Kama Sutra massage candle - body massage candle discontinued by Kama Sutra - review by Cookie Monster Mike

The Kama Sutra Mediterranean Almond scented Massage Candle is actually my first Kama Sutra product I have used so I am very excited to do this review. Kama Sutra's marketing view on this seems more geared towards partner use in "taking your lover on an unforgettable, romantic journey". I would have to say this was truly unforgettable and romantic for my partner and me. After lighting the candle and allowing the wax to melt into a nice pool of warm sensual oil, you use the little plastic spoon included (or your own if you like) to begin your journey. Even though this is geared towards more couples out there, this candle is just superb for solo use as well.

After a long hard day of work, sometimes you just want to come home to relax and do nothing. Why not do it with this massage candle? It is perfect for solo or partner situations, for example---In the case of using it solo, after you get home simply remove the cover to the candle and light the wick. Give yourself a good 20 minutes to undress or change clothes and get set into the mood. The illuminating glow and soothing smell of cherries and cloves filling the room is sure to get you yearning for a massage. After a pool of warm oil has formed you are ready to use this candle for much needed massaging. Unfortunately by yourself you are limited on how much of your body you can massage and cover with the oil. But once it touches your skin and you start massaging it into your muscles it feels truly amazing. I prefer nice and slow but firm massaging that you can really feel working deep into the muscles, the heat from the oil is also very nice on inflamed muscles. Now in the case of partner use, I will let you use your imagination for the most part, but basically the same situation can take place as in the solo use, but with your beloved partner for all the extra fun. This is of course if you do enjoy oil on your skin, as it does bother some people.

Don't like to use oil for massaging? Then you can still use this as a nice sensual candle in your bedroom, or any other room you like as a mood setter. The price isn't the cheapest, but the Mediterranean Almond scent is sure to please those who are big fans of cherries and cloves. As usual with any candle there are safety precautions, it is best to burn this candle on a heat resistant non-flammable surface away from children, pets and flammable materials. It is recommended by Kama Sutra that you extinguish the candle right before using the oil. You definitely do not want to fall asleep with the candle burning, even though it is very soothing and after a massage you will be so relaxed. As another safety precaution, the tin can the candle sits in can heat up, even though I have not personally experienced this yet.

The candle is for external use only, so I would not recommend using it as a lube or get it in your eyes. As usual you should always do a test spot on your skin where you plan on being massaged. I would rub a little on your skin in an area that would be hidden under clothing, but away from areas that will be rubbed by clothing extensively. There is some glycerin in the ingredient caprylic/capric triglyceride, I have included further information about the ingredients under "Special Features" of this review. As far as using it in your home, I would say use your best judgment on where you feel comfortable using it. The most relaxing for me is on my big comfortable bed, I have not had any issues in spilling oil on the bed sheets or noticed any staining.

Allergy Concerns: Some people are allergic to certain foods and oils, please be sure to inspect the ingredient list I included under "Special Features" of this review. Coconut, soybean, apricot oils and even small amounts of glycerin are found in this product. I did not find this product to be irritating in any way whether on the skin, or breathing it in.

Now we move on to all the fun details about how this candle feels in its solid and liquid forms. First I want to say that in its solid form, results may vary based on the temperature inside your home. The colder it is inside, the harder and firmer the wax will become, it becomes the opposite in a home that is more on the warmer side. For me, I like to keep an average temperature inside of around 70 degrees, not to hot, not to cool and this is what my description will be more so based on.

In my environment setting, the candle sits either on a tall dresser or usually the bed side table. I always keep the cover on when I am not using it and sometimes small beads of oil form on the surface of the candle wax. This is perfectly natural and will be combined back into the candle when it's lit. In its solid form you can use a fair amount of force with your finger tip to remove small amounts of the wax. It definitely has that typical waxy feel accompanied by the oily residue. Just the heat alone from my skin was enough to start allowing the wax to turn into almost like textured paste; this makes it possible to use it as a moisturizer without lighting the candle. In this form to me it feels like a thick creamy wax with just a hint of that oily feel.

Now we have the liquid form of the candle that has been lit for at least 20 minutes. The oil is very warm at this temperature; it becomes very thin and easy to spread over the skin. Once applied to the skin the oil will quickly change in viscosity because it is starting to cool. At first it is thin and will want to run over the skin, it is best to quickly rub it all over the desired area. As it cools the oil will start to thicken and become harder to spread. You may need to reapply for longer massages, but with the oil on your hands and your skin, it is fairly easy to knead and massage it in.

One of the things I love about this product is that I do not get a highly noticeable oily feel on my skin after it has absorbed in. Rather my skin feels smooth and healthy, while also feeling soft and refreshed. I also like the fact that my skin does not appear oily after using the candle. Honestly I expected the oil to be sticky and/or tacky feeling, but to my surprise it was not at all. After use, this product did not appear or feel as if it was greasy or cheap to where I would need to take a shower. I have included a picture of the melted oil on my fingers after massing some into my arms. The oil glistens very bright at first, but quickly starts to absorb.

Okay so first sadly I am a sourpuss because I did not taste this candle. I honestly do not feel comfortable in tasting a lot of products like this; I would imagine it to be unpleasant and oily. However the aroma is a whole different story that I am more than willing to go into detail with you. Upon first opening up this candle, there was the first rush of overwhelming scent of cherries and cloves. I let the candle air out with the cover off for a day before replacing the cover. Giving it yet another day, I opened the cover again to find still a somewhat overwhelming aroma just at first. The fragrance is definitely very strong and pronounced but I kind of like this, it works really well as a candle.

After first impressions of just smelling the candle without lighting it, it was time for a full test. To begin with I tested this candle in the bedroom on the bedside table. I allowed the candle to burn for 20 minutes per instructions on the label forming a nice warm pool of oil. Walking into the bedroom with the door open the whole time, I could pick up a light subtle scent of what seemed more like baked cherries and cloves. I repeated this in a larger room in my apartment and it seemed that this works fairly well as a light room freshener. The bedroom is 16ft by 14ft (224sq ft) and the other room I tried this candle in is 20ft by 36ft (720 sq ft). Further testing, I did close the bedroom door allowing the aroma to fill up the bedroom and it became much stronger and noticeable. The larger room is an open room that cannot be fully closed up, the scent was somewhat noticeable but nothing like an air freshener such as a plug-in.

While the candle is lit, I guess the best way I can describe the smell is how my nose and brain processes it. To me personally it smells like warm baked goods, the cherry seemed more as a footnote rather than the highlight of the aroma. Almond and clove seems to come through quite nicely, I am a big fan of cloves. The bergamot is described as a floral citrus; I can definitely pick up on a floral scent but nothing citrus like in this candle. Overall the aroma is quite pleasant except for in one case I have come to find, and that is an after smell left on the skin. Applying to the skin the oil smells great, but after it has fully absorbed into the skin the overall fragrance seems to shift. It goes from a pleasant cherry and clove to a much stronger and mostly floral fragrance. The rest of the scents become overrun by this floral bergamot aroma. In the end it is somewhat unpleasant but mostly when the oil has been applied to the majority of my upper body, or any parts close to my face.

Surely most people have been in a department store, or elsewhere when you walk down that isle with all the cleaning agents, or all of the candles and air fresheners. Generally for me I avoid these because they are overrun by incredibly strong aromas that give me head spins. This is my reference point to a fragrance strength rating I will use to help further detail the level of aroma in the massage candle. At the strongest level of 10, this is the equivalent to those isles in the department stores, 1 being almost no fragrance at all.

On a scale of 1 to 10.
Smelling this massage candle for the first time, 9.
While the candle has been lit in a small room for 20 minutes to 1 hour, 4.
Applying the oil onto the skin, including areas close to the face, 6.
After smell of the oil while smelling my skin directly, 7.

Considering that the Kama Sutra Massage Candle was the first one I have ever tried before, the overall experience was a lot better than I had expected. Before using this candle, the only other oil based massaging product I had tried was the Sensuous Massage Oil by Kingman. The Sensuous massage oil overall was not a terrible experience but left me feeling very oily and uncomfortable. However using this massage candle, the results were completely the opposite. My skin afterwards did not feel oily or greasy at all, I did not have that sudden urge to go jump in the shower and scrub off. I was honestly shocked by this and expected a very oily experience.

Many of the ingredients in this product are some of the best natural moisturizers for your skin. I must say that it works very well, especially in the winter for dry skin. I live in the Midwest and right now we are in some of the coldest parts of winter, usually a lot of negative temperatures. My skin, especially on my hands gets extremely dry and sore due to cracking/bleeding. Many times I have used this massage candle simply as a moisturizer, and wow does it work extremely well. For example---Before writing this review I had just got home from work and it was very cold and windy out. By the time I sat down my hands were extremely dry especially around my knuckles; skin was cracking and almost bleeding. Proceeding to light my Kama Sutra Massage Candle, the oil was ready after 10 minutes with just enough to rub into my hands. After it had absorbed into the skin the results were absolutely fantastic. My skin had changed back to a healthy color with no cracks or dryness at all, smooth and not rough feeling.

As far as massaging goes, my personal favorite thing about this candle is the warm oil being kneaded into my muscles. This really helps me to relax and sooth troublesome aches. One thing to remember however that heat is not always going to work to help relax sore muscles. There have been many days after work where this massaging candle has really helped to take away some of the stresses. It seems this stuff however is more suited towards short massages, for extended massaging you will find yourself needing to reapply this oil. I have not run into any situations where I have needed to clean the oil of my body yet. But if you purchase this or any of the other scents and personally don't like the feel or smell, then I suggest jumping in the shower and scrubbing off.

The can this candle comes in holds 6.5oz of the wax and has a burn time of 35hrs. If you divide that by the recommended 20 minutes of burn time per use you should get a good 100 uses out of this candle. I would prefer this to be an 8oz candle, but at 6.5oz you still get a lot of uses and time to use it. For me personally I doubt I will get no more than 75 uses out of it, I do enjoy burning this just as a candle to freshen up the office/spare bedroom.

When I received my two Kama Sutra candles, Mediterranean Almond and Island Passion, there was no packaging for them. They were in the USPS box along with my "free gift with order" and some packing paper for protection. I was disappointed that they were not wrapped in any paper or bags at all. The covers had come off both candles and the spoons followed by falling out. I had to sift through the paper packing to find 1 spoon, the other was missing. The candles were not separated in any way, but rather clinking together, luckily there was no damage. This was during the holidays so while this is not an excuse, it is an extremely busy mailing season.

From the product page you can clearly see the logo on the front of the can, along with the back label that has directions on using the product. Overall the product itself is fairly discreet depending on your perspective. For me personally I do not care if someone knows I have a massage candle, so I leave it out in plain view. I have had some friends smell it and they enjoy it, most of the time they don't even read the label on the front they just think it’s a regular candle. Unfortunately the covers to the candles don't seem to fit very tight and can sometimes easily fall off. If you're not looking to tell the world you have a massage candle then you can easily hide it in a drawer or somewhere discreet.

Here is a picture of the underside which shows safety warnings and correct use, accompanied with the size of the can and total burn time.

(Plastic) Scooping spoon included with candle to safely remove oil from the candle after the flame has been extinguished. Because of the plastic spoon, I would be extremely careful not to use it near the lit flame, only after it has been put out.

The following ingredient list will have offsite links embedded so you can view more detailed information about each ingredient.

Ingredients:

Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil / Glycine Soja (Soybean) Oil / Prunus Armeniaca (Apricot) Oil / Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride (Fractionated Coconut Oil) / Aloe Barbadensis (Aloe Vera) Oil / Tocopherol (Vitamin E Oil) / Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter) / Simmondsia Chinesis (Jojoba) Seed Oil and Fragrance (Parfum).

Earlier in my review I did state that I had ordered two candles, this review is on Mediterranean Almond scent; however I wanted to also add I have the Island Passion as well. This one has very little smell too it but what aroma there is, it smells delicious. It's very calming and soothing with the smell of melons, grapes and berries. I highly recommend reading a review on that scent and trying it out if you’re looking for something on the lighter of scented candles. If you have additional questions about the Island Passion candle feel free to message me via private message or ask in the comments section at the bottom of this review.

I am rating this product 5 stars, here is my reasoning on this---First off the ingredients are just amazing, I read in detail about them and learned a lot. Overall the product performs very well, and in some cases better than I had expected and it's something I am continuing to use. The main 2 issues I have is the fact of an after smell on my skin after rubbing the oil in. As described earlier, it changes from the cherry and clove aroma to something more along the lines of a strong floral aroma. It is somewhat unpleasing so I try not to smell my skin directly.

The other issue was no packing is included when ordering these, that I know of or at least when I ordered. The products could have easily been damaged or ruined completely, inside the packaging the covers fell off very easily. The lids continue to be very loose fitting on the candle tins. Putting aside some minor things I disliked, I think this is an amazing product. I have really enjoyed using these candles and probably will continue to use them in the future.