I'm back on this kick, because I got a sample of Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue over the holidays and it's put me in the mood for a Mediterranean vacay. Do any of you have any new ideas to add to the discussion above? I think I want to have my house scented like this this Summer.

Virginia has lost their ever loving mind. I suggest moving to another state...

I bought two unscented, cheap candles at Dollar Tree yesterday, so literally $1 each, because I want the glasses they're in for some other purposes and didn't care about the candles at all. So I have been power-burning them for 20 hours now to get rid of the wax, no trimming done during that time, and there is literally no detectable soot on the glasses at all. I'm surprised, as I would've figured these cheap things would have crappy wax and be mushrooming and smoking up all over the place. I've repeatedly checked them during that time because if I saw the first hint of soot I was going to blow out and trim to save the trouble of having to use more elbow grease later to clean them. And I know I could just melt the wax to get the glasses, but I figured while they were in candle form I might as well get some candle-lit ambiance out of them. So is it our FOs that are the true causes of soot, and not our waxes and wicks?

Yes, it's mentioned earlier in this post.

Same.

On that idea, there is a rose hips and jasmine at Bramble Berry that is beautiful. I ended up deciding that CS Golden Rose was great on it's own for this, because like you said it had enough of a hint of citrus to it that it fits what I was going for.

I have used the fish bowls for smaller votive candles. I put sand and seashells in the bottom and a votive in the middle of that. Maybe I can find one large enough for these containers. On the water idea, people float candles in water. Is there just not enough wax to water ratio in those to really cause any problems?

I like the cake stand idea! OK, that was pretty wicked:

For example, during the Autumn time of the year I have metal pumpkins that I set my container candles down inside of. And I have a huge orange bucket with cut-outs on the sides forming a picture that is great with candles in it. Or some people add a hurricane glass over candles. I'm looking for ideas like that to set glass container candles down in, to make an arrangement for a gift. What have you found in vases, bowls, or such-like that you liked for placing candles inside? Even better if this is kind of Christian / religious themed, as it's for a friend who is of that persuasion. Speaking of hurricane glass, have you noticed those significantly holding in heat and not letting it disperse as safely? The pumpkins and bucket I have are much larger and rather airy, and I've never felt they were getting hot inside at all. Edit: I just had a possibly cool idea: a bowl of water. Put a glass container candle in the middle, fill around it with water, can even dye it if you want, float some flowers or something in the water while the candle is burning. You couldn't have an arrangement be any safer! Hmmmmmmm..........

I'm investigating all your ideas above, and in the meantime went spelunking into the depths of my current stash and found something: I had samples of CS Golden Rose and Honeysuckle Jasmine. I stuck a Q-tip in each, then wrapped them in a small square of wax paper, and have been walking around with that in my pocket and taking sniffs. This smells GOOD; very springtime in the garden. I think I'm really wanting to go stronger on the rose than 50/50 with this; maybe I need to do another rose Q-tip and stick it with the first two. That would = 2 parts rose / 1 part honeysuckle jasmine. I think the honeysuckle jasmine is giving it a real clean laundry / fabric softener vibe, and I want more of the rose side. Thank you for the idea! @sarahmarah Bramble Berry was one of the first suppliers I bought from years ago, so I have a bit of a nostalgic spot for them. They have some amazing sounding FOs now, so it's about time I revisited them. https://www.brambleberry.com/shop-by-product/ingredients/fragrance-oils

@Candybee I think I'm going to try your CS Red Rose and Honeysuckle Jasmine blend, and maybe Red Rose will be the straight-up rose I'm looking for since we still can't get Rose Bouquet from Peak. Sounds like @Shari has a good blend down pat too. @soshiegirl is the CS Rose you mentioned the same as Red Rose that Candybee mentioned? @Sarah S did you ever try Flaming's dupe of Rose Jam and that Black Rose & Spice from WSP? I still love it.

Your link is ginger pomelo. Not honeysuckle rose.

I am still pining away for that list I posted above, and I probably missed some good sale along the way. But their small sizes are just a little too spendy for me to order all I want so I just keep not ordering anything. They supposedly have another sale coming up around January 6 so we'll see if it's as disappointing as last year's end-of-year sale.

Who has that? Sounds promising.

For those prices I hope the quality is there. But their terminology and names are a bunch of hooey. This "orange blossom + fig" doesn't have fig listed in the notes at all: https://woodenwick.com/product/orange-blossom-bouquet/ What is a "gilded rose"? Gilded with what? https://woodenwick.com/product/winter-garland/ And they've changed some names, and that usually happens because they got in trouble with an infringement or to increase the marketing wow. "Gilded Rose + Spruce" was called "Winter Garland" but I guess that just wasn't pretentious enough. No IFRA / safety info. When you look at an FO a low-priced ($4.95, $3.95, e.g.) something shows up first, which I assume is a sample, but it won't let you add to your cart and it doesn't show up in the drop down list when you look at available options. So something about their site isn't working right. Some stuff sounds intriguing, and since I just make a few things for myself and gifts I'd never spend a whole lot there anyway. But my Spidey-sense is tingling about them.