Fragrance Review - Peppermint Vanilla & Pomander

Last week I put a question up on Facebook, asking what you would like to see in our next Video Blog and here are the results:

Our most recent Facebook Question

66% of the votes were to have a review of a new fragrance, which is what I was hoping to do!! (you can see a tiny little picture of me beside my vote!)

For those of you who voted for an overview of our warmers, or a step by step of the easiest way to switch fragrances, no worries! We can definitely do those review in the future and if you'd like, also be sure to visit our Frequently Asked Questions (click here to link directly) page on the web, where you will find some additional details about ScentSationals Warmers and Fragrances. 

And so, here's your next installment of our Video Blog! 

xxoo

Heather

ScentSationals Fragrance List

ScentSationals Fragrance List

Great to see that everyone is checking out the BH&G Fragrance list that we posted earlier this week.  To simplify seeking out all of our fun scents, we've put together a similar list of our ScentSationals Fragrance (Click here for pdf file!)

This list is a little bit different than the first one that we posted. The first thing that you are going to notice are a handful of PINK check boxes! These pink boxes identify NEW fragrances that aren't yet released!! I know.... serious teaser here, and I am sure that you will be wanting the dates for each release. I can honestly say that I have no idea when each fragrance will be released, but I can invite you to join me in checking the 'New Fragrances This Week' section of our online store to see what surprises are 'estore' for us all!

xxoo
Heather

Video Blog - October 26th!

I am so excited, to begin sharing our product reviews with you LIVE on our video blog!! Ok... not exactly live, they are obviously recorded.... but you know what I mean!!

After viewing, I hope you have time to head on over to our Facebook account. I'll post regular questions and hope that you will help to vote on the next scent and/or products for review!

Also be sure to send me your feedback and ideas for future videos... and maybe even gentle criticism... really nice and gentle and kind criticism......hmm... wait..... ok, maybe just compliments would be better!!lol

xxoo
Heather

BH&G Fragrances

BH&G Fleur de lis Cream Warmer

As many of you already know, ScentSationals Wickless Candles has a secret sister! Not only do we have dozens of beautiful warmers and amazing scents under our ScentSationals label, but we've also paired up with WalMart to create an exclusive line of warmers and scents that are sold under the BH&G label. (Better Homes and Gardens)

Now, if you are anything like me, (the good qualities of course!) when you become passionate about something, you have a tendency to go all out. This makes you an excellent juggler (so you can manage multiple wonderful things), a careful critic (you diligently choose which things to juggle) and  a collector of your favorite things... like wax fragrances!

To make this an easier task, we are happy to provide you with a list of our BH&G fragrances! To print the file, simply right click and  select 'download linked file'.

BH&G Fragrance List

Or, Alternatively, CLICK HERE to view a PDF version of the Fragrance List.

Please note that these Fragrances are exclusive to WalMart and not all fragrances may be available at all times throughout the year. 

I'm working on a list of ScentSationals fragrances next! Anyone interested?! 

xxoo
Heather

A Guy's Guide to Gifts - Part 2

Ok Gentlemen, I hope that you are joining us after reading A Guy's Guide to Gifts - Part 1! With the numerous gifting occasions throughout the year, when you are trying your best to impress the women in your lives, we realize that sometimes you become a little bit befuddled. It's completely OK!! Don't stress, don't feel bad about it... WAIT! ... who am I kidding?! You DO need to STRESS and feel GUILTY if you aren't gifting your women!! They are your anchor, your mentors, your loved ones and your pride and joy! It's important to express yourself and let them know how important that they are. Let us help to make it easier for you AND affordable!!

Part 1 of A Guy's Guide to Gifts was your introduction to creating a ScentSationals gift ensemble that helped to remind your Mom, Sisters and Grandmothers that they are adored. Now, with that under your belt, it's time to turn your attention to your girlfriend, significant other or wife! Here are a few ideas to keep you out of the dog house!

Salsa Warmer

FOR A NEW GIRL FRIEND - Gifting a girlfriend is very obviously a much harder task than gifting a Wife, Mother, Sister or Grandmother. The gift that you choose is going to send a message that defines where you 'are' in your relationship! I am pretty sure I could write a whole book on this subject, but for the sake of keeping it short, here's a suggested strategy:

• New Girlfriend - Keep it simple! A sweet Plug-in Warmer and one scent is lovely and not too serious or misleading.
• Been Dating a Few Months But Not Serious - Stick to the 'new girlfriend' suggestion above. It will send the message that you're not too serious!lol 
• Dating For a While and She's a Keeper - Make this a good gift!! Pick a full sized warmer such as our Blue Garden Swirl Warmer. Add in 4 or 5 scents that are fun and reflect the excitement of your relationship together.  Fireworks, Phenomenon, Enchanted, Caribbean Sunset, and Adventure would all be fun choices! 
• Thinking of proposing - Wow... I am excited for you both! If you are planning on popping the big question during a romantic night at home, how about opening up a warmer and melting some wax to set the mood? She is sure to be impressed when she enters an atmosphere that smells amazing and will ultimately be a night that she remembers forever. Pick a scent that she will enjoy for years to come as our senses are connected to our memories and this will be a good one! I recommend a full sized warmer versus a plug in, perhaps our Salsa Warmer (red to represent love) and one of our romantic or masculine scents will be perfect! 

FOR A WIFE'S BDAY - For some women, a birthday is more important than an anniversary and for other's, the opposite applies. Either way, honor the occasion by picking a full sized warmer and pairing it with several beautiful scents. This would be a fun occasion to pick birthday themed fragrances such as CupCake,or maybe even  Wild Thing. If you have a little time to browse our site, there are many fragrance names that are sure to be reflective of your wife's likes,dislikes and the memories that you've created together. It would also be fun to include a small note with each fragrance that ties a sentiment to the smell. I've included some examples below...

FOR AN ANNIVERSARY - If you are celebrating an Anniversary, I highly recommend pulling out all the stops. If I was on the receiving end, I would be awe struck to receive any Warmer and one wax fragrance for every year of my relationship/marraige! What fun to pick a scent to represent every year! You could choose Carribean Breeze for your honeymoon year, or  Sunshine to commemorate an annual summer cabin adventure. Be sure to include something from our Romantic category too! If you've only been married for a short time, you could pick from the different scents to represent the adventures that await you in the years to come. 

FOR WHEN YOU'RE IN THE DOG HOUSE - Uh oh. Not good. But, I suppose that it is inevitable that we all end up here on occasion. This is a very sensitive moment and you don't want to make things worse by messing up. Additionally, time is of the essence and so you may not want to place an order that takes a couple of days to arrive. The answer?! GIFT CERTIFICATE!! Some might say that you are buying forgiveness, but here's what YOU need to say... I'm Sorry. Plain and simple. And then maybe mention that you've thought of every happy moment that you've spent together and that you want to get back to a place where everything is good again. Good vibes, good times, good energy and even good smells. You can't make them all happen instantly, but you can start with a good smell and work from there! 

Say "I'm Sorry."

Good Luck to all of the gentlemen who've taken the time to read this... simply by doing so, you've demonstrated that you care, and caring is the main element needed to stay on the right track to wonderful relationships with the women in your lives! 


xxoo


Heather

A Guy's Guide to Gifts - Part 1

My husband is quite possibly THE worst shopper on the face of the planet. I have received Christmas Cactuses for Valentines Day (yes, clearance aisle shopping at its best), men's shoes (I've tried diligently to forget this one) and clothing that isn't even close to my size, style or liking! Pathetic, yes, but I suppose that I should mention that he has also gifted me some amazing things including origami daisies that he made himself and beautiful sentimental gifts that I will keep forever. 

The trick is, I think, that he just needs a little bit of guidance to give his gift giving abilities a bit more spark! And so, for all the husbands, boyfriends, sons (I encourage my son to take a peek) and even brothers who need a little help, please take a moment to review one of our potential shopping lists for your next gifting occasion! 

FOR YOUR MOM - You'll want to gift something that reminds you of her and transports you both back to the good old days of youth. Maybe Cotton Candy takes you both back to a summer carnival or Cinnamon Apple was the essence of her kitchen as you were growing up.  Pick a couple of scents that have that a special connection for you and then pair them with a Love Scroll Warmer to to sit on the table beside her favorite reading chair!!

A Love Scroll Warmer is a great Mom gift!

Nostalgia is the key to a Mother's heart! 

 FOR A SISTER - Sisters can be your best friend and your harshest critic throughout your life so you're going to want to choose carefully here! Pick safe scents that are calming and friendly! Crisp Cucumber and Ocean Breeze are perfect examples! Pair these scents with any color of our Sweet Butterfly plug in warmers and you are sure to win a smile and some sisterly admiration! 

Sweet Butterfly(dragonfly!!) Plug-In

Definitely perfect for a calm and cool sister! 

FOR GRANDMA - For grandma it's time to be traditional and my poll says that you can gift her in one of two ways, both which are sure to make her love you more... if that's even possible! My first suggestion is to pick a garden scent such as Sweet Pea and pair it with a beautiful Garden Swirl Warmer. As a second choice try one of our delectable scents such as Peach Cobbler, which would also gift perfectly with one of our Garden Swirl Warmers; there are 4 colors to choose from! Your Grandma is sure to appreciate the effort that you put into choosing the perfect combination!

Our Garden Swirl Warmer comes in 4 beautiful color choices!

Peach Cobbler... mmm... 

Now, I realize that there are more women in your lives than Mom's, Grandmother's and Sisters... check back on Friday and I'll have some suggestions for the following occassions!
FOR A NEW GIRL FRIEND -
FOR ANNIVERSARY - 
FOR WHEN YOU'RE IN THE DOG HOUSE -
FOR A WIFE'S BDAY -


If you are a potential 'gift reciever' rather than a masculine 'gift giver', be sure to send your guy a little help aka the link to this blog! 


xxoo
Heather

Wax Review - Berries & Pomegranate

I love creating a Facebook Question when we have new scents each week! It is fun to see how many people have the same favorites as I do and, when there is a huge number of votes for a scent that I wouldn't have been drawn to, it is fun for me to open it up and test it! 

This weeks Question on Facebook... Autumn Breeze won by a breeze!

This week, rather than checking out the top favorites, I decided that I would cheer for the underdogs! On Monday I did a scent review for Mulberry, and today, I thought that we should take a closer look at Berries & Pomegranate who placed as third out of four new scents this week!

Poor Berries & Pomegranate! :(

I can easily see how Autumn Breeze placed first... the season's change is weather is definitely influencing us and encouraging our choice...

... and I suppose Apricot Vanilla would have been my second choice too, because vanilla anything calls to me.

As for the two on the bottom of the list, I truly think that their rating is due to our imaginations not being able to 'picture' the smell. That sounds funny, but with our senses and memories linked so closely, if we can't bring forth a memory to relate a smell to, it isn't going to instantly appeal to us in the same way as something that has more familiarity to it.

Berries & Pomegranate, sitting on top of Mulberry.

And so....without further ado, Berries & Pomegranate! Not to be confused with a fruit juice or gummy candy, this Berries & Pomegranate combination have a lot more sophistication! The red is a brighter shade than Monday's Mulberry. Check out the picture above and you'll see that it doesn't have the same purple/burgundy tones that Mulberry had, but instead a red with just a hint of orange to it. It is a nice deep color, similar to the juices that you get when peeling an actual pomegranate.

As I open up the package, the top notes of this fragrance are just vaguely sweet, with a fresh berry flavor as it's strength. However, as soon as I take the wax out of the packaging, the sweet sort of disappears! My nose is drawn to the berry smells instead and while I can't identify what all of the specific berry smells are, I can identify the pomegranate!

When I flip the cold wax over and smell the bottom notes, I still can't identify the individual berry smells, but I think that I detect a slight hint of cinnamon in there!?

And so I shall warm things up... insert time lapse here....  My warmer was cold getting started, plus I had just frozen the lid to pop my old wax out, and so it has taken about 20 minutes for the fragrance to completely melt. In this time, the scent that very gently filled my room without overwhelming me. With my warmer right beside my computer, this gentle throw of the scent has been lovely! I periodically am detecting an assortment of fragrances including that slight hint of sweet which has come back.

When I leave the room and walk back in, I am impressed by how friendly the scent is. It could easily be warmed in my kitchen or closer to my front entry. Additionally, if you have a warmer in your office space and are looking for something gentle but delicious this is a great choice!

And so, this brings me back to the 'picture' of this fragrance that I want to leave you with. Close your eyes and imagine walking into a little tea shop that is built in the back of a century old home. There are gingham table clothes and a tiny kitchen tucked behind a little wooden door that needs painting. Your choice of fresh baked  berry scones or muffins are on the menu as well as a selection of pomegranate herb teas to warm your insides while you take a break.... sigh.... sound good? Then this is your scent!

xxoo
Heather

Wax Scent Review - Mulberry

As I opened up my computer this morning and took a peek at the ScentSationals website, I had my fingers crossed that a selection of new fragrances would be available. Now, you may think that this is a little odd, what with the majority of fragrances being available to me, but it IS exciting because it would be silly to share my thoughts with you on the NEW fragrances until they are actually available!

A couple of weeks ago, as I sniffed, whiffed, and took a nosefull of scents, I picked out some lovely fragrances to review and then realized that they weren't released yet and I had to remain hushed! (not an easy feat for me!!)

So NOW, I can finally tell you my thoughts on our newly released Mulberry fragrance.

I am a big fan of berries in general and am of course familiar with strawberries, raspberries, cranberries, blueberries and even huckleberries. But I've never tasted, smelt or even seen a mulberry before. Curiosity is definitely what drew me to this scent!

The richness of this color suits the delicious tart fragrance! 

A little bit of quick research revealed that a mulberry in looks, is very similar to a blackberry and comes in an assortment of colors ranging from white, to deep reds and purples. Our new Mulberry scent  is a very fitting deep burgundy red.

The 'top note' of this scent, which is that first luxurious scent that we take in from the top of the package, is a combination of sweet and tart in equal measures. It reminds me a bit of the smell of a good fruit pie, fresh out of the oven! The sweet layer is not like a sweet candy fragrance, but  a more natural, gentle sweetness.

ScentSationals Mulberry Fragrance

The 'bottom note' of the Mulberry scent, which is the smell on the back side of your fragrance when you lift it out of the packaging, leaves the sweet behind and is a crisp tart scent. It reminds me more of the smell of the leaves and stems when I am preparing my berries to bake, and maybe even of a less ripe fruit.

Once warmed, the notes of the fragrance really come together!! You will find that every ScentSationals scent is just slightly richer and different once it has melted. The 'throw' off of the Mulberry isn't as immediate as some of our other scents, but in an easy 5 minutes, it had gently filled my space and revealed additional fruity tones that I didn't pick up as much when I initially sniffed the cold wax.

If you like sweet, but not too sweet, and tart but not too tart, you can rely on this gentle fruity Mulberry fragrance to fulfill your sensory needs!

xxoo
Heather

Happy Thanksgiving from Canada aka Pumpkin Pie Day!

Happy Thanksgiving from the pumpkin patch!

This weekend is Canadian Thanksgiving!! I know that 95% of you are in the US, but I figure any reason to celebrate family is universal and so I will celebrate a bit of my family with you!

Hooray for family! gobble gobble!

Our Canadian Thanksgiving is pretty much identical to the US version, just a month or so sooner. We celebrate on the second Monday in October which is Columbus Day in the US. Our meaning is the same in that we are giving thanks for the end of the harvest season and celebrating the unity of our family and the community.

Will the real pumpkins please stop smiling!lol 

Dinner is pretty standard at my house on Thanksgiving too, with Pumpkin Pie being the center of everyone's attention and the only reason that we don't over stuff ourselves with the turkey and trimmings that are our dinner. 

My grandbaby is growing in leaps and bounds! Bigger than a little pumpkin...

...but not quite as big as a BIG pumpkin!

That being said, and PUMPKIN being our thanksgiving feast focus, we have been enjoying the new Vanilla Pumpkin Cream fragrance to it's full extent! It has succeeded in putting us all a festive mood!

I can hardly wait to be a Grandma!! 

As part of the festivities, we headed out to our local Corn Maze last weekend and found ourselves a couple of pumpkins. My husband, nephew, daughters and son-in-law (or outlaw!) all enjoyed an afternoon of winding our way through the maze. 

Vanilla Pumpkin Spice smells significantly better than this pumpkin did! lol 

 And so, now it is off to my fabulous smelling Vanilla Pumpkin kitchen, to add a layer of actual pumpkin pie smell to the mix. Sadly, the pumpkin pie smell will only linger for a few hours. Hooray for ScentSationals that my celebrated scent of the day will continue to bring smiles to everyone throughout the weekend! 

xxoo
Heather

Fish For Dinner!

I admit it. 
I didn't know that it would negatively affect my whole family. 
It wasn't as obvious to me? 
How was I to know?
I thought it was a healthy choice. 

Sadly, no matter how I justify it or play it back in my mind, all that my family can focus on is the fact that I cooked fish for dinner and assaulted their noses! My daughter isn't a big fish fan to begin with and was instantly crunching up her face to avoid sensory overload, while my husband decided to just sort of 'grin and bear it'. It was my 18 year old son who really called me out.

The 18 year old, Kaed (formerly free but now slightly in the dog house), walked in the door after missing supper. He'd been at work which made me happy and is a much better use of his time than other typical 18 year old's evenings.

Within seconds of entering and before his shoes were off of his feet he yelled, "It stinks like fish in here!".

I grinned in defiance knowing that my healthy dinner choice would win me some 'parent of the year' points.

He continued, "How can you do this, our house smelt good when I left! This is disgusting."

Well, that was it. I didn't need to hear more and he didn't have anything more to say. I suggested that he could turn on a warmer which he did do, but I didn't see him for the rest of the night.

NO, he didn't eat any fish!

Yes, I realize that I was in the wrong. 

I see the error in my ways and know that as a Mom, it is my job to be consistent in making my house smell good all the time.

I will warm some of our new Cornucopia today and hope that I am forgiven.

xxoo
Heather

PS... do you think that warming up leftovers from last night will make the house stinky again!?? lol