Dear Candle Reviewers...

   I'm writing this blog entry to the people who leave shitty reviews, as well as the people who don't tend to write reviews. I hope you take this into consideration because someone like me could be looking for the info locked in your brain. You might hold the secret to finding a dupe for that scent that changed someone else's life once-upon-a-time. Now they can relive that moment and you made it happen. What a gift you have given to the world. Smell is emotional & specific. Our reviews should reflect this. It's all in the details guys. Help an archiver like myself out.

Part of running my site is constantly checking notes and customer reviews for various fragrances. One of my biggest pet peeves, while I'm combing through hundreds of reviews, is the one liner saying, "smells good/great/amazing etc". Thank you for your terrible review which tells me nothing. Saying something is good or bad is subjective, so WHY even bother leaving a review? If I could filter out the non-descript crappy reviews from the good ones on the Bath & Body Works and Goose Creek websites... OMG i would save myself HOURS of reading. Why do people leave these reviews? There are only a few things that people want to know when u review a candle:

• WHAT does it smell like? Literally, what does it make you think of when u smell it? I don't care if you like it or not, not really. Mostly I just want to know what it smells like.
• Then I want to know how well it throws.
• Next is burn performance.
• Is this a repackage of a different scent, or a dupe of another scent?
• Would you buy it again? Who would you buy it for?

 Inquiring minds want to know these answers. I don't need to know you got this to give as a gift, and please stop telling me how pretty the packaging is or how well it goes with your décor. Don't know, don't care. Then there are the people who leave reviews who haven't even received their product yet... who ARE these people and WHY are they leaving a review for a product they haven't even smelled yet? Ugh. Drives me crazy. I wish there was a way we could comment on others reviews. I think it would be hilarious, especially the comments on a particularly unhelpful or bizarre review. That's what I was hoping I could turn r/candlereviews into. Someone would leave a random review, and people would comment on it. Those comments would spark comments, debates would take place, with culture and knowledge to follow sharing what we know. It's taking a while to grow the community, but that would be my ultimate goal. There are some very good candle reviewers out there, I can get so much information about a candle from a detailed, informed and imaginative review. This is often where I find out if scents are repackaged or dupes of another scent. If I catch a trace of this, I dive further into the reviews to see if others agree and mention the same scent. Once I see a pattern of consensus, I make a note on my dupes lists. 
So, I am COUNTING on you all to leave your best, most specific reviews, so I can compile the data I need to share with the world. You think you are just leaving a review but in this world of infinite time and nostalgia, you could be leaving behind a piece of history. A piece I will pick up and sew into my Smell This Tapestry. I thank you in advance for all the awesome reviews you will leave after reading my letter.

Thank You,
The Candle Queen <3