Candles are a big part of our household ambiance, so when received the Celebrate America set by Crystal Journey we were pretty eager to try them out. These colorful paraffin candles are all handcrafted in Connecticut with essential oils and lead-free cotton wicks, and they smell terrific.

The packaging looked really nice, and the first thing that sprang to mind was what a great gift it would make. There's a sturdy gold cardboard tray that holds the four candles, with a clear plastic cover over the top and a thin cardboard advertising band that slips around the whole thing. It was a breeze to get open but didn't fall apart when we handled it.

After opening the package, we noticed that some of the red coloring had bled into the white candle in spite of the fact that there were thin dividers separating each of the candles, and the scents seemed blended too. It was like a pleasant spicy fruit mixture. Because of the color bleeding we thought that this scent mixing would be permanent, but after separating the candles and letting them air out for awhile, the individual aromas became clear.

The dark red candle is cherry scented, light red is red apple, and the blue is blueberry. Those scents were very accurate, but we were a bit confused by smell of the white one. On the packaging it says Vanilla, but on the manufacturer's website is says Ocean. It's definitely not an ocean smell (we know, we live near one), but not quite straight vanilla either. More like vanilla extract with a hint of patchouli. It was unusual but nice.

Each candle is 2" tall with a shallow indention around the wick to catch the wax. It works fine for awhile, but once the candle gets about halfway down the upper edges do get grooves in the middle them that let the wax drip down the sides. That's to be expected of almost any candle that doesn't come in a holder though, so we always put ours in a glass dish.

While they're burning, these candles put off just the right amount of scent to fill the room without becoming overpowering, even after a long period of time. The manufacturer boasts that they will last for 15 hours each, so we deliberately left one going just to test that claim. It burned for 15 hours and 3 minutes. Talk about a company that knows their product! Even more impressive was the fact that they burn very cleanly, with a nice even flame that never sputters or wavers.

All in all, we like these candles enough that not only will we be looking into some of Crystal Journey's other offerings for ourselves, there's also going to be several people on our Christmas list who will be getting some as well.

Alan says:
One other thing I noticed is that the red apple and vanilla candles aren't as strong as the other two scent-wise. That could be a bad thing or a good thing depending on where you want to use them. Personally I took it as a good thing, because they're subtle enough to use in a very small room without giving me a headache.

Michele says:
For all of you that are into wax play, I wanted to mention that these candles burn pretty hot. We used an infrared thermometer on the wax pools, and they average around 120 degrees Fahrenheit. That's hot enough to cause some damage, especially on more tender areas, so if you decide to go for it make sure you really know what you're doing first.