Massage oil candle - body massage candle discontinued by PicoBong - review by K101

Picobong's Livin Lavida Coco massage oil candle is fun, colorful and does the trick at drawing attention to its cute package on the product page. However, for the candle itself, it's nothing more than a small one-time-use type of deal that is not effective for a decent massage, or even for applying to my skin, in my opinion.

However, the massage candle can be used for massage, given as a gift since it's cute, or used just to try and "set the mood" as I know some people just enjoy the glow of a candle. If that's your intention, this may be fun for you. If you are looking for an actual massage candle or one that will scent the room, this will disappoint.

If you do find you're able to use this wax as a massage oil, light it, and once the oil begins to melt you can pour some into your hands and let it drip onto your partner's back or if the heat is not a pleasure to you, use a disposable spoon to dip it out and onto your lovie.

In my opinion, this mini candle is nice for the hot wax fun during foreplay, sensual and romantic play.

Since you're playing with fire, do test this on your inner arm before applying. However, if you aren't too sensitive to letting hot wax dribble onto you, applying this directly to your own skin should be fine. I didn't have any irritation from doing so.


Ingredients:
Glycine soja (soy wax), Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea butter), prunus armeniaca (apricot) kernel oil, perfume (aldehyde C-18, milk lactone, ethyl vanillin, decalactone.)

First though, a note about the ingredients listed on the product page: the first ingredient is listed as "Soy Was," which is incorrect. The actual ingredient is soy wax. The second ingredient listed on EF is "Butrosperum Markii," again, wrong. It's Butyrospermum and Parkii which is shea butter.

Glycine Soja/Soy Wax: Obtained from soybeans. Used as fragrance, anti-oxidant, skin conditioning. Glycine Soja has been evaluated by the CIR Expert Panel and deemed safe for use in cosmetics and personal care products.

Butyrospermum Parkii/Shea Butter: Nut extract derived from Sheatree. Shea Butter is a skin and hair conditioning agent, and increases viscosity of a product. The safety of Shea Butter has been evaluated by CIR Expert Panel and deemed safe for use in cosmetic and personal care products.

Prunus Armeniaca: Oil from Apricot Kernel. Used for its skin conditioning & viscosity increasing agents is nonaqueous. Prunus Armeniaca has been evaluated by CIR Expert Panel and deemed safe for use in personal care and cosmetic products.

Aldehyde C-18: A synthetic fragrance agent. This ingredient is what gives a product like perfume or candles such as this a coconut aroma.

Milk Lactone: Also a synthetic fragrance. Milk Lactone is also used in products such as lotions, perfumes and candles. It's what gives off a milky, often gardenia or other floral scent.

Ethyl Vanillin: Another synthetic fragrance that produces a rich vanilla aroma, but a very noticeably synthetic one to an educated nose. It's even used as an artificial flavor in foods.

Decalactone: The last known fragrance in this candle. Again, this is synthetic also, and it too is used to artificially flavor foods. Very popular fragrance used in tanning products, which is why this candle or almost anything "tropically scented" will smell much like your tanning oil/lotion. It can give a product a variety of fruity aromas including peach, pineapple, etc. This type of fruity aroma almost always brings about tropical notes when used in combination with fragrances like coconut.

One ingredient is listed as perfume, so it will forever be a mystery as to what it is, because "perfume" as an ingredient can be basically anything.

Unfortunately, burning a candle with synthetic fragrance can be a health concern since if they're petroleum-based, they are hazardous. The synthetic fragrances, when burned can irritate allergies and cause headaches, nausea, dizziness and even drowsiness. Thankfully, this candle doesn't contain the most harmful chemicals that most do, so we're in luck there. This one isn't as likely to cause those listed issues above, but do take note if you're sensitive!

A good thing about this being a soy wax candle means that you aren't burning paraffin, which is terribly harmful to your health, your belongings like electronics and your home as well as the environment. Soy wax has a lower melting point so there's very little soot. Soy candles are supposed to have a longer burn-time than you average paraffin wax, but that's not the case with this one.


Do take note of all ingredients and avoid if allergic.


Manufactured by Lelo in China.

Now that we've covered the ingredients, lets move on!

Don't mistake the product page's two photos for two candles. The two photos you see on the product page are showing one picture of the package (square paper) and one of the actual candle (the round photo.) You get one 15ml/ 0.5oz candle -- which is very small-- not two candles, so do keep that in mind.

The candle has a suggested "use by" date or a shelf life of 12 months.

*The candle is actually lit in these photos! But you can't see the light due to my weird-o camera. In these photos above, it had been lit for around 3-5 minutes and I'd tipped it to let some dribble on my skin.

Above, you can see just how tall and small the candle is. Looks like a little tub icing comes in, huh?
The actual candle measures 1 5/8" wide and less than half an inch deep.

If you've ever stuck your finger in any ol' candle, you have an idea of what this feels like to the touch. It's waxy, firm and does not have that luxurious melt-on-the-skin factor that your higher quality massage candles do. It actually feels no different, and looks no different from your dollar store candle. It's a little softer when you really gouge your finger in it, but very similar to your average soy candle. Before melted, it's thick and just waxy. There's few other words to describe that.

The candle is white in color, and when liquified, has a yellow tint to it.

When warmed enough to liquify the small container of wax, you can pour it directly onto skin or you can scoop it out with your fingers or a disposable spoon for less messy application. Also, if the one receiving the wax is sensitive, consider using a spoon or finger to apply. However, if that's a mood killer for you, simply blow out the candle once it's melted and let it cool before applying. Neither me nor my partner felt the wax was hot at all when poured directly on our skin, even when it'd been burning for the entire hour and was still lit. It was warm when it hit my skin, but not hot by any means. Everyone is different though, so keep that in mind.

When warmed, it's almost as thin as water. If you poured something slightly thicker than water, perhaps a water based lubricant, that's about how runny this is when liquified.

Once it's melted, it does look oily and smooth, and while applying it in liquid form, it feels like a sticky oil. It really doesn't feel anything like a massage oil that I have ever felt before. It more feels like you're pouring any regular candle onto the skin. It dries up waxy and crusty on the skin, and does so at a quick pace. Instead of leaving the skin soft and smooth, or even greasy would be better, it leaves you almost like any candle would -- waxy. However, it isn't as bad as if you dipped your finger into your melted dollar store candle, where it forms a thick wax on the finger tip, this doesn't. It's far less than if you did that, but still similar. Not anything like any massage candle I've used before.

It doesn't bead up or become creamy. When applied to the skin, even in large quantities, the closest way to describe the feeling is if you were to try massaging with vegetable oil. You know how it'd be really grabby on the skin and not slick at all? That is exactly how this is, although I imagine using vegetable oil or even Crisco will provide you with a slicker surface for gliding than this.

While I wouldn't say it leaves you sticky really, it just leaves a very awful grab to the skin, which tends to resemble something like having a wet chunk of cotton candy dry on your skin, and then rub it. It creates a thick grab that's sort of similar to sticky. Sorry, that's the only way I know to describe this.



The oily spot is Shunga's massage oil, the white clump -- this Picobong candle.

You can clearly see this has no intentions of massaging since it turns into a white waxy clump in less than 65 seconds -- yes, I counted. One time the clump dried in less than 40 seconds and the last time, the larger bit I poured onto my skin dried up in almost 65 seconds. The photo below shows the Shunga massage oil on the left side of my arm (the shiny bit) and the candle on my skin immediately after pouring the hot wax on. It was already starting to form into wax.


The wax does stay in place, you can see this demonstrated in my photos. You see the Shunga massage oil running all over and the Picobong Massage Oil Candle stays in the little dot I poured, without spreading or moving because it's too blasted thick to do so. This does mean there's little worries for messy clothing and sheets since it's not going to go crazy and spill unless you spill it yourself while moving it, but that's not likely. It won't run off your body and all over the covers, but if it happened to drip onto them, it'd scratch completely off with a nail once dry, no staining.

The aroma isn't bad when you stick your nose to the candle. It's actually quite pleasant, and does smell tropical. If you like tropical, coconutty aromas, this will more than likely please you in that manner. However, the strength is lacking severely. It does not scent the room. The only way I smell it is when the candle is directly to my nose or I sniff my skin where it's been applied, and even then, it doesn't leave a smell for long. This candle, the pink packaged one is Coconut/Vanilla, but Picobong also has 3 other fragrances available: Chili/Chocolate (did not sound pleasant to me) and Apple/Cinnamon.

While the fragrances in this candle are all synthetic, they're not offensive by any means, which is appreciated by someone like me with a sensitive nose. It's not what I'd call totally natural smelling, but a nice border between the two. It does resemble natural virgin coconut oil in its aroma very much, so that's a plus. There's definitely undertones of vanilla peaking through the coconut, mixing nicely. Looking at the ingredients, you'll understand better what to expect fragrance-wise. This isn't a super rich aroma, and those who like a nice, strong aroma will be highly unsatisfied with this. Even I would appreciate a little more scent. Besides the coconut and vanilla tones, and when sniffing hard, there's no other aroma to this candle.

As I said when discussing the ingredients, this scent very well may remind some people of their tanning oil.

Once dried up on skin, I notice a plasticy odor, which I wasn't pleased with. It's not strong, but not exactly nice either.

This is not an edible candle, do not feast! I'm usually one who doesn't mind a little leftover massage oil or lubricant when it comes to kissing and nibbling, and neither does my partner, but this was off-putting when on the skin. So much so, that neither of us wanted to try licking anywhere the product had dried, especially with the residue left on the skin.

I sure feel like a negative Nelly lately, writing another less than spectacular review. I'm just not fond of this candle, and have neutral feelings towards it. I can say, it's something I'll never purchase or have the desire to use again, for any purpose. It's a failure as both a candle and a massage product.

Here's why:

All seems well when the warm, liquidy candle is poured onto the skin. You use your finger to glide upward once and as you come back down, whoa! What happened? It's instantly taken on a new form -- a thicker, waxy and almost sticky form. It creates enough drag on the skin to be uncomfortable to rub! It so quickly goes from a liquidy, but not oily substance to a candle wax beginning to re-candleize itself (if candleize is a word). It's downright weird. So this made it absolutely unusable as a massage aid.

So creative little me said "if I can't use it as a massage oil, by golly I'll use it for somethin'." And off I went just slathering away on my dry legs. Holy mother of pearl was that a mistake! This was as I was getting ready to leave the house. It started drying and feeling waxy. I have no idea why I thought it would work as a moisturizer when it didn't as a massage oil! So I scrubbed as much off as I could with a wash cloth and left. While in the car, wearing a dress that shows my legs, guess what I discovered? White clumps and crusties on my blasted legs! Eew!

It dries awfully ugly. I also hated the feeling left on my hands after it dried. This candle does no absorbing, and despite the "skin conditioning" ingredients, the waxy mess that forms kind of ruins that nice moisturization. At first, while slathering my legs with it, it looked like it was going to work.

It's very tough to glide around in a puddle of this melted wax, so it's not easily spread unless you're using a lot at a time, which also doesn't work well since there is so little wax in the can and it dries so quickly that you will not be able to get into an actual massage. Maybe a minute of light rubbing. It won't cover a large area of the body either, so that's also a con. You'd need to use way more than comes in the tin to have enough to fully cover the average person's back and have enough to create a decent glide. That equals one pointless massage candle.

As for cleaning, it's clearly something I think every single person will feel the need to immediately shower from. Soap and water was necessary to get the draggy, waxy residue off my fingers. However, if a tiny amount is used, water may do the trick. Soap did take away the funky residue though. And on other body parts, like my legs, I didn't notice the residue as much until they rubbed together.

However, I thought I'd go crazy when I put a shirt on after having the massage oil on my back. Oh dear. It caused my shirt to stick to me, so a shower was needed. Honestly, that alone is a mood killer for me, to have residue all over.

Instead of staying slick or feeling like butter and melting when in contact with the skin, it's just a liquid that soon turns messy and is not useful for massage. So my instinct was to keep applying more to try and create a slick surface for massage. It only created a mess.

Perhaps if you were only massaging feet and planned to wash them right after, this may be fun.


As for burn-time, this lacks of course, since it is tiny. However, I did expect it to burn down a little more than it did. The photos show how much candle was left over when the wick croaked - I put two photos of it after the wick gave out for good because it's hard to see the candle well. This can always be easily removed from the flexible tin can it is housed in, and then chunked into another candle to finish it off, but it's not really worthy of that much trouble. Honestly, this will probably just be tossed in the trash when I finally get tired of looking at it and realize I'd rather un-clutter my shelf than keep it only because it's wasteful to toss.

I totally forgot the exact time I lit the candle, so I can't say 100% how long it'll burn, but this one burned around 45 minutes to one hour before totally going out and refusing to light again. However, three days later, I tried again and it lit for one minute. It will last no more than an hour and a few minutes. I doubt an hour and a half would even be possible, but you will have candle left over, so you can use it with another wick if you really wanted



.

I had planned on doing my usual comparisons where I compare my other products to the one I'm reviewing and give you my opinion on which is better and why. I really love doing that, but I went to find my trusty ol' Shunga Massage oil candle, guess what? It has been lifted, stolen, jacked, ganked, robbed from me! So I won't be able to show you guys photos of the difference between the two, but I will try to explain why Shunga's outdoes this one by a long shot. However, I have compared it in photos to a massage oil -- Shunga's fabulous massage oil to be exact.

While I'm not one to ever be swayed by a product's packaging, this one has me. The only good thing about it in my opinion is the cute paper that comes tucked around the candle. I know that's pathetic, but that cute, bold little thing makes it nice for gifting. It wouldn't be a horrible gift because it's cute and well, almost everyone likes candles for some purpose, you can definitely find better. I love that it's discreet though. Entire packaging (candle wrapped inside pink paper) shown below:



Candle with the cute sticker over it shown on the right.

The Coconut/Vanilla Massage Candle comes in a very flimsy tin can that looks just like what your cinnamon roll icing comes in. It has a pink sticker to be peeled off that says "Picobong" and in white text "Livin' Lavida Coco!" Under that, the sticker has "Coconut/Vanilla Massage Oil Candle" on it in white text and then a little picture of a flame, also in white.

Then you have the tiny paper thing that comes tucked over the candle. It is informative, and recyclable. It has the exact same text as I just described the sticker to have. However, there's also other information such as contact details, website and a few picture warnings. One of the warnings shows a person leaving the lit candle unattended and it has a cross through it, meaning do not do it! And really, do be careful because it is easy to forget you have it lit. The other picture warns not to set the candle near curtains or anything else. Be sure to place it on an opened table or shelf with nothing above or close beside it.

The last little picture shows two kids dancing around the lit candle, also with a cross through it, meaning that's a no-no.

The other information on the little paper package tells you how to use and gives the ingredients, which I listed in full previously.

As for the "how to use" instructions, Picobong recommends "light it upand let it melt! When the moo takes you, blow out the flame and pour the oil onto skin for the most amazing massage yet. Enjoy!"

Yea, needless to say, they went overboard with words like "most amazing masage."

While very hard to see the tiny white on pink background text, the inner side of the paper has warning and the instructions again. This is listed in several other languages on the inner side as well.

It says "light candle and burn until the warm massage oil is ready to delight your senses and moisturize your skin."

Then, more warnings only they're in text this time:
- "Keep burning candles within sight and out of reach of children and pets.
- Keep away from flammable materials and drafts.
- Extinguish candle before pouring onto body.
- Discontinue use and consult doctor if you experience allergic reaction.
- Always check temperature of oil before use.
- Trim wick to 0.5cm and remove debris before lighting.
- Do not swallow, avoid contact with eyes.
- Do not burn entire candle."

Again, these warnings and instructions are listed in Dutch, French, and Spanish too.

There is no nudity or hints toward anything sexual on this candle, so it's fine for travelling if you really wanted to do that. It's so tiny that it could fit in some jeans pockets, and will fit in luggage or a purse. It'll also be perfect for gift-giving, package-wise.

References:
https://www.ewg.org/skindeep/ingredient.php?ingred06=702679
https://www.cosmeticsinfo.org/ingredient_details.php?ingredient_id=1693
https://www.cosmeticsinfo.org/ingredient_details.php?ingredient_id=1593

If you're looking for a massage oil candle, one that you can really massage with, I hope you don't consider this, but instead spring for the more expensive, but truly quality massage candles like Shunga's. I've used another massage candle (two different fragrances) from another company and they're natural, and amazing! They melted on my skin just dipping my finger in, without being lit. They left my skin feeling silky, smooth and like it'd been moisturized with something actually luxurious. It was an experience I've yet to have with another massage oil candle, and clearly this Picobong one was even more disappointing due to that. I expected good quality from Lelo! This is not something anybody will likely enjoy much unless you're only looking to light tiny, overpriced candles for decoration or something. But if that's the case, you'd just be better off going with cheap little tea light candles, so again, this is plum useless.

My experience was a one-time and last-time ordeal. My partner and I had been trying our butts off to get a night to get busy and it wasn't happening for 2 weeks! So when we finally did, we were both overly anxious and this candle just down right pissed me off. Being all worked up, perfect timing, relaxed and then this mess of crap suddenly dries all over my body! So by the time this was cleaned off, we basically had to start all over. This was a real mood killer for me, and that's rare.

My partner's experience? Well, he was just glad we chose to use it on me first, that way he didn't have to e