You may have heard of Charmed Aroma from random facebook ads or hashtags in Instagram posts from girls you went to high school with. But if you haven’t heard of it, Charmed Aroma is a Canadian based company that sells candles and bath bombs with surprise jewellery hidden inside. I first heard about and became interested in the brand a couple of years ago. But it remained out of sight, out of mind until I clicked on a Charmed Aroma facebook ad for a sale at the end of January. The sale coincided perfectly with my plans to treat myself to something fun for Valentine’s Day, and with an assignment for one of my marketing courses that requires me to create and share brand-related content on social media (Hi, Professor!). So, I decided to give it a try.
Website and Ordering Process: 7/10
The Charmed Aroma website is pretty simple and user-friendly. Products are organized broadly into candles and bath bombs and then organized into more specific collections within those categories. For each product, you can see pictures of some of the jewellery you can expect to find inside that particular candle or bath bomb. Each one has its own theme, such as “Love inspired”, “Paris”, or a particular colour or stone. Considering that you don’t get to see your jewellery until after you’ve bought it, the pictures are helpful to give you a general idea of what it might look like so that you can choose a theme you’re interested in. Similarly, product descriptions include descriptions of the scent so that you can order something you’ll like without smelling it first. My only complaint about the website is that you aren’t able to sort by new arrivals, price, recommended, etc., like most e-commerce sites allow. However, the product selection is small enough that you can look through the options without sorting and still not feel overwhelmed. I also wish I could see a bit more company history on the website, but I guess a little mystery is very on-brand for a company that hides a surprise piece of jewellery in each of their products.
Price: 8/10
Current regular prices for bath bombs on the website range from about $21.99 to $24.99, but sale prices are as low as $14.99 for one or $36.00 for a set of three “surprise” bath bombs (no pictures or scent descriptions). Regular candle prices range from about $28.99-39.99, with the exception of one special Swarovski crystal candle that goes for $59.99. Sale prices on candles are as low as $17.99. The Charmed Aroma candle I bought was originally $39.99, on sale for $29.99 (plus HST and shipping). It cost a bit more than a 3-wick candle at Bath and Body Works, which is my normal go-to candle place. But, the Bath and Body Works candles, which usually cost around $20, don’t have jewellery in them, so I would say the Charmed Aroma candles are more than worth the difference.
Shipping and Delivery: 10/10
In Ontario, Charmed Aroma charges a flat shipping rate of $8.95 for orders below $75, but shipping is free on orders of $75 or more. I hate paying for shipping, but I was a first-time customer and didn’t quite want to buy $75 worth of stuff before seeing the product quality for myself, so I begrudgingly spent $8.95 on shipping. [Of course, my sister told me AFTER I had placed my order that she wanted a jewellery candle for her birthday, so I realized a little too late that I could have gotten her something as well and avoided paying the shipping. Please learn from my mistake.] Charmed Aroma also offers an express shipping option for a higher price. Even though I opted to pay only the regular shipping rate, my orders arrived surprisingly fast: I ordered my candle on a Wednesday evening and it arrived less than 48 hours later, on Friday afternoon. I placed a second order, for my sister’s birthday gift, on Thursday evening, and it arrived the following Monday afternoon. I think it was the fastest I’ve ever received anything I’ve ordered online. I also loved that they gave the option to receive shipping updates via text message. Nothing can brighten your day like a text letting you know that something you ordered has been delivered and is waiting for you at home.
Candle: 10/10
I bought the Velvet Pom-Pom Candle, which contained a ring from the Pink Ring Collection. It was a limited-edition candle, with 10% of the proceeds going to the National Breast Cancer Foundation. In addition to doing good in the world, the candle looked good and smelled good. The pink velvet covered candle jar was cute enough to be reused to hold pens, makeup brushes, hair elastics or any other little trinkets you might want to keep together. This particular candle also came with a pink pom-pom keychain attached to the top, perfect for channelling your inner Cher Horowitz. The scent, “juicy pink grapefruit, fresh cut pear and sweet musk”, was strong enough to be noticeable when you walk into a room where it’s burning, but not so strong as to be overpowering.
The candle burned for probably 15-20 hours before I was able to see the foil wrapping containing the ring. After that, it still took a few hours before I actually got the ring out. Once the ring was out, the candle had burned about halfway down, so I’m expecting another 20+ hours of burn time. The candle had a single wick and a small enough diameter to burn pretty evenly the whole time without tunnelling. In terms of scent, appearance, and overall quality, I would say the Charmed Aroma candle was about equal to my go-to Bath and Body Works candles, with the addition of a fun little surprise halfway down.
Jewellery: 9/10
You can choose candles or bath bombs with necklaces or bracelets in them, but most have rings. I chose one with a ring. The ring I ended up with was silver with a pink teardrop-shaped gem, surrounded by little white gems. I personally thought it was gorgeous. Since you’re able to select your ring size when you order, it fits perfectly. Each piece of jewellery found in a Charmed Aroma product comes with a code that you can enter on the website to check its appraisal value. The appraisal value for mine was $150 – nowhere near the $5000 that some of the jewellery is supposedly worth, but certainly still very pretty. The only issue with jewellery from Charmed Aroma is that you might not end up liking it. I was lucky enough to really like the one I got, but there were a few pieces in the same collection that I didn’t like nearly as much. Of course, the surprise is what makes the experience interesting.
Overall Experience: 9.5/10
Overall, I had a lot of fun through the whole process of burning my candle and waiting to get the ring out of it. The anticipation of waiting for your jewellery makes burning a candle much more exciting. I probably won’t become a regular customer, simply because I already have way too much jewellery I never wear and about 10 partially burned candles I should probably get through before buying any more. However, I would definitely consider giving Charmed Aroma products as gifts or even getting myself another one for a special occasion. I would recommend that anyone who likes jewellery, candles, or bath bombs try a Charmed Aroma product at least once, just for a little fun and excitement. Now go forth and live your best, candle-burning, bath bomb-using, mystery jewellery-finding life!
Charmed Aroma – it’s lit!
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