Straight off the top, I’m of two minds about this rather large order of scented wax from Super Tarts, a pop culture-minded vendor out of the United States. On the one hand, I’m delighted with the absolutely gigantic selection of themed scents, from The Walking Dead and Ghostbusters, to Harry Potter and the Ninja Turtles. I had a total blast perusing their 26-page-strong product list in search of waxes, soaps and scrubs in scents inspired by Egon, Hagrid or CORAL!!! Coincidentally, that’s also how I wound up placing a maybe-too-large order (okay, definitely too large) for my first time at Super Tarts bat – I was just dazzled by all that fun choice. And any vendor that offers products themed to Beetlejuice and The Lost Boys is more than all right with me.
But on the other hand, this order arrived on my doorstep absolutely thrashed. Shipping was obscene – I’m too ashamed to share the amount with you – and the packaging slight. The clamshells, packed tightly together, had just a handful of packing peanuts tossed on top of them, which offered zero protection from the X-Men who vetted my package at customs (fairly certain Wolverine had a go at this poor box.) When I opened the parcel, this is the sight that greeted me. I spent half an hour picking tiny, shredded flakes of packing peanuts off my clamshells, and in some cases, from INSIDE my clamshells (never let it be said the postal system is not thorough(ly useless.)
And while I recognize that postal snafus are outside of the purview of a vendor, there was an evident lack of care in the packaging of this box; over half of my clamshells arrived broken, gouged or otherwise. Made me wonder precisely what that exorbitant shipping fee had bought me.
And I was also dismayed to find that for the most part, that lack of care extended to the products themselves – most of the seams of my clamshells were smeared with bits of dried wax, the labels were wonky, and in a few distressing cases, the clamshells themselves seemed to be disintegrating beneath the wax. It wasn’t much of a first impression. In fact, it will most likely be my only impression; this was not a good enough retail experience to warrant a repeat visit (with absolutely no shade directed towards my friends who love Super Tarts and suggested I try them out; you don’t know until you try, and everybody’s experience is just a little bit different.)
But on the other-other hand (lot of hands here) – the one that’s attempting to make lemonade out of very expensive, very damaged lemons – I’ve been having a lot of fun melting through this wide assortment of scents. There’s a little bit of everything here – Super Tarts touches on so many different fandoms – and so far I’ve really enjoyed their scented take on superheros, Harry Potter and favourite horror movies of my childhood. Many of the unique scent blends are delightfully unexpected successes, and wonder of wonders, Super Tarts’ pumpkin is one that does NOT set my head a-thumpin’. The delicate little overlays on top of some of the clamshells are also quite cute. You know, the ones that aren’t smashed all to crap. 😦 I particularly like the horror movie blends – Day of the Dead, a non-cloying blend of pecan pie, creme brulee and waffle cone, and Psycho, an unexpectedly delicious blend of pumpkin bread, sour cream coffee cake and raspberries, are real standouts.
Anyhow, focusing on the positives here and trying to learn from this lesson – as in, don’t go big until you know precisely what you’re dealing with. Expect the postal service to savage your parcel. And if a shipping fee seems too high, that’s because it is. So maybe heed that sensible voice inside telling you to approach a first-time transaction with some degree of caution, yeah? I stumble so that you may learn and all that good stuff.
Finger Candy 
Glass half full lol! I think what would’ve bugged me the most is that the labels are on crooked. It’s too bad they don’t take more care in packaging since many of them look so cute.
Yes, my point precisely! And I’m sure there are people out there going, “Yeah, but who cares about the packaging; you’re not using the packaging.” But little things like straight labels and clean clamshells mean something to me – it’s not all about appearances, but some care in that area would be nice!
Oh this just makes me so sick and mad!! I hate that this happened!!😡😠
Ugh, I’m sorry that your first experience wasn’t a good one and that they didn’t take time with the packaging.. it is so confusing because even with smaller orders she at least packed them in two envelope for padding but I guess they must have gone down hill since the last time I ordered. It has been a little while but still this is unacceptable especially since your saying the clamshells isn’t holding up the wax. I just don’t understand it. This makes me really not want to buy with them again.
Oh no, don’t say that! I wouldn’t want you to quit a favourite vendor because of my one bad experience. It was just a bummer – a *tiny* bit more care in things would have been nice. But I should have exercised a bit more caution in placing my first order instead of “AHHH, JUST THROW EVERYTHING THAT SOUNDS REMOTELY GOOD IN THE CART!!!”
Ugh! not-so-super tarts. ST’s popularity shows no sign of ceasing on social media, though I’d wager it’s not at the fever pitch that it can get during certain releases, such as, the Alice In Wonderland collection. Ya know, I’ve always had an issue with Brandi’s packaging or lack thereof. Just doesn’t match the detail and innovation of the wax design, as if once the product leaves the warehouse (she recently renovated one for the purpose) it’s no longer a company concern.
Having said that, I’ve always admired Brandi’s risky blending skills, though certainly there’s been some nausea inducing scents in the past. Not surprised about the mess left when you opened the package, but I am about the disintegrating plastic clamshell. I’ve encountered that with cheap scent cups, but never clams, the standards might be slipping.
On the bright side, I’m happy you found a couple of winners. If you try Lost Boys, let me know your thoughts because I’ve heard it’s really great, but on cold, I wasn’t convinced. Sorry you had to pay out the wazoo for such a letdown order, the cost is in no way covered by the packing and that’s a shame. I predict a better new order experience in your future (you are due) and I’ll be looking forward to it 🙂
Well, thank you, I certainly think I’m due as well! Although this is certainly a lesson in keeping things reasonable until you fully know what you’re dealing with, yes?
The clamshell thing is weird – a number of them have gone all soft and sort of squishy, and if there’s a stamped inlay of some sort on the top of the wax, the clamshell will sort of mold itself to the design. Both the Beetlejuice and Lost Boys guys you gave me have done this, so I’m guessing it’s an age thing, because they’re the oldest Super Tarts I have.
I really like a number of the scents, but I’m not blown away enough to go back. Shipping’s actually been an ordeal across all vendors lately, don’t know what’s up with that.
P.S. Just send Hermoine to me, so I can straighten that label and send it back, it would drive me crazy!
Ha! Well, I keep them stored in such a fashion that I don’t ever have to see the label, so that’s good, because it would also drive me bonkers, sitting there all askew.
Crooked labels bother me too. And yes, Brandy’s shipping does need more tight fitting tissue paper/newspaper/something to keep the clams from rattling around. Cosmic Cleanse ScentSations is that way too. Not nearly enough packing to keep stuff from jostling… VCS… and Candy Panda come to mind too. I am sorry your first order was a bummer. I enjoy quite a few ST tarts but they are not a top five for me. And sorry about the clamshells getting all soft and gooey. Are you rebagging them? Maybe that will help the stink clam smell too (boy did that sound inappropriate).
Yeah, I saw that your Cosmic Cleanse order got roughed up – awesome that they’re making it right, though. In ST’s defence, I didn’t complain about the state of the package, so what they don’t know can only, uh, hurt me. I haven’t rebagged the clamshells (heh, clam stink, you pervert) but I’m trying to melt through the ones that have gone squishy first. I’ve never had that happen before – it’s like it softens up and then adheres to the design on the top of the wax. The Beetlejuice one has this intricately embossed top, and the plastic clamshell has molded to it – it’s quite pretty, but I can also see that the colour (dark forest green in that case) is leaching out. What the hey, man?!