Review: The Melting Fairy Wax Co. Subscription Box #1 (Beta Tester)!

As I mentioned earlier in this post, I was contacted by the lovely people at The Melting Fairy Wax Co., a new wax subscription box service in beta testing mode, and they asked me if I wanted to test out their first box for them! Of course, I said yes!
[One thing I gotta mention...I wish I knew who I was talking to! I feel bad saying "lovely people, it sounds so informal! So, whoever you are, I'd love to know your name. :)]

Anywho, here's my unboxing of their first box! I apologize that this is up a few weeks after I received it, but with the madness of the holidays, everything sort of got pushed aside in my wax room to make space for wrapping paper, a mountain of tape, and gift tags! ;)

Please note, I did receive this box for free to test out by The Melting Fairy Wax Co., but all the thoughts and opinions on this post are my own!

I wanted to showcase this company's adorable label, so here it is! I love how colorful it is. The fairy is simple, yet sticks with the name of the company. Very cool!

Right off the bat, when I got the package, I thought, WOW, HOW TINY! I wondered how everything could have possibly fit in there. When I opened this the package, I didn't expect all of my goodies to fit in there, to be quite honest. One thing that often gets lost in the shipping of wax is how it's packaged. We've all had that one package that came in shambles, right? Well, it's quite the opposite with this box. Everything was packaged very neatly and I sincerely appreciate that. Plus, as I got to thinking, less packaging = less chance for things to move around in transit = no broken wax = happy Lolo!

Now, as you can see from the above photo towards the left side of the box, everything else (besides one chunk which I will go into detail about below) came in foil wrappers like little cupcakes would as opposed to scent shots, clamshells, or other types of containers. I have to admit...I sort of loathe these foil wrappers. While they are quite dainty and cute appearance-wise, they are very messy to deal with. Even if you're trying really, really hard not to be, wax seems to get everywhere. I've tried twice to be very careful and it doesn't matter, wax ends up all over the place. Maybe in the future, these will be phased out, but they were really convenient for shipping in such a small package. AHHH, conflicted!

At the top of the package was a little note explaining the company's beta testing, as well as this month's custom blend, Hansel & Gretel's Cinnamon Buttercream Cookie Crumbles (what a mouthful!). I like the detailed notes about melting, the howto's, basically. The owners recommend using a 17-24 watt melter, which is perfect because, as you know, I swear by my 24 watt hot plate. They also have a Twitter page, so follow them here if you'd like!

All of the wax came in small bags with a sticky-flaps for easy closing and opening. Here's the month's featured chunk, Hansel & Gretel's Cinnamon Buttercream Cookie Crumbles. One of the chunky pieces fell off in transit, just one! I stuck it back in its little wax crevice for the photo's sake. This scent smells amazing on cold sniff, and as you know, I'm not typically a bakery fan. I have smelled Hansel & Gretel's House blends in the past, and if memory serves, it's a combination of graham crackers, buttercream, candied goodness...it's a very sweet scent overall. I think it's the addition of the cinnamon buttercream that makes this work so well for my nose. The cinnamon sort of cuts through all the bakery goodness and gives it more dimension. I swear I almost get a hint of coffee as a background note! The cookie in this chunk is a buttery one, but it's not so overpowering that it has that buttered popcorn type of smell. Really like this, can't wait to melt it!

I was asked to pick out 5 scents that I wanted to try. My first inclination was to search for anything peppermint, and I found just that: Peppermint Fluff, which is described as "a fun and fluffy pepperminty scent with notes of vanilla marshmallows, violet and white florals, and huckleberries." Generally, I think of peppermint fluff as mint and marshmallow, but WOW, what an unexpected description, amirite? Violet? White florals? I had to get this. On cold sniff, the peppermint is absolutely sweetened, but I can't tell if it's by the fluffiness of the vanilla marshmallow or the very light touch of a violet-y note in the background. After I was done sniffing this, I almost smelled a floral laundry detergent in my nostrils that took a while to go away. Weird, huh? I can't say definitively if I dig this based on cold sniff, so I will go into more detail once it's melted, but I'd give it about a 6.5/10 on cold sniff. It's nice, but not too overpowering....and still a strange mix I can't quite put my finger on!

Next, we have Apple Strudel. Seriously how can you go wrong with cinnamon and apples? That is one of my favorite scent combinations, so this was another no-brainer pick for me. Apple Strudel's description is "a simple and spicy blend of apples, sugar, cinnamon, and baked crust." Sugar and apples are the first notes I get here, with cinnamon and crust bringing up the background notes. In fact, there's only a slight hint of crust, which I like...y'all know I'm not a fan of crust in wax. I'd give this a 6/10 on cold sniff strength. I do like this scent and am looking forward to it.

Fall Festival is, by far, my favorite scent of the ones that I picked. YUM! It is described as "a fresh blend of sparkling citrus notes, fruity notes of macintosh apples, raspberries, and peaches, spicy notes of cinnamon and clove buds, sweet vanilla, and blush rose." Citrus? Absolutely! Orange is definitely the strongest note in this. On second sniff, I get raspberries, juicy and delicious. Apple? A little bit. Peaches? Sure, maybe. Cinnamon and clove buds? It's there, but it's not super strong. Vanilla? Not really, I mainly get sweetness from the fruits here. Blush rose? I could see how these scents could come together to mimic a rosey scent. Now, this is a bit weaker than the first two, with a 5/10 on cold sniff...I found myself really smelling hard to smell all of these notes!

Noticing a theme, here? Apple Berry Cinnamon is "a very well balanced borderline floral fragrance with notes of apple, berry, and cinnamon. Not too sweet, not too spicy, this scent is just right!" I give this a 6.5/10 on cold sniff as well. It's not overpowering, but it's still pretty strong. The apples and berries come together and do create a touch of floral notes, but you also get the cinnamon in there, too. A melange of scents that definitely belong together, this one is another strange one! I don't know if it's the combination of spices and multiple fruits creating a floral undertone, but it's there again. This time, I know I like the combo, though. For some reason, I think this would be good melted in the bathroom!

Okay...I lied. Autumn Harvest is my favorite scent of the ones I picked. I think this eeks out Fall Festival because it's stronger on cold sniff. I give this one a 7/10. It's much simpler, just "the perfect combination of all the fall scents we’ve come to love. It is a fresh and citrusy blend of orange, cinnamon, and clove." That's it! Orange, clove, cinnamon. Nothing more, nothing less. And it's amazing! I will say, the orange in this is much more fresh, almost like a citronella type of orangey smell. I am in love with orange and spice blends, and this one is really good.

Along with the scents I chose, I also got two sample scents. Xmas Cheer "is reminiscent of all things christmas. Spicy and woody notes blended with fresh sweet apples form the perfect balance of fresh and woody notes in this wonderfully christmas blend." This gets a 7/10 on cold sniff. It smells really lovely, not too much woodsiness, not too much apple and I do get a bit of a cinnamon type note in this, too. I will say that the woodsy notes are sort of musky, which is okay for me, but it might be borderline cologney for some people. Quite good, and medium-high scent strength on cold sniff!

Finally, we have Apple Butter Pie. ERMAHGERD. This smells fantastic! It's described as something that "will remind you of your grandma’s freshly baked apple pie! Tart apples, apple butter, sweet milk, cinnamon, and pie crust make up this fragrance." While it's not the strongest scent on cold sniff (6/10, IMO), you get both apples and the pie crust on first whiff. It smells so good, so authentic! Some apple pie scents from other vendors seem really artificial, but not this one. I am super impressed by this scent. I don't get any of the sugar milk, per the scent description (thank goodness, I hate milk scents), the cinnamon, apple goodness, and pie crust are all present and accounted for. YUM!

That's my unboxing and cold sniff reviews for The Melting Fairy Wax Co.'s December #1 Box! YAY! I am really looking forward to melting these ans giving you my thoughts, so be on the lookout for those. Have you signed up for the company's box? I'd love to know what you picked for your boxes!