Ashland Decor Scents Wax Melts from Michaels Arts & Crafts - Review

Here's a first look at the Ashland Decor Scents Wax Melts from Michaels Arts & Crafts. I believe they are new this year, as I didn't see them in the stores last year. They are part of the "Decor Scents" line which includes candles, potpourri and oils. They are not on the Michaels website as of this writing. These are $2.99 each in the store, in line with other wax melts, including their regular Ashland melts.

The first difference you will see with these wax melts is that the package is round. Like other wax melts, it's a 2.5 oz. pack and the wax is scored into 6 cubes. The round package makes breaking up the cubes a bit more cumbersome, as you have to take the entire melt out of the pack, break it in half, and then break off the cube you want. Storage might be a little tricky too. But otherwise, the round package doesn't really bother me. It does make them very easy to identify!

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These wax melts are round and scored in 6 sections

The most important feature is, of course, scent and throw. Since I just bought these last night, I can only comment on throw from one of the scents. But most of the scents are fantastic! The wax is hard, so I assume it's paraffin, which I prefer as a lot of soy doesn't throw well for me.

They don't have a huge selection of scents, maybe 12 at the most. I bought 7 (unfortunately I didn't make a list of their other scents):

• Seaside
  This is what you would expect from a scent with this name, but it's kicked up a notch, making it different from other "ocean water" type scents. I can smell the salty ozony air and sweet water notes, but there's another element I can't put my finger on. Another very classy fragrance.

• White Linen
  This is of course a cottony laundry fragrance. Not much differentiates it from other "clean" type scents, although it seems like a higher quality version.

• Juicy Apple
  This smells almost exactly like ScentSationals Juicy Apple, with barely a subtle difference. I can almost smell the apple juice in this one. It's a sweet (but not overly sweet) apple with a slight pear note. Very nice.

• Vanilla Spice
  This is a typical sweet cinnamony fall scent, nothing really to differentiate it from other sweet fall scents, and not very strong on cold sniff.

• Spice Market
  I expected "Spice Market" to smell like your typical cinnamon and nutmeg, more like a fall scent. But no, this is entirely different, and I don't think "Spice Market" is a good description. This is neroli (orange blossom or petitgrain). Yes, neroli. I've never seen this scent in wax melts before, or even candles for that matter. So I was excited to find this one! Neroli, orange blossom and petitgrain smell very similar, so I'm not entirely sure which one this is. It's a warm,  relaxing, elegant scent that mixes well with other relaxing scents like lavender. You can do an online search for a scent description, but I haven't seen any good descriptions out there.

• Bamboo Willow
  This has a green, clean, slightly floral scent, maybe with a tiny hint of neroli to keep it classy. It's not very strong on cold sniff, so I'll be interested to see how good the throw is when melted.

• Gardenia
  This is a true gardenia scent, with a hint of neroli to keep it classy and not overly floral. So it doesn't have that really sweet perfumey note. This is the only one I've melted so far, and throw is great, probably a 4 out of 5!

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