A Cheerful Giver – Thanksgiving Scented Candles

by Julia Wooten

Brand: A Cheerful Giver

Type: Various DecorativeJars,
Fuze Pillar and Melts

Fragrance: Very Berry Beckah Boo
Fresh Peeled Macintosh
Juicy Apple
Apple Orchard
Pumpkin Pie

Cost: $3.35 – $23.00

Scent Strength: Varied

Introduction to my latest “A Cheerful Giver” review:

You may have noticed that I’ve been enthralled with the candles from A Cheerful Giver lately. It’s no surprise that I’ve been at it again, this time getting my fill of apple scents as well as a couple other surprise scents like Very Berry Beckah Boo and Pumpkin Pie.

Even though I already had these scented candles in hand, I still found myself back on A Cheerful Giver’s website looking at all of the candle pictures. The pictures of the lanterns and jars are so fun, and this Punky style jack-o-lantern jar looks even sweeter in real life. After seeing my cute 10 ounce Pumpkin Pie Punky jar in person, I had to go back and see what other kinds of decorative jars I may have missed… oh, I shouldn’t have peeked again.

The decorative jars and lantern candles at A Cheerful Giver are so cool looking, and I just noticed that even more styles were added for Winter. There are large and small snowman jars on the site now. There are Beehive Jars, Baby Star Lanterns, Heart Lanterns… man, I have found my new dream page. I might just have to print this out and give the page to Santa this Winter. I am a pushover for uniquely shaped jars and lanterns, so these are about to push me over the edge. Add in how yummy the Pumpkin Pie scent smelled, and I have the feeling that my one punky jar won’t be enough now. I’m going to need more.

See there, I’m getting deliriously side tracked thinking about those jars. Let’s get back to the scents that I recently tested.

What do my candles from A Cheerful Giver look like?

For this review, I tried several different candle styles. I tried the pale pink colored Very Berry Beckah Boo in a Baby Jar size and melts. The little jar was cute and about the size of two votives. I tried Fresh Peeled Macintosh scents in the Fragrance Keeper melts only.

The burnt orange Pumpkin Pie candle was in a distinctive jack-o-lantern shaped container called a Punky jar complete with black metal lid made to look like a pumpkin stem. Don’t even get me started again about these cute jars.

With Juicy Apple being A Cheerful Givers most popular scent, I tried it in melts, the largest Big Papa jar, and even a Fuze pillar called Apple Orchard. The wax was a deep rich apple red color. The glass Big Papa jar was tied with homespun and a paper tag that read “Keepers of the Light”. The jar sat large and squat with a black metal lid. It was a perfect size for the center of my dining room table, or front and center on my kitchen stove.

The Apple Orchard Fuze pillar was gorgeous! You’ve got to see the different shades of red layered in this pillar. It was tightly shrink wrapped in cello when it arrived and was adorned with a gold stretchy tie and a metal “A Cheerful Giver” tag.

How did my candles from A Cheerful Giver smell?

Very Berry Beckah Boo

A Cheerful Giver has created a lighthearted scent here. Very Berry Beckah Boo is described as:

“A satisfying salad of fresh, juicy pomegranate and red apple slices in a bowl of cream, showered with shavings of orange zest and vanilla beans”

This scent has the most fun name. It’s fun to type, it’s fun to say… what’s not to like? This was a girlie girl candle and scent if I ever saw one. Very Berry Beckah Boo is like everyone’s little sister. The cute little jar practically had pigtails sprouting out of the sides and the pale pink bubblegum color of the wax were just right for this scent. It was all bubbly, fruity, innocent and sweet.

I tried this scent in the Baby jar and also the Fragrance Keepers tarts. The scent seemed light to me, but it may have been due to the smaller size of the candle. I could smell the scent in the air when I had the candle burning and a couple of melts going in my bedroom but only after several hours.

The scent itself is fruity and creamy. I smelled pomegranate and cream most clearly. The vanilla is great at smoothing and sweetening this scent. It was a friendly, buoyant type of scent. It is reminiscent of another scent, sometimes called Best Friends, or Bird of Paradise… if you’re familiar with either of these fragrances, you will have a good idea of what Very Berry Beckah Boo smells like. The mix of pomegranate and vanilla is sweet and smooth. It was a nice, but light scent.

Fresh Peeled Macintosh

There is a large variety of apple scents to choose from at A Cheerful Giver. This one is described as:

“A naturally fresh, tart and juicy Macintosh Apple aroma.”

From Aunt Kook’s Apple Cider and Juicy Apple to Apple Delight and Green Apple Pie… for the Apple scent lover… A Cheerful Giver has it covered. Since I am testing out two of their apple scents for this review, I couldn’t help but compare the two. Fresh Peeled Macintosh was a tart, natural apple scent, and the Juicy Apple was sweeter.

The best way I can think of to describe the difference between the two apple scents in this review is to use applesauce as an example. Fresh Peeled Macintosh is like unsweetened applesauce, crisp and natural, whereas the Juicy Apple is closer to an old fashioned style of applesauce, with a little kick of sweetness.

I had the Fresh Peeled Macintosh scent in the Fragrance Keeper melts only, which ended up being rather light throwers for me. The Fragrance Keepers come four to a pack and each wax disk is half an ounce so I easily fit two melts at a time in my melter. The scent was like a crunchy, refreshing apple, but because of the light throw, and the abundance of other, stronger smelling apple scents… to my nose anyway… I will most likely pass this one over in favor of their Juicy Apple or Aunt Kook’s Apple Cider. It could be that the light throw was due to the melts… maybe a jar candle would smell stronger, but with all of the other A Cheerful Giver apple scents to choose from, I can’t see myself taking another chance on this one.

Juicy Apple / Apple Orchard

This is A Cheerful Givers #1 best selling scent.

“A bright and cheery apple bouquet accented with peach, cinnamon, and clove notes.”

Here is the old fashioned applesauce.. Admittedly my preferred style of applesauce. Juicy Apple is a sweet, tasty smelling apple, bursting with fruit juice and just the right touch of spices. I can see why this scent is a best seller. This scent makes real apples jealous… they only wished they smelled as good as this candle.

I had the distinct pleasure of trying this one scent in a variety of candle styles. I had Juicy Apple in a Big Papa jar candle, in the Fragrance Keeper melts, and even as a Fuze Pillar. Trying one fragrance in three different candle forms really appealed to the wanna-be scientist in me. What a great opportunity to compare products across the board.

First off, I tried a gorgeous Fuze pillar. Juicy Apple changes its name for the stylish Fuze line and goes by the name Apple Orchard. This pillar was so pretty, I kept it showcased on my bookcase for quite a while before actually lighting it. The scent from the Fuze pillar had a steady medium throw, not unexpected for a pillar of any kind. The pillar burned very well and was easy to maintain. I’ve written before about hugging the pillars from A Cheerful Giver and this variety of pillar burned just as well as their other varieties. The difference with the Fuze pillar is all about the way it looks… the deep red hues and the layered pattern. It was beautiful and well worth giving a try.

The Fragrance Keepers melts were a nice scent booster when used alongside the pillar, but on their own, they were on the light side, similar to the Fresh Peeled Macintosh. Again, I used two at a time just to get a full ounce of wax melting at once. I’m convinced that though the melts are an inexpensive way to  sample the many scents, in order to get the most out of the fragrances, go for the candles…the bigger, the better.

Finally, I burned A Cheerful Givers largest jar, the 34 ounce Papa jar. This jar had the biggest blast of fragrance. The smell of fresh, sweet apples filled my entire living space. This is the showstopper! Here was their best selling scent in their largest jar size. This had to be as good as it gets… and I was thrilled to find out that this candle delivered. It was a phenomenal scent with a decent throw so I really got the whole candle burning experience with this one.

Pumpkin Pie

Here is the description for Papa’s Pumpkin Pie.

“A rich, home-style fragrance that captures the warmth of a real pumpkin pie. Ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg combine with notes of vanilla in a pie crust that evokes a real baked dessert complete with homemade goodness.”

Okay, put all of those apples back in the cellar, it’s Pumpkin time!

This is it! I have found my Pumpkin Pie for this season. This was such a good pumpkin pie… I mean this is one for the ages! I was smelling this Pumpkin Pie and wondering how I could burn the candle for this review and yet still save it because I didn’t want this scent to ever end. My only solution was to reorder. Well, no need to twist my arm. I was over the moon for the lanterns and Punky jars anyway… Pumpkin Pie just sealed the deal.

The Pumpkin Pie jar that I burned was the adorable jack-o-lantern shaped 10ounce Punky Jar. When I first sniffed it cold, the scent really didn’t come through. The cold sniff didn’t do it justice. When this scent warmed up, it had the perfect combination of scent notes. It had a buttery baked crust smell, just the right amount of pumpkin pie spice, and a fabulous pumpkin puree that smelled like it was sweetened with vanilla and sugar… simply amazing! I swear I even smelled sweetened condensed milk. This is a pumpkin pie scent to be reckoned with. I will be holding this scent up as the benchmark for other pumpkin pies sniffs.

How did my candles from A Cheerful Giver burn?

My candles burned well. The large Juicy Apple Papa jar burned better than I expected, given its size. I needed to occasionally fold the wax from the edges down into the wax pool, and it never did get a complete edge to edge melt pool, but it didn’t tunnel either…the jar sides were clean. The wick was the right size for the candle. It didn’t smoke and the wick required no more than an occasional trim.

The Apple Orchard Fuze pillar burned very well. The wick was properly centered and the wax was the right texture for hugging. It was soft enough to fold without breaking apart, yet hard enough to hold its shape and not overflow.

The Pumpkin Pie Punky jar could do no wrong. It burned brightly and was my favorite pet pumpkin. The only thing it lacked was two more just like it.

Closing to my review of A Cheerful Giver Candles…

Once again, I had a great experience with my candles from A Cheerful Giver. There is such a huge variety of scents and candle styles, I feel like I’ve only just begun to discover my favorites here. A Cheerful Giver is a steadily growing company that offers so many different products… new items are being added all the time. Still, it has the feel of a small business with the customer service and attention of a hometown candle shop. That’s a very cool combination and one of the reasons I get so excited about them.

I can hardly wait to try more of these candles. Maybe I’ll drop a bunch of hints to Santa this year. One way or another, I’ll be checking out even more scents from A Cheerful Giver. When I do, I’ll be sure to report back here with all of the smelly details.

Happy candle shopping!

~ Julia

Visit A Cheerful Giver