by Avery, added 6/16/10

Company: Zest Candle

Pillars reviewed:

Two Tone Pillar 3x6 - $6.99
Clean Meadow Beach

Rustic Pillars 3x6 - $5.98: 
Cranberry
Sweet Maple

Aromatherapy Pillar 4x8 - $12.97:
Tangerine Mandarin

Lattice pillar 3x8 - $8.99
Rosemary

Strength: Mild

Introduction to my scented pillar review from Zest Candles:

Frank, from ZestCandle, tells the story that co-founder Annie loved candles even as a child. She would pick the candles off her birthday cake and save them. Later she would burn the candle and mold the melted wax into different sizes and shapes. When in college, decorating her own place, she realized how expensive candles could be. So, in 2009, ZestCandle was launched to provide quality candles for less.

ZestCandle is a located in Ontario CA and have a large selection of pillars. They have oodles of candles to burn on a day to day basis as well as a great selection of holiday-styled pillars. This is where you will find those skull candles that will add the finishing touch to your Halloween decorations! Also, there are candy canes, glittered pillars, and some really neat looking luminaries.

Wait - I am not done! There are “bark” candles - wouldn’t those be so cool in a country cabin? And pu-leeze do not miss the Gingerbread House tea lights! For real! Tea lights with little gingerbread houses on top of each one! (And $7.99 for 12!) I could go on, and as you can see, there are other styles besides the pillars, (tea lights, votives, jars, etc.), but our focus will be on the pillars.

Have you ever noticed? When you talk about pillars, it is like the part in the Wizard of Oz where Glinda, the good witch, wand held high and singing in her high, 1940’s glamour voice sings, “Come out, come out wherever you are!”…and … it remains quiet. However, slowly one by one, (starting with the bravest), the munchkins step out and join in, soon all are laughing and singing together!

Well, talking about pillars something similar happens. First I mention “pillars” and I get an unenthusiastic nod. An indifferent shrug. I keep talking about the mood they set, the glamour of the candle scape (try THAT with an apothecary!) and slowly others begin to chime in... things like: ”oh yeah - I have a fabulous Holiday pillar arrangement. I wouldn’t be the Holidays without it!” We use them for a decorating statement, or we can just quietly add them to the room where they provide the background ambiance. Or, they think about the fab pillar scape that has been sitting on the fireplace hearth for so long that it never occurred to them that they also would miss pillars if they suddenly were not available. Before long most everyone is admitting they like a good pillar now and then! Of course, there are the outright pillar lovers - they like the clean lines, the ambiance and lighting as the flame slowly descends down into the pillar and the outside illuminates.

How do my Zest Pillars look?

Let’s start big - the 8x4 Aromatherapy pillar. It comes wrapped in a clear plastic sleeve with the name of the scent and a photo in soft apricot and off white. It is a picture of a candle and a citrus slice. The name, ZestCandle, and their tag line - “candles for the modern day” are in black across the bottom of the label. This is a very softly colored, very shiny (paraffin) pillar. To match the citrus scent it (Tangerine Mandarin) it is a pale orange - close to an apricot color.

This pillar is beautiful when it is lit! When the candle was still new, the flame flickered up on top of the pillar and the light illuminated the soft colored wax and gave the wall behind it a really comforting glow. As the wick burned down the walls of the pillar illuminated even more and the peachy apricot glow felt very chic, very spa-like! Do you know what was fun? After it had burned down quite a ways a breeze made the wick flicker. Since the candle appeared more orange as it burned further down, the flicker made it look like the perfect accent for a Halloween centerpiece! A multi-season pillar!

The next pillar is the Two Tone - (Clean Meadow Beach) another shiny pillar done in an intense azure blue with a icy white band at the top. This also comes with a plastic protection sleeve, but this has a dark bark-brown label with HOME (the non aromatherapy line) printed on it, and it has a cool rainbow of “pottery barn colors” across the bottom of the label. This pillar would work beautifully in a winter holiday candle scape with “snow” and glittery balls. Or…it would also be a great accent on the summer luau table as it would be an attractive counterpoint to bright orange and yellow pillars. That azure blue screams tropical! And Hawaiian shirts… and foo-foo drinks served in coconuts!

Wanna know something that was cool? The Beach Meadow (blue with the white band at the top) illuminated the white wax rim as it burned, and when the flame was well down into the opaque blue, it continued to illuminate the white only. Sitting in the dark hallway it looked like there was a white ring floating in space. Cool? Or…extra-terrestial? I am thinking 9 year old boy birthday party sleepovers here! Eventually the white melted away, but it was a cool look while it lasted!

On to the Rustic pillars, and I have two. One is chocolate brown (Sweet Maple) and the other is red (Cranberry). Both come in the same wrapping as the Two Tone, with the name of the scent on the label. These candles have a “scraped” wax finish - the brown looks like it has tree bark on the outside. It gives it a really rustic appearance! The red one also has a distressed look - but using this technique on the red gives it rustic elegance! Even though it is intended to make it a more primitive look, the scraping on this color makes it look almost like raw silk from a distance! This one would be great for all the holidays that have red in holiday theme. These candles are opaque and did not illuminate as they burned.

My last candle is a lattice-design pillar in a lavendar/amethyst. The outside has the criss-cross design giving it a design of tiny diamonds. This tall candle is opaque as well, but surprisingly, it illuminates a little as it burns down.

All of these pillars have a noticeable cold sniff. You would get a big puff as you pulled off the plastic wrapper. The Maple was the strongest and the favorite of the males in the house. The runner up was the Cranberry - I think that was my favorite cold throw. Both smelled as you would expect - the classic fragrance of the scent.

The aromatherapy cold sniff, Tangerine Mandarin, has a gentle citrus scent, while the Clean Beach Meadow is a crisp scent that goes well with the blue pillar. The final scent is Rosemary - a nice herbal scent.

The throw on these candles, when burning, is not huge. For most you have to be quite close to the candle, or right above it to smell the scent. The strongest is the Rosemary scented pillar. After it had burned for awhile, it was able to lightly scent a 9 x 8 room with a fresh citrus-herb scent. The Cranberry‘s sweet/tart scenting ability is powder room strength. The rest you needed to be close to in order to smell the scent. It seems to be the situation with many pillars, so usually they are not my first choice if I am buying a candle strictly for scenting.

How do my candles burn?

They tunnel! HaHa! That is what pillars do! They should burn their way right on down the center, (hopefully), illuminating the shell if it is designed to do so.

All the candles burned cleanly, with little wick trimming needed. The wicks were well-centered, I only needed a little nudge a time or two to keep the outside shell burning proportionately. The cranberry had a little carbon ball to trim, but none of the others did. (The wicks in my candles do not have a metal core, in case you are wondering.) The biggest candle had the hardest time getting a big tunnel down the middle - of all the candles it had the thickest shell remaining, making it unhuggable. The 3 inch candles handled the one wick fine, no soot noted. The rustic candles were very huggable, with the purple candle the runner up in the hugs department.

Wrap up:

ZestCandles are imported- my candles have labels on the bottom that say “Made in Vietnam.” At first I was not sure how I felt about it… but was my face red when I went into my candle locker and started tipping candles over and reading the fine print. I actually had several that were made in Vietnam - purchased from some of my favorite stores.

I like the looks of most of the pillars enough to think of scent as an added bonus. They burn cleanly and there are some interesting designs to use in your décor that would really give your room some pizzaz. The rustic design candles were my favorite - especially the Cranberry as it scented noticeably and it was a good "hugger". The wax had just the right feel in this candle to cup and fold in as it burned. I am especially intrigued by their luminaries and I also think the Spanish design candle (http://www.zestcandle.com/Scented-Pillar-Candles/4-x-8--Scented-Spanish-Pillar-Candle.htm) - this would be a fun candle to use in summer or fall decorating with its hand painted design.

Two-tone - Beach Meadow/lots of fun for unusual illumination, great color combo, very mild throw

Rustic style - great pillars - they look cool, hug nicely, cranberry is my fav overall pillar even though it is not strongly scented. Maple had a great cold throw, least scent when burning.

Aromatherapy 8x4 - Mandarin Tangerine/good for mood lighting if you don’t mind fussing with the wax, had the most trouble getting a good tunnel. Has a very mild scent throw.

Diamond pillar - Rosemary/this is the best scenter, and it is easy to hug - I would get this one again for lightly scenting a small room.

So there you are! If these appeal to your inner pillar burner (and admit it… you do like some versatile pillars in your home, especially for those dramatic holiday displays) check out our friends at Zest. Volume discounts are available!