by Lisa Carter
Brand: Spring House Candles and Scents
Type: 15 and 7.5 oz jar candles and 1.2 oz wax tarts
Fragrances: Apples and Oak,
Macintosh Apple and Mulled Cider
Cost: $15.50 (15 oz) and $9.95
(7.5 oz) for the candles; $1.25
each for the melts
Burn time: Approximately 50-60 hours (small jars); 100-120 hours (large jars)
Scent Strength: Strong
Introduction to my SpringHouse Candles and Scents Review:
I feel so lucky to be doing these candle reviews, because Christina keeps asking me to review such terrific companies! I found another wonderful vendor when I agreed to kick off my fall candle reviews with SpringHouse Candles and Scents, based in Mineral Point, Wisconsin.
SpringHouse Candles has a both a retail store and a nicely organized, very shopper-friendly website with a ton of different scented items to choose from. In addition to a full range of 
candle products that includes jars, tarts, votives and tealights, SpringHouse sells incense, body moisturizers, and a big selection of candle accessories including tart and jar warmers and votive and tealight holders.
SpringHouse is owned by Laurie Kromm, who like many candle makers, began her business in her family kitchen in a quest to make a superior quality candle. In my opinion, she definitely succeeded! Laurie now makes her candles in a small manufacturing facility on the family farm, but she’s kept the personal touch in her business practices – she’s very friendly, has great customer service, and clearly enjoys her work and her customers.
What do my Springhouse Candles Look Like?
My candles had a wonderful presentation to them – the 7.5 oz hexagonal jars were so pretty! They go with any decor, as do the more traditional 15 oz round apothecary jar. All jars came with burning instructions enclosed and labeled with a brown Kraft label that included an attractive and unfussy logo. The single-wicked hex jars had flat gold lids (great for stacking and storing), and the double-wicked apothecary had the standard domed lid. The wax colors in both the jars and the tarts matched the scents – green for Apples and Oak, red for Macintosh Apple, and gold for Mulled Cider. The melts come in the standard tart shape with a round label.
How did my Springhouse Candles Smell?
Everyone who knows me knows that fall is my favorite time of year. So I decided to kick off my first review of the season with three variations on the one scent that I always associate with September and the beginning of fall – APPLE!
Apples and Oak
I was intrigued by this scent from the first moment I opened the jar and took a sniff. SpringHouse’s description of Apples and Oak is:
“the aroma of apples with the woodsy fragrance of sweet burning oak.”
Apples and Oak struck me as a perfectly balanced fragrance – I don’t know about the burning oak part, but I could smell both the sweet, fresh apples and the warm, slightly leafy scent of freshly cut oak hardwood in equal measure; neither overwhelmed the other. This is the perfect autumn scent for those who don’t care for all of the spicy and bakery scents that are so prevalent in the fall. Come to think of it, Apples and Oak would be great year-round, too. This one’s strong too, both hot and cold, and threw very well – the little hex jar was more than enough to scent my powder room and drift out into the hallway. I tried it in our master bedroom, too, which has very high ceilings, and it scented most of the room just fine.
Macintosh Apple
Fall fruit scents like apple and pear seem to be the perfect transition scents from summer’s tropical and warm weather fruits to the cozier spicy and bakery aromas of fall and winter. So picking Macintosh Apple to try from SpringHouse’s lineup was a no-brainer, and as I expected and prefer, this particular scent is straight fruit with no spicy or foody notes. The company describes it as:
“A fresh picked apple with that unique apple fragrance.”
This definitely did smell like apple, although as apple scents go it didn’t really knock my socks off. Like many others I’ve tried, it smelled very good, but there was slight undertone to it that wasn’t quite authentic. Still, overall it was quite good and threw well, so if you’re looking for a decent, strong Macintosh scent, I’d recommend giving SpringHouse’s version a try.
Mulled Cider
Of the three fragrances I tried, this one was my definite favorite. Its brief description reads:
“think of warm cider brewing on a cool fall day,”
And this is pretty much exactly what this candle smells like. It’s a perfect blend of apple cider warmed to the steaming point (you can really smell the apple), spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg and a pinch of cloves, and a touch of honey to give it some sweetness. It’s a great scent for those chilly fall evenings and if you’re like me and like to burn or melt more than one scent at a time, it blends quite harmoniously with other fall fragrances. Like Apples and Oak, Mulled Cider is beautifully balanced in all of its fragrance notes. This one came in the 15 oz double wicked apothecary jar and really held its own when I burned it in my family room with its high ceilings. It filled the room as well as a good portion of our kitchen.
How did my candles from SpringHouse Candles and Scents burn?
All of my SpringHouse candles burned well, with great melt pools and no wax residue on the sides of the jars. The throw is fantastic – the smaller jars filled my powder room and the hallway beyond, and as I mentioned earlier the larger jar did just fine in the biggest room of the house. Even better, the scent from all three lingered in the house for a while even after the candles were blown out.
However, one thing to watch out for with these candles is that they tend to burn hot – I wouldn’t recommend marathon power burns on these, particularly the double wicked jars. You don’t need to anyway, since they establish edge-to-edge melt pools and maximum scent throw quickly. Laurie includes burn instructions with each candle, which recommend that you trim the wicks frequently. It’s well worth taking a minute to trim the wick before lighting, and at some point during mid-burn as well. This keeps them from burning quite so hot.
I did experience a little sooting with both the Apples and Oak and Macintosh scents. I’m not sure if this was an issue with the fragrances themselves (I’ve never burned an apple scent yet from any vendor that didn’t soot a little) or a wick trimming issue (as these smaller candles burned down I couldn’t reach the wick easily without getting my fingers stuck, and I was too lazy to dig out the wick trimmer). Whatever the reason, the sooting was minimal and didn’t affect an otherwise excellent burn.
The matching melts I tried completely blew me away with their throw, strength and longevity. At first I was a little skeptical, because these melts take a while to get going. But after about a half hour of melting, the scent from one tart filled the whole first floor of my house. Apples and Oak was the strongest and lasted more than 24 hours nonstop in my 20 watt electric warmer, with the Macintosh Apple and Mulled Cider being a little more moderate (but still quite strong).
Closing to my review of Springhouse Candles:
I am really impressed with all aspects of my experience with SpringHouse Candles, and if you haven’t already, I’d definitely recommend putting them on your “must try” list. Even if you’re not an apple fan, they have lots of other scents that you can pick – Laurie threw in some extra tarts for me to try in her Peddler’s Creek and Pearls scents, both of which I totally loved. This company has all of the components that make a great candle-buying experience – top-notch customer service, a fine array of different products, and, of course, fabulous candles.
I really enjoyed my SpringHouse candles and am looking forward to burning the last little bit left in each jar during this fall season.
Happy candle shopping!
~ Lisa
