Belinda

9 hours ago, Tlmanty said:

Hello everyone-love the information shared so far - my very favorite candle scent is Northwoods Cabin from 1803. I would love to try and find a similar strong scent for my tarts and candles. Also wondering how you mix scents - is it trial and error or is it an actual science with measurements- I am very new to this and loving the scents I have tried so far 

 

I am waiting on another delivery tomorrow from FC and ordered a leaves sample.

 

looking for a strong woods scent with a balsam or fir scent. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

 

have a great day!

Hello and welcome to the board!

What notes does Northwoods Cabin have? Bitter Creek Candle Supply has a Northwoods Christmas that's very strong! Maybe it's similar.

In my experience, blending is trial and error. I do blend a few scents but not many. I keep planning to do more but just don't get around to it. I think one way some blend is to dip a q-tip in a fragrance and put it in a plastic bag or something with a q-tip dipped in another fragrance and see how you like the smell of the two together. I've done that a few times and it seems to be a pretty good way to try scents together.

Hope this helps!

On 8/15/2022 at 7:59 PM, LilFirecracker said:

Girl I've been testing and tweaking for a year and a half now. I'm more than intimate with paraffin waxes now!🤣 I'm always searching for better, no matter how great it already is. I'm a perfectionist with this. Not a perfectionist at all things, just certain things - unfortunately this is one. 

Try ten years here! LOL! I have a friend on here that's been testing for years too. Neither one of us can make up our minds.🤪

What I need to do is order some of all of what I want to try and pour some testers instead of halfway doing it. I need to come to a decision and start making some of the thousands of dollars I've been out over the years! 🤣

On 8/7/2022 at 11:07 AM, LilFirecracker said:

I have a bunch of samples from Aztec, close to 40 I had bought at one time. I couldn't even use one of them. They smelled good, just wasn't strong enough to last in my melts. I tried buying wax at the same time I got the samples because I was almost out of 4633, but what I ended up with wasn't an IGI wax. It had an Aztec number on it and it was the consistency more like 4630 than 4633. I couldn't use it. I noticed on the website there's 2 waxes that show their number with the IGI number. I don't know if they make their own or what they do. 

I'm not sure about them having their own blend either. I've only ever ordered IGI wax from them. They do have the best prices on wax from what I can see. Right now I've been using 450 or 133 from Flaming and RE because it can be used for shapes, containers, pillars and clams. It's so versatile but I hate the ripples it has! I'm so wishy washy when it comes to making up my mind about wax. I love 6006 for clams and also containers too but in the Texas heat it seems like 133 will hold up better in containers. Actually though, the melt point on both of those waxes is about the same so 6006 might hold up pretty good come to think of it. I hate making decisions! LOL!

On 7/31/2022 at 2:20 PM, BenderSF said:

Thanks @Belinda!  I like the sound of that.  I'll pick some up in my next order.

 

You're welcome!

On 8/1/2022 at 3:45 AM, LilFirecracker said:

Funny...I'm in Louisiana and never bought from them! When I first checked out their oils, they didn't have a lot of the ones I was looking for at the time. A lot has changed since then and I'm not even using most of the ones I started out wanting. At the time their shipping was high to me and I'm less than 2 hours away. Lone Star's shipping was way cheaper. I just recently checked again because just like everyone else, Lone Star went up on their waxes - A LOT! Canjun Candle has all the waxes I use and they haven't gone up yet, and shipping was a little more than Lone Star, but overall everything was just a little cheaper. I was gonna order, but then they were out of one of the waxes. Took forever but they finally got it in after about 3 weeks. Went to order...they were out of one of the other waxes! At least a month out in this one! I gave up! That's what I get for trying to cheat on Lone Star! 🤣

I hear ya! 

Aztec is quite a bit cheaper on their wax than LS and Cajun but I don't care for a lot of their oils. I have quite a few of their oils but just the ones I like to use in aroma beads don't seem to be very good coming from them like Monkey farts and Fruit Loops. They do have a great butt naked and grandma's kitchen though and a few other good ones.

6 hours ago, Craig said:

I just got a 1oz sample and I’m testing in Problend 600. Will check hot throw when it’s ready next week.

I don't think you'll be disappointed!

6 hours ago, BenderSF said:

Indiana is one of my favorites!

 

I've only tried three apple scents.  I love Caramel Apple Cheesecake.  Apple Fritter and Hot Apple Pie are both nice but not my favorites.

 

For coffees, Pumpkin Spice Latte is one of my all-time favorites.  I love both Cinnamon Dolce Latte and Cafe con leche (it was recently renamed, used to be "Cafe C-u-b-a-n-o", but AFIK it wasn't reformulated).  Gingerbread Cafe Latte seems really nice but I haven't had it long enough to really tell yet.  Vanilla Hazelnut Coffee didn't make much of an impression, but that's another one I haven't had long enough to really decide yet.

 

I posted some of my other Indiana favorites a few months ago.  I now add Lemon Meringue, Lemon Pound Cake, Gourmet Sugar Cookie and Christmas Kitchen to that list.

 

@Belinda, I've always thought about trying Apple Brown Betty but the description isn't very, well, descriptive 😆: "More complex than plain Hot Apple Pie this rich Apple Dessert will become an all time favorite."  Do you find it to be much different from apple fritter?

I just sniffed them side by side and to my nose Apple Brown Betty is a richer scent, maybe even a little sweeter. It seems to have more spice notes to it. I smell more apple in Apple Fritter. I like both though but Apple Fritter reminds me more of apple pie.

10 minutes ago, GailC said:

@Belinda I'm thinking about getting the Caramel Apple Cheesecake.

 

Brown Sugar Pecan sounds so good but I need to use the nutty FO's I already have first.

I can send you some! You can get some  next Fall if you like it. I haven't poured it in a long time but all this talk we've been doing about oils early this morning and today makes me want to go turn my melter on LOL!

Wax Used: 4625, 6006, 133

This oil smells like VBN from other companies. I love it! It has a great cold and hot throw.

On 11/14/2021 at 1:16 PM, Miss Mise said:

I’m very intrigued by many of their scents, but they don’t really provide a lot of description, and the names of the scents are somewhat ambiguous. Are there other scents from them that you’d recommend?

Sorry, just now noticing this post. You may have tried their scents by now. I love their Cowboys on the Beach, Pumpkin Nutmeg (medium throw), Cowgirl sugar kisses, Red Bandana, Thoroughbred, Black Ice, Buckles and Spurs, Cowboy aloha, Leather and Lace, and a few others that I can't think of but he has some good oils.  Midwest Fragrance Co. has a great leather now too and hers will soak up in aroma beads pretty fast. Try them out. They've really grown fast and have some great products.

I love all of her apple scents except caramel apple pie. For some reason it always smelled sour to me. I don't know why but there's a note in there that just doesn't agree with me. Her caramel apple bake is good and I'm thinking caramel apple cheesecake too. I love her apple fritter and apple brown Betty!

For coffee scents her caramel coffee is so good and orange vanilla coffee is good. One of hers I got was kind of bitter, I think it was Coffee Bean,  but you could always use it and blend it the way you want it but I can't remember which one.

I also love her brown sugar pecan, apple fritter, apple strudel, Boo berry, Be Thankful, Buttery Gingerbread, White cake, wild berry mousse, Winterberry, orange spice, cranberry orange muffin, sugar cookie dough. I have quite a few of her oils that I've never put in wax too but these are all good.

15 hours ago, bfroberts said:

I usually go one size up for the salsa. 

Here's a pic of a 51z in the 16oz Flint jar from Aztec (very similar to salsa, just a little bit wider) after a long burn.  The wick will need trimming but a very clean burn. I'm also gonna test 44-36 before I decide on these.

 

This makes me feel much better about the way mine are burning! Thank you so much!

On 3/9/2022 at 12:21 PM, LilFirecracker said:

I'm still on the hunt! Until then, I found an amazing alternative with Exotic Coconut from Sweet Cake's. I love it - so intoxicating! It's like a soft musky coconut. The scent is strong, just the musky part is soft. 

Have you tried Cajun Candle supply yet? I don't order much from them because shipping is high to me even though I'm in Texas which I find strange since Aztec's shipping is cheaper and they are farther away. I don't care for a lot of Aztec's oils either.  Anyway, Cajun has some good oils. I like their Christmas Mulberry, Banana Nut Bread and they have the best cream brûlée I've tried. 

13 hours ago, bfroberts said:

 

I use mottling wax so IDK really how well this translates to your waxes. I'd guess the differences would probably be within a size, if any.  

 

I like for mine (salsa and masons) to keep a little hangup until at least the half way point of the jar, or lower.  That seems to be the general sweet spot for a good, clean burn in any container that has shoulders.  Tumblers can usually go a size bigger because they don't hold in as much heat. 

Thank you for your help!

Do you generally use the same size wick for salsa as you do mason jars?

1 hour ago, bfroberts said:

I haven’t used either of those in ages and I don’t have any notes for them, so I’m gonna wing it.  Lol

The harder paraffins usually need a significantly smaller wick than the soft paraffins like 4630/4627. I’d start testing the masons with something in the 44 range, 44-24 probably. You shouldn’t have any problems single wicking the salsa. I’d probably test 51z initially. It’ll probably look like a small melt pool at the top but that’ll change.

I think the small melt pool was making me think I needed to go larger but maybe not. It seemed there was wax hanging up on the sides so I got impatient. Do you think it would eventually catch up? I need to do more testing but needed a starting point. Thank you!

28 minutes ago, birdcharm said:

 

I have a feeling that the salsa jar may require the 60/44/18, but I could be wrong about that since I've mostly used both sizes in sundae or dessert type candles in the past, not in a container, except in combo with candle gel for preserve candles.  From that experience, anything around 3" got the 60.

Even with a harder wax? I've been using the 51's and even the 60's but haven't done real extensive testing with either one. Just making sure I was on the right track. Thank you!

19 hours ago, bfroberts said:

What paraffin are you using?

I've gone back and forth with 4786 and 133 tart wax from Rustic which can also be used in containers. I wanted a harder wax because it's so hot here that I was afraid 4630 wouldn't hold up if I had to ship something or if I decided to do some craft shows outside. It can be warm here even in December sometimes.

On 6/5/2020 at 10:57 AM, bfroberts said:

I can get zero mushrooming with zincs with multi-wick containers, but it's harder with single wicked containers.  Sometimes they will be perfect, but more often than not there will be a bit of mushrooming.  Personally, I don't mind a bit of mushrooming if the wick will just break off at the appropriate spot when you touch it.  This can be achieved pretty regularly.  But if it's a big honking mushroom that holds tight and actually has to be cut off, I consider that a failure.  IME, they work better in paraffin than parasoy, and if you've got that gloppy, sticky 6006, pretty much everything mushrooms in it.

I know this is an old thread but I've been trying to make candle with paraffin and zincs. I have some 16 oz square mason jars and some 16 oz salsa jars which are a little bigger around. Would you double wick the salsa jars or just one, either a 51 or 60? Just trying to get a starting point. I see that LS sells their candle kits with 51 zincs for 8 oz jelly jars and both of my jars are larger than those.

On 7/7/2022 at 10:08 PM, rutlandjustmakesscents said:

Hi!! does anyone have Just Scent’s Orange Caramel Crumble, that they would like to part with? Don’t really wanna pay $23.25 for a 16oz and the expensive shipping!!! I also need their Santa Baby and Nana’s Apple Butter if anyone wants to part with those too! ❤️

Indiana candle has orange caramel cake which is the same as JS orange caramel crumble and her shipping is reasonable. I've seen Santa Baby somewhere also but can't put my finger on it right now. Also Nana's apple butter to my nose wasn't as good as pumpkin apple butter from Flaming and NG but I may have some of that. I'll have to look and get back with you. Is this Brody? 

8 hours ago, Lizzy said:

Yeah the dimples is what turned me off with 133 when I tried it years ago. Is 133 only available from RE? That would be another turn off for me personally because I just got burned by a supplier discontinuing the wax I was using (and loved) 

You can get it at Flaming, Just Scent and there's one more place but I can't remember right off the top of my head. Their para/soy wax is also sold at Flaming and Just Scent and also Virginia Candle Company.

4 hours ago, Lizzy said:

Hasn't for me so far. Adhesion is great for me with the PB 600 and also 464. I love the throw from 6006 but on it's own...the wetspots are too much for me. I have been testing some blends with it. BUT....BUT....I am kinda sick of having to buy multiple waxes. Especially with prices sky high not only for wax but shipping as well. 

I hear you on not wanting to keep buying multiple waxes. I think I've settled and then BAM! I change my mind. I was using 6006 for containers and to mix with 4625 for clams but it gets so hot here in East Texas that I thought I needed a harder container wax so now I'm trying 133 because it can be used with containers and shapes too but I hate the dimples it leaves on the shapes and I'm not sure yet if the throw in containers is as good as 6006 but I've only poured one candle with it so far so it's too early to tell. After 10 years you'd think I would have it together by now but nope, not yet.

On 5/11/2022 at 3:49 AM, Lizzy said:

Ohhhhhh well hot dawg! Good luck with that! 

I switched to another parasoy for Jars. One that has more soy than 6006. Pro Blend 600 from TFC. It's got great adhesion, throw is fabulous at 8-9% even after a short 3-5 day cure, it burns beautifully and looks great . It's (mostly) a one pour with the occasional sinkhole near the wick. 

 

6006 is a great wax but I can't get past the "dollar store candle look" with it's wet spots. 

 

The para/soy from Flaming doesn't leave wet spots? I've never tried that wax, just their para/soy tart wax which is the same from RE and Virginia.

On 6/27/2022 at 12:29 PM, Lizzy said:

Not right off the bat....seems to me that any blends with soy need to get good and hot in the warmers I use. I prefer hotplate warmers. I CANNOT stand light bulb warmers and will never recommend them. The best warmer I have ever owned and still use is a tiny Owl warmers from Yankmee. LOL It's only 20 Watts but man that little thing works like a charm!!

I have to say....all waxes that were available to us just 10 years ago have changed. Nothing's the same anymore. 

I like the hot plate warmers too. I have a couple of the light bulb ones and like them well enough but I do prefer the hot plate warmers.

5 hours ago, Lizzy said:

I am the same way Girl! LOL
I used paraffin for the longest and have been testing soy for a few years now and while I appreciate the almost instant & intense throw with paraffin...I absolutely LOVE the rich creaminess (especially in bakery scents) and longevity of soy. Personally I don't need a tart to last for days but it's nice to see that it can. 

We sound like two peas in a pod LOL!

Do you get the same throw with para/soy as all paraffin? I poured a candle in 133 and it didn't seem to throw as well as I thought it should so I've poured one in para/soy and I'll test that one in a few days but the cold throw in that one seems to be better. I could be wrong though.

This oil just screams Fall to me! Not my usual sort of fragrance but I love it! It reminds me a whole lot of Alpine Cheer from Flaming which I also love.

Wax used: 4625/6006

Cure Time-One Week

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