SweetScentsCandles

[Xue]

Your wish is my command!


sweetscentscandles.com

Would strongly recommend ebay for SSC addicts. Seems like no one really bids for them - a lot of the candles would going at their starting price of 9.90. That is, if anyone bid for them at all!

Plus, the $6.50USD for all shipping to USA still applies for all bids within 48 hours. So it's still a pretty good deal!

Really good way to get their testers (potential new scents), overruns (things they poured too much off), and newest scents at low low prices!

Do review your new buys grace!!!

PS. Found the Yahoo Group for SSC addicts!

[Xue]

my candles arrived today!!!

It took just FOUR DAYS to get from USA to London, and arrived v v securely packed. The packaging is simple but classy, good for those who like understated, unobtrusive designs. Laura and co packed 6 tealights and a votive with container as samples - wonderfully generous of them!

Haven't got a chance to burn any yet (I'm going to be burning candles for a longgggg time!), but items I immediately fell in love with were:
- Sweet Milk (smells of comforting warm, slightly burnt milk)
- White Dove (smells absolutely delicious! v v yummy)
- Tropical Explosion (exotic happy burst of scents that mellow to become yummy)
- Snowball Fight (clear, crisp and fresh without being biting; appears to have a warm undertone)

But I think judging based on cold throws isn't far so I'll burn them then review properly.




Thanks ponine!!! I'm going to try to pysche my mom to get those because they're wonderful for home decor!

[Xue]

Laura and co are LOVELY!!! My entire experience dealing with them has been nothing less than fantastic. I'm really enamoured now. Thanks so much Snowstar for introducing them!!!


BTW, are their cold throws reflective of their 'real' scent? I recall you mentioning something about a scent you hated cold but loved hot? Is this a common situation?

I'm considering giving one of the candles to my flatmate because his room is mingy (ie stinky)!!! The scents I least like are Fresh Linen (was looking for the sweet smell of freshly washed clothes drying in the hot sun, but got the smell of FAB, the washing powder) and Spring Floral (really too sharp as Barbie warned me).

Also, some of the samples given are of scents not listed on their website :huh: It's quite strange how the actual scent of some 'favourites' (like PINE & SPICE, ANGEL, Madagascar Spice) aren't half as nice as they sound! Am hoping its just the cold throw and the hot throw would be divine *crossing fingers*

[snowstar]

For me, the cold scent and hot scent is pretty similar. Hot scent tends to be stronger and burning brings out the different notes in the candle. When it's cold, I think i just smell the strongest stuff in it.

OGAP was weird, burning "removed" the spicy scent... puzzled about that one.

Yup! I love Barbie and Laura - they are so patient with helping us choose scents =) I never expected such long reponse to scent questions.

They have a tonne of scents! From what i've gathered, the scents on the web are the seasonal scents. Popular ones like creme brulee, yuzu etc can be ordered all year round, just email them to ask. IF they have it, then it will be the normal price. Special orders are for candles where they have to run out and buy more oil. Barbie mentioned once they have about 500 scents on stock!

I was told that aging is good for the candles. Most etailers claim their candles are freshly made and therefore better. Barbie told me that aging is very important. Confused about this.

I hope the other girls enjoy SSC as much as i have =)

ps.. shipping was that bad huh.. so i shouldnt be ordering internationally then..

[Xue]

To be honest, I don't mind straight scents since I'm so boring. I just like foody yummy smells!!!

Shipping was a killer. USD40++ for 7lbs of candles. I hope my bf doesn't see this! But I'm sure with Vpost It wouldn't be that obscene.

But the candles are worth it. a tiny tealight fills up my entire room.

i think the cold throw's is completely UNreflective of the scent! I'm burning Doggy Biscuit now and the cold throw is FOUL. But when burning, it smells like a sweet, warm vanilla pie. Yum yum! If all doggy biscuits smell like this, I'd be switching brands soon. Also, the cold throw of Sweet Milk does have hints of sandlewood and what not, but when I burn it, all I can smell is condensed milk.

I think my candles will have a lot of time to age what with how many I have! I'm placing them at the bottom of my closet so my clothes smell delish now!

[Dreamie]

Originally posted by ataraxia

Shipping was a killer. USD40++ for 7lbs of candles. I hope my bf doesn't see this!

Wow! Is that shipment cost direct to singapore or by vpostusa? I suppose i will pay anything too, for stuffs which are worth it

Saw your post at the ssc_addict yahoo message group. I signed up too. Great review! Makes me eager to receive my order. I'm a bit bummed coz right after i ordered, the V Day scents were introduced. And a lot of those sounds so interesting!

Glad that White Doves is nice. I have that one coming, as well as Olive Leaves and Madagascar Spice (free). I'm keeping my fingers crossed on Olive Leaves, to be a nice clean green refreshing scent.

Ditto on SSC's professionalism and excellent customer service. Order was shipped out within 2/3 days and complete with USPS delivery confirmation and tracking. If the scents agree with me, i see myself ordering more from ssc in the future.

[kare2711]

Having a little accidental windfall, I actually went to Ebay and bought 7 SSC candles Now after reading Xue's exhorbitant shipping, I'm a little guilty now.

But I presume VPostUSA will be a little consolation.

[Xue]

Dreamie: don't worry dear, it's for shipping directly from USA to London! Hence the exhorbitant cost. I'm glad you found my reviews useful! If you girls want reviews, just ask I'm hesistant about reviewing because I don't want to flood the thread!!!

Don't worry about the V-day scents. If you want them, go to e-bay!!! They're all available there and hardly anyone bids for them it seems. I got

Bit 'O Honey ($10.40)
creamed peanuts, honey, and vanilla. Decadent and rich

Choc Chip Cookie Dough ($10.40)
closer to a variation on vanilla: raw cookie dough with the tiniest chocolate nuances.

Sugar-Pie-Honey-Buns ($9.95)
(BAKING) Our "Sugar and Spice" blend, with additional white sugar, iced sweet buns, and honey.

Compared to their usual price of $14, I think it's quite a steal! Plus SSC will ship all bids won within 48 hours of each other together.

SSC just added more candles on e-bay, definitely check them out!!!




Kare: No worries girl, my logic is that these orders will last me for months!!! Since each tin can burn from 80-128h (depending on how many wicks you light), and a tiny tealight is sufficient for my entire flat. I figured I have about 1167h of burning time! Considering we'll only burn the candles at night, for the recommended four hours each time, that means more than 290 days of burning!! Almost a year!!!

But that's assuming we don't succumb and buy more.

I would strongly encourage SSC addicts to get on the yahoo group so we can start swapping! Probably doesn't make sense for me, off in London, but would definitely make sense for Singaporeans since you girls can easily arrange meetups to save on shipping.

And yes, I absolutely ADORE the LOL creations! They're practically works of art. Beautiful! And according to Snowstar, their scent throw is amazing too!

[Xue]

This may sound crazy girls, but do you sometimes feel that SSC candles' scent throw is TOO good?

Like I keep saying, a tiny tealight can burn for 4 hours and is enough for my entire room AND most of my flat! When I burn once, the entire corridor outside my flat smells of the scent within half an hour.

It's fantastic because it means the candles are great value for money.

But like one of my flatmates cautioned, the scents can get pretty sickening after a while! If this is the way with the tiny tealights, what's going to happen when I really start burning the big tins??

Is this only me and my tiny flat? Or does anyone else feel the same way too?

[snowstar]

yup! the scent throw is amazing =)

i tried burning the smaller 10oz single wick candles and was shocked by the throw too!!

Barbie sent me some samples of their skincare line and the scents aer awesome too !

[Xue]

The scent throw is amazing huh?

I tried Sweet Milk today. It's allegedly employee FAVORITE and customer TOP TEN: Dec. 2003. According to SSC:
Similar to Comptoir Sud Pacifique's "Lait Sucre" (of which we are huge fans). This fragrance is a blend of sweet cream (with slight butter notes), coconut milk, and sandalwood. and is much more than the sum of its parts. We refer to this as an "upscale Oriental vanilla".
However, I didn't smell any of those subtleties. To me, it just smelt of condensed milk, slightly charred. It was quite nice and unusual for a bit, but after a while, it became too sickeningly sweet. Definitely not as delicate and nuanced as the cold throw might suggest! Quite disappointed.

[Xue]

This is my favourite scent so far! According to SSC, it's supposed to be
An exotic mid-winter pick-me-up! Loaded with succulent pineapple, mango, ripe bananas. shaved coconut, and a sunny mandarin/tangerine/Yuzu blend.
It's definitely very fruity and smells of 'exotic' tropical fruits at that. Lively, fresh, uplifting scent with strong hints of pineapple and mandarin. However, instead of being 'sharp', the scent is 'softened' and 'warmed' by what appears to be hints of honey. This takes the edge off the fruity scents, making the overall scent more comforting.

Definitely recommended for girls who like happy, fruity scents!

[snowstar]

A couple of girls have asked me about the difference between LoL and SSC. thought i would post a copy of my reply here.
-----------------------------------

I tried many etailers tarts/candles and my favourites are LoL for tarts and SSC for candles. S&L has a strong throw however the tarts are too big for my burner ( have to cut each tart into 2 ) and a bit more costly. I tend to rotate my tarts so prefer small ones that last about 2 - 3 tea lights.

Is there a particular etailer you are interested in?

LoL is know for their tarts. I love their heart tarts - extremely strong scent throw, last at least 2-3 tea lights and very cheap! You get 12 hearts for $5 plus i think. For LoL, I like their strawberry jam, cotton candy, pink grapefruit and verbena berry. I happen to like sweet scents or citrius ones, so im sure the other scents are great too! I did try more than these but im not into foody scents. What i have tried are very true to scents.

SSC are for candles. I LOVE these. Last a lifetime literally - each 16oz is suppose to burn for 80 hours to 120 + hours. They are different from LoL - the scents are complex. LoL scents are straight one note scents IMHO. It really depends on your mood. Each SSC candle is so different it depends on what you like. I love the creme brulee, vanilla bean absolute, coffee house, white dove, a couple of the berry scents for Xmas, OGAP. Actually i have only come across 2 scents from them that i didnt like. Yuzu and Brown Sugar Brandy. The yuzu is very different from SS and i think the dissapoint is cos i wanted a SS yuzu scent. The brown sugar brandy was bad.... too much brandy imho.

I don't think you can go wrong with LoL as their scents are true and single notes. SSC candles are a bit more risk - the scent you buy might not be what you expect.

I hope with more girls buyng we can set up a singapore SSC swap board!!

ps
1) ssc have lots of normal candles they don't list . if you see a scent that someone raved about, you can always email to check if they have it

2) Barbie and Laura are BOTH very nice ladies. they will help you with your scent selection. just email them =)

hth

[Xue]

I wrote to Barbie and co asking about burning procedures:

Firstly, is it true that we must burn the candle for a specific amount of time according to its diameter during the first burning? Some people talk about candles having 'memories' and warn that if we don't burn a candle properly the first time, it'd burn unevenly during future burnings. Is this applicable for all candles?

Secondly, the tealights' scent throw is already so amazing, I can't imagine what the tins' would be like! Is it possible for me to just burn one wick at a time to 'conserve' the candle? Would that result in uneven burning?


Barbie replied less than two working days later:


Hi Xue, the tins do have a much larger scent throw, I think you will be pleased! Numerous of our customers do burn the wicks one at a time, they say it takes a little getting used to (to make sure you don't burn too far on one wick), but that for most scent it works quite decently. It is not the optimal way to burn your candles, but some folks prefer it (for less scent)...

The answer to your "memory" question is an interesting one, and it ties in to your above question... we have optimized each fragrance with it's own wick size (we use up to 10 different wick sizes... you will not be able to tell, but we can at our end!). The fragrances are optimized for three wicks per candle (burning simultaneously), but we also keep into consideration that a candle should burn decently with only two wicks (in case we or the customer cuts one too short). Thus, if you stretch it, most of the items will work with one wick, though not optimally.

There is no such as a *true* "memory" in wax, but we use this term as well, to refer to the melt pool, and getting the most out of it that we can. It is quite true that if you burn to the outside on the first burn (anywhere from 2-4 hours, generally), then your candle will tend to find it easier to burn to that rim on future burnings. This is the point (using 3 wicks) at which the combustion will be optimized, and this will reduce smoking, and other side effects. Remember that we have already "compromised" a perfect burn by including so much fragrance - this requires extra-capable wicks (we import ours from Germany) and extra attention to special additives in the wax formula, and it requires that customers trim their wicks (the carbon "mushrooms" caused by the fragrance).

This is only a very general summary of the chemistry behind it... does it help explain? Please let me know if you need more, I am delighted to teach these types of things!

Kind regards to our international friend,
Barbie






I hope you guys find this useful!

[glenda]

Thanks Xue. It's quite helpful but I need to read twice to get the info into my brain since it's quite technical to me. The mustroom she's referring, does she mean the carbon (some kind of dark charcoal??) will bulid up on the wick and thus need to trim every few hrs of burning? Hmm I wonder if I dont do that it'll be a problem :roll: