GailC

I want to sell candles to the person who has to wait until pay day to buy them. I remember back in the day when all I could afford to buy at a Home Interiors party was one Baked Apple candle. In other words, I try to find the best deals on jars and even most of my fragrance oils in order to keep my candle prices reasonable. So my jars are mostly under $1.00. 69 to 95 cents each for 8 oz jars or 6 1/2 oz jelly jars. (weight of wax).

@Sarah S, I agree with the Spice. Weird is the only way to describe that scent. I keep wanting the try the Mahogany Spice, but don't know if it will sell. It's different. I recently ordered from CW. Had to restock Pumpkin Chai. That one is a hot seller for my wholesale account @Moonstar and my other customers as well. CW has a lot of good FO's, Apple Cider Donut, Succulent Agave & Oakmoss, Black Tea Orange & Almond, Berry Tangerine (one of my favorites for summer) and the aforementioned Hot Buttered Rum. I got some free samples and now I want to order 16 oz bottles of Maple Bourbon Brioche and Cranberry Scone. YUM! Maybe also Merry Mint. But I must. restrain. myself. I have bottles of Bombshell and Be Delicious from CW I haven't even used yet, plus scads of FO's from other suppliers I've yet to put in wax.

Oh I have a million little bottles. I have bought 16 oz bottles without smelling a sample first. Mostly, it works out and I like them. Once in a while I get a dud. So I like to buy samples first. Some of those I like, and some I don't. Eventually I buy a 16 oz bottle of those I like. I like the companies that give you a 1 oz sample with each 16 oz bottle ordered, like Candlewic and Aztec. I've acquired a bunch of my samples that way. I think I'm going to have to start a new box for samples; my drawer and 2 boxes are full. Sometimes I use the 1 oz as a mixer just to use it up. Sometimes I just like to sit and sniff my samples.

I've got 6 samples in my cart plus 1 free one. Shipping is $5.12 so each sample will be $1.59 with shipping (counting the free one) With 7 samples plus the free one, shipping went up to 8 something. More than the samples. I might get the 6 because $11.12 will be the least I have ever paid for an order of candle supplies. I never sent the above post yesterday for some reason. so here's an update: I put enough samples in my cart to total $24 with shipping, including several of one scent. Evidently AAA doesn't limit the # of the same fragrance you can order. But I was good and deleted a bunch to get the total back down to $11 with shipping. I got:Country Heather, Vanilla Pound Cake, Hot Apple Pie (free), Raspberry Peach Cobbler, Snickerdoodle (to see how it compares to CS), Granny's Kitchen (to see how it compares to Mill Creek which I love), and Pumpkin Harvest. Every 16 oz bottle from AAA is only $14.95 so I'd like to find some winners.

This is a one day only sale. Happy Halloween!

Aloe & White Lilac was the spring/summer scent I restocked. Probably should have restocked Water Lily & Jasmine too, but I want to use up some of the fragrance oils I didn't even get around to last spring and summer. Apple Dumpling was their monthly special a couple of months ago, but didn't order anything from them that month.

Cinnamon yum yums is on my Christmas list. Really strong cinnamon. That's the Cinnamon Red Hots you're talking about right? One of my best selling Cinnamons is Cinnamon Broom from Fragrance Buddy. I smelled Cracklin Birch because so many on here seem to like it, but it's just not my kind of fragrance.

Sorry it didn't work out for us to meet. Actually I forgot to check on this forum to see if you were coming. Should have gotten your phone number. I smelled all the pumpkins you mentioned ( except Pumpkin Walnut Biscotti) but the one I liked best OOB were Pumpkin Crunch Cake and Pumpkin Cheesecake. I didn't get either because I have so many pumpkins, but I put them on my Christmas list for my daughter to pick from. I did like the Apple Dumpling but also liked Apple Cinnamon Streusel which I bought. Hot Baked Apple Pie is on my Christmas list. I already have the Candy Cane. I did limit myself but it was hard. I only got one spring/summer scent and it was a restock. I have so many FO's for the warmer months and don't sell nearly as many of those. I put Denim on my Christmas list. I like the name and the fragrance OOB Oh, and I really hope I get Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies for Christmas. Once again, I like the name and the scent.

Can't quite remember when we got there, but we went to lunch a little early because my nose needed a break!

This visit was much better than last time. I sniffed and sniffed until my sniffer gave out, then my daughter and I went into Wellington for lunch and had delicious pizza and breadsticks. We had eaten so much Amish Food/Cracker Barrel since Friday we wanted something different. Went back to NG to finalize my decisions and resmell some. So hard to limit myself but I kept reminding me that I didn't NEED any except the ones I needed to restock which were Apple Orchard, Carrot Cake, and Aloe & White Lilac. The new ones I narrowed it down to were Apple Cinnamon Streusel, Hansel & Gretel's House, Madagascar Spice and Frankincense & Myrrh (because 2 customers have requested Frankincense & Myrrh.) I checked several others on my list for future purchases maybe and checked some for my daughter to choose for me for Christmas. Some on her list were Denim, Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies, Lavender Luxury, Vanilla Silk, and Pumpkin Crunch Cake. I gave her several other suggestions so I could be surprised a little with what I wind up getting. I also picked up 2 cases of wax so saved a bunch on shipping. I had a list to smell but smelled a bunch not on the list since they were right there for the smelling. It was a fun time and it took me awhile to get all sniffed out and able to leave that place.

It would be great to meet you! We will be there Monday sometime in the morning. I saw that they close at 4:00 now but that's OK because we're staying in Ashland and will have the whole day to sniff, sniff, sniff. The lady there last time said that sometimes customers sniff for awhile then take a break and go eat lunch then come back and sniff some more. We may do that. I have a list of what I want to smell, like last time. This time I'll be able to do it justice because I won't be rushed. I will try to stay away from spring/summer scents because I already have so, so many I need to use. May smell some for future reference though. I do need to restock Aloe & White Lilac. I want to smell the apples and pumpkins because I just did a very successful fundraiser and the lady wants to do another one next fall with just fall scents. They sold lots and lots of Pumpkin and Apple and she wants even more candles next year. It's someone I know so I'm pretty sure she'll follow through. I used NG's Apple Cinnamon for one of my apple scents. I may get a couple more of those. Want to smell the different Cinnamons too because those sold well too. Some scents I want to smell to compare with the same scent I have from another supplier. I envy you being only 15 minutes away! But even if I was too, I would still have to buy my favorites online from other suppliers. That's why I should stop adding more suppliers. Like my most recent one, Bitter Creek. But now that I've tried their Pumpkin Cheesecake, I will have to order from them again sometime.

Oh, I have so many fragrance oils that are good with 444, I couldn't list them all. Here are a few: Candlescience: Cinnamon Stick, Very Vanilla, Pumpkin Souffle, Pumpkin Caramel Crunch Candlewic: Pumpkin Chai, Apple Cider Donut, Black Tea Orange & Almond, Berry Tangerine Rustic Escentuals: Spiced Pumpkin Latte, Caramel Cafe, Baked Apple, Celtic Moonspice Mill Creek: Grandma's Kitchen, Cozy Home, Backroads Aztec: Black Raspberry & Vanilla, Volcano, Cantaloupe & Lily, Leaves Nature's Garden:Apple Mango Tango, Australian Bamboo Grass, Hot Orange Danish, Coco Mango, Cottage Breeze, Water Lily & Jasmine Cierra: Blueberry Cobbler, Sea Island Cotton Flaming Candle: Chai Fragrance Buddy: Cinnamon Broom, Lemon Pound Cake, Pumpkin Cupcake, Sea Witch, Spiced Apples & Peaches Many other from above suppliers as well as other suppliers.

Good for you to sticking to just a few FO's. I'm just not that disciplined.

Oh man you should go! Only 2 hours. I'm about 2 1/2 hours away from The Candlemaker's store, but I don't like their oils as well and the 'store' is in the warehouse. They have lots of samples to sniff but if I like a scent I have to write it down and order online when I get home. They have wicks and other supplies you can buy on site plus their $9.99 specials. I've bought some of those, then regretted it usually. I went there a few weeks ago, but didn't know the store was closed on Mondays so I couldn't sniff anything. The guy did give me 4 free one ounce samples in sympathy though. Nature's Garden is a bright, clean store in Amish country. I can sniff to my heart's content then buy the 16 oz bottles I decide on.

I haven't tried that one. I'll put it on my list of scents to smell. Thanks! You're right; I had a pretty miserable summer healthwise, but I am better now and should go while I feel good and have the time and money.

You know in my heart, I don't want to be talked down.

I had a potential customer who asked for very specific fragrances similar to some a Candle company sells. One was Cabin Getaway. So I looked on NG's site and found that Christmas Cabin sounded very similar. My new customer loved it, said it is her favorite, and it has sold pretty well. It has the tree smell but not overwhelmingly so. You can also smell the fruit. By calling it Cabin Getaway, I can sell it all year round. By the way, I was so fortunate to find almost all the fragrances she wanted at NG. And she liked them all even though I don't. Brown Sugar & Fig and Lavender Sage. She has become a regular customer and buys several candles at a time.

My daughter and I are going on a little trip and I decided to make a 4 hour drive from where we'll be to Nature's Garden, because I LOVE that place. Some of you may recall, I went there a couple of years ago, but they closed at 5:00 and we got there at 4:15. So I didn't have time to do it justice. So much to smell, so little time. This time we are getting a hotel close to there the night before and I will have the day to go smell to my heart's content. But last night, I pulled out all my Nature's Garden FO's to see what I needed to restock, and realized that I REALLY don't need to go to Nature's Garden. I mean, besides all these, I have a ton of other FO's from Aztec and Candlewic and FB and Rustic Escentuals and Candlescience and Mill Creek and the Candlemaker's Store and the list goes on. I'm trying to think of the pluses: 1.My daughter is buying me some FO's for Christmas (I'm going to give her a list to choose from once I smell to my heart's content). 2. All that mileage will help on business expenses. 3. It will make me happy. That's all I got. Minuses: 1. It's a 4 hour drive from where we'll be. 2. I have more fragrance oil now than I could use up in years probably. So tell me to be reasonable.

For a bakery lemon, Lemon Pound Cake from Fragrance Buddy is awesome. I sell a lot of soy candles made with it. Smells exactly like the Lemon Pound Cake from Starbucks tastes.

I have used a few. I really like Bamboo Rainforest and Snow Cream. Country Berry Hotcakes is good too. Some of their oils seem weak OOB to me, but I should put some more of their scents I have in oil to truly judge. I learned that lesson a few years ago. I had bought one of their specials, Botanical Breeze, and it sat in my cabinet for probably 3 years, because I wasn't that impressed with it OOB. Finally put it in wax and was very pleasantly surprised. It was really good! I know you can't really judge an FO by how it smells OOB. On the other hand, sometimes if an oil does smell weak, that's because it is. I have sniffed a bunch of their samples when I was there picking up an order in the past, and wrote down some I really liked. But when I got home and looked them up, many of their prices per 16 oz were too high for me. $20 a bottle (16 oz) is normally my limit because there are so many suppliers with good FO's at reasonable prices. I'd rather buy from Nature's Garden, Aztec, Fragrance Buddy, Candlewic, Candlescience and even Rustic Escentuals. They are still cheaper usually, even with shipping. Except maybe RE, because their shipping is so high, but they have some really good FO's I like.

I love the title of your topic. How very apt.

I have been noticing that some of their fragrance oils finally have scent descriptions. Short and basic but lots better than nothing. My daughter and I drove to Ohio today to pick up wax and jars. A trip that takes about 2 hours and 20 minutes barring road construction (one way) saved me $140 in shipping charges. I told the guy there that I was happy to see some scent descriptions being added to the FO's and it had been a common complaint on a candle making forum I have been on for 10 years that there were no scent descriptions. He repeated the same line we've heard before from that company, that scents are subjective to the individual. I said it stills helps to know the fragrance notes, for example in a fragrance called 'Stormy nights'. He did agree with that. I was so disappointed though to find out the warehouse store is closed on Mondays so we couldn't sniff any samples. I knew it was closed on Fridays, but didn't realize it was also closed on Mondays. He was sorry, and gave me 4 one ounce sample bottles of FO. They were similar, Dirt Pudding and Oreo Cookie. Orange Buttercream and Fruit Loops. I thought that was nice of him and the store being closed did save me from the temptation to buy some of their $9.99 specials in the store which usually aren't that special. He said Fruit Loops was one of their most popular fragrances. Cherrylicious was my free 16 oz bottle for spending $100 and it smelled nice and strong OOB. I might try making Cherry Vanilla candles one of these days.

I like Hazelnut Coffee from Nature's Garden.

It gives me a sense of satisfaction to empty a 16 oz bottle of FO. One less bottle in my stuffed cabinets. I had emptied quite a few lately working on a fundraising order. But they needed more Cinnamon Bun and I had used it all, so I just HAD to place an order with Candlescience to get some more, and everyone knows you can't order just one bottle because of shipping cost. PLUS Candlescience was having their 99 cent sample sale at that time, which I had determined to ignore......until I needed the Cinnamon Bun. But I feel I was fairly reasonable in what I ordered, I always need more Very Vanilla, and I loved the Pumpkin Caramel Crunch so ordered another bottle of it. The only 'new' one I got was Apple Harvest which I had years ago. I always order the 99 cent samples of the the same fragrances I order in the 16 oz size, then pour the samples into the larger bottles. Might as well save a little per pound however you can. To my credit, I did resist Fragrance Buddy's Labor Day sale. It was hard though. By the way, I know the lady in charge of the fundraiser and she had asked for suggestions on Facebook of who to use for a candle fundraiser. Naturally most of the suggestions were Yankee Candle, then my daughter put up a link to my FB candle page. The fundraiser was for a small church youth group which I could accommodate and so far it has been a big success. I was told that their customers were going crazy over the Pumpkin candles. Yay!

@Hummel, here is one thread you might check out to see what people order from TCS.