The great Christmas tragedy of 2023
Hello. Black Phillip here. Once again, I have taken control of my vessel's faculties, to inflict more word damage on the internet.
This blog post will focus on what is being called "The Great Christmas Tragedy of 2023"
The tragedy starts in October 2022. This is when my limited edition Christmas scent - Krampus Night - was invented. It had been in research since early June, but the formula was finalised at the end of October. As usual with a new blend, SDS was requested from our friends at MSDS Europe and materials to construct the candle were purchased. We specially imported an absolutely beautiful pine tree sap essential oil from Austria. This gave Krampus Night a massive dose of realism, as the Krampus is thought to originate from the vast, evergreen forests of Austria. The other scents involved were a dark coal scent, and a scent of dried wood. A bed if festive herbs and a sprinkling of sparkly snow finished off the profile. It is safe to say that the candle's launch on the first of December 2022 was incredibly successful. It quickly became my best selling blend, selling out it's 80 units in less than a week. It was overwhelming and a very emotional moment, knowing that I had completely nailed a Christmas scent, which people seemed to love.
It was decided that Krampus Night would return for December 2023, and that 100 units would be made, in order to meet the staggering demand. But, like many things on this planet, it didn't go to plan...
Krampus Night was re-launched on the fourth of December 2023, to a rapturous reception, selling 30 units in the first day alone. More sales came flooding in over the next few days, almost too many for me to keep up with! Then came Friday the eighth of December - the first day of delivering and postage. Units were delivered by hand to my wonderful York customers and 19 units were posted to people around the country. At around 9pm on Friday, the first heart breaking reports about Krampus Night came in.
The candle wasn't working as intended. It's scent throw was weak, only really getting going properly after five hours of burning, which is very out of character for one of my candles - their aromas are usually instantaneous. Some people even said they couldn't smell anything coming from the candle at all. I immediately took control of my vessel, as up until this point I was a mere passenger, and I went straight into detective mode, with a healthy dash of damage limitation procedures thrown in! Krampus Night was immediately removed from the website and orders that had not been sent out were cancelled.
I had a number of Krampus Night spritzers, ready to sell alongside the candle at the Dark Arts Christmas Market. It was decided that rather than selling them separately, I would send them on to each person who had bought a Krampus Night candle, in order for them to top up the scent levels in the room they were burning the candle, as and when they saw fit, so they could experience the scent profile as I originally intended it to be.
After scrutinising the Krampus Night formula and testing candle units from the same batch, the problem was determined to be with the oils. I mentioned earlier that I import an essential oil from Austria to get the realistic pine tree sap scent for Krampus Night. What I didn't know was that the company who makes that particular oil, had been bought out by a larger company, who shall remain nameless. This larger company is well known in the industry, for using cheap production methods to make their mass produced oils, resulting in very poor quality. I had bought the pine tree sap oil, not realising that it was now being manufactured on a mass scale, which severely diminished it's quality. Testing the new oil against a few drops of the old one I had confirmed it. The pine tree sap oil takes a front seat in the aroma. Due to it's now poor quality, it simply wasn't present enough in the blend, leaving only the scents which comprise the base and middle notes. The poor quality of the pine tree sap oil meant that there was no detectable top note. The problem had been officially identified.
However, due to the nature of the problem, it was impossible for me to fix. The pine oil was so superior, that it would likely mean I would have to add a fragrance chemical to get the same results. This would mean new SDS would have to be created, at a cost of £95. I decided that it would be better to completely start again, with a new Christmas scent for 2024. As well as the testing bringing an extra cost, after all of this upset, I felt like I never want to see another Krampus Night candle ever again!
Krampus Night has now taken up the second plot in the fragrance graveyard. Never to be exhumed.
I would like to publicly thank all customers who ordered it, both in 2022 and 2023. Special thanks to those who were so kind and patient with my vessel, when the problem arose this year. You are a good bunch.
This is Black Phillip, signing off and returning control to my human host.
This blog post will focus on what is being called "The Great Christmas Tragedy of 2023"
The tragedy starts in October 2022. This is when my limited edition Christmas scent - Krampus Night - was invented. It had been in research since early June, but the formula was finalised at the end of October. As usual with a new blend, SDS was requested from our friends at MSDS Europe and materials to construct the candle were purchased. We specially imported an absolutely beautiful pine tree sap essential oil from Austria. This gave Krampus Night a massive dose of realism, as the Krampus is thought to originate from the vast, evergreen forests of Austria. The other scents involved were a dark coal scent, and a scent of dried wood. A bed if festive herbs and a sprinkling of sparkly snow finished off the profile. It is safe to say that the candle's launch on the first of December 2022 was incredibly successful. It quickly became my best selling blend, selling out it's 80 units in less than a week. It was overwhelming and a very emotional moment, knowing that I had completely nailed a Christmas scent, which people seemed to love.
It was decided that Krampus Night would return for December 2023, and that 100 units would be made, in order to meet the staggering demand. But, like many things on this planet, it didn't go to plan...
Krampus Night was re-launched on the fourth of December 2023, to a rapturous reception, selling 30 units in the first day alone. More sales came flooding in over the next few days, almost too many for me to keep up with! Then came Friday the eighth of December - the first day of delivering and postage. Units were delivered by hand to my wonderful York customers and 19 units were posted to people around the country. At around 9pm on Friday, the first heart breaking reports about Krampus Night came in.
The candle wasn't working as intended. It's scent throw was weak, only really getting going properly after five hours of burning, which is very out of character for one of my candles - their aromas are usually instantaneous. Some people even said they couldn't smell anything coming from the candle at all. I immediately took control of my vessel, as up until this point I was a mere passenger, and I went straight into detective mode, with a healthy dash of damage limitation procedures thrown in! Krampus Night was immediately removed from the website and orders that had not been sent out were cancelled.
I had a number of Krampus Night spritzers, ready to sell alongside the candle at the Dark Arts Christmas Market. It was decided that rather than selling them separately, I would send them on to each person who had bought a Krampus Night candle, in order for them to top up the scent levels in the room they were burning the candle, as and when they saw fit, so they could experience the scent profile as I originally intended it to be.
After scrutinising the Krampus Night formula and testing candle units from the same batch, the problem was determined to be with the oils. I mentioned earlier that I import an essential oil from Austria to get the realistic pine tree sap scent for Krampus Night. What I didn't know was that the company who makes that particular oil, had been bought out by a larger company, who shall remain nameless. This larger company is well known in the industry, for using cheap production methods to make their mass produced oils, resulting in very poor quality. I had bought the pine tree sap oil, not realising that it was now being manufactured on a mass scale, which severely diminished it's quality. Testing the new oil against a few drops of the old one I had confirmed it. The pine tree sap oil takes a front seat in the aroma. Due to it's now poor quality, it simply wasn't present enough in the blend, leaving only the scents which comprise the base and middle notes. The poor quality of the pine tree sap oil meant that there was no detectable top note. The problem had been officially identified.
However, due to the nature of the problem, it was impossible for me to fix. The pine oil was so superior, that it would likely mean I would have to add a fragrance chemical to get the same results. This would mean new SDS would have to be created, at a cost of £95. I decided that it would be better to completely start again, with a new Christmas scent for 2024. As well as the testing bringing an extra cost, after all of this upset, I felt like I never want to see another Krampus Night candle ever again!
Krampus Night has now taken up the second plot in the fragrance graveyard. Never to be exhumed.
I would like to publicly thank all customers who ordered it, both in 2022 and 2023. Special thanks to those who were so kind and patient with my vessel, when the problem arose this year. You are a good bunch.
This is Black Phillip, signing off and returning control to my human host.