A very lovely man bought for me a little assortment of goodies to help ease the pain of working through the cold Scottish evenings- part of this parcel?
No, not the sock monkey, the little tinned candle.
I love candles, I usually get those vanilla-scented tea lights from IKEA, but I'm always really disappointed at how quickly I burn through them (ba-dum, pssh) and I could never before justify getting the bigger ones in case the scent wears off or I get a headache from the smell after too long.
Call this my maiden voyage into the realm of "proper" scented candles, and I am already planning my next trip. We found this in a little gift shop in St. Andrews, they had a really BIG candle display, and this one caught my eye because of the name ("Opium Den" by the way) Sounds like a candle for adults, dangerous, living on the edge kind of adults. I could live on some form of edge I suppose.
And then I took a whiff.
Oh-my-word. Divine doesn't even cover it. I expected something kind of sickly sweet smelling (I'm always sceptical when buying perfume-type things, the sales ladies seem to confuse "gorgeous" with smelling like a strawberry) but no, it's got a woody, spicy, almost sexy scent to it. According to the label I am enjoying the delightful aromas of "patchouli and sandalwood". I read on: "will burn for 45-50 hours" - No, really? "45-50 hours"? They can't be serious.
I have now had this candle for around 9 weeks, I use it during essay-writing/ tea-drinking/ bed-reading time (and this takes up a lot of my time) and this candle is only just showing signs of slowing down.
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| Opium Den by Bomb Cosmetics, people, don't even hesitate |
Ladies, if you have a "thing" for candles, and Yankee candle just seems a bit too much to stretch for- make this purchase.
Men, if you're lacking ideas for stocking fillers this Christmas- look no further.
I can vouch for both parties that this candle 1. Smells some kind of wonderful 2. Lasts a lot longer than all night long 3. Don't even question the price, don't even look at it. I easily save money buying this than repeated bags of tea lights- I even did the math.
Oh and what happened when it officially finished? It didn't.
Make Do & Mend
I created these little darlings from the leftover candle wax in the original tin!
What you will need: -Candle wicks, I got mine from the local craft store for around 10p per wick
-Candle wax
Step 1. Excavate the remaining wick and wick holder from the candle you want to melt down, make sure to also remove any darkened, singed bits of wax (or it'll turn the entire batch an unattractive grey colour)
Step 2. Find a non-stick pan that doesn't look like this, put it over a medium-low heat and melt down the candle.
Step 3. While the wax is melting, keep dipping the metal part of your new wicks into the wax, to create a tacky base that you can use to stick the wick into the mini jam jars with. This way, you can pour in the wax and the wicks will support their own weight, and you don't have to stand holding the wicks in the hot wax, waiting for them to cool down. (I clearly forgot this step and had to resort to an ice bath to hurry the cooling process along)
Step 4.Pour the wax into the jam jars, using a spoon to ladle the hot wax in if necessary, be careful not to burn yourself, and I would advise pouring over some sort of surface like a plate that you can clean easily if you do spill.
Very "The White Company" right?
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