Scented candles are a wondrous thing. They look pretty all while filling a room with a lovely scent that doesn't drive you crazy. Well, the good ones do anyway, and Illume sure knows what they're doing. Anybody looking for lighter, fresher scents, will enjoy this collection, and since there's nothing at all risque about anything involved, you can feel free to burn it anywhere you like.

Since this candle isn't meant to do much more than just sit there and look pretty, I didn't really mess around with putting it on my skin at all. In the jar unlit, it's nice and solid. You could dig some wax out with your nails if you really wanted to, but it's not so soft that your finger will sink right in. Lit, it resembles, well, a lit candle. The wax moves around and will spill if you tip the candle too far.

The Pearl Collection comes in two scents: Freshwater Pearl and Keshi Pearl. I've got the Keshi. It's described by Illume as being a sensual mix of citrus notes, sandalwood, and clove. I personally think it smells a whole heck of a lot like the Sea Island Cotton lotion from Bath and Body Works. The aroma is what some might describe as "perfect", or at least pretty darn close. It's not overpowering, but still manages to permeate an entire room. It sits nicely in the background and shouldn't bother any but the most sensitive of noses.

Amazing. Makes my bedroom smell amazing, makes me smell amazing, since I've discovered that the wax is just on the oily enough side that it can be dabbed on. When I want to wear it as something resembling a perfume, I just burn it for a while first, then after I blow it out, dip my finger in the wax pool and dab wherever I might spray perfume. After burning about 2 hours, the wax pool was finally about covering the entire surface of the candle.

The packaging for this candle was just superb. It would make an amazing gift to anybody for any reason. A cardboard-esque cylinder houses the candle inside of it. It comes apart much like the pre-wrapped present boxes you might have seen in the past with a very convenient little satin pullstring on the top of the lid to help get it off.

Inside there's a little resting place for the candle to sit and not shift around. This is convenient because it'll keep your candle from moving around and possibly breaking if you're traveling with it, and also because after the wax is all cool again, you can store the candle in this container to keep it from getting filled with random air debris that might find their way into it.

There was no instruction manual per se, but on the bottom of the candle itself is a sticker that lists the approximate burn time (up to 80 hours), the net weight of 9.7 ounces, and a few safety instructions.

For best results, always let the wax pool melt across the top of the candle. This will allow for more even burning all around.

$30 is a rather steep price to pay for a candle, especially one you can't smell before you buy it, but mine has been worth every penny so far. It smells so wonderful, and I'm going to get the other one in the collection as well. I really can't see a downside to this except the price.