Darby Smart DIY Soy Candle Making Kit Review & Giveaway

When Darby Smart contacted me last month about reviewing one of their DIY kits, I was a little nervous. As I’ve mentioned before, I am NOT too skilled at the whole “arts & crafts” thing. Like, at all.

Luckily, my fears subsided once I had a look at their website. Darby Smart has project kits for everyone — from simple beaded bracelets and candle kits, to mosaic coasters and personalized totes. Kits start at just $19 and shipping is always free!

I decided to go with the Soy Candle Design Starter Set. It seemed easy enough for a noob like me to do, and I do like me some soy candles, so it seemed like the perfect choice. Was it? Let’s see! Dun dun dun!...

This is what the entire kit contained. Everything needed to make 6 soy candles: 6 glass votives, 4 liquid scents, a pound of soy wax, 3 blending colors, 6 wicks, and 2 wick-stabilizing sticks. Oh, and an instruction card. (I should note that when I first received my kit, 2 of the votives were broken. I emailed Darby Smart and they were super apologetic and sent out replacements right away. Yay for great customer service!)

The first step (obviously) was to melt the wax. I used a glass measuring cup and poured in about half of the wax chips. I nuked ’em on full power for about 2 minutes until I got what looked like a cup of pee. (Hey, it totally does.)

I poured a bottle of the pumpkin spice scent (my favorite!) into the wax and started adding colors. This part was a wee bit frustrating for me, as I wasn’t sure how much to use and since the dyes were solid, I had to use a small grater to shave bits into the votives. As you can see above, shit got a little messy. I also screwed up and ended up mixing 2 different scents together on accident (I told you I suck at this stuff).

I tried experimenting with mixing colors, but I didn’t really get the hues I was hoping for. However, since I was a candle making virgin, I cut myself a little slack.

The last step was to drop the wicks into the votives and arrange the two wooden sticks (dowels? skewers?) on either side of them to keep ’em in place. This part was kinda tricky, as the wicks had a mind of their own. Eventually they succumbed to the mighty power of the sticks and I left them alone to solidify.

I was so stoked when I saw the final result! Somehow I had unknowingly made all of the colors of the rainbow! Woo! Well, okay, the “purple” one didn’t quite make it to full “purple-ness”, but close enough. Plus, they smelled so nice! Yay!

Overall, I was very happy with my first Darby Smart experience. It forced me to do something I wouldn’t ordinarily think of trying, and I ended up with a cute set of candles that I was strangely proud to have made myself. 🙂

Darby Smart has generously offered to give 3, yes THREE, of my readers their very own Soy Candle Design Starter Set! Awesome!

As always, just click the image below and make nice with my friend, the Rafflecopter. Good luck! 🙂

Disclosure: I was given this box for review purposes. I was not compensated in any way. All opinions are my own. Post may contain affiliate links. Contest open to US residents only, 18+. Prize fulfillment to be handled by Darby Smart.