lisajo

Cracklin birch smells peppery to me. I'm not sure I like it. I have a 4oz bottle so will use it in something. LOL
I prefer AHRE Bonfire Bliss over NG Cracklin Birch.

The KY version @ ahre is excellent in wax! it's straight birthday cake. smells like you just baked a cake. OOB is very faint. don't let that deter you. the SNC version @ ahre is also very good. it has a better OOB scent and is more buttery. in my wax it took a longer cure time to give great results but it was worth it.

I'm going to go back and read BUT I have had great success with soy waxes. I think I started about 2003 or so.  I used 100% soy from TN Celestial, Bluegrass, KY, Golden Foods 415. I don't particularly care for GF 464. I didn't like the soywax from Candlewic. I could never get the wicking solved. Then I tried the soy/cottonseed soy wax from KY. Stuck with that for some years. Then I moved to Enchanted Lites because I could pour hot and the scent throw was out of this world. I preferred the regular over their millenium blend. I used their regular soy until they went out of business.

I have never had a problem with scent throw (cold nor hot). I test, test, test, test fragrances in my own wax blends. I keep other wax reviewers results in the back of my head but my own testing supersedes all other testing. My scent blend is usually 8% max. If a fragrance oil doesn't perform at that percentage, it's not worth my money. I test my scents at 3 day cures and 7 day cures. I'm not waiting a 14 day cure for my candles. People might not agree with my fragrance evaluations timeline but it has worked for me.

My preference is straight cotton wicks: 44c, 51c, 60c, 62c (depending on the jar). I've tried other types of wicks and nothing has compared to straight cotton for ME.

I made my own parasoy blend with KY soy/cottonseed and 4627 (comfort blend). I didn't stick with it because I had to test every fragrance oil again and that was too time consuming for me when I already had a tried and true that worked. The fragrances I did test were fantastic as well. I also tested some fragrances that didn't work great in my 100% soy but worked much better in the parasoy blend.

My daughter gave me a great compliment the other day. She's away in another state going to school. She said mom, I need you to send me some candles. She said I bought some from the store but they don't compare to your candles. She said I can still smell your candle scent in my apartment even if I haven't burned for 2 days.  She said with these new candles, I still smell the boiled eggs I made the other day. LOL

If it hasn't been said already, I would buy small increments of different waxes and test that way.

On 3/11/2016 at 6:37 PM, Candybee said:

I've always heard TN's lavender is really good. Has anyone CP'd it?

check out the soapscent review board...there are reviews on there for it.

here is one..
No A or D, scent holds well, soaps like a dream!

LOL - to my nose it did

I've seen YouTube vids like these too. The customers ooohhh and ahhh over the amount of oil seeping as if it's a great thing. The vendor is using more oil than the wax is designed to hold. This also can mean very little testing was done. Pour and send...

Yes 416 frosts. 

On 3/26/2013 at 9:39 PM, jackbenimble said:

Has anyone ever used their CC? I have a sample and it smells very floral. I even put it in wax and still floral. I wonder if it was mislabeled? If you use their CC I'd love to know if it is worth trying again. Thanks!

I thought my nose was broken. I bought Cotton Candy from AHRE (old KY version) and all I get is floral too. At least OOB...

The candlemakers store has a great one. I used in wax melts not a candle. I think he has 3 versions. I remember a citrus one and a cherry one. They both worked on dog smells. BCN has one but I didn't like their version OOB. It smelled like old cigarettes and grass to my nose. I couldn't bring myself to put it in wax. 

Not a fan of Tenn Candles lavender... Yes it smells fantastic OOB and on cold throw but melting in wax melts had a bitter, biting bottom note. Made me dump my melts. It might be better blended with something to sweeten it a little. I prefer BCN lavender in wax and soaps. 

Don't buy woodsmoke!!!! It smells like rotten fish that someone tried to burn!

My faves are Toasted Marshmallow from AHRE (old KY scent) and NG. AHRE is very creamy but is missing the toasted note so I add a teensy bit of bonfire bliss to it. NG's toasted marshmallow has that campfire note but lacks the creaminess of AHRE's version to my nose.

country berry hotcakes

H20 Linen

Grapefruit Vanilla Twist

Are 2 right off the top of my head that rocked in soy!

I really love most of her scents. She's hit or miss just like any other company. She's super fast with shipping and has a huge selection.

The owner Brent has passed away, so the fate of TCS is not known. I always heard they had the best. I can't imagine a buttercream smelling like conversation heart candies ... whoa! 

One thing about DayStar is she's great at food scents and vanillas for sure ... certainly she has a winner buttercream. 

oh nooooooo....not just for fragrance oils but he seemed like such a nice person. This is so sad. RIP

I've tried KY (now AHRE) and Steve's. They are almost identical to me OOB (strong alcohol note) but in wax, KY has more of a burnt note and a strong coffee-ish note that I don't like. I just put Creme Brulee from Candle Coccoon in wax. I only had a sample and granted it's about a year old but it doesn't smell anything like KY nor Steve's. It almost smells like a creamy vanilla. I just made some tarts with it so will see what I get.

are fillmore and the flaming candle company owned by the same people? in the pinned post it looks to be that way but idk. which site are you all ordering from...?

Has anyone tried her vanilla waffles, buttery cake bites, shampure, cannolli, wedding cake, country cream, or brown sugar and lemon grass scent?  I've been eyeing some of her new scents but her samples are a bit expensive.

her lemongrass scent is one of my absolute favorites in cp and wax. i don't use many of her scents in cp but this was fantastic. it smells kind of light oob but it really blooms in wax and holds steady in cp. it's a strong thrower in tarts and blends with lots of other scents!!!

i had buttery cake bites but don't remember much about it except that it was super buttery. never tried the rest.

my faves for tarts are from :

aroma haven/rustic escentuals

bitter creek

just scent

natures garden candles

southwest candle supply

tenn candle supply

the candlemaker's store

for cp soaps:

aroma haven/rustic escentuals

mms (magestic mountain sage)

southern garden soaps, onld tony's (i know they have a new buyer but can't think of the name)

sweetcakes

i dont sell but some faves of mine are: 

boston tea party

butter brickle

gin martini

white chocolate

whole wheat bread

you may want to try a search of the board to find others.

That's strong for me too Chris. I can smell some of the stuff I make but faintly. Other makers I can smell clearly. As stated earlier, I've done everything I can think of to make the throw go and it's never as strong as I would like. I don't know what else to do. I noticed today my tarts are letting off steam, which means they are getting to hot or the FO is burning off. But if I cut the FO down its not going to throw. What am I missing? I'm using 4630 and KY tart was blended.

how long are you curing?

i've found with parasoy (making your own blends) you still have to find the right marriage of paraffin to soy. every paraffin doesn't necessarily work with every soy.

i've never used 4630 but i have used KY tart blend. it was ok. iirc, that wax benefits from a longer (2 week) cure. i would find a better wax combo vs using more fo.

cranberry compote, rare earth and the eucalyptus were some i could get away with using less.

Bcn lavender is like the EO. It is fantastic in CP and tarts.

Have fun, I never miss the new fo testing but for some crazy reason I miss playing with new waxes.  I've been waiting and waiting to try GW's Parasoy blend.

I guess because it comes in slabs and I love flake...EMBRACE the flake!

I didn't know GW had a new parasoy blend. WOW good to hear

Hi all!

 

I probably haven't met most of you before because I've been posting in the General Candle section.  I've been working with paraffin, and playing with blends, for 18 months and I've decided it's time to take the plunge over to straight Soy. I have 3 main reasons for this

 

1 - I use tall jars, and this causes a lot of sooting by the time the candle gets to the end.  I'm hoping with Soy I will reduce or eliminate this

2 - With paraffin I find that the wax gets a little dirty looking over time (from the carbon), and discolors, giving a cheaper look to the end product

3 - I find using a wick big enough to get a decent melt pool, in paraffin, results in more mushrooming than it does for an equivalent melt pool in soy.

 

I realize this could come at a cost to the hot throw. Though I read here that this isn't necessarily the case.

 

The reason for my post is I'm struggling to determine the right soy wax to start with and I really need some help because my head is in a spin going through this whole process again after 18 months!  The main things for me to consider are (and was hoping people could comment on each);

 

1 - Hot throw is by far the most important aspect of the product for me

2 - Cold throw is a close second

3 - I do not want glass adhesion.  I'm happy that it does not stick at all, but not at the cost of the hot/cold throw

4 - I don't want frosting.  All clients we've spoken to don't like soy candles because of frosting, and for that reason alone they do not buy soy.

5 - I would like to use CDN or premier wicks if possible as I have thousands of them

6 - I'm not adverse to adding %20 paraffin if it means eliminating frosting or other issues, though would be good to avoid if possible

7 - I have no access to USA where I am, so addition of that is not possible.  I can get other basic vegetable oils.

8 - I start with %6 FO normally.  Should we start with %6 or do you typically need more with soy

 

I know there is a lot of questions there.  It's a scary change since we've spent 18 months developing a product with paraffin

 

I read all the time that people give up on soy and move to paraffin, so this scares me, a lot.  I don't have much time to perfect this as we've got to have product out by the end of June (7 weeks) and we'd like it to be the new soy based product.  I'm hoping our knowledge is transferable from paraffin to soy(?) 8-)

 

Sry for the brain fluff!  had to get it all out 8-)

I wish you lots of luck! You will most certainly have your hands full with testing to meet all of your parameters by your deadline. When I saw the title, I initially thought you had already found your "perfect" wax. Again, good luck!