My Top Ten Reasons for Choosing Candles By Victoria - Reason #1

Okay, this is it! You have to start drumming your fingers on the tabletop before you read this post, hehe!

(1) C'mon, is it really a question? We all know her and love her...you guessed it...Miss Victoria herself!! (And the crowd goes wild! Waaaaah!!) I mean, there simply wouldn't be a Candles By Victoria without Victoria! No great candles, no fun videos to watch, no wonderful Pouring Pot community... Okay, I'm making myself too sad, so I have to stop this now...

In the same vein, I'll ask the question - would there have been a Walt Disney World without Walt Disney? Yes, I am a huge Disney maniac, but stay with me on this one. :) Were there amusement parks before Walt? Yep. Did he take the idea and, with his exceptional talent and creativity, make an even better amusement park than the ones in existence at the time? Absolutely! Now, I know that candles aren't as big as an amusement park (or a animated dynasty, for that matter), but then again, I don't visit an amusement park every day like I burn scents in my home. The concept is still there. Victoria is an innovator, and she is constantly creating new ways to offer items that have, indeed, existed before - but on a higher level of quality, to which she has elevated them. Walt was always known to remind people that all that the Walt Disney Company had accomplished could be traced back to a mouse. It's hard to imagine, but a single idea can make a big difference.

Here are just a few ideas that Victoria has about how to run her business, that I think make a big difference to me, as a CBV customer:

Is it good enough that Victoria would stop at offering 100 scents? 200? How about 747 scents and still counting? Without a doubt, we can continue to look forward to her exciting us with new scents with every passing month.

Is it good enough that Victoria would offer just the scents that she has created for purchase? Same jar sizes, just different photos on the front of the jars? (Boy, that sounds boring, doesn't it?). Nope, she allows her customers to create their own combinations, name them, and choose the glitter color that they want them to be. An exciting way to purchase candles, to be sure.

Is it good enough that Victoria would sit back and not interact with her customers? Nope. Check out her youtube channel and watch the cutest snippets into her family's wonderful work ethic and love of life, one another, and her customers. This video is one of my personal favorites:

http://youtu.be/mFiv59Sh2_8

And, like I mentioned in yesterday's blog entry , Victoria has created an outstanding online community - and the last time that I checked, this lovely lady had contributed over 10,000 comments to discussions since the inception of the Pouring Pot. Pretty amazing, isn't she? Heck, I was able to attend the wonderful CBV meet-up, hosted in the Elliott's home, after being a customer of hers for just a few months! (And, we all agree that were treated like queens!) How's that for a great company owner? :D

I could go on and on, but I believe that you get the idea by now. Victoria, I love you, I love your entire funny and committed family, and I love all that you've brought into my life! Thanks so much for all that you do!


~Hugs to you sweet lady! You mean so much to so many!~

Well, that finally wraps up my top ten list for being a loyal CBV customer! I have so many orders and reviews to write about that I fear my hands will never recover! I hope to see you back here to read about the avalanche of scents that I have accumuluated! In the meantime, I'm going to go watch another one of my favorite CBV videos. The Candleman just cracks me up! :)

http://youtu.be/PTGYQbNY8Ek

That's all for now, folks! Enjoy! :)

My Top Ten Reasons for Choosing Candles By Victoria - Reason #2

My goodness, a slight delay? Bwhahahaha! Let's get on with the show, shall we (finally)??!

(2) Victoria's "candle family" is the most wonderful group of people you'll ever have the privilege of meeting and spending time with. And, by "candle family", I mean her actual relatives, employees, as well as her online community. Okay, I know, you're probably thinking that I have named something that "technically" doesn't have anything to do with Victoria's products themselves as my runner up to my top reason for buying from CBV. How can this be? Well, because these people have come to mean a lot to me, and keep me coming back to Victoria's exceptional products. The Pouring Pot community knows a lot about Victoria's scents, but they also know how to be a fantastic support system for one another - and that is a priceless commodity to me.

When I made my first order with CBV, I didn't know much about Victoria's scents - so I chose scents that just "sounded good" to me. Granted, that is when Victoria was only offering around 700 scents rather than 747, so why I didn't have more clarity as to what to purchase is a mystery... :) Anyway, the majority of the scents that I bought didn't agree with my nose. I'm always careful to say that the scent didn't agree with my nose, because Victoria's candles are always wonderful quality - but not all scents are for everyone. So, after I purchased that first order, and found out that the scents weren't good choices for me, I may have thought that CBV wasn't for me. But, (and I'm so glad that I did this) I joined the Pouring Pot message board shortly after my first order arrived, and received suggestions and descriptions of scents that ended up being favorites of mine.

More than likely, you'll meet people that have similar "noses" to your own, and that will give you a number of scents to try that may not have been on your radar. You can see what people are burning every day, and what they think about the scents, and you can also look at many written reviews in a special thread. Round Robins are organized so that if you do order scents that don't agree with your nose, you can swap them with other scents that people found didn't agree with their noses. The message board just provides endless support and fun for your wax addiction - and it keeps me coming back. Before this, if I accidentally bumped into someone while shopping in a candle shop, I considered that the extent of my socializing with regards to candles!

I know that we've all heard the saying, "It takes a village to raise a child", and I think that this same thought applies to being a CBV customer. "It takes a village to take on Victoria's ginormous scent selection"! My list of scents that I want to try, not to mention the Create A Scent suggestions that have been listed on the message board, keeps growing and growing. If you think about it, it's the same situation as when you go shopping with friends, versus shopping by yourself. Most of the time, when I'm with friends, it's more enjoyable. We divide up in a particular shop, and more than likely, we find things in different areas of the store that we may not have found ourselves. More pairs of eyes the better, right? In the case of CBV, the more noses the better - and it's like shopping with a large group of the warmest friends you can have.

Beyond being one of the nicest groups of enablers on the web, the Pouring Pot is a network of people who care about one another. You can go to the message boards to receive support if you are going through a rough time, or receive congratulations if you have something to celebrate - and so much more. I've simply never developed such a bond with an online group like this before, nor do I believe I can find another group to compare to them - and luckily I don't need to!

I have to share a photo of my first CBV love before I wrap this post up - Amish Quilt - which was in that first order that I mentioned. Isn't it cute? :) A lovely mix of spicy notes that just makes the home smell so cozy in my opinion.




Thanks for reading my long overdue Reason #2 for Choosing Candles By Victoria, and I hope that you will check back for my #1 Reason. In the meantime, if you haven't checked out the Pouring Pot message board ~ what are you waiting for? You'll be so happy that you joined the fun!

http://cbvictoria.proboards.com/index.cgi?