A couple of weeks ago I was passing a pound shop and decided to nip in to get a new notebook. When I was in there I spotted a few Betty Crocker candles. Although I have a bit of a stash of scented candles and certainly didn't need a new one, I managed to convince myself to buy one, by reasoning that I was saving £3 or £4 on my notebook by not getting a pretty one from Paperchase, so really the candle was free! That's what I told myself anyway, it made me feel less guilty!

There were three scents available - strawberry shortcake, blueberry muffin and cinnamon bun. I thought the strawberry shortcake smelled the best of the three so I chose that.

The candle comes wrapped in a simple cardboard sleeve. This is removed to reveal a very simple, yet pretty candle. The wax is in a round glass holder (I say holder, but the candle can't actually be removed) which has ridges in the side and the soft pink colour of the wax shows through. The overall look is quite pretty and vintage and although I initially burned it in the living room, I moved it to my bedroom as I felt it fit in with the décor there quite well.

In the holder, the candle smells amazing. It is a very sweet, sugary strawberry scent and the scent to me is very much like strawberry icing. I'd say it smells quite girly and feminine due to the sweetness, but I did have my reservations that it may be a little sickly when burning.

When the candle is lit, I find that it takes quite some time for the scent of the candle to make itself known and fill the room. When it does it is a very subtle fragrance and thankfully not sickly as I had feared. It is mainly the strawberry that comes out and I don't find that it smells so sugary when burning as it does in the holder, although it is still quite sweet. The scent is strong enough to fill a reasonable sized room, but lingers subtly in the background rather than being a heavy, overpowering scent. I didn't notice it in neighbouring rooms, so the scent doesn't travel, but it did linger in the air for some time after being blown out.

I found that rather than burning down evenly the candle has tunnelled down, so not all of the wax will be used and eventually I'll be left with a ring of wax around the edge of the holder. There was no indication as to how long one of these candles will last, although I'd say I must have had it burning around six or seven hours now and it's probably around a third of the way down.

I bought this in Pound World for £1 (as I'm sure you could guess!). I have not seen these candles for sale anywhere else and having looked online, there do not appear to be many UK retailers of them, but check out bargain shops and the likes as if one pound shop has them they are likely to be found elsewhere.

Overall, this candle was OK and although it is perhaps not the best quality or the most intense fragrance, I definitely think it was worth the £1 I paid and I would recommend it.

*Also posted on Ciao