Review of 3 Scented Soy Candles from Crazy For Candles

The Crazy for Candles website reminds me of the feeling I got from smelling my candles: an old, crafty gift shop that’s prim & country, warm & inviting. Cheryl’s website just makes you want to curl up in a cushy chair, cuddle up in a cozy blanket, sip warm tea or coffee, and nibble on cookies from the comfort of your own home. I love online shopping that makes me feel like that. It is such a nice get away when you don’t feel like turning into a popsicle everytime you want to leave your home.

Cheryl’s jar candles come in several different sizes, along with enamelware candles and melts. For those of you who like to smell like your favorite candle fragrances, Cheryl carries an assortment of lotions and body sprays as well.

In addition, each jar also had a piece of homespun tied around the neck of the jar and a rustic metal lid. The jars seemed very prim and homey, just like Cheryl’s website.

Everything was packaged very well, but when I opened my candle box to take that infamous first “whiff,” my nose was met with the scent of cigarette smoke. I emailed Cheryl about it, and she said she is working on that. Other than that initial unpleasantness, I had very few problems with my candles and enjoyed them very much!

At first I was a little skeptical that 8oz jelly jars, not what I would consider to be big jars, could fill my large, open rooms with scent. I live in a farmhouse with an open living room and dining room, and each room has high ceilings. I figured I would give them a try in my big rooms, and if the space was too open, I’d just move them to smaller rooms like my bedroom or bathroom.

Wow! Was I in for a surprise! I don’t know if it is these three fragrances in particular, as Cheryl said they were pretty strong, but those 8oz jars really held their own. I burned one on my fireplace mantle in my living room, one in a bathroom downstairs (several rooms away from my mantle, mind you), and one in my bedroom upstairs. My entire house was filled with fragrance, but just one candle nearly filled the entire downstairs portion of my house. The same was true for the candle I burned upstairs, and that has 3 bedrooms, a bathroom, and a hallway! If you are looking for really strong candles, these fragrances are for you.

As far as the actual fragrances themselves go, I had a slight “duh” moment after I tried Tayberries & Teakwood and Twigs & Berries (they are both berry and wood scents). On first sniff, I didn’t notice much of a difference between the two fragrances, but there is a subtle difference once they are actually burning. I couldn’t pick out any of the specific fragrances in each scent, but I don’t think many people could. They smell like they should, berries and wood…and they smell good! The description for each is as follows:

Tayberries & Teakwood ~ A very complex fragrance combination of base notes of bamboo and teakwood, with middle notes of tayberries, blackberries, mulberries, cloudberries, and peaches, with subtle hints of red clover and sweetgrass.

Twigs & Berries ~ A fruity floral combination of strawberries, oranges, and apples; accompanied by sweet floral aromas of jasmine, rose geranium, and oakmoss. Strong!

If you want to try two completely different fragrances, you may not want to try these two at the same time. But if you are fond of scents like this, by all means go ahead! Both fragrances made me feel warm (a hard thing to do in a drafty farmhouse), cozy, and cheerful. Whenever I walked in my house, I would take a deep breath and pretend like I was entering a country gift shop. Mmmmmm, what a nice feeling!

Ginger Bergamot
Ginger Bergamot was a scent like I have never burned before. I think my first thought was that anything “ginger” must smell like gingerbread. My nose, however, picked up more of the other parts of the fragrance, and very little ginger. If I had paid a little more attention to the description on the website, exotic is the perfect word to describe this scent. Here is the scent description:

“An exotic fragrance with citrus top notes of bergamot surrounded with nuances of freshly ground ginger combined with notes of sandalwood, cedar, Indian patchouli, and sweet basil.”

While I was not a huge fan of this particular fragrance, my husband really liked it. I was surprised because we both tend to gravitate toward fruit and bakery aromas. He commented that he felt it was more of a manly scent because it smells musky and reminded him of outdoor campfires. My nephew also noticed this fragrance as soon as he sat on my couch. He said it was so strong, it really stuck in his nose! To me, Ginger Bergamot is a complimentary scent to Tayberries & Teakwood/Twigs & Berries, but it is very much its own, unique fragrance that in no way smells like the former two scents.

I also warmed some melts in the same three fragrances from above. The melts were very soft and crumbly, as they were melting on my fingers as I was trying to get them out of the package and had to wash my hands afterwards, but it was a small price to pay for highly fragranced melts.

If you’re feeling cooped up at home and need a break from the winter ho-hums, go visit Cheryl at Crazy for Candles…and tell her Jen sent ‘cha 🙂

~Jen

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