Wax Tarts, Burners, Melts, and More

Tarts are highly scented candles without a wick.

No wick, you say? How does that work?

It works very simply - pop a tart in to either an electric or tealight tart burner, sit back, and enjoy the heavenly scent. It's that easy.

As the wax melts, it forms a pool of liquid and fragrance is released into the air. Most tarts will give you at least 6 hours of fragrance when melted. When the scent is gone, just change the wax!

With burners available in every style under the sun and limitless scent possibilities, there's a tart for every mood and every room in your house.

When it comes to home fragrance, there are tons of different products available on the market today. Tarts have several advantages which makes them the right choice for many people compared to some of the other choices:

Incense: The scent of a good incense is incomparable but it does have it's drawbacks. It spews smoke in to the air which can be irritating to eyes and lungs and are generally a HUGE no-no if you have an asthmatic in the house.

Sprays and Grocery Store air fresheners are loaded with chemicals of questionable saftey and the scent disappears quickly. The scents are generally fake and perfumey smelling.

Candles: Even highly fragranced candles cannot throw their scent the way a good tart can. Most candles I've had have little or no scent while burning. With tarts, the scented wax itself does not burn, it only melts to release its fragrance. Candles loose a great deal of their scent when lit because the fragrance itself (and the wax) is burned off. Plus, candles can get knocked over easily and may drip wax on your furniture.

Potpourri: I adore keeping pretty bowls of potpourri around the house - hand-made or store-bought. The problem is that it really is more of a "decorative" accent than a scent feature because you need to be fairly close to actually pick up the scent. Potpourri is great for guest bathrooms - small, closed up areas that don't get dirty (my potpourri gets so dusty in the living room - ick.)

Oils: Oils can be warmed just like a tart, in fact most of the information on this lens can apply to oils as well. The only real disadvantage to using oils is that if you accidentally use too much, it's very hard to clear the air afterwards.

Bakery - refers to "foody" scents like cinnamon bun, buttercream, apple pie, sugar cookie, pumpkin spice, and the like.

Burner - Also called an oil warmer, oil burner, tart warmer, or wax burner. This is the heating vessel to hold the tart as it melts and scents the room. Burners come in all shapes, styles, and designs - from inexpensive, one-piece soapstone ones to expensive hand-blown glass ones. You can purcase either an electric or tea-light powered one.

Clamshell - Also called "breakaway" tarts, this is a 6-sectioned clear plastic container (looks like an ice cube tray) that holds 6 individual wax squares. You can break off how ever many you want each time. These are great for doing your own scent blending - you can add a piece of this, and piece of that and have fun creating your own personal scents. Clamshells are cost effective and if you want a lower scent level, you can pop in just one. These also are a great choice for smaller burners.

Clamshell Tarts From Arts and Hearts

Dupe - Duplications of popular, name-brand scents. Pink Sugar dupes are very popular right now (an homage to "Pink Sugar" perfume by Aqualina).

Embeds - Embedded wax shapes used for decoration. For example, a cherry pie scented tart might be tan colored with small wax cherries inside or on top. Embeds are particularly popular with makers of "Prim" or "Foodie" tarts.

Foodie - Tarts that smell edible. They can be bakery scents, fruit scents, candy scents, or even chocolate scents!

Grubby - A tart with embeds done in the "Prim" style.

Prim - Tarts which are designed in the Primitive (Early Americana) style. Usually in bakery scents.

Shooter- A single tart in a small, plasic, cup with a lid, approx. 1 oz. It looks like a jello shooter and is sometimes called a mini-melt.

Mini Melts From Just Right Candles

Throw - Throw refers to how strong a scent is and how well it "throws" the scent out. A tart with a really good throw will scent a very large area.

The first descision you need to make is if you want an electric burner or one that uses tea light candles. There are pros and cons to each:

ELECTRIC BURNERS:

- Cost effective in the long run, no need to buy tealights
- Less risk of fire from a candle flame
- You may forget to turn them off though
- Higher initial investment
- Dealing with the cord may be awkward

TEA LIGHT BURNERS:

- No forgetting to turn them off, the tea lights go out on their own.
- More attractive since they have no cord
- Generally take up less space than an electric model.
- Less expensive to purchase
- Greater selection of styles to fit any decor
- You do need to keep a supply of tealights on hand
- You still have a burning candle around

Tarts are made with either soy wax or paraffin wax. Both types have a devoted following. Here are the main differences so you can choose for yourself (or just use both, like me):

SOY WAX:

- Claims to burn "cleaner" than paraffin, releasing less particles in to the air.
- Environmentally friendlier than paraffin.
- Supports domestic soy farmers
- Melts at a lower temperature than paraffin, a finger stuck in the liquid wax won't even sting.
- Some people don't care for the slight "soy" smell that they give off.
- Generally more expensive than paraffin.

PARAFFIN:

- Less expensive (usually) than soy wax
- Odorless on it's own
- Melted paraffin is hotter than soy and may slightly burn skin (very slightly, but still)

Beaded Hemp

Ultra-high quality clamshell tarts - now switching to PHTHALATE FREE oils. Beaded Hemp has a HUGE selection of dupes of Lush fragrances and unscented tarts are available as well to add your own fragrances to. My favorites are Pink Carnation (to DIE for) and Girls' Night Out.

Arts and Hearts

One of my favorite places to order tarts from. Bags of 6 standard tarts or clamshells available. My favorite scents: "Storm Watch", "Nag Champa", "Cinderella", and "Cedar Chest". Art and Hearts tarts are a staple in my house, they are a great value for the price and the scent selection is extensive. One note - sometimes the order page on the website acts up. If you can't finish the checkout process, check your e-mail the next day, usually there will be an invoice waiting for you to pay that way.

Bright Blessings Candles

HUGE star shaped tarts with amazing throw that last a long, long, long time. I recieved a "Strawberry Champagne Buttercream" one and oh, it was, mmmmmmmm, so good. Not a sticky-sweet fake strawberry either, just light and true, and refreshing. One caveat - her big star tarts are much to large to fit in most burners (they don't fit in ANY of mine), so you'll need to cut them at least in half to use. They look really nice just sitting out in a dish like potpourri or wrapped in tulle for a drawer sachet too.

Gramma Fran's Fixin's

Beautiful prim tarts with amazing bakery scents. The "Grandma's Kitchen" is a MUST BUY. It's just a lovely, light, cinnamon cookie scent.

Yankee Candle
Yankee Candle - they have brick and mortar stores and are in a lot of malls. Their tarts are really nice - especially their holiday scents. Remember to stock up during the after holiday sales because you'll want them all year round.

Soy Berries® from Candles of Eden

J. Tyler's Candle Shop

Soy Berries are adorable little raspberry and cherry-shaped mini melts. I tried the Key Lime Pie and Cool Citrus Blend. The best way I can think to describe the Key Lime Pie is LIME BUTTERCREAM, it is so creamy and yummy (shhhh, don't tell anyone, I'd hate to damage my anti-foodite reputation). These are interesting in that they have a really great throw, but the scent remains light, it won't overpower a room. The Cool Citrus Blend is VERY strong in the bag. VERY VERY strong, a bit like Men's Cologne, but when burning the scent is very nice. It is much more fresh-citrus-y when hot and has an OK throw. I burned these in a really big room and I could just detect a hint from far away.

The berries are nice because, like all mini-melts or clamshell tarts, you can add as little or as many as you'd like, and they work well for smaller burners. An added advantage is that these look nice just sitting out and they are strong enough to use as potpourri in a smaller room.

Also available wholesale to retailers who are interested at Candles of Eden

Are you drooling over the gorgeous tarts that I have pictured in this lens? They can be all yours. Country Heart Gifts makes exquisite double layer and tea and coffee blend tarts. She has graciously allowed me to use the photgraphs of her wares here.

Country Heart Bath and Body



"Country Heart's main goal is to bring you the best of the best - the best ingredients, the best oils, the best products I can possibly make with my own two hands!

My formulas are tested over and over again until I am compeletely safisfied. I don't stop there - my products are tested on myself, my family and friends..in that order, until I feel 100% comfortable selling it to you!

All of my products are made in small batches. That way I have more quality control in each and every batch. I only use skin safe ingredients. My soaps are gentle enough for most all skin types. They do not contain alcohol, waxes, fillers or harsh chemicals.

I love fragrance oils, but I'm very picky about the companies I buy them from. The same holds true for all of the ingredients I use in all of my products."