by Avery, added 4/18/10

Company: Bama Scentsational Candles

Type:
Apothecary jars 16 oz - 14.99
Tureen jar - 7 oz 7.49
Clamshell “Nuggets” - 2.99

Scents:
Wedding Day
Watermelon
Black Cherry
Sweet Cotton

Strength: mild to strong!)

Introduction to my review:

Bama’s Scentsational Candles is a family run business in Alabama. (Their name is the “BAMA” part of Alabama!) They make several sizes of soy blend container candles, some chunk pillars and bundt specialty shapes as well. They also offer clamshell tarts that they call “Nuggets“. 

Their website is very straightforward - no extra foo-foo to distract you. You can get down to business and do what you came for - to buy candles! There is a section for fragrances, but descriptions are not on site. The owner, Sheila, will send you the descriptions - and be sure and ask! Some of the scents were more complex than I expected from “everyday” scents.

What did my candle look like?

I have 2 sizes, the apothecary and the smaller tureen.

The apothecary jar is a 16oz clear glass container with a flat glass top. The label is the same on all of the candles - a photo of a seascape, waves lapping on the beach near a conch shell. The name is written in blue script, the name of the scent in white script Inside, we have double wicks!

The smaller candle, the 7 oz tureen jar is a round, clear glass container with the small glass “handles” on the sides. I always think of little pot-bellies when I see these cute little candles. These have a jar-type lid with the same label on the top. So, if you like your candles bare - once the lid is off, the label is gone. These also have double wicks.

How did my candles from Bama smell?

For this review, I was ready for some down-to-earth scents - nothing exotic. I wanted scents that could appeal to many sniffers, so I chose Watermelon, Sweet Cotton, Wedding Day and Black Cherry.

Wedding Day: 7 oz Tureen and melts

This scent can be anything from very mild to an “asphyxiation by flowers” type of fragrance. Bama describes this scent as

“A light floral bouquet with nuances of Jasmine, Rose, Violet, and Lily of the Valley on a background of mild woody and musky notes.”

I saw jasmine in the notes and I braced myself - I was getting ready for the overpowering scent. But, this is such a sweet scent! And, by “sweet”, I mean it is a dainty and innocent scent. This was unexpected since the cold sniff has a tart edge to it. The fragrance is a floral that is soft and airy, and it is probably the lily of the valley peeking through that gives it a little spice. This scent belongs to the flower girl! White eyelet, blue satin ribbons and baskets of daisy and pink rose petals are a good match for this fragrance. It is a mild floral that I could burn/melt for quite awhile and I did not get tired of it.

This candle is white and has a light throw (just as the description states - how nice to have an accurate description!) It is the mildest of the group that I tried. This scent is better “smelled” in the tart form than the small candle. I used 2 cubes in a tealight melter and that was fine for this light scent, and it scented for about 1 tealight. One cube was not enough for the tealight melter - it burns off the scent too quickly. Next, I tried 1 cube on a warmer, 17w, and it was the right temperature to keep a mild scent drifting around the office. After I could no longer smell it, co-workers came by to ask me what was melting!

Watermelon - 7 oz Tureen and melts

Bright pink is the right color for this snappy scent!

“Sweet blend of fruit notes recalling the freshness of ripe melon”

This is no simple drippy-sweet overly-ripe watermelon scent - this is a happy hour flavor! This scent smells like an exotic melon based cocktail. Let’s call this watermelon martini!

The small jar did a fair job of scenting a small room. Not overpowering, but you certainly can smell the zing in the air. The tart cubes, (2 again), also packed a little pop - they scented a little more strongly than the candle as is usually the case - covering a room about 10 x 12, using a tealight melter, again for about 1 tealight.

Sweet Cotton - 16 oz apothecary and melts

This scent surprised me! When a scent is named “cotton” I think about the scents that remind me of sheets coming off the clothesline. The wax is white, and this scent, described as

“fresh green apple with hints of orange and pineapple on a dry down of musk”

This is a nice clean scent… at first. Then you can smell the subtle blend of the fruits (especially the green apple) and the sweetness of the pineapple peaking through. It must be candle magic - how else can you get this many fruity scents together and not end up with something that smells like fruit salad? Somehow, this still had a overall “clean” scent to it.

The throw on this scent was great - the candle was enough to scent a medium bed room… and let me tell you about the melts! Two cubes packed a punch! I was standing two rooms away from my melter when something caught the attention of my sniffer. I really did not think that all that scent could becoming from my back room testing melter so I went around the house checking for the mystery scent. Nothing else was melting! Instead, it was my Sweet Cotton making a break for it - chasing me all the way down the hall and heading out to the front door.

Black Cherry: 16 oz apothecary and melts

When I was cold sniffing all my new Bama candles, we had a moment right out of the cartoons! Usually I pop off the lids and stick the candles under hubby’s nose with a “here, smell this!” He is a good sport and plays along - but he has also learned to fake it! (Yes, can you believe it?) He raises his eyebrows and shoulders like he is inhaling and goes “Mmmm”… until I go away.

However, this time I shoved the Black Cherry under his nose and even before he could go through his routine, his eyes popped open and he threw his head back in shock - he looked at me perplexed! You could almost read the Batman caption by his head! BAM! Yes - the cold sniff was that strong, LOL!

“Wild cherries and raspberries with hints of green apple”

Both the candle and the melted cubes were fairly strong burning and melting. The candle throw covered two rooms, and when I had the melter going (2 cubes) in one end of the house and the candle in the other, I had total coverage with a steady medium strong throw. I preferred the melts to the candle in this scent as my nose smelled an occasional odd plastic under note in the candle that I did not get in the melts. The scenting from the Black Cherry melts lasted for about 2 hours.

How did my candles from Bama Scentsational Candles burn?

Not one complaint here! With the double wicks they quickly formed their full melt pools, (especially the 7 oz candles - so keep an eye on them because when the candle is almost gone, you will have total liquification), and they burned cleanly without soot. As usual, I kept the wicks trimmed to the ¼ inch as recommended.

Last thoughts about Bama Scentsational Candles:

If you want attractive, clean burning candles that are not going to eat into your candle budget, check out Bama’s candles. Hopefully there will be scent descriptions down the line, since reading those descriptions can be half the fun of shopping! Although the scents I tried had ordinary names, a couple of the fragrances certainly were not ordinary and the extra twists to those fragrances made trying their candles an interesting adventure.

The seascape label makes them very giftable - and sets the mood for vacation time! Have you been invited to go boating or to spend the weekend at a friend’s beach house this summer? These are perfect gifts for your hostess!

The scents ran from mild to medium-plus strong with a new favorite - Sweet Cotton - stealing the show. The small candles, though cute, naturally had smaller melt pools and so they were not strong enough for the big rooms, but were fine for smaller powder rooms.

I would give this company a try!

Happy candle sniffing!

Avery

Visit Bama Scentsational Candles