Tantalizing Sampler Box (Love is in the Air) Review, February 2015

It may seem a bit late to be doing a review of a Valentine's Day oriented box but the contents of the February Tantalizing Sampler Box deserve some attention!  The theme of the box is "Love is in the Air", beautifully represented by the items included. These boxes are still available and at just $18, they really are a steal.

If you saw my Out of the Box Sampler review earlier in February, you know that sampler boxes are designed to show off samples from artisan or small batch vendors. Sampler boxes are typically full of soap, tarts, bath products, hair items and other products that will appeal to ladies. The presentation of each item is strictly up to the original vendor, of course, with the hope that you will visit their store.  

When I opened the Tantalizing Sampler Box and the amazing mingled smell of all the scented items wafted out, I was thoroughly charmed.  As I mentioned with the OOBS review, if you can't tolerate scents, this is not the box for you.  For everyone else, let's just say....somebody needs to invent Smell-a-Blog!  I am halfway tempted to store all these products in the adorable heart-printed box they arrived in just to hang on to the lovely scent for as long as possible.

The Tantalizing Sampler Box arrived packaged like a gift basket, wrapped in cellophane and tied with red ribbon.

From Distinctly Pink, there is a cute trio, all scented in "Cherry Chip Pancakes".  There are 2 oz. samples of hand and body lotion and hand sanitizer and an aroma melt.  It may be hard to remember NOT to drizzle this stuff over real pancakes; it smells that good!

Next is a sweet pink polka dot paper package from Wax Worx.  Since I can't possibly use everything I've received in the two sampler boxes any time soon, I'm going to leave this one wrapped for a while in case I decide to gift it.  Their site has lots more in the way of custom candles, soaps, lip balms, etc.

This heart printed organza bag contains a wax melt from Closet Full of Wax.  This is in the shape of lips with a yummy "Olde Towne Bake Shoppe" scent.  I'm not sure how to describe the smell but it's a blend of all things tasty and good.

Knowing what artisan bath bombs cost, I was surprised and pleased to see this one from Tub Time Treasures.  It is pale yellow in color and the scent is "Lemon Cookies". These are only $2.50 on their site; comparable ones from Lush and other high end bath product makers are $5 to $6.  

This little plastic tub contains a white tart in the scent "Date Night" from Two Timing Tart; a great name!  (Their tag line is "home fragrance for the truly daring".)  Their site has a lot of interesting looking products, but I must admit, I don't like the scent of this one.  I can't identify the components but it's not pleasing to my nose.  Hopefully, there will be a nice transformation once it hits the tart warmer.

I LOVE this aroma sachet from Studio C Candles.  It's a crocheted blue heart with a little sparkly blue heart decoration attached to the front.  Inside is a porous bag containing something that smells heavenly.  I'll be stashing this away in my underwear drawer. Such a unique addition to this box!

The sachet came packaged in this cute paper sleeve tied with metallic cords.

This wax melt is a two tiered pink and white heart with scalloped edges. This comes from Sweet Smells n Trinkets and is in the scent "Mac Apple-Streuselkuchen-noel", another delicious baked scent.  This vendor sells a lot of candles and tarts with and without jewelry in them.

This icy blue wax tart comes from Sunflower's Scented Surprises and is in the scent "Sugar Kissed Nights".  This is a sugary "clean" scent, if that makes any sense. According to the site description, it's a masculine scent that combines blue sugar with bergamot, cedar and white musk.  Masculine it may be, but I like it a lot too.

This little bag is printed with hearts and contains a soy wax melt in "Champagne Pomegranate" from an Etsy vendor called The Fragrance House Candle & Bath Works Co.  This one is in the shape of a pink heart and does indeed smell like its name.  Along with two little heart shaped chocolates, this vendor also kindly provided a 10% discount code.  If interested, enter NEW10 during checkout.

If you're old enough to remember candy cigarettes, you'll appreciate this next one. It's several little slices of wax scented like candy cigarettes.  As anti-smoking as I am, boy does this bring back memories of a time when kids "puffed" away on those sweet little sticks! These come from Kimrie Anne's which can be found on Facebook.

     
Here is a cute little girl's hair clip with a double layered butterfly attached.  The clip itself is covered in navy grosgrain ribbon.  Too cute!  This comes from Delightful Ribbons & Bows, a site that carries both scented wax products and hair ribbons and bows.  The code Samplerbows is good for a $3.00 discount on a hair bow order.  The business card says the expiration date is 3/1/15 but maybe the owner will honor it for new customers.  (I'd check with her first.)

This round pink tart is embellished with pink crystals on the top.  This comes from the Mariposa Candle Company and is in the "Beautiful Day" scent.  This is described as a blend of sun-kissed apple, wild daisies and fresh pink peonies.  I appreciate the effort that goes into cute packaging and this one came in a cellophane bag tied with curly pink ribbon.  Also, the business card inside is a magnet.

Last but certainly not least is this adorably boxed wax melt.  Let's talk about this cute box!  It's blue and white striped with a double layered felt heart glued on the front and a Delightful Scents sticker on the top.  Inside the lid, another sticker warns "This is wax, do not eat! Remove cupcake liner before melting!"  I can see why that was necessary.  This little tart would certainly be in danger of consumption in the wrong hands. It looks like a tiny little pink cupcake with a darker pink heart rising out of the middle. Absolutely adorable!

Finally, we've reached the end.  This box contained primarily wax tarts and the packaging throughout was really exceptional.  I thought they did a wonderful job of curating a box themed to Valentine's Day and the overall presentation was much nicer than expected.  I just would have liked to have a few more non-wax samples.

As I mentioned, this box was only $18.  Amazingly, it is still available.  (I have a feeling that when this box becomes better known, they will sell out quickly each time a new box comes out as happens with their main competitor.)  I should mention that Tantalizing Sampler also has a "Mini Sampler" for $10 which contains a minimum of 10 samples; however, that one is currently out of stock.  

The Tantalizing Sampler box comes out every other month so the next one will be available on April 1, 2015.  They go on sale at noon EST, so get your name on their mailing list now if you're interested.  I hope you will take the time to check out some of the links in this post because there are a lot of really talented small home-based vendors out there and they deserve our business.

All these wonderful scents really brightened up a dreary winter day for me!

Cheryl

Disclosure:  Views and opinions expressed in this blog are strictly my own.  Product discussed in this post was purchased by Lone Star Shopper. Post does not contain referral or affiliate links.