I've always had favorable comments with a moderate strength vanilla scent, it seems to appeal to both males and females. I personally do not like flower scents, specially gardenia and rose. tttodd, the Slatkin candles are great; I especially like the fact that the lid is attractive and kills the flame without having to blow the candle out (eliminating that burned smell of having just blown out candles). I just bought a 3 wick Marshmallow slatkin on thursday and it has a mild vanilla scent. The glass jars at Yankee get a black soot deposit when you extinguish them by putting the lid on. Yankee has started selling some of their scents in a simple clear column container, like the slatkins; I personally do not like the countryish jars, they don't suit my decor. On that same shopping trip, I bought 2 boxes of Yankee vanilla tea lights, they burn well and go out by themselves, which is what I like about tea lights, specially the clear plastic ones, they look good in a clear glass votive holder.

We went into a shop in Camden, Maine this past summer that sold Maine-made crafts, art, gifts and tchotchkes. And scented candles. Even though I was looking for a Maine-themed gift for our pet sitter, I could only spend 15 seconds in the store before I had to leave, because of the overpowering candle scent. My favorite "candles" are the tiny electric tea lights. Smell free, flame free, smoke free, wax-dripping free. Maybe this preference is partly because I made a winter-themed table centerpiece as a kid-- with twigs to simulate trees, cotton balls to simulate snow, and a candle in the middle all in an aluminum pie plate. I decided to put the centerpiece in place, and light the candle, and then went to get everyone so they could see it. We came back into the kitchen, and the whole thing was aflame. My parents doused it with water, but it was destroyed, and it had melted a hole in the middle of the brand new table cloth and scorched the table beneath it. Traumatic.

Those scent cubes are just wax, scent & color. If I am to assume that the scent is used up, it's just wax & color, so I think it would be OK.

We use 8%, which seems pretty great with Fragrance oils. Now, with essential oils, If you got to something like 30%, you will be both dilluting the wax (so it wont burn well) and also spending a boatload on the oils. The tricky thing is, essential oils vary so much for their own throw, so 8% of one might be great and 8% of another might not do anything. Its all about experimentation, we are trying new things all the time. Connect with your inner mad scientist!!