Hope you've won the lottery (PartyLite)

Member Name: suz1584

Product:	PartyLite
Date:	06/04/09 (99 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lovely candles and nice night in

Disadvantages: Price, Their policy when items are out of stock

I became aware or partylie just over a year ago. I had received a catalogue from a friend at work who was hosting a party, I had a quick look through it and found loads of stuff I wanted to buy. So instead of buying loads I decided to host my own party and buy it when I could get a 25% discount is I got sales over £165.

I managed to getting a booking for the following month as there is only one consultant in the area and she was fully booked. Within a couple of days I received some catalogues, order forms and invitations. Included in the pack I received two votive candles as well.

On the night of the party the consultant arrived about half an hour to get set up. The first thing I noticed about her was how friendly she came across, she was so bubbly and just sparked up a conversation as soon as I met her. This put me right at ease as I've had a bad experience of a party at home and the consultant hardly spoke, so meeting such a nice consultant I knew the party was going to be good.

Once all the guests arrived the consultant talked about the company and about herself. She told us about why she's a consultant and said it was one of the best companies you could work for on a self employed basis. This maybe because she was looking for someone to become a consultant but it was still enjoyable to listen to.

You can read the background on the company on www.partylite.co.uk as I feel that I would rather write up my review on my experience instead of the information you can find easily on their website.

We were told by the consultant that the comapny thrives on their high quality. The main differences with their products and cheaper products are they use state of the art products to make their candles including lead free wick.

I decided to buy an oil burner and was advised by the consultant that I should buy some of the tealight candles as the use plastic holders instead of metal. This is because the metal makes the heat from the candle too hot for oil burners which would crack the glass.

For a pack of 12 tealights it cost £8 which I thought was quite pricey but worth it for the fantastic quality. My oil burner cost £20 again I thought this was highly over-priced but with seeing the items at the party I knew they looked good quality.

The candles - They're is loads of different kinds of candles you can buy including tealights, votive candles, pillars which were in loads of different sizes and widths, they also have 3 wick candles which I would say looked really pretty especially in red. There's also candles in jars and also in tins.

Once you manage to choose a candle out of their extensive range you can then choose the fragrance of the candle. You don't need to worry about not finding something you like because there is so many to choose from. There is;

Fruit and Citrus like country apple, black cherry, honeydew (my favourite) and coconut cove.

Then Floral which includes Bird of Paradise, Velvet Rose and White Gardenia Truffle. There's Herbal & Woody - Fig & Olive Grove, Herbal Mint and Teakwood & Cardamom.

Also Edible & Spicy which is some of my favourite kinds but there's Vanilla Peach, Pineapple Coconut and Passion Fruit & Papaya Sorbet.

And lastly there's Fresh & Clean which I think are perfect for the bathroom with Sun-Kissed Cotton, Seaside Mist and Calm Waters.

The candles are my favourite product but they do also have candle holders and these also include different kinds for different seasons and different occasions. For Halloween they had a black cat tealight holder, easter they have some ducks and Christmas they have snowmen and Christmas trees.

They also have skin products which I have to admit I didn't try. I thought it was quite strange selling 2 pages of these kind of products when the rest were all centred around your home and decoration.

The catalogue itself is a nice size with brilliant clear pictures and all the prices clearly showing. It has information about the company on the first couple of pages. Then there's information about becoming a consultant and would you could expect from being a consultant. The catalogue is based round all the kind of candle holders and accessories you can buy. On the last couple of pages is the candles which can be quite hard to follow as there's no pictures so you have to know what you're looking for but the consultant was always on hand to help.

There is also a seperate sheet that has guest offers and then host offers. There's three different items at very low prices if you have spent over a certain amount in the catalogue. This sheet is extremely cheap and definately the highlight of the party.

The feedback I received after the night was mixed, most people thought the items were over-priced and really not worth it but other people thought the items looked fantastic in the catalogue and the consultant really made the prices worth it.

Once the items arrived which you have to wait about a week for, they really weren't as fantastic as expected by all of us. The items looked just as nice but there was small things that you noticed and not as high quality as we thought they'd be. My Oil Burner wasn't lever so when it sits on the table it slants forward. Half the items didn't arrive and instead of getting your money back you're given a gift certificate which really was a big down side which anoyed a few people.

Overall it was a great night and the consultant was great. It's a change from the normal at home parties but I don't think i'd have another one after ther prices and the gift certificates instead of money back. Quite disappointing.

Summary: Some lovely items but too over-priced