TinkerBotQuality, Against All Odds.

Heating Things Up: La Grande Melting Pot, a Wax Warmer

So as you all probably know from my CacheBeauty Amazon saga I finally recieved my (working) La Grande wax warmer! I was looking for a warmer that was affordable, yet had the capability of heating loose wax instead of a container since I make my own. At first I looked at another product from this company called La Petite, but it only held a mere 4oz of wax! I was looking for something a bit bigger that would allow me to wax MORE than just half a leg at a time. La Grande seemed like a great choice:

Fast Heat-Up Time; Variable Temperature Settings; Non-Stick Well; Locking Lid; Compact unit holds standard containers up to 16 oz; Convenient handle on warmer for transporting. (From Spilo.com)

It’s pretty simple. Turn the dial to your desired setting, the light turns on to let you know it’s warming up and once it’s at the correct temperature the light goes off. Or so you’d think. The dial is a bit finicky and the labels for each setting aren’t exactly accurate. I use a sugar-based wax but set the warmer to parrafin. It does come with a little holder to lift out wax cans/containers that you place directly in the warmer, so I thought that was pretty nifty. Also, the handle REALLY helps out because you can just hold up the warmer while it’s plugged in and bring it closer to yourself when waxing.

It does it’s job, but even though it has a dial, there are really only 3 settings. There really is no fine-tuning, and in my opinion it makes the wax a bit too hot. While the lowest setting barely melted the wax, the medium (parrafin) setting nearly burned my skin. I can only imagine how ridiculously hot the actual wax (high) setting is. However, I do like that the inside of the warmer is designed not only for warming containers but also raw wax. The inside is non-stick, so it’s supposedly easy to clean.

The box is unprofessional and misleading. The warmer is shown with a multitude of waxing supplies and in small, barely legible text it states that those accessories aren’t included. I really think they could have placed the warmer in styrofoam to protect it from damage.

It may look good in the pictures, but the fact remains that the majority of the parts are cheaply made. The dial is made of cheap plastic and the painted logo on the front chips very easily. However, I have to give them credit for not underestimating the importance of using good quality materials for the main components.

So overall, I guess I’d have to give it 3 out of 5 stars. An average product, but an extraordinary price. I guess you get what you pay for! It ended up costing me around $24 on Amazon.com, and ended up being $33 with shipping. Damn UPS.

(Image credit: BeBeautiful.com)

Thursday, June 5th, 2008 at 9:48 pm and is filed under Health & Beauty, Product Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.