We’re super excited to be working with NC Oxford to bring you some candle reviews;
their candles just ooze luxury but come with an affordable price tag.
I’ll leave you with Tim now, one half of NC Oxford to tell you all about his fabulous brand. – Sam
My wife and I have lived in Oxfordshire for about 20 years, both having been brought up in different part of the country (South Wales and Surrey). We both love Oxfordshire. It has a charming tranquility about it, whilst being very close to the action if we fancy it. It’s also very cosmopolitan, without the fast paced and hectic way of life in close by London.
The city of Oxford has so much inspiration to offer, with it University and world renowned people (Tolkien, CS Lewis, Stephen Hawking, Winston Churchill, the list goes on and on!). The surrounding countryside has also influenced our candles, with it’s lovely market towns, picturesque rivers and famous landmarks.
We’ve long been lovers of scented candles, however have frequently been disappointed with the poor quality of the cheaper candles or loathed to fork out £40/50/60 for one of the better know luxury candles. So we started making candles for ourselves just as a hobby, which soon turned into a bit of an obsession!
A lot of people think that making scented candles is simply a process of melting wax, adding some fragrance and popping a wick in. Very few people are aware of the amount of experimenting, testing, retesting and hair pulling out in making scented candles. It’s quite easy to make dozens if not hundreds of candles before coming up with exactly the right formula, combination and technique used to make a candle that looks good, smell good hot AND cold and burns properly. Just when you think you’ve cracked it, nature will throw you a curve ball and change the seasons, and you can be back to the drawing board again! This is especially true when using natural products such as soy wax.
Candle making is becoming very popular these days, but we thought there was an opportunity to create a luxury candle brand that drew it’s inspiration from our lovely county of Oxfordshire. A lot of the better known candles utilise the fame of London, but we thought why not one of Britain’s most famous counties as well? Oxfordshire and the city have a huge international draw for tourists, so we combined our love of candles and the County to produce a product that would appeal to residents and visitors alike. That is when we came up with NC Oxford (NC being my wife’s initials).
After about a year of trail and error, testing and retesting, we launched our “Quintessentially Oxford” range of scented candles.
In the range are Sir Winston, named after Sir Winston Churchill who was born in North Oxfordshire’s Blenheim Palace. It combines Cuban Tobacco with fine Cognac and aged wood to give a very decadent and masculine scent.
Marmalade Medley is a nod towards the famous Frank Cooper’s marmalade that was created on the High Street in Oxford.
Mandarin combines with lime and hint of basil for this enlivening citrusy treat.
Wytham Woods will take you on a leafy walk through this ancient unspoilt woodland with a heady combo of cloves, magnolia, tree bark and cedar wood.
We will soon be launching Dreaming Spires and Port Meadow, so watch this space!
We also have other popular fragrances.
Our Fabulously Fruity range includes firm favourites such as the subtle Blackberry Spice and the lovely Pomegranate Nero.
And our seasonal range has candles for many occasions such as Valentine’s, Easter, Halloween and Christmas.
Left – Right: Pomegranate Nero – Fill your home with the intensity that is Black Pomegranate. Highly fruited and decadent aromas will add an edge of sophistication to welcome friends and family to your home.
Sir Winston – Capture the essence of one of Britain’s finest leaders. This powerful scent combination of finest Cuban tobacco, Cognac and aged oak will evoke the spirit of Sir Winston Churchill in your home.
Marmalade Medley – Inspired by Frank Cooper’s delicious marmalade, created on Oxford’s ‘High’ in 1874, Marmalade Medley is a refreshing blend of citrus fruits with spicy undertones. Zesty lime, sweet mandarin and exotic bergamot combine to enliven your senses.
Blackberry Spice – A scent that effortlessly moves you from the warmth of the autumn harvest to the heart of winter and the festive season. The combination of hedgerow blackberry and pink peppercorn comes together create this familiar yet unusual perfume.
All our candles are lovingly hand poured in our workshop in a quaint little village in the North Oxfordshire countryside. We use the finest quality fragrance oils available with natural soy wax to give a slow, clean burn. Each of our candles come with a stainless steel snuffer lid. We think this is much nicer for our customers as it locks in the fragrance to make sure that the last burn is every bit as good as the first. Each of our 220g candles should have burn time of 40 hours, and the we believe the simple yet elegant design will mean that our candle will fit beautifully in any room.
As well as our jar candles, we are shortly going to be offering the same scent ranges in tea lights.
So that is our story so far! Stay tuned for product reviews from the ladies here at Vanilla & Lime but until then you can find us on Facebook, Twitter and on Instagram too.
