GailC

If CW is Candlewic, you need to head over to the current poll and vote for them because poor Candlewic has 0 votes. I really like CW too, but haven't ordered from them in a while. Midwest isn't included in the survey, but TallTayl said she would add suppliers if requested to do so.

The problem is I couldn't part with many of my FO's, no matter that I've had some for years and still haven't used them. Smells are free though! My grandchildren and great grandchildren and great niece like to sniff the oils in my cabinets.

I have ordered from 7 of those on your list, but 2 of my top 3 aren't on it. Aztec and Fragrance Buddy. (It sure is hard to narrow it down to 3 though. Some people were totally unable to do it in the 2013 survey. )

I don't know if you're still on this forum Dave, but this post really resonated with me. Especially this: By far, the majority of us are always searching out that elusive "smell" we just have to have, or we have one that's "acceptable", but we want to find one that's just a bit "better", a bit "truer", a bit "stronger". Unfortunately, I can't seem to stay off the Facebook Destash group. Lately I have ordered 22 samples from one seller and am waiting for 4 sixteen oz bottles of FO from another. One of my joys in life is sniffing bottles of new fragrance oils. My cabinets are already stuffed full, but I don't care!

@Belinda, has your top suppliers list changed in 9 years? I think it's interesting that one of your top choices was The Candlemaker's Store. I've seen so many negative reviews about them. You and I have discussed them before. I haven't been impressed with many of their oils, although to be fair, most of what I have gotten are the free ones with $100 order and the $10 specials available in their little store. The few regular priced ones I've ordered have been strong enough though. It's true with that company; you get what you pay for.

@TallTayl, strawberry blended with your own rhubarb sounds good!

Really? What are the 3?

I didn't list any private sales either. Some I can't remember. I forgot I order one or two from Maple St when I was buying clamshells. Didn't put that one on my inventory list for some reason. Years ago someone did a survey of our top 3 suppliers. Now I can't remember which 3 won the survey. It would be interesting to do another survey and compare. Some companies have gone out of business and new ones have sprung up. I bet the top 3 would still be close to the same as it was.

I get my jars and wax from The Candlemaker's Store because it's about a 2 1/2 drive from my house, but I haven't bought many FO's that were strong enough. The free ones with order are meh. I have bought 2 or 3 of the specials that were good, but more that were not. They were tempting because they were in the little store area for sale. I have bought a few regular priced ones that I liked. I really should try more of those, but they seem to get a lot of bad reviews so I'm leery.

Oh no! I see more names on your posts I haven't ordered from yet.

Don't count on it.

I tell myself not to order from a new supplier, but then I do. Aztec Nature's Garden Fragrance Buddy Rustic Escentuals Candlewic Candlescience Mill Creek The Candlemaker's Store The Flaming Candle Just Scent Cierra Virginia Candle Supply Studio Fragrance Lone Star Indiana Candle Supply AAA Candle Bitter Creek EAP Innovations Muddy Soap Company Southwest Candle Supply Candles & Supplies Tennessee Candle Peak Heaven Scent (still miss this one) Bluegrass Candle (Miss this one too, so close to home) Mr Missy (Was that the name?) Northstar (first one I ordered from in 2009) So many more I have yet to try! Keystone, Cajun, Candle Cocoon, New York, Indigo, Midwest.....

I really like Arctic Air too.

My favorites from Mill Creek are: Grandma's Kitchen Southern Hospitality (dupe of Juniper Breeze) Backroads (Dupe of YC Storm Watch...so good!) High Cotton Arctic Air Harvest Spice Hillbilly Homebrew (I have to rename this one) Cozy Home - haven't had this one for awhile but I recall it was a good apple scent Seaside

Oh you're right! I buy way too many FO's anyway; if I lived close to NG, I would really have trouble practicing any self control. I was just digging through one of my FO cabinets yesterday looking for a certain scent. I saw so many bottles I've purchased through the years that I haven't used in awhile, and some I haven't used at all yet. I should look through my 2 cabinets every time I think about placing another FO order! If the companies would just quit having sales! I was surprised Candlescience had a sale. I don't recall one in the 12 years I've been making candles except for their 99 cents sample sales. Of course I HAD to order some of their sale FO's plus FB's Thanksgiving sale. I am totally out of Grandma's Kitchen but I just can't order from Mill Creek for awhile. Apple Harvest from CS will have to do for now.

@MarleighaLucky you,, living so close to NG! I am in Indiana and have been there twice. It was so fun smelling all their samples; well not all, or nearly all. I had a list both times. Mill Creek has some good FOs. A few of my favorites are Grandma's Kitchen, Amish quilt, Harvest Spice, Backroads, High Cotton and Arctic Air. Also Cozy Home and Seaside, although I haven't bought those for awhile.

You're good at coming up with names. My daughter came up with a name similar to one of yours; Twisted Berry.

If you find a Rain FO that actually smells like rain, I'd like to know. In my opinion, fragrance oils just can't duplicate Nature's scents usually, like Rain and Fresh Cut Grass. Realistic citrus scents should be easy to find. I think Honeysuckle from Nature's Garden and Fragrance Buddy smell like real honeysuckle.

Some of my FO's are 8-10 years old and are still good. I've had very few that have turned bad. Like kandlekrazy said, go by the smell. And a few do turn dark after several years. I would be in deep trouble if fragrance oils only stayed good for a year!

Some of you are so good at coming up with names for fragrances. I bought Vampire Blood from Aztec when it was on sale at an introductory price. I don't make Halloween candles, and don't like the name Vampire Blood anyway. It's a BBW type. Here is the scent description: Fruity strawberry top notes followed by citrus and jasmine with sweet raspberry and plum bottom notes. I was going to call it Very Berry, but then saw it also has citrus, so that won't work. Thanks for any suggestions!

I couple of years ago, I ordered a few FO's and a case of 24 jars and shipping was $15. I thought that was very reasonable with the case of jars. I won't order from them again because their shipping charges have increased so much, just for FO's. I have found new suppliers since then besides my tried and true ones. I have way too many supplies so I can live without one.

I always thought that Snickerdoodle cookies smelled like cinnamon too, but CS smells like maple too, like you're describing JS's. In fact, CS Snickerdoodle reminds me of Pumpkin Pecan Waffle, guess that's why I like it. I ordered Snickerdoodle from VA Candle Supply and it smells like cinnamon. I'm sure cinnamon and sugar cookie would make a nice Snickerdoodle.

Some of your favorites are also mine Belinda. Some others: #1 Leaves - Aztec Pumpkin Cheesecake Aztec Cinnamon Stick - CS Others have good Cinnamon Stick too, but CS is my favorite Pumpkin Caramel Crunch -CS Snickerdoodle - CS Grandma's Kitchen -Mill Creek Harvest Spice - Mill Creek Hillbilly Homebrew - Mill Creek Chestnuts & Brown Sugar - JS Celtic Moonspice - RE Spiced Pumpkin Latte - RE Apple Cider Donut- Candlewic Pumpkin Chai - Candlewic Chai - Flaming Candle (Customers love this one, I call it Cinnamon Chai) Home Sweet Home - NG Apple Cinnamon Streusel - NG Hot Orange Danish - NG

@franu61, I would have never dreamed of combining lavender and pumpkin. Very interesting. Orange Gingerbread sounds good. I have blended a little. Once I had some gingerbread I wasn't crazy about and blended it with pumpkin. I have some Pecans & Pralines from Peak. Never cared for it, not sweet enough. Last Christmas I blended it with Sugar Cookie and vanilla I think, named it Nutcracker and it sold like crazy. Silly me didn't save the recipe but I'm sure it was just some vanilla and/or sugar cookie..

Candles: wax used: Soy 444 fragrance load (%): 8% average cure time: 1 week Wax additives: none container size: 9 oz glass straight sided jar wicking notes: cd 10 Cold throw: good Hot Throw: excellent Black Chamomile is now on my list of favorite fragrances. I think it is a unique scent. "Soft notes of coconut water and chamomile blend with tea leaves, wild lily and tonka bean." I really had no business adding yet another supplier in December last year, but I'm glad I did.