Yankee Candle Review: Summer Scoop

            

My Review for:   Yankee Candle- Summer Scoop

                 

Yankee Candle Description: "Yum … an absolutely luscious treat of plump, sweet strawberries buried in rich whipped cream."

                                        

Fragrance Notes:

                                             Top:  Pink Cotton Candy, Strawberry, Berries

        Mid:  Spun Sugar

              Base: Praline, Vanilla

I'm On The Fence With This One....

I initially enjoyed Yankee's take on Strawberry Ice Cream. On cold sniff, my first thought is, this candle is pretty weak. My second thought was, mmmmm...This is a candle that actually smells like it's name! The blend of strawberries, with creamy vanilla and cotton candy, is well done. Even with my super sniffer, I had trouble telling what note was what. It's perfectly layered. This is a very sweet and cohesive scent.. Even unlit, every time I smell it, it gets better. Sweet, creamy, perfect, You want to put a spoon it it because it smells so good. The wax is a really pretty shade of pink, slightly darker than a scoop of strawberry ice cream. Let's Light Her Up! An hour in, the wax is pooling nicely, but I can barely smell it from my bedroom doorway. My bedroom is about the same size as my living room, but I can close the door to trap the scent in. Without my door closed, it would be too faint to smell. You have to get up pretty close to the candle. I'd say, both the throw and the fragrance itself, are weak. This is probably one of the weakest candles I own. I really like this candle and I'm hoping, maybe I just got a dud. It happens. After burning a little longer, I detect something different. It's almost like, the longer it burns, the lighter the throw. Something is overpowering the strawberries, giving this candle an artificial tone it didn't have before. I can't guess what this is. I get up close, and it smells like wax, smoke, and artificially sweetened strawberry. Something has changed, minimizing the good notes and replacing them with an unappealing sweetness. I honestly don't even know what I'm smelling any more. How could a scent, that was perfectly blended UNLIT, change so drastically? I can't save this candle. The artificial sweetness has taken over everything and it's so strong that I can't imagine it adding anything to any of my other scents. This isn't a candle for mixing. What a shame. It was SO promising on cold sniff... I really don't know what happened to it.  It's a reminder, the longer you burn the candle, the more those middle notes come out. The base is what lingers and helps boost, or mellow the smell. In this case, spun sugar is the BODY of the fragrance, and it's just too sweet. It ruins the top notes I loved so much. I don't know who I would recommend this candle to. When a candle's scent unlit is better than when it's lit... I bring it back to the store. If you like cloyingly sweet, artificial smelling strawberry, try this candle. If you don't, don't waste your money. If you are in the mood for strawberries, The Returning Classic Strawberry is much better and less sweet. -Fragrance:  4/10   (too sweet & artificial) -Throw:  6/10   (will softly scent a smaller room) -Overall:  C- Until Next Time, my Candle Subjects! 💗The Candle Queen

Yankee Candle Review: Warm Pineapple Upside Down Cake

My Review for:   Yankee Candle- Warm Pineapple Upside Down Cake

                 

Yankee Candle Description: "A special treat--warm pineapple sweetened with brown sugar and soft vanilla. "

                                        

Fragrance Notes:

                                   Top:  Sweet Brown Sugar

                                              Mid:  Golden Pineapple, Crystallized Sugar

                                   Base: Creamy Vanilla Glaze

A Rather One-Note Candle:

This is the first returning favorite I've purchased from Yankee Candle. I'm not the biggest pineapple fan, but I DO like cake and bakery scents. Pineapple is fine...as long as it's not too sweet. In hind sight, I should have looked at the fragrance notes more closely. There is not a "cake" or "pie" or bakery note to be found. Just pineapple, sugar, and more sugar. On cold sniff, a lovely natural pineapple smell floats up to you as soon as you take the lid off the jar. Freshly cut pineapple. Although I like this particular pineapple note, it is so dominant, I can't smell anything else. It's not the type of scent that lingers. After you've smelled the candle for about a minute you can't smell it strongly anymore. Your nose gets used to it. It randomly wafts by you, then disappears. This is all on cold sniff so let's see what happens when we Light It Up. Because this candle seemed to be a little weak in fragrance, I assumed it would be weak in throw as well. When I come across a weaker candle, I tend to burn it in my bedroom. My bedroom is around the same size as my living room, but it has a door I can close, to trap in the scent. That's where I decided to burn Warm Pineapple Upside Down Cake. The candle has been burning with my bedroom 3/4 way shut. The scent is stronger, but still weaker than I would like. I have to walk all the way into the room to smell it. I was unaware this candle lacked bakery notes, so I kept smelling for them. I'm mystified as to why they call this candle "Pineapple Upside Down Cake", when there is LITERALLY no cake notes. A better name for it would be, "A Pocketful of Pineapple", or something similar. The pineapple & sugar in this are sweeter when it's lit. It's Pineapple and sugar + sugar + more sugar. I search for more, but all that happens is, I smell burning candle wax about as much as I smell pineapple. The pineapple seems a little less fresh too. No longer freshly cut. This candle badly needed a bakery note to add dimension to it. To create layers within the fragrance, almost ANYTHING would have been fine. This is weak and very one note. This candle is essentially 3 notes: Pineapple, Sugar, Vanilla. Sugar just adds sweetness and I can barely detect vanilla. I think it gets lost in the sweetness. Too bad... that might have saved it from becoming just a mixing candle. It seems to be the type of candle that plays well with others. I'm keeping it for this reason only. Note: For it's first mixing test, I burned it with Orange Dreamsicle. I was hoping the pineapple would bring out the orange, and all the different sugars would bring out the vanilla. It's not a bad mix. The Boyfriend said he liked it. IMO, the generic, muted orange has actually drowned out the pineapple from my candle. The sugars didn't help bring out any of the vanilla in Pineapple Upside Down Cake. I WILL say that, up close, I can smell the pineapple, and it's a beautiful blend. Unfortunately, you can only smell this mixture, hovering over the two candles, with you nose right above the flame. This might work really well if you have 2 Upside Down Pineapple Cake candles available to burn with the 1 Dreamsicle. I don't, so this mix doesn't work, but I am encouraged by it's potential, mixing it with future scents. -Fragrance:  6/10 -Throw: 5 -Overall:   C Until Next Time, my Candle Subjects! 💗The Candle Queen

Yankee Candle Review: Orange Dreamsicle

                                           

My Review for:   Yankee Candle- Orange Dreamsicle

                                                                22 oz. Jar Candle 

Yankee Candle Description: "A favorite childhood summer treat you never outgrow . . . a cool blend of orange and vanilla ice cream. "

                                        

                                                                                                               Fragrance Notes:

                                                     Top:  Lemon Peels, Juicy Orange,Sparkling Grapefruit

                                               Mid:  Tangelo, White Peach, Sweet Mandarin, Buttercream

Base: Vanilla Bean, Tonka

I Am SO Disappointed...

When I opened the lid of the jar, I was expecting a little slice of heaven. Orange Dreamsicle, what could go wrong? Juicy Orange + Vanilla Ice Cream = delicious smelling... right? Not so much. Something is off/artificial on cold sniff. Maybe it's the Buttercream/Vanilla/Tonka combo affecting the orange notes, because the "juicy orange" is barely there. This smells more like the Popsicle stick after you finished eating all the ice cream. The vanilla is weird. It's not a food-y, bakery vanilla, which I think was a HUGE mistake, along with adding the buttercream. One or the other Yankee. Not both. The Vanilla is too sweet. Cloyingly candy-like, and it drowns out most of the orange/citrus notes. I smell neither lemon peels, grapefruit or peach, and the orange is not fresh, sweet and juicy. I'm so sad because this was a candle I was really looking forward to. Thankfully, Yankee has an excellent return policy. This is what keeps me coming back, despite the occasional disappointment. Let me clarify, this is NOT a bad smelling candle, by any means. It's rather mild, though it can be smelled a few feet away, with the top off the jar. Scents can transform when lit- So we'll see what happens.  After about an hour, I can only smell it from only a few feet away. Not a big deal. Some candles start to pool and you can smell them right away. Not this one. She's a slow burner. After 2 hours, the scent IS traveling.... but I don't like it. This isn't Breyers' Dreamsicle. It's the inferior, generic store brand. At least the throw is increasing. I can now smell it lingering in my hallway, but it still doesn't smell the way I think it should. I feel like the Where's The Beef Lady... Where's The Orange? The main body of the scent can sometimes take a while to come through. It gets stronger the longer you burn the candle. I'm HOPING this is where the orange will make it's appearance. I'm supposed to be smelling Mandarin, according to the fragrance notes... so I'll give this a few more hours. ......... Okay, it's been about 4 hours, and the throw continues to increase, but the fragrance itself, remains the same. I can now just barely detect it from the top of my stairs... but it is faint. It's a different story in my living room. My entire living room is now scented like this candle. I'm pleased with the throw, but not with the fragrance. I just don't smell the ORANGE in the Dreamsicle. Maybe it's just my nose. Everyone smells things differently. I ask for a second opinion from the boyfriend. This is the conversation that ensued: Me: What do you think about this candle? Him: It smells pleasant. Me: What do you think it smells like? Him ..... Me: Orange? Him .... Me: It's supposed to be Orange Dreamsicle. Him: Oh yeah, that's EXACTLY what I smell! Me ..... (rolls eyes). To sum it up, I'm not a fan. I expected more orange and a food-y, creamy vanilla. That's not what I got. I'm going to exchange this for a different scent. If you like the smell of Generic Store Brand Orange Dreamsicles, you can't even tell are ORANGE flavored, you might like this. It's fine. It's inoffensive. It's "pleasant." Note:  Sometimes you can dislike a candle but it enhances other candle fragrances when you blend them together. Those are what I call "mixing" candles. Since I haven't exchanged this candle YET, I thought maybe I'd try it with my Warm Pineapple Upside Down Cake candle. That particular candle is a little one-noted and weak, while Orange Dreamsicle can fill a room. Maybe the two together can jazz things up and bring out the best in each other. I'm hoping the Pineapple will bring out the orange, and the the Vanilla will help reveal some bakery notes, in the pineapple. It's not a bad mix. The Boyfriend said he liked it. IMO, the generic, muted orange has actually drowned out the pineapple from my other candle. The vanilla didn't help bring out any bakery notes in Pineapple Upside Down Cake either. I WILL say that, up close, I can smell the pineapple, and it's a beautiful blend. Unfortunately, you can only smell this mixture, hovering over the two candles, with you nose right above the flame. This might work really well if you have 2 Upside Down Pineapple Cake candles available to burn with the 1 Dreamsicle. I don't, so this mix doesn't work and I'm still exchanging the Orange Dreamsicle for something better. -Fragrance: 4/10 (where's the ORANGE?) -Throw: 6/10 -Overall: C- Until Next Time, my Candle Subjects! 💗The Candle Queen