Review on Stakich Natural Cosmetic Beeswax Pellets by Amy Mcleod

When I opened the bag, I noticed the unpleasant smell; it redeems itself only a little by not seeming to release it after melting or when used in a candle. It's plasticky, chemically colored, with the negative aspects of a very peaty Scotch (all those bad burned rubber/wood bits?) and of course without the usual beeswax smell (although I don't know how much I expect it would be reasonable at to expect something more neutral from a more filtered product _is_ reasonable). I'll have to see if it's well ventilated, but since it brings in dust it makes ordering white beeswax a little pointless for most people; Indoors it would be less, but those who care about the smell will not air it out in their apartment. When taken out of the packaging and unfolded, at least in small amounts, the odor is minimal; Not sure if working with a larger amount necessarily brings with it the scent. I may have just become blind to the smell in smaller doses, but luckily I have a nice open space to work with. Seems fragile and difficult to work with, but I haven't been able to fully melt them into shape yet; I made a quick and dirty candle to test its ability to form when close to its melting point and it had no positive results. After fully melting and resolidifying it seemed more pliable, but I'm less sure of that; I was less able to get the wax into a shape I would normally expect beeswax to have (even with just body heat/between my fingers) and crumbled rather than bending myself under a decent amount of heat. I will overcome my doubts and say that this may be due to the specific pellet format. The candle was virtually smoke free (the wick gave me a little trouble), which is in its favor. I will say that I have little experience with different types of wax, especially in lozenge form, let alone working with beeswax (sometimes mixed with others). Stuff I used to just melt blocks for), not to mention white beeswax (I'm not sure if there should be any material differences). Looks like I'll have to completely melt it out outdoors for further testing and then use it in a variety of ways. I'm not in a position to judge the type or quality of the wax but it seems to me that this is a little off. I'll let you know when I've used it/melted portions more fully to do odor and brittleness testing and as it may reduce even more. _If_ there are other issues, I'm not necessarily assuming it's not beeswax like some other reviewers, but I assume it's a quality, manufacturing, or storage defect. Even if the odor is completely removed during/from melting, this is still a negative sign for the product since most consumers want to use this material in their kitchen, for example; I don't understand why the average person would prefer beeswax in white granule form, which smells bad and makes their home smell bad, to beeswax in yellow block form, which smells nice even if it takes a little more work. That alone caps it at 3 stars, even though the material's properties improve after reshaping (because everyone will melt that material in that format). I have argued about giving it 2 stars but I like to doubt.