Haul: VCMA Halloween Sampler!

Sometimes I go through phases where I actively try to avoid Facebook, not because of the drama llama rearing its ugly head or awkward quizzes, but because of WAX. Yes. WAX. It gets to the point where, if I am on Facebook, sometimes I will go through the many wax groups I am part of and browse for sales because I am bored. NO. BAD LOLO. *swats hand* I was am *trying my best* to go through one of those self-imposed Facebook bans/going it is less-es right now, and it was working until BEEZY. But, I only got a few scents, so I will share those with you.

I also go through phases where I do and I don't want to share my hauls. Not because they are embarrassing or I am ashamed of the amount of wax that I bought because, let's be real here, we passed that stage a loooooooooooong time ago. I just don't want it to come off as braggy. I know that sounds stupid, but sometimes I (and many others, so why I feel this way makes no sense) are very lucky to place orders when wax vendors like Beezy/SMT/Rosegirls who only open every so often here and there, so I just don't want it to seem like a "Dumb and Dumber" HAAAAAAAAAA-HAAAAAAAAA!! IN YOUR FACE!!!!111~~`` moment.

Anyways, this is uber late and, once again, I fail, but today I am going to share with you my VCMA (Veteran Candle Makers Association) Halloween sampler. But, I took the pictures, so you will have to deal! MWahahaha!! *eye-roll at how late I am* This purchase happened on a day when I was bored and happened to be at the right place at the right time. And boy, am I glad! It was about $20-$25 shipping, I cannot remember the exact price point.

The sampler came with this cool Halloween pen. I LOVE PENS! I love themed pens even more! It writes really well and has pumpkins on it, so there ya go!

The first vendor in the VCMA sampler is Makes Scents Candle Shoppe. YAY! This vendors has been on my "to buy from next" list, but I haven't jumped the gun and I don't know why. I have only tried one thing from her in the past, which was a tart from a round robin, and it was great. Other people have compared this vendor to CFTKR in that she uses paraffin and gives a ton of samples, but I noticed that even her scent descriptions are CFTKR-esque! Woot! When I start buying again in 2072 (because seriously, that's when I will be out of wax at this rate), she is next!

Pumpkin Marshmallow Latte- Pumpkin spice, rich espresso and sticky marshmallows…what a fantastic combination! 

This scent smells incredible and I usually hate coffee scents. It's rich and creamy, but also has a pumpkin note, the one that I love. Mmmmm, can't wait to melt this.

Halloween Treat Bag - Everything you’d find in a trick or treater’s bag….caramel apples, marshmallows, candy corn and a little bit of magic!

Halloween Treat Bag is very much a candied apple scent with other nondescript sweets in the background. Now that I know candy corn and marshmallows are in there, I guess that's where the slight hint of creaminess is from, but to me, it is sickeningly sweet smelling with a little bit of candy apple. Nice, but not my favorite. Strong on cold sniff, though.

Pomegranate Cider - Tart pomegranate with spicy notes of cinnamon and clove and nutmeg. This fragrance wax will bring a warm and cozy feeling to any room.

 I have really come around to pomegranate scents this year! Plus, it's fun to spell and write. P-O-M-E-G-R-A-N-A-T-E. heheheh! I really liked this one as I already melted it. It was spicy, fruity, bright and fun. I give it a 7.5/10. The throw could have been stronger, but in the bathroom, it smelled amazing. The scent didn't linger, though, and was helped by a great cold and warn sniff smell overall. Very, very cozy.

Cinnamon Orange Swirl - The sweet, zesty orange scent blends deliciously with the cinnamon swirl.

On cold sniff, this smelled like it was going to be super strong, but in reality, it was a nice, mellow orange cinnamon scent. I melted this one, too, and gave it a 6/10. I loved the overall scent, but felt it could have been a little stronger.

Rustic Lodge -  This warm and cozy blend has notes of fresh green apple, honey, cinnamon, nuts, creamy caramel, maple sugar, spiced cider, and warm French vanilla. 

To me, Rustic Lodge has always been a more masculine sounding name, so I was taken aback when it still smelled like a craft store. This was nice and had a decent strength with good lasting power. so When I saw this was apples and honey and sugars and vanillas, I was shocked. I got mainly an apple scent from this, but there was definitely something more musky in there, which you wouldn't know by looking at the scent list above. Good one. 7/10.

The next vendor in the sampler is Sugar and Spice Gourmet Soy Candles. I have ordered from Shanna several times in my life and LOVE her stuff. She is an excellent, consistent vendor. If I'm not mistaken, she's the one who puts these samplers together and ships them out with all the vendors inside. Cool! Her website is being redone, and some of her scents are unavailable anyways, so I will go through them with descriptions as best I can.

Mac Apple Leaves Marshmallow Fireside is a combination of Leaves (BBW type), Marshmallow Fireside (BBW type) and Macintosh apples. I have melted this before and was excited to have another one. WOW, talk about quintessential fall! I LOVE this scent and it is ridiculously strong on cold sniff. Yum! This one is an 8/10.

Campfire Marshmallows smells a little bit like marshmallow fireside in that it has a smokey marshmallow smell to it, but with a slight graham cracker note and maybe even some chocolate mixed in he background?? I like it, and again, it's strong, too.

Pumpkins in the Fire is another scent I have tried already. It was nice, but there's a slight perfumey note that is a little bit off-putting to my nose. I don't know if it's muskiness or just the way one of the notes in this scent is, but it makes me like it less. At least it's strong, which could be good or bad in this case?? 6.5/10.

Pumpkin Pecan Waffle CB (Cookie Butter) Crack...totally not anything I'd ever be into all wrapped into one scent. I was determined to give this scent the old college try, and I did and liked it, surprisingly! It had a soft cookie note in the background mixed in with a warm, rich pecan waffle scent, all topped off with waffles and a liiiiiiiittle drippingly decadent butter note to tie it all together. OH MAN, where will the bakery loving end?! 6.5/10 because the throw was less than I expected.

Ghost Munch ~ *Sugar & Spice Exclusive Blend!*blend of caramel apple, toasted marshmallow, candy corn and zucchini bread...just awesome! #1 best seller!

I already know I don't like Ghost Munch because the zucchini bread is all I ever smell, so I will be gifting this to a friend who I know loves it. :)

The last vendor in this sampler is Can-Do-Candles, another vendor I have tried in the past. In my opinion Can-Do does amazing with fresh and overly fruity scents, but some of her sugary and vanilla scents are lighter in throw. Her website is also closed in preparation for Thanksgiving, so no scent descriptions here, either.

Cider Webs is a very appley scent with another note in the background I can't quite make out...caramel? Sweetness? There is spice here, too, but it's overpowered by the apple scent. Love!

On cold sniff, Black Licorice smells just like the real thing and is pretty overpowering! While melting, quite a bit of the punch is taken away in the throw, but it was still nice. I don't know if I'd ever go out of my way to buy it, though. 5.5/10.

Autumn Spice is just that, spiced! Cute mold, too!

I looooove Leaves (type), which is apples, crispy crunchy leaves and other fruits and a BBW dupe, and Donna's version is delicious smelling and strong. I will melt this one soon and report back!

Pumpkin Marshmallows smells soooooooo good on cold sniff. Creamy, sweet, and very true to the pumpkin smell. Yum!

Pumpkin Butt was the first thing I melted from this sampler. LOOK AT THAT FACE! How adorable! This was a combo of pumpkin and sugar butt, which is some sort of a vanilla scent, I think? Either way, excellent scent and great throw. 8/10. The sweetness and pumpkin worked together instead of against each other and it lasted for 8 hours in the bedroom, though the throw decreased by a bit after about 5-6 hours.

And there's my VCMA sampler! I don't feel as bad being late since I have melted some of these and being able to report back to you on performance. Have a wonderful weekend, all!

Haul: Streetman Sampler's Maiden Voyage, November Sampler!

Streetman Candle Company is one of my favorite vendors. I have ordered stuff from her several times and have been very impressed with her company.

Heather Streetman, the owner, has some of the best customer service in the wax world, in my opinion. She has always been open to receiving feedback about her wax, and when something isn't exactly right, she's more than willing to try and tweak her scents ultimate performance. Speaking of this, she has recently changed her wax formula so that, instead of using an entire scent shot, you only need to use a bit here and a bit there to get great results.

Anyways, Heather decided to start a monthly sampler of her wax creations! Upon hearing this, I jumped at the chance to get my hands on one of the November samplers. I want to share with you what was in the sampler in this post. Follow me!

I had to show her business card, isn't it adorable!? I love owls, not sure if I ever mentioned that on the blog, but this card sings to my heart.

With the sampler came this card that has all of the scent descriptions of each tart! I really thought this was a nice touch, especially since some samplers don't explain what scents are. I appreciated the effort that went in to making this! Plus, it made me excited to rip open the bags of goodies!

Each bag of tarts came wrapped in plastic bags tied off with blue ribbon and a little tag, just like a gift. Again, another really nice touch!

Here is the bag of 1-ounce scent shots. I sort of prefer these, actually. I feel less guilty about plopping the entire thing into my warmer than I do with a 2-ounce ones. Maybe it's all in my head. Anyways, here are the 1-ounce scent shots up close!

• Good Morning Oats: this one smells like the faintest oatmeal note behind a very powerful hazelnut note. Her hazelnut is one of the few that I like because it is so authentic and not overly buttery. It actually smells like her hazelnut coffee with a bit more creaminess, and a dash of oats. Very good.
• Peppermint Love: very nice! This is a bit of a sweet and herbal peppermint, made this way by the vanilla and lavender. I can't wait to melt this one.
• Cinnamon Streusel: LOOOOOOOOOOVE this one. Cinnamon and nutmeg and clove, how can you go wrong?! This does smell like those cinnamon candies, for sure. One of my favs.

• Tropical Fruit Slices: definitely tropical! I pick out hints of pineapple, possibly banana, and maybe some guava, or something along those lines. 
• Spiced Orange & Cranberry: a bit of a woodsy yet sweet cranberry meets spices and orange. So, so good. Another favorite of mine!
• Pink Sugared Lemon Mallow: mmmmmmmmm, 3 of my favorite scents in wax all rolled up into one! And boy, is this good! I can't wait to see what this is like melted. Delish!

• Cherry ICSB (ice cream scoop bread): Heather makes one of the few ICSB that I actually like. Her cherry isn't a medicinal or waxy one, like so many cherries in wax smell like. Very lovely. Smells like cherry muffins!
• Cucumber & Mint: I immediately thought of my waxy pal Karen, who loves this blend. This one smells crisp, yet cooling from the cucumber. Not a favorite scent of mine, but I am willing to have my mind changed!

Here's the same pretty detail with the 2-ounce shots!

And an up-close look at their packaging. Simple, yet functional and pretty at the same time! Here are the 2-ouncers.

• Sweet Cranberry Harvest:
• Raspberry Sugar: I have had this scent before AND I LOVE IT. It is truly a sweet, delicious and ripe raspberry. Awesome scent, I'd be glad to pass this along to someone, if you think it's your thing!
• Pumpkin Pecan Blondies: I mainly get a bakery pecan from this, but there is a bit of pumpkin as an after note. Another one to melt in the kitchen to make it smell homey and wonderful! Looking forward to seeing if this has more pumpkin when it is melting!
• Frosted Sugar Cookie: Tony, Heather's husband, RAVED about this one on the Streetman Candles Facebook group page. I was looking forward to this, and I'm not disappointed. It's heavy on the icing, but I really don't mind it. I don't think Josh will like this one, though, so I might melt it in the kitchen. Very good!
• Hartwick Pines: booooooooooooooooooooooooy howdy, this is PINEY! Not that I mind at all, it is the season for that sort of thing! I really enjoy this, and am going to set it aside to melt while we put up our Christmas tree.

A comparison photo between the 2-ounce shots and the 1-ounce shots. I always liken the 1-ounce shots to "Mexican food hot sauce cups," LOL. Well, at least in SoCal. Salsa and hot carrots and jalapenos go into the 2-ouncers, for comparison. ;)

This is a new product for Streetman Candle Company: SCOOPABLE WAX!!! I know it's all the rage right now, and for good reason. Scoopables tend to throw better in light bulb warmers. Now, I have a lightbulb warmer, but I hate using it. I just want to be able to warm everything in one damn type of warmer!!!! I am opening my mind, though, and intend on comparing the throw between the lightbulb warmer (25 watts) and my hot plate warmer (24 watts). Anywho, here are the scoopable scents:

• Caribbean Breeze: another tropical blend, I pick up lots of orange and pineapple in this one. I like it, but I'm not in the mood for it because I over tropical'ed myself out during summer. I will probably save this to melt after the holidays.
• Indian Summer: incredible! This one is so nice! To me, it smells like fresh air/breeze note mixed with oranges, or some sort of marmalade-y fruit. Very lovely.
• Marshmallow & Pumpkin: Super creamy mixed with a liiiiiiiiiiiiittle bit of a spicy pumpkin. This is more of a sweet pumpkin, as the notes suggest, but I mainly get that marshmallow sweetness, too. Sweet. (How many times can a person say sweet??? LOL)
• Cherry Chip Cake: this one smells like a cherry cake, with possibly a chocolate note? Not sure, but I get a whiff of chocolate from time to time. Not a favorite, but again, I'm going to melt everything!

Finally, we have two sets of random shapes!

• Homespun Treasures: I have heard of this scent before, from CFTKR, I believe, though I've never tried it. I get a candied berry note with smallish hints of maybe cinnamon? Nice!
• Blueberry & Pumpkin: I cannot even believe I'm going to say this right now....but this might be my all-time favorite thing in the box. I KNOW, I KNOW, I'm not a blueberry fan, but this is SO FREAKIN' GOOD. Heather makes the best blueberry, IMO, and this is not disappointing at all. The pumpkin mixed with it creates something truly wonderful. Might break into this today! WOW!

Anyway, here's the Streetman Candle Company's very first sampler! Overall, I am extremely impressed with her blends and scents. I am most looking forward to her scoopable wax. YAY! Does anything look appealing to you, waxy friends?

Have a wonderful week! :)

Review: Sugar Pie Scents' Sampler

Sugar Pie Scents offered a sample a few weeks ago. I don't remember if Erica, the owner was hoping to carry these scents, or if she just wanted notes on these particular scents, but there were 15 in the order. And I've melted them all. Here is my melted review on each of these scents!
*NOTE: for these scent shots, I am only reviewing the scent itself; I will comment on the throw, but the values reflected are strictly for scent ONLY. You might LOVE something I hate, so please, do not take my reviews to heart 100%, and make your own evaluations! We all have different scent-buds. :)

Amish Quilt: generally one of my favorite scents as it's cinnamon-spicy, sort of sweet...definitely a winner in this house. Sugar Pie Scents' version has decent strength, I smelled this throughout the house, but it wasn't OVERpowering. While this was spicy and sweet, I detected a floral note in this and was confused. I don't know if this was intentional or not, but Josh smelled it, too. I have heard of a floral Amish Quilt, could this be a combination? Not sure, but I did enjoy it, and it lasted about 5.5 hours. I give it a 7.5/10!

Angel Food Cake: delicious, yummy, light and airy in food, so I figured it would be equally as great in wax. This was delicious on cold sniff, but unfortunately, I could not smell this strongly while warming. For a fleeting few moments when this was fully melted, I smelled it while passing through the kitchen, but that was it. 5-10 minutes, tops. I give it a 5/10!

Butter Rum Cappuccino: generally anything with the word "butter" in it scares me. A lot. Buttery in wax often times mean greasy, icky, and not pleasant. This, however, wasn't bad at all! I don't know if there was any cappuccino because the butter rum overpowered it, but it was decent. Strong, too. I give this a 6/10!

Da Lime in Da Coconut: Quite nice! Anything that mixes lime and coconut is most likely a winner. Again, though, this wasn't super strong. It seems that half of what I tried was strong, while the other half was on the weak side. The lime and coconut were well balanced, and it was definitely a tropical scent. I might repurchase this. I give this a 6.5/10!

Grape (not pictured, forgot to take a photo of this one): Grape is quite possibly my least favorite scent next to zucchini bread. I love the fruit, love wine, but hate the smell of grape. Anyway, on cold sniff, this one smells like medicine I was forced to take as a child. I had flashbacks. I got angry. I pushed my anger aside for the better good and melted it. Eeeeesh, not a fan. It was decent in strength, but the scent alone was enough to send me into a corner for the rest of the day contemplating where I went wrong in my life. I give it a 3.5/10!

Lemon Pound Cake: another delicious food! Unlike Angel Food Cake, this one is good and strong! You get that buttery pound cakey note swirling around a lovely, bright lemon! This on lasted for 6 hours, and it's a definitely repurchase. I will note, Lemon Pound Cake is not super in-your-face, but the throw is there. I give this a 7.5/10!

Little Black Dress: I think this is a perfume dupe, but all I have to say it YIKES. This one stinks. If this is a perfume, I wouldn't want to wear it. It smelled like musty flowers. It was STRONG, and not in a good way. ICK. I give this a 2/10! I would not repurchase this, and I have a sneaking suspicion it's not just this vendor's dupe that smells...I just think it's a nasty perfume in general. Adamantly.

Pumpkin Ice Cream: a very creamy pumpkin, almost dead on to the pumpkin ice creams I have tried in real life! Slight cinnamon scent, but not overwhelming...even if you're not a fan of cinnamon, you'd probably enjoy this! Pretty dang strong, but not "get stuck in your nostrils and never leave" strong. I would purchase this scent, and it lasted about 5 hours. I give it a 6.5/10!

Peppermint Patty: ahhh, chocolate scented wax. Hard to pull off, hard to enjoy. Peppermint Patty is a realistic chocolate and mint scent, but the mint is all but covered completely by the chocolate smell! This is an accurate chocolate scent, too, but I just don't care for it in wax. I can't get past....something! This was strong, though, and lingered everywhere. I give this a 5/10!

Peppermint Swizzle Stick: Not to be confused with the popular Rosegirls blend, on cold sniff, this smells like straight-up candy cane! YUM! It's not particularly strong on cold sniff, but it completely dies while warming. Absolutely no throw. I was the most sad about this one because it smelled sooo good! Oh well. I give this one a 3.5/10!

Rosemary Mint: herbal rosemary meets green mint, love it on cold sniff, even if it's not the strongest of the bunch. The throw suffers a bit while warming, but I could still get whiffs of this every time I walked into the room. It was nice, but odd for a daytime melt. I think I should have melted this in a smaller room at night, it might have done better. I give this a 5.5/10!

Rose Petals: "What's in a name? that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet...," that's how the saying goes, right? In this case, the quote might need to be altered. This is extremely floral, but I don't know if I get only rose from this! In fact, I don't know if I get rose at all. It sort of smells like potpourri you might find at a Michael's or something, but rose? Not sure. I didn't care for this and only melted it 30 minutes because the floralness of it gave me a headache. I give this a 3/10!

Serendipity: my favorite scent! I was super excited to see this in the sampler. On cold sniff and warm throw, this one was just okay. It was heavier on the coconut, in my opinion, and the throw was too light for me/serendipity. While it did last about 4 hours with a light throw, I was left wanting more. I give this a 4.5/10!

Strawberry Banana Smoothie: A little light gets triggered in my head when I see the word "banana" in wax. Often times, banana scents can come off too artificial and induce a headache. Strawberry has been big in our house this year so far, so I put this in with an open mind. It was a pleasant surprise! While the banana definitely overpowered the strawberry, it really did smell like a smoothie. Think: Jamba Juice! I give this a 6/10! It lasted around 5 hours as well, so the longevity was just enough that I didn't get tired of it. It's a good "wake up in the mornin' feelin' like P. Diddy" scent (...I can't believe I just said that).

Toasted Marshmallow: a campfire's delight! This one had a nice mallowy smelled to is, and was stronger than I anticipated! This also had a great sweetness while warming, even though there were only general hints of vanilla on cold sniff. Impressed! I give this a 6.5/10!

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There you have my review of the Sugar Pie Scents sampler! I liked some stuff, didn't like others, but will reorder from this company again!
*A suggestion if you're reading, Erica: maybe thinking about possibly looking into other options besides the #2 scent shot cups; I had a few break in transit at the bottom of the cup and have heard from several people/vendors/my own experience that they suck out the scent of wax. :)