Candybee, those really sound great! @Marleigha, I like grandma's cupboard too! It's such a good oatmeal cookie scent. I also like your blend idea. I may have to give that a try. I am blank when it comes to blending.

I've liked all of the ones I've ordered from them. I don't use them much because shipping is so high to Texas but they have some good FO's. I've used their Vicks, Butt Naked, Banana Nut Muffin, Black Ice, Leather, Lemon Meringue pie, Love Spell, monkey farts, Oatmeal milk and honey, Pearberry and a few more and they are comparable to the other suppliers.

Flaming carries Sugar cookie Royal and it's a good dupe. If I'm not mistaken FB's buttered maple syrup smells like Brown sugar from Daystar to me. NG and BCN both have great spiced cranberries And I'm with Candybee on Amish Harvest. I've never smelled the one from FB but the one from Peak is good.

Oh wow! You hit the lottery! So you're saying they don't have this anymore at Walmart? I wish I could find some. I might look on eBay or Amazon. That way I'd know if I had an oil that smelled like it.

I've never used an all soy wax but have used a para/soy that works great. I use all paraffin most of the time now though. I'm not sure which wax is available in the UK though. There are several suppliers here that sell a granulated pillar and votive wax that works great for wax melts. I would recommend finding something like that. Do you order from the US? I would imagine shipping would be a nightmare.

Was it a para/soy blend or straight paraffin? I know that Rustic Escentuals sells both and so does Flaming and Just Scent. They are granulated waxes that are C.J. Robinson wax so I'm assuming it's the same as the one Tri State had. I think Virginia Candle Company has it also.

Cowboys wild country is kind of clean smelling to me. It smells good though. I can't really describe it. It's a cologne type. I don't like those type very much but they go crazy for anything with the name cowboy in it down here! I do love Cowboys on the Beach though! Cowboy Aloha smells good too. Those are both summer fruity scents mixed with leather. I think one might be mixed with Butt Naked and I'm not sure about the other one but I love both, especially Cowboys on the Beach. Thoroughbread has a spicy smell to it. It's good too! I'm 50 miles north of Houston so he's quite a bit farther north than I am. I'm thinking about 4 hours from where I live.

I forgot to ask, where in Texas does your brother in law live? I'm about 50 miles north of Houston.

I love the leather from TCS. It smells a lot like the one from LS too. From TCS I also love cowboys at the beach, cowgirl sugar britches, chaps, cowboy christmas, cowboy's wild country, leather and lace, thoroughbred, and I've got a couple more but can't remember which ones I like the best. I'm not much on cologne scents but people here in Texas love them! Another good leather that I've found is the one from Fragrance Buddy. I like it because it smells good and it soaks up in my aroma beads really fast where as the leather from TCS takes forever and won't hardly soak up. But since you're using it for wax either one will smell great. The one from Keystone is a good one also. Not all leathers are created equal. I didn't like the one from BCN or Daystar at all! The one from AAA smells good too. I hope that helps!

Aroma beads are a lot of fun to mess with! I get mine from a company called Plastic Pellets 4 Fun. I also use beads from Lone Star occasionally. I like them from both places. PP4F offers free shipping so that makes it nice. You soak 8 ounces of beads to 2 ounces of oil until they're dry. Some people use glass jars but I don't care for them much. I get plastic containers from the dollar store and as long as there's a 5 on the bottom they're supposed to be safe for scented things. I mix my beads and let them dry and then bake them in a cookie cutter the shape and color I want. I fill my cutters almost to the top and bake for 8 minutes at 350. You can google car fresheners and get all kinds of ideas. Some people use paint and glitter on theirs and bows and feathers and all sorts of stuff. I hate that you've been so sick. I'm glad you're feeling better and hope you continue to do well. I've always heard an anti fungal diet like the one Doug Kaufman on Know the Cause is really good for autoimmune disease. I've known people who have gotten their health back from eating that way and taking natural anti fungals like olive leaf extract so maybe it could help you too! I'll be glad to help you get started with aroma beads! I would order a small bag to start with and get some metal cookie cutters and you also need a roofing nail for the hole or you can drill one after you bake but I use a nail. What have you found from Walmart? I always love to know of good smells! Do you make wax melts?

Have you ever used bayberry from NG? I tried the one from Aztec and hated it but love the one from NG. I was just wondering how theirs compared to the ones you mentioned. I may have to give them a try!

Ravens! It's so good to see you on here again! Don't be a stranger! I miss "seeing" you.

I may have to try that one! It sounds like a different Fall scent other than pumpkin and spicy stuff.

As many waxes as the two of us have tried which one would you say it was closest to? 🤣

Do you think their candles look like 6006? I've wondered what wax they use.

I have several Christmas scents I love! Let's see, I love- Mrs. Claus Cookies from NG Pumpkin Pie from BCN and CS Banana Nut Bread pretty much from anyone but use CS-personal favorite all year long Christmas Hearth-Flaming and CS Dicken's Christmas-LS Autumn Leaves-CW-I know it says Autumn but there's something about it that smells Chrstmassy to me so a name change might work with it. Pretty much any Pumpkin scents from FB Christmas Tree-Fillmore Blue Spruce-CS Bayberry-NG North Pole-Flaming Christmas Cabin-NG Gingerbread-NG and Aztec Christmas Wassail -NG Clove-NG Cinnamon Sugared Donuts-FB Country Christmas -NG Holiday Pomegranate-NG Mulberry-Fb or Cajun Christmas Mulberry-Cajun Pumpkin Apple Butter-NG or Flaming Potpourri Spice-NG Santa's Whiskers-NG or RE Spiced Cranberry-NG or BCN Alpine Cheer-Flaming Apple Cinnamon-FB, LS or Flaming are all good Buttery Gingerbread-JS or ICS Chestnuts and Brown Sugar-JS Christmas Wish-JS, ICS or Bulk Cider Lane-Aztec Cinnamon Crunch Cake-JS Cinnamon Roll-NG, ICS Cozy Cabin-JS Cranberry Pomegranate-JS Peppermint Bark-CS Grinchmas Crunch-Haven't put this one in wax yet but I like the smell of it Hazelnut Marshmallow Fluff-JS-I love anything that smells like hazlenut Honey Gingerbread-JS Kringle Crumbles-I haven't put this in wax yet but it smells good to me Marshmallow Fireside-JS, Aztec and I think Flaming all have this one and they smell the same to me Peppermint Meringue-JS Pumpkin Peanut Brittle-FB Santa Baby-JS Peppermint Mocha-JS Sweater Weather-Aztec Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin-FB Apple Cider Donut-CW or Flaming Bayberry & Silver Oak-Flaming-Trapp got me to try this one and made me a candle out of it. It's special to me and I love the scent Harvest Gathering is sort of Christmassy-Flaming or FB Nutmeg & Spice-Flaming Tis The Season-Flaming, RE or FB Vanilla Bean Noel-The best one is from WSP or ICS but to me Mrs. Claus Cookies smells just as good and a lot cheaper than WSP Mistletoe Kisses-Aztec There's one called Christmas Eve that smells great but I can't remember if it's from Virginia or Indigo. I'll have to check my samples. I have a few more but can't think of them. Obviously I'll never be able to get them all in wax during one season so I kind of rotate a little bit. I wish people around here were as crazy about them as I am LOL! They still want leather and black ice YUK! Some do like Christmas ones or Fall ones though which is good.

How could I forget Nutmeg Ginger and Cinnamon Broom! Those two are defiantly great.

I like that name! LOL!

I've baked beads before that were wet and it didn't hurt them at all. If they don't soak up after a few days then add a few more beads and let them soak some more. A good ratio is 8 ounces of beads to 2 ounces of oil. Some oils like leather take a long time to soak up.

I'm not a very experienced candle maker but maybe I can help you a little bit. There will be some with many years of experience that will chime in and help you more but here's my answer to some of your questions. I would get a presto pot from Walmart to heat my wax in to start out unless you have a double boiler. That's what a lot of us small time people use. It's not recommended to heat wax in the microwave even though I have done it a few times but I really don't recommend it, especially since you're new to the whole wax thing. As far as a pour pitcher, I've used those and a large glass measuring cup to pour wax with and I like the measuring cup better. It's heavy duty and it just seems easier to me. The wax seems to be easier to guide when I pour out of it. It could just be me though. I think personally I would buy a candle making kit from Lone Star or some place like that to get started. That's just my personal opinion. I started making wax melts and not candles and have been making them for several years but now am branching out to candles and that's the only reason I didn't buy a candle kit. I already had tons of wax and fragrances and things like that. If I was just getting started fooling with wax I would buy a kit. Aztec sells 5 sample size bottles for $5. They have some good oils. Most all of your suppliers offer one ounce bottles so you shouldn't have a problem finding some to try out. If you buy a kit it seems the ones I've seen had oils already in them and also jars, wicks, wax etc. If you're going to buy jars and looking for inexpensive ones then check out canning jars from Walmart or Target or some place like that. I would think a baby food jar would be really small but I guess it would be a good starting place but I would personally start with an 8 ounce mason or jelly jar. Just my preference and opinion. I'm not sure about the easiest and most accurate thermometer to use. Mine is a cheap one I got off of Amazon and seems to work fine. Joy wax will work fine I'm sure if that's the type of wax you're wanting to use. It has some good reviews and it's not all soy. A lot of us get jars from the suppliers we're buying our wax and fragrance oils from but you can also buy jars from Fillmore Container. I use 12 ounce mason jars and 8 ounce mason and also some apothecary jars and they're pretty much the same diameter all the way down. Not very much variation. I'm not sure if that's the best ones to use but those are the ones that I like the look of. Wick size will depend on the diameter of the jar and the FO. Some have to be wicked up or down. I use zincs and find that a 51-32-18 has worked well in the jars I'm using for the fragrances I've tested so far. I can't help with any other wick because I'm using all zinc. I hope I haven't confused you even more. There will be others that will chime in and give you better advice.

My favorite Christmas scents are Mrs. Claus Cookies from NG, Dicken's Christmas from LS, Bayberry from NG, Autumn Leaves from CW (it smells like it can pass for a Fall and Christmas one to me), Peppermint Bark from CS, Christmas Tree Fillmore, Christmas Cabin NG, Gingerbread NG or Aztec, any of the pumpkin pie scents except the ones from JS. For some reason I never had good luck with her pumpkin scents. There are a few more but those are some of my favorites.

I love - Alpine Cheer, Apple Cinnamon, Bayberry & Silver Oak, Harvest Gathering, North Pole, Nutmeg & Spice, Pumpkin Apple Butter (smells the same as NG's) Pumpkin Pecan Waffles, Sugared Pralines, Vanilla Pumpkin Marshmallow (smells the same as Aztec's and FB's to my nose) Apple Ginger Crust, Autumn & Apple Orchard, Cranberry Apple Marmalade. These are some that I use. They have some good oils.