We adore candles in our house and we love to use our oil burner so it made total sense for me to make our own wax tarts or melts. A certain famous American company makes what they have trademarked as "tarts" so I can't use that name but I call them melts which makes sense because they do melt in the oil burner.
I love to use 100% natural soy for a variety of reasons - for a start, its biodegradable, renewable resource - it is a natural wax and is created from soy beans. Paraffin wax is often used as a alternative but this wax is a petroleum by-product, and, as such, this isn't a renewable resource (once it's gone, it's gone) nor is it biodegradable.
Soy wax burns cleanly - it is free from soot and carcinogens, it doesn't emit the toxins that paraffin wax does and it is a healthier wax to use in households were anyone has any breathing issues, ie asthma etc. Soy wax is considered a zero green house contributor because it gives out so little carbon dioxide when burnt.
Cleaning up after making soy wax candles and melts is a breeze! Once you've used your wax melts over an and over again, the fragrance lessens ... once all the fragrance is gone, all you need to do is, with the edge of knife, CAREFULLY, push the tip in and the wax will release and come away cleanly from the sides. You can simply wash with sudsy water and your oil burner is clean to use again. But what do you do with the wax? Well, if you have an open fire, you can make your own firelighters! Yep... just collect paper, old lint from your tumble dryer etc and place in a small container (what about those plastic boxes you get from the odd Chinese takeaway we all treat ourselves to from time to time).. melt the wax and pour over the paper and lint. Then, once cooled, break up and use as homemade firelighters!
For me, I love a strongly scented candle - I like that it can scent my main living room which is a very large room. Our house is open plan so, technically, a big challenge for any candle to scent the room because the scent actually goes all over the house. I've done a lot of testing of these melts and you really can smell them upstairs and down - not in an overpowering way (I know how too strong scents can be a little sickening) but is a beautifully scented way. I use the maximum fragrance load for my melts which allows them to scent more than one room but also to last longer over time. Also, it's said that soy wax will burn for 50% longer than paraffin because it burns at a cooler temperature.
On the site at the moment, I have three variations of Christmas scents but I actually have a lot more made and ready to be uploaded ... we just need to get some pictures taken so they can be uploaded! Here is our current offering, specially for Christmas:
This is
Christmas Cabin and these are fragranced with a wonderfully festive blend of bayberries, cranberries, cinnamon bark & orange zest. Oh do they smell so good, very very Christmassy! They had a little silver glitter on top, this gives a lovely sheen when the wax melts and regular readers will know my love affair with glitter! Each of the packs of Soy Melts come in a golden organza bag (resusable and beautifully scented when you've used all the melts up) and there are four generously sized melts per pack... each pack is only €5 which you will no doubt find is cheaper than the said American company who use paraffin wax for their trademarked tarts.
Christmas Cabin with silver glitter
Christmas Cabin - 4 per Pack
This fragrance is DIVINE! My mouth waters when I smell these - it's
Gingerbread Eggnog and it's so creamy and yummy, soooooooooo good and it really really smells so Christmassssssssssyyyyy too. I used a fab golden glitter with these and again, they come in a set of four for €5.
Gingerbread Eggnog - ohhh my word, creamy nommy fabulousity!
Glittering golden Gingerbread Eggnog Soy Wax Melts
The final version, for now, is Holidazzle - these fabulously coloured pink melts are fragranced with a truly dazzling blend of sweet crisp cranberry juice, vanilla, cloves, bayberry and fir. Oh these are juicy and creamy and Christmassy and just soooooooo good too. Again I've used golden glitter because it just looks so lovely against the pink. Plus it matches the golden organza bag!
Holidazzle in a golden organza bag
Holidazzle - pink and gold and beautiful
Here's a cute combo pic, just cos I can :)
Combo!
And another ... three stages of fabulousity!
