lovelyscents

Am I way too tired to see the screen correctly or is Peak seriously out of all IGI waxes?  It is saying out of stock for even sample sizes.  Did I miss something?  

Thank you so much!!

Also, does their color guide seem to work for liquid dyes from other suppliers?

Does anyone follow their chart as a general rule and find it to be accurate?  I know it depends on how much you are using, but do their bottles seem to last for a great amount of wax?  Thank you all 

This definitely helps people like me who would like to stick with a handful of suppliers due to shipping and/or with finding dupes.  Not to say I won't still test majority of these for myself since it is subjective and I am just me .

Thank you as always Belinda darling, I will add some of these to my list for testing when I can order 

Anyone else try or use CandleWic FOs lately?  Need recommendations for ordering samples

6 hours ago, birdcharm said:

I would like to do them again -- usually, I've done them with a variety of critters -- but it is a bit of a messy project. 

I definitely agree with being messy...and hot fingers if you arent careful LOL

I absolutely love country, rustic, primitive and vintage styles!  Thank you so much Gail, I will definitely add some of those to my list to try!

Here are my little ones I have made in the past.

On 6/3/2016 at 9:45 PM, GailC said:

My favorite fragrance oil suppliers have changed through the years.  Now I order the most from Nature's Garden and Aztec.  You can't beat Nature's Garden shipping charges.My last order was $100 and the shipping was $10.  I like Aztec's sales and several of their FO's are my most popular scents.

 

I also like Mill Creek, here in my home state of Indiana.  Their prices are a little higher than Nature's Garden and Aztec but I really like several of their FO's.  I also like the sample pack deal.  2 oz of each fragrance instead of just one.

 

I do order from others from time to time, like Rustic Essentuals and Candlescience. I've ordered from Fragrance Buddy once, and I like what I got. May try them again sometime.

May I ask which oils you like from Millcreek?  I love their cozy home and am thinking of placing another order to try more.  Haven't heard much on this company lately.

On 4/18/2017 at 5:29 AM, deejaycee said:

Good grief, I'd never even heard of these before.  Are they popular?

 

Everyone I made them for loved them. I was actually inspired to do them after attending a craft fair where a woman offered them.  I bought one of course because I'm a primitive look lover and it smelled wonderful and added decor to my home.  

I meant to add that I highly recommend starting slow such as testing one wax type at a time to get to know it.  For example, test different soy waxes first and compare to one another, same with paraffin, same with parasoy preblends.  I was bad going all out and doing 6 different waxes at once while first starting out (soy, parrafin and parasoy preblend).  I ended up with over 100 tarts with numerous combinations and all it did was confuse me...especially when not knowing exactly what FOs will perform well, so I didn't know if it was the wax or oil doing well or not doing well.  I do not recommend this way to find your wax blend.  I'm reversing my bus and doing one wax at a time with several oils until I know the difference for sure of each, then I will blend.

You're correct on how things can differentiate so much from person to person even using the same wax, oil, temp, method etc.  Take it from me who is still testing my tush off finding differences in waxes that I am testing.  Heck, 5 days ago I wasn't noticing what was different from wax to wax while using a good oil.  Now that I am testing tons of oils in each wax individually, I'm finally starting to notice things better.  Honestly, once I found this forum and searched for days and hours, I was set on certain blends according to others recommendations.  Once trying for myself, wasn't exactly what I want.  I'm even going back to basics experimenting with beeswax and all just for my own cusriousity and final results.  I highly recommend Flaming Candle, CS or Peak to get some smaller amount of wax and test your heart out.  It's frustrating but at the same time, I'm loving it.  Good luck

I also agree about the CC frosting being more true to its name than any I've smelled so far!

I understand that there are differences in how overall wax melts perform depending on which waxes are blended.  I also know this goes into testing and individual preference, but say you have 50/50 soy/paraffin and using a non forgiving soy FO.  Would that amount of soy outweigh the performance of the paraffin in it and only have say half the strength?  Again, I know this goes with testing and preference, but just wondered from you longterm wax scientists

On 11/14/2016 at 2:53 PM, WaxAttacks said:

For those who blend waxes to make their tarts, do you find that it's better to have a higher ratio of container wax or a higher ratio of pillar/votive wax? Or an equal blend of both? In my personal experimenting I have discovered that a higher amount of container wax will provide a great scent throw, but the melts won't last long. A higher amount of pillar/votive wax will provide a longer lasting melt, but throw might now be as strong out the gate. Does anyone else find this to be true or am I just overthinking everything as usual? Lol. 

I am still testing and figuring out differences in wax as far as scent throw goes, but I do find pillar/votive wax seems to last a great amount of time.  I was thinking the same as you in terms of container wax being wonderful for scent throw, but then theres vendors like CFTKR who uses all pillar/votive with a booming business and confuses me again LOL.  Im continuing to test.  Good luck and post your findings.  I find everyone here to be wonderful and so helpful. 

5 hours ago, kandlekrazy said:

Seepage only happened to me once way back when I didn't know much about waxes...thank goodness! I definitely will pay attention to the wax during varying temperatures as you and others mentioned as well. Thank you!

This is why I ask to see if it is just me, I appreciate all of you and your help.  I will continue testing

3 minutes ago, justajesuschick said:

You are finding the same results in terms of longevity as well? That is where I noticed a difference.

Honestly yes, but I was trying to stick with 2 good oils to try and test like you recommended.  I have more curing right now to try additional oils, but maybe I'm giving more credit to certain waxes than are due or I'm just really bad at noticing the difference.  Which is not good, especially if looking to offer to the world someday.

3 minutes ago, justajesuschick said:

When I found a blend that threw the scent the strongest AND longest is when I knew that I could stop looking. Testers reported the same back in terms of longevity of scent in my final 2 blends. Ultimately, 1 won out.

I chose 2 scents which I knew were strong and I alternated them as I tested. A spice scent and a clean scent as an example. That way I tested the spice scent on Monday, clean scent on Tuesday, same spice scent, different wax blend on Wednesday and so on. I was not smelling lingering scent from the previous day's test as I evaluated.

I used the same warmer on the same room for testing. That way I was eliminating that as a variable. 

I am also using the same 2 warmers using half ounce in each, is this my problem?  Should I just be using the whole ounce melt in one warmer for testing?

3 minutes ago, justajesuschick said:

I have use the same wax blend (my own blend of 2 waxes) for years now and am glad that element of my wax making is done.

Trust me, thats definitely a good feeling as you can see, this is more difficult when you want it perfect.  I trust your melts are wonderful, but I really love parasoy for the richness of some scents and the appearance.  But yes, settling on a blend is driving me nuts to find, but I'm continuing to test.  I thought I was overthinking this at first, but it's simply just trying to get it the best it can be and eliminating my confusion. 

On 4/23/2017 at 6:28 AM, justajesuschick said:

 

Agree that the wax dictates the limit.

I speak only of melts-NOT candles when I say that I do not follow the "anything more than 6% is a waste" nor the "find the wax cheapest or easiest to get and make it work" theories.

My testing proved these theories not to be optimum for me when it comes to melts. 

In all of the testing I did, percentage of oil mattered and I got different performance results wax blend over wax blend. Even testing to the point of 10% more of one wax over another in a 2-wax blend netted a difference in results for me and my testers-who, of course, were testing not knowing anything about the wax blend makeup of the melts they were supplied to test. They only reported back results on Apple Pie A and Apple Pie B (as example) as test melts were labeled as such.

Well I definitely am finding the oil percentage to perform different results, but am not quite there yet on noticing the difference between waxes while using a good FO.  I understand sometimes using a pillar vs container wax may carry the oil a little longer but it's very close depending on the wax in my testing.  For example, Tennessee PPW throws very strong and long in all four of the waxes I've tried including 464, 415, 4625, 4630.  I've tested it at family members homes and my own while leaving in between to avoid candle nose.  I do see differences in the appearance etc., but feel these are all very good waxes, so it's hard at this point in time to differentiate.  I will not stop testing, but I give credit to all of these particular waxes.  It makes me feel like the actual real test would be using a known lighter oil and see which wax throws it better vs a good oil that throws well in most waxes??

Helpful information, thank you CandyBee!  Years ago when I was making melts for myself and did not know much about them or anything about this forum, I definitely overloaded as I had wet / greasy 464 chunks.  I quickly learned about FO overload after that 

Cotton Candy Frosting from JS is good.  Cannot recommend a buttercream as I have not tried one yet, sorry.

Good evening all,

I have been testing melts for some time now with several different waxes.  Each wax individually (to get to know each wax) and in several blend combinations.  I am taking very precise notes (CT, appearance, HT, longevity, time it takes to melt etc. on a scale of low/med/high).  I wanted to get opinions from all the experts doing this for years so I know if it is just me or if anyone else is finding the same results over time.  When referring back to my notes, I see that the more FO in melts (for example 10% vs 6%) = higher throw and longer lasting.  Upon looking at this board high and low through years of posts, everyone states that using more than 6% is a waste.  However, I am not finding this for some reason and I am testing the 6% vs 10% in 415, 464, 4625, 4630 and the granular pre-blend wax.  I have used tons of FOs as well, reputable ones mentioned on here and I do know now that I am doing things at the correct temperature since the higher FO % melts are throwing much better.  I am also noticing many people recommending to find a wax that is cheapest to purchase with shipping and make it work.  I have found that almost all of these waxes I have been testing do perform fairly well if the oil is good.  Therefore, I can see where some would recommend making one wax work in my opinion.  However, I am the type of person that like things as good as they can be and know there are fairly better waxes over others, or else we all would use the same one.  I see alot of vendors lately getting decent reviews on their wax, but have noticed all of those vendors (excluding one) do several FOs in one blend.  I wonder if it is because they're mixing several FOs vs 1, seems it would make the overall melt better since you would hopefully get 1 out of those 3-4 FOs in that single melt to perform well.  Maybe 6% works better in candles vs melts?  I may be overthinking this??

Edit to add:  I know about candle nose and I have left the house several times and tested melts in other households of my family members to avoid getting "immune".  I also know soft waxes vs pillar/votive waxes in terms of what is "supposed" to help with longevity.

On 4/19/2017 at 11:30 PM, wthomas57 said:

My input:

 

3022 is good... similar to 6006. But I wouldn't choose it over 6006 for several reasons.

 

1) HT is good.. but not better than 6006. Anyone who ahs issues with HT with 6006 just needs to troubleshoot what they may be doing wrong. 6006 HT is incrfedible and requires only a little cure time. Of course, it can get better the longer it cures like any wax. 3022 takes a bit longer to cure I feel. The closes thing you get to straight parrafin HT that isn't straight parrafin is 6006... end of story!

 

2) I can get a few different wicks to work well in both waxes but each with their own caveats. I feel like 6006 gives me a couple more options though. A lot of it depends on the jar. I think as the jar size (diameter) increases, 6006 has performed better than 3022. 

 

3) Because 3022 has more soy than 6006, there is potential to run into more problem FOs, though I haven't yet with my limiting testing.

 

4) Color - can get more vibrant colors with 6006

 

5) Pricing. It just flat out costs more to use 3022 as of now. Less bulk discounts and shipping is more.

 

6) Availability - Clarus needs more suppliers for me to feel comfortable 

 

All that being said... I still like 3022 and like the company and people who work for it. I wouldn't hesitate about using or or feeling confident with it. But, I cant justify it over 6006... at least yet. 6006 has been my go to wax and taken me from 0 to where I am now all on its own. At this point.. I just trust it and have the process to use it down pat. So at this point, it will take something REALLY good and different for me to change.

I really appreciate your honest review of this as I was very much concerned about the same reasons with 3022, especially cost due to supplier availability.  By this post, I am assuming you just do candles?  I ask because I wonder if another wax (pillar/votive) should be added for melts, not venturing into candles at least not for a long time HAHA.  I honestly have been testing for quite some time now and realize that I will have to test those things for myself (since we all get different results with same waxes, FOs, temps etc.), but this helped me in my decision to try 6006 first.  I have been testing 415, 464, 4625 and 4630 all on their own and in numerous blends.  I now would like to venture into a couple preblended parasoy waxes.  However, I get nervous with preblend formulas for the possibility of inconsistent variables per batch.  I have also tried the granular preblend which I thought was decent and I love the appearance, but am still feeling out the HT.