Waxy Treats! Scented Melts for The Week

Woohoo, about to start on my Yankee Candle layered Summer Trio (Summer Scoop, Merry Marshmallow, and Salted Caramel layered),

I just wish these came in the full-sized 22 oz tumblers rather than these 10 oz jars which cost a rather ridiculous SGD$33.90. It also irks me that you can get 4 large jars for US$50 in the US and by the time they make it here, they cost over $40 per jar. And don't even get me started on Bath & Body Works, because the mark-up is even worse.

I still love them and will buy from time to time when there are sales. In fact I've just finished my large jar of Ginger Dusk, and a small jam jar of BBW's Red Velvet Cupcake (which was a waste of money because had almost no throw, sadly).

 

But besides having a few candles on hand because I like the ambience, I sometimes would rather just purchase melts from online wax vendors. (I don't like to ship candles in because you pay a lot of international shipping for the extra weight of the glass tumblers.)

I love bakery scents in general though, and the bakery scent selection in Singapore is woefully puny most of the time because the East Asian market in general does not take well to "heavy", sweet scents. We're more partial to floral, fruity and cologne-y fresh scents.

So if you walk into Yankee, you might find a few things like Waffle Cone, Vanilla Frosted Cupcake, and Red Velvet Cake. Even when the seasonal collections come in, you will often find that they leave out the bakery and foody Fall candles which are bestsellers in the West.

So my personal stash is FILLED with bakery treats that I either ship in from - or purchase on trips to - the US.

One of my cheap n cheerful favorites is Better Homes & Gardens wax cubes from Walmart. I came home with a whole tray of these last year. And Candied Caramel Apple is one I was melting earlier today. This one's a Fall 2014 limited edition release, and it's just gorgeous. 

If you're afraid of heavy, sticky, baked fruit smells, don't worry. The fresh apple is actually pretty strong, and the caramel is in the background. After a few hours, when the fresh notes start to weaken, you start getting more of a apple-pie filling smell as the caramel tones come out more and the tart freshness of the apple fades a bit.

These wax cubes are so cheap (around US$2 per pack) and so strong that I only need a single cube under my 25W heated lamp to scent up half my apartment. It's warm in Singapore, and my apartment isn't huge, so I really never throw in too much wax or it can get quite overpowering.

 That's ESPECIALLY true for wax from vendors like Front Porch, who have incredibly strong tarts.

I made the mistake of popping in half a Honey Rolls grubby tart from Front Porch the other night (about 0.5oz weight or less) and it was almost cloying in the humid heat. I had to remove it from under the lamp and throw it out after a couple of hours.

I have to say this is a good scent though. It's a very tart sweet honey; quite realistic. (I can't stand food notes that smell fake.) But the honey is VERY sweet, so it got to be a bit too much after awhile. I had ordered hoping the "rolls" part of the scent would be more present, but it was just overpowered by the sweet tangy honey once heated.

Another online vendor I enjoy is Closet Full of Wax. I was digging around in my stash and realized I had an old unmelted bag of Mango Cream Filled Twinkies. I'd ordered because I've never eaten (much less smelt) Twinkies, although I can more or less imagine how yellow cake and sweet cream filling would smell. So I was curious to see if this would smell good.

As usual, I have to chop up my chunks into smaller pieces to melt in controlled dozes, but this one has quite a soft throw compared to most of my vendor tarts. I have to go quite close (about 2 feet away) to smell it.

It's not a bad smell, but somehow it reminds me more of buttery yellow cake with baked peaches on top, than mango.

I much preferred the mixed fragrance chunk tart in Almond Marzipan - Glazed Cinnamon Donut - Vanilla Bean Noel - Pink Sugar. (Quite a mouthful.) The strongest scent in this is Vanilla Bean Noel, although there's a buttery toasty nuttiness that makes it smell like cookies.

I think I only have the one chunk of this because I wasn't sure if I would like Marzipan. Almond is quite an acquired taste, and I prefer nutty almond notes to the medicinal marzipan/extract scents. So without having smelt this, I didn't dare order more.

Well, good news for me. This is quite a nutty marzipan. Or maybe that's just the combination of all those vanilla-heavy notes with it. I dropped only about 1/6 of the 3-4oz size chunk in, and that was more than enough because this thing throws like mad. My living room smelt like a bakery.

Yum.

Jo Malone Orange Blossom Cologne and Bath Oil

Few things brighten my day as much as a be-ribboned bone and black Jo Malone box.

I'm a fan of white florals, and Orange Blossom (sometimes also called Neroli) is one of my favorites. I would consider the gorgeous girl-next-door, alongside the king of plush white florals - Jasmine - and the more loud and busty Tuberose, or the more virginal Lily of the Valley.

So it's kinda odd that I've never actually decided to buy Jo Malone's bestseller Orange Blossom until now.

Top notes: Cedrat (a fragrant citrus fruit used mostly for perfumery), Green notes, and Clementine leaf

 Heart notes: Orange blossom, water lily

Bottom notes: Orange blossom, lilac 

The odor of orange blossom is slightly tangy and fruity, aromatic and only slightly sweet. It also smells soapy and clean, but with an idolic edge of animalic pungency, like many other white florals. Think of a fruity gardenia.

Jo Malone's Orange Blossom is very linear. What you smell at the start is pretty much what you get towards the end. Maybe a bit more powdery and clean, as the lilac starts to peek out, but mostly translucent and fresh throughout. It smells - pretty. That's the only word I can think of. It manages to bring out the delicate sweetness and aromatic nature of orange blossom, but mutes the fruity pungency that often characterizes orange-blossom laden fragrances. It's still indolic, but is not as rich and "ripe" as Maison Francis Kurkdjian's version, so it's great for a quick hit of freshness.

I've been in the mood for a Jo Malone so I decided to pick it up.

1. Blue Agave & Cacao - my oldest Jo Malone; this smells almost cakey and like chocolate frosting but minus a lot of sugar, and with a translucent melon-like facet to it. Very strange and interesting to me. 
2. Vanilla & Anise - this is a like but not a love; this spicy warm ambery scent is quite deep and interesting, but not quite as complex and faceted as I usually like my amber/spice scents to be, so I only wear this occasionally.
3. Red Roses - a gorgeous basic rose soliflore. It's not too sweet, not too green, and has enough complexity to not smell like rose essential oil, so I enjoy it.
4. Blackberry & Bay - possibly my absolute fave for hot days; this is so addictive and fresh; like sipping fizzy non-sugary blackberry soda water with a bay leaf floating among the ice cubes. 

The problem with Jo Malones is their lasting power. Most of these do not last that long, unfortunately. Especially not on my dry skin. And because I don't like to bring perfume bottles out to touch up in the middle of the day, I always buy the matching bath oils in the scents I love. If you smooth a little of the oil on and then let it sink in for a moment before spraying the cologne over, the scent lasts for hours and hours.

So of course I got the bath oil version for Orange Blossom as well. The only 2 of my JMs without a matching oil are Vanilla & Anise which I like but don't love, and Blackberry & Bay, which I love but can't find an oil for. (I regret not purchasing a bottle in California last year; it's not stocked in Singapore.)

Sounds extravagant, but owning any Jo Malone cologne is an extravagant thing to begin with, and the bath oil is really the best way to extend and maximize the scent - and your money. (I'm not always a fan of layering scents over lotions because there's more of a tendency for the scent to get distorted or change on the skin. Oils are a more stable medium for scent, so I love this option.)

Plus, you can sometimes just dab on the oil and just wear it like a light perfume oil, skipping the cologne altogether. For Red Roses and Blue Agave & Cacao, this method of layering gets the colognes to last like eau de parfum for me. 

Sadly, the lasting power for Orange Blossom, even layered, is probably about 4 or so hours on my skin. Very fleeting. Without the oil it's probably about 2-3 hours. Similar to other fresh scents like Blackberry & Bay. Still, it's large enough a bottle that I don't feel too bad about re-applying.