Sarah S

I feel like so much of it has to do with the brand, as I'm sure you know. My crowd loves designer dupes like VS Love Spell and Pink Sugar, as well as ambers and vanillas, but my brand is heavy on the sexy. I'm definitely not marketing toward the natural crowd.

On 7/26/2019 at 3:02 AM, moonshine said:

I ordered direct from the manufacturer- precision wick and the minimum was 5000

many of my containers were in between a 9 and 12 and despite candlescience saying they didn’t see much difference fro the 11 and 12, I have 

so if your ever needing any let me know - they were a great price for that many 🤷‍♀️

Thats totally cool, I have often been frustrated by the huge jump between the 9s and the 12s.

@bfroberts, not to throw a giant wrench in the whole business, but have you considered a different wax for that container? I have one jar that gets downright ugly with CBL 125, but has the most beautiful burn ever with palm. And vice-versa. 

Have you tried London Fog from RE? It's very hard to describe, but it does smell light and kind of foggy to me. Not like rain. Kind of a cologne type, but not in a choking way... it's really tough to pull out the notes in it, light and kind of damp is the best I can come up with.

I just picked up 2lbs of the 133 last week to play with, but I haven't had time to do anything with it yet.

I hope it does ok with HTPs! I also have some Premiers, but not a lot of sizes.

That's a fun concept, and one I've never explored, so I don't have any advice but I am very interested to see what others suggest!

Wow, amazing detail! And I enjoyed the science lesson! 😁

@Moonstar, https://purefragranceoils.com/shop/sugar-cookie-fragrance-oil/

Have you played with this yet @Ravens? I've looked at it, since I order wax from them anyway, but I've never pulled the trigger. I'd be curious to hear your thoughts. Are you planning to use it straight or mix it?

I don't work with soy wax, but I have tried Pumpkin Soufflé from CS and I really didn't like it. Kind of boring, and a pain to wick too. CS has a Toasted Pumpkin Spice or something (don't have it in front of me) that is so much more interesting that the soufflé. Not as bakery.

Now, if you don't mind branching out with your suppliers, Candlewic has an amazing bakery pumpkin, Pumpkin Pancakes. So delicious, buttery, maple-y, and rich! I love that one! Their pumpkin chai is also TDF!

Lovespell is a huge seller for me, I mix it with a little patchouli.

Oakmoss and Amber from CS is outstanding in incense!

I personally love Lush's Olive Branch, my favorite dupe is (was) MO's Spanish Fly, which Arizona now carries. It makes a lovely clean incense.

Another great seller for me is CW's Voodoo Love, it is absolutely fantastic.

Some others I love are Pink Sugar (RE), Blue Sugar(FC), Red Ginger Saffron(CS), Christmas Splendor(NG), and Black Sea (Aztec). I love incense, and I find many of my buyers like unusual fragrances that they can't find elsewhere.

I bet Campfire Marshmallow is awesome, I'll have to try that!

Sadly every single FO from Fillmore that I mix for incense has a terrible chemical smell when burning. Such a shame because they have great oils, I think there is something in their chemical composition that doesn't take to being set on fire, lol. A few from NG do the same thing. Happily ever oil from CS that I have tried (so far) is strong and awesome in incense. Same with CW's.

It needs to cure. More than a couple days for both CT and HT.

Is your A/C on? That kills my throw.

I like Aztec FOs, but some are not big throwers. Spa type scents tend to be more subtle, while some of their bakery and florals are very much in your face. So it could be a variety of factors.

Stick with one wax, one container size, and one wick series for at least three months while you are learning the process.

On 7/2/2019 at 9:03 AM, bfroberts said:

Those containers are more prone to the holes. Shorter, wider containers are less prone, but they can still be there if you aren't careful.  I poke holes and do the smiley thing, just like TT suggested, and then do repours.  It's the only way for me to know with certainty that there are no holes lurking under the surface.  It seems like a pain until you get used to doing it, but then it's just old hat.

They can be prevented if you are super careful and meticulous with pour temps and rate of cooling, but because they can be so well hidden, you'll never know for sure without poking around.  I consider it just a little bit of work for a whole lot of peace of mind.

 

As an aside, I stopped using those jars several years ago for this very reason. I used tumblers, straight sided jars and status jars for a while, going a more upscale look that seems to be the rage lately.  I brought back the 16oz square masons this year, and my candle sales have doubled, probably tripled previous years.  It's blown my mind.  I guess this look better suits my market.  Lesson learned.

^^^ This! Pint jars nearly killed my love of candle making, they were the worst to work with! Square masons are only slightly better for me. Straight jars FTW, every time! 😁

Or try two 41s instead of three. I don't generally triple wick unless the container is 5"+. Just too much heat. 

Also, like TT mentioned, vanilla FOs can be fussy to wick. How much did you use?

Totally agree with TT, that candle needs a little more burn time before judgement is rendered.

What does the flame look like? If it's a sad teeny thing I'd consider pouring another wicked up, but otherwise I'd see how it plays out at the midway point of the jar. That's always the tipping point for me.

I always wanted to try that too, but I use a high tallow recipe with some cocoa butter too, and I worry about the stearic not melting. This would be a good time to try it, I live in MD and we've been in the 90s! 😅

2 hours ago, TallTayl said:

 Pretty sure that was the video that I saw when he was comparing cure time. A medium wood wick in a tiny jar will burn like an inferno no matter how long you cure. 

 

Once my faire season is over I’m giving serious thought to writing a book and doing some candle videos. Not sure I want to open myself up to all that criticism though ha ha

No doubt you would get a lot of criticism, from the same ilk as this Standley guy. But you would get a ton of love and support too!! ❤️❤️❤️

I think that would be awesome!

Totally cool and unique! Thank you for sharing!

On 6/21/2019 at 1:12 PM, lovelyscents said:

Oh wow that looks just like CBL 125! Thanks for sharing 😁🤭

Thats my impression too!

So now I'm curious about the performance difference. I mean, CW wouldn't have two versions of the same wax, that's just silly. So there's got to be something different about the 133, although it does sound like it's a little softer. The 125 is soft, but I wouldn't call it slimy. 😂

I agree with Talltayle, that is definitely not palm wax.

Looks to me like a poorly manufactured parrafin candle. That sucks, I hope you can return them!

22 hours ago, Jeana said:

Do you put the OE from CS with other scents? I can’t stand the smell of theirs. I liked the fact that the OE from CC is supposed to be used with other FOs. I was told it’s supposed to have enzymes that break down oder in it. 

If the only way you see a difference is with a strong FO, how do you know if the oder eliminating is coming from the OE or just the strong FO? And how are you testing the actual oder elimination? I don’t have a smelly house lol, so I’ve been just checking for a strong throw. 

You can't mix the OE from CS with other scents, it just eliminates the other scents. Total bummer, but that's how well it works! 😂

Yeah so, the problem is I can't be sure if it's the EO additive doing its job or just the strong FO and honestly I haven't done a ton of testing yet. I do have a candle with a lighter laundry type FO and the OE additive going in the kids bathroon right now (also home to the litter box, those poor kids), and its smelling pretty good. I've been using it in the kitchen with the new zucchini blossom from CW, and it does a good job with standard kitchen odors, but that zucchini blossom is kickin all by itself so that's a tough call. I really need to make a candle with just the additive and no FO to properly test it I'm thinking. 🤔

16 hours ago, Jeana said:

I got the OE too, which is why I placed the order with them. I've tried it in a couple scents but I don't see any difference if I use it or not at 1%. Do you see a difference when you use it scent/throw wise? I'm using it in a para veg blend.

At 1% I can't tell, at 2% it does do a better job eliminating other odors so just the candle smell remains.  It isn't nearly as good as the odor eliminator fragrance oil from CS, that stuff is magical!! Sadly it's just the one fragrance though. 

I feel like this additive works best with a FO that is already strong, and it helps to boost the scent. I'm going to try it with smelly jellies next.

25 minutes ago, xxxAlpha71xxx said:

Hey Forrest, have you done any testing of premium wicks with 6006?  I've got a 

WI 750 in a 2.6 " jar and so far it's beautiful.  Steady flame, no smoke, no mushrooming.   Plan on continuing testing until the candle is dead.  If it works out I'll upload some pics.

I love the way Premiers burn, sadly I just don't get great throw from them. I don't use 6006, just an observation about Premiers. Hopefully you will have better results! How is the throw for you?

@Darbla, they also have the Odor Eliminator Additive for candles. My testing is still early, but it works fairly well at 2% without messing with my wicking in palm. I haven't tested it in paraffin yet.

Oh and their Vanilla Patchouli is awesome!