After a particularly long stint on my wishlist, a small crop of Jimmyjane candles finally made it into my life and onto my shelves and bureau top. The scents sounded absolutely intoxicating in their description and they seemed like wonderfully functional, practical multi-purpose candles. But $25 a pop for a little tiny votive? Even for an all natural soy wax massage candle full of yummy smells and environmentally friendly cotton wicks, it was hard for me to put that kind of money down. I mean, it's still a candle, you know!

Well, I finally caved and got two. I have the lotus scent and the cucumber water, both of which are absolutely heavenly and delicious and surprisingly not too far off from their descriptions. Jimmyjane's blurbs about the aromas border on the nutty and esoteric, and yet JJ has the goods to back up all this hubris so I guess I can't complain. Lotus is described as having an "aqueous heart [that] brings a liquid depth to its floral notes. Rippling and intricate, it seduces with each new impression." The cucumber is described as having "light floral top notes [that] float over a welcome sweetness. Cool and rejuvenating, cucumber water is a slice of summer shade." A little pretentious? Absolutely. But pretty accurate? You betcha.

The lotus scent reminds me vaguely of a certain brand of hair oil used when flat ironing, although I couldn't place the exact name of the product. It reminds me a lot of the way that cosmetic stores like Sephora always seem to smell...and something about it is distinctly Manhattan, if that makes sense. It reeks of high-end Soho beauty boutiques, but in the best way possible. There is no specific floral scent that comes to mind here, just a light and very sweet flowery fragrance with an faint and unexpected undercurrent of sweet spice. It's very unobtrusive, and you kind of have to stick your nose right in the votive to get a good whiff. When burned it takes quite a while for the scent to fill even a small room, so I didn't find this was very good for setting a mood in that regard.

The cucumber water scent has a fairly prominent melon scent, reminiscent of a cassava, and a very prominent rose smell. The watery greenness of the cucumber is pushed into the background by these two powerfully sweet elements, which was disappointing. It's still a decidedly lush and liquid scent profile that I certainly don't mind, very summery, but I missed the cucumber a bit here. As with the lotus, the scent was quite mild when lit and I had trouble getting a good fragrance buzz going in my very small bedroom.

One of the things I noticed about my Jimmyjane candles, including the Ember candle I got, is that they don't burn as evenly as I'd like them to. The trick to getting the most out of your candles is letting them burn all the way to the edges of their votive each time you light them. This prevents what is known as "tunneling," which is essentially when your candle gets stuck in a certain sphere of burning and continues to burn straight down within this area without burning the wax around the edges. What this means for you is that you're not getting your money's worth; the unburned wax around the edges is dollars down the drain. Afterglow candles aren't exactly cheap, and after two hours of burning my Lotus candle still doesn't quite make it to the edges of the jar. For such a pricey item I expected a bit more and was definitely let down. The wicks on mine also burned down rather rapidly and both of my Afterglows would extinguish themselves after being left to burn for any more than an hour, and far before they reached the edges.

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I will say that the Afterglow Massage Candle does excel at its namesake function: massage. The scent that is mellow and understated when burning becomes much bolder and more complex when applied to the skin. The individual scent notes become pronounced and easier to identify. If you're someone that loves to get things really slippery when massaging you may find you're even a bit overwhelmed by the aroma, but a quarter sized pool for an upper body massage is enough to make things rather slick and not headache-inducing. I found the oil a lot heavier than I expected it to be, a lot waxier. It really needs a good bit of rubbing before it gets deep down into the skin. Unless I really dig in, the results are kind of tacky and unpleasant. However, once rubbed in it's marvelously luxurious and leaves your skin very soft. The candles are made from incredibly soft and malleable soy wax, which is better for the environment than paraffin based candles due to its producing significantly less smoke. Your walls are also much less likely to suffer at the hands of snaking, black smoke trails! The candle is also supplemented with jojoba, shea butter, vitamin E, soy and aloe to help condition and soften your skin and I can definitely see the work of these ingredients on my skin after use.

Jimmyjane's Afterglow Massage Candles come in clear, square glass jars with the name of the company imprinted in faint grey lettering. They hold five ounces of wax which, if burned properly, can last for up to 42 hours according to Edenfantasys although the Jimmyjane site says 32 hours. I'm having a little bit of trouble believing one would last either of those number of hours just based on how my candles have been burning so far, but I'm waiting to be proven wrong. Included with each candle is a small brush that can be used for applying the oil to the skin. I don't particularly care for this because I find a lot of the wax ends up being wasted on the bristles instead of the skin, but I think it's a nice little bonus. I saved the brush I didn't use for massage to apply make-up with, in fact.

Overall this candle fell short of my expectations but I do still think they are quite good. They're still better than most massage candles on the market, and perhaps I'm just being harsh because of how hyped up they are and how expensive as well. Nevertheless, I don't know if I'd buy another one, but I am happy to have to two that I have and think I made good choices in terms of the scents.

I've started to appreciate my Afterglow candles a little bit more as time has gone by. They are still not as strong as I would like them to be and the off center wicks on some of them are a nuisance, but overall they've grown on me a lot. I still don't think they're worth all the hype, but they are probably worth their price tag if you have the cash to spare on a candle. As the weather gets colder and the snow piles up I fall more and more in love with the beautiful glow these lend to my room. My vanilla afterglow only just petered out (I used it the most) after so many hours of burning, and already I'm thinking that I need another. Definitely a nice little luxury!