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Why do you OR don't you dye your candle wax?


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I have a friend that insists my candles will sell better/be more classy without any dye.

Then I have another friend who insists the color of a candle is what makes the scent "click" with the customer.

Any input from anyone on what customers really prefer?

I thought about selling my candles as "All candles are dye free unless otherwise requested, if dye is requested a color will be chosen to coordinate with the fragrance"

??????

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candles will sell better/be more classy without any dye

This depends on your market and the overall look of your product.

another friend who insists the color of a candle is what makes the scent "click" with the customer

Science is with this opinion. When there is a color associated with a fragrance, the overall scent identification and intensity increases, ie: rose & pink; cinnamon & red; vanilla and white; herbal & green; lavender and purple (lavender LOL).

You can always go for both markets by designing two product lines: a higher cost "spa" type line with a limited # of fragrances that translate well with no color and a lower cost, dyed line with the colors matching the scents.

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That is a really great idea Stella! How are you always so awesome?!

re: overall market, well that has changed. I am in Northern Indiana now in Amish Country and I despise the rustic stuff though I know many love it. I CAME from Tampa - in the Westchase area where Spa/Elegant was/is the look I had/have.

Having trouble finding a middle ground! At the end of the day, I want to reflect me but appeal to the area. Oh and SELL !!! :)

Edited by morethanrubies
i forgot to add SELL!
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I think its really a matter of personal preference and style. When I think of candles I associate a color with a scent and so does my brain.

White candles are nice but I tend to associate them with church and weddings.

Upscale candles have the packaging to go with them. I've seen white candles in plain jars with plain labels and thought... ewww! So just because a candle is white does not mean its upscale. It has to look upscale too. So if you want to go that route get yourself some nice jars and labels.

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I'm moving to the Tampa/St. Pete. area later this year. In your opinion is there still a market in the surrounding areas for candles & soap. ( If thats not too personal to ask.) TIA!

That is a really great idea Stella! How are you always so awesome?!

re: overall market, well that has changed. I am in Northern Indiana now in Amish Country and I despise the rustic stuff though I know many love it. I CAME from Tampa - in the Westchase area where Spa/Elegant was/is the look I had/have.

Having trouble finding a middle ground! At the end of the day, I want to reflect me but appeal to the area. Oh and SELL !!! :)

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Sometimes I make dinner table candles in a Victorian type glass. They are always white (I tried color and they just don't look good). I think the container has the attractive look with the dancing flame inside so the color is really more of a distraction. They are also without scent. No need to distract the diners from what is on their plate. And they are soy. The only soy that I am still playing with.

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I absolutely agree - when I am enjoying a fine dinner with candlelight, I don't want anything to distract from the enjoyment of that scenario nor do I want to smell Butt Naked or Jamaica Me Crazy or (god forbid) MONKEY FARTS while I am dining on Joe's Stone Crabs.

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I personally love colors in my candles and will continue to work with them, despite the occasional hassles with frosting.

In my particular suburb/market, many of the customers do not want dyes or sythesized fragrances, so, in line with what what Stella described above, I offer two groups: FOs with color, and EOs with no color.

Although I like offering colored candles, producing the no-color EO candles is such a breeze.

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I just love my colours. :) When I walk into one of those "all white" shops I feel like if I breathe I'm going to make something dirty or break, but although we've been doing really well with our mainly country style line we are now forced to go with a more "stylish" jar, all white wax and black labels along with white melts to match just so we can get more opportunities for other stores to take our products.

My main gripe with all white is that it's sooooooo easy to mix things up in the pouring process and as I'm finding some scents discolour the white wax anyway, which annoys me co's then there's cream candles along with white.

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My main reason for never adding dye to our candles was this: suppose someone really loves apple cinnamon candles, but they can never have it because the traditional "red" color of that scent clashes with their decor. With dye free, every scent matches :)

I agree!

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I'm moving to the Tampa/St. Pete. area later this year. In your opinion is there still a market in the surrounding areas for candles & soap. ( If thats not too personal to ask.) TIA!

I really don't even want to talk to you! LOL. I miss it so much!! It has been 2 years now so I am uncertain. I do know that there are several retail soap shops. For example Get A Guru in Tarpon Springs and they seem to do well. In Tampa, my main business was parties & fundraisers. I had a few shops too.

I think I am going to go with the no dye concept unless requested. I agree, I love certain tropical scents but never bought them in the past because of their loud color. I think if I sell it as "matches every decor so you can display year round" then take color requests it will be something different than others up here where I am at. I don't mind that some are cream and some are white. I call them "candles are left the natural color of the wax which can very from white to cream depending upon oils that are used"

Here is my label if it makes more sense how I am trying to transition!! -- I change the color of the flourish behind the Logo to go with each scent so there is less confusion.

EA-CANDLELABEL-1.jpg

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My mother is from an upscale lifestyle/income bracket, and she has always had white carpets, white furniture, white dogs, and only white or neutral decor; plus, she hates fragrance. Our Christmas tree was only allowed to have red and gold ornaments on it for many years, until she loosened up about that. lol So, I associate all white/neutral decor with upscale snootiness and I don't understand it at all. It seems very uptight and conformist to me.

But, she wants me to make her candles only in white, or shades of teal, because "candles are decor." And I asked her if people would refuse to buy a certain fragrance of candle just because the color would clash with their decor, and she said, "Oh, absolutely!" So, there you go! lol

But I like color and that's what I'm going to do generally. Also, the white candles look impressively classy in photos online or in magazines, but up close, in person, I don't think they look good.

Edited by HorsescentS
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