Black Pepper by Molton Brown is one of my all-time favourite smells. For me almost nothing in the world can beat the musky and spicy fragrance of the men's Eau de Toilette. Knowing this a friend bought me the Black Pepper candle for my birthday. I had no idea until then that there was even a candle so I was really pleased to be able to smell my favourite fragrance whenever I wanted to with my new candle.

~~~~~ Packaging ~~~~~

The Candle (or candela as Molton Brown refer to it) comes packaged in a brown box which was wrapped with a Molton Brown ribbon. Inside the box was the candle which is white and housed in a brown hand blown glass jar. The glass jar is absolutely gorgeous and if nothing else said this was expensive then the quality of the jar itself should tell you that this isn't your usual candle from Tesco and is something a bit special.

~~~~~ Black Pepper ~~~~~

Black Pepper is an amazing fragrance and one that I could easy smell for the rest of my life. It contains notes of petitgrain, bergamot, ginger, cedar, lily, musks, amber and vetiver. It is incredibly warming and exotic while being one of the most masculine fragrances you can get. It is an unusual fragrance and completely unique and I have yet to smell anything similar.

~~~~~ The candle ~~~~~

The first thing I noticed about the candle besides its beautiful packaging and glass jar was that the smell is different to the Eau de Toilette and the shower gel. It is very similar but there is a distinct difference. Before I even lit the candle though I could smell it and I personally thought it smelt amazing and I was looking forward to using it.

It didn't smell too strongly and I had to really put my nose into the candle to smell it but I just assumed that this was because it wasn't yet lit. The candle has one wick right in the centre and when I first lit the candle it took a while for the wick to burn down and start to melt the wax. I was expecting the room to fill with the intoxicating smell of black pepper and left it for half an hour or so while I did some things around the house.

When I returned I assumed that the room would now be filled with the smell of Black Pepper but when I entered it I was so disappointed to find that the fragrance had barely penetrated the room and that I could hardly smell it. Close to the candle the smell was a bit more fragrant but it hadn't projected to any discernible degree and even just sitting a couple of metres away I struggled to be able to smell it.

I left the candle burning for ages but no matter how long I left it burning the scent was still incredibly subtle and I had to bring the candle right beside me to be able to smell it at all.
The candle has a burn time of 40 hours but because it is so weak I found myself burning it for hours at a time and managed to completely finish it in just a week which I thought was really disappointing.

~~~~~ Price and availability ~~~~~

I knew being a Molton Brown product that the candle would be expensive as Molton Brown is a luxury brand but I was shocked to discover that the medium candle which is the one that I have retails at a whopping £36. To say I was floored by this price would be an understatement.

You can find the candle at Molton Brown stores in major cities. Molton Brown are quite selective in who they let sell their products so other than their own stores you will need to check the more upmarket department stores such as Selfriges or House of Fraser. Of course you can find them on line too but don't be expecting to get a large discount as the prices are pretty much the same across the board.

~~~~~ Recommendation ~~~~~

I really cannot recommend this candle as it was a huge disappointment and I find the price to be exorbitant. I assumed a candle no matter the brand would be a maximum of £20 especially as it wasn't even that large. The hand blown glass is a nice touch but not something that I would want to pay money for. Even if the fragrance hadn't been so weak and disappointing I would still have thought it was far too expensive.

Unfortunately it just didn't live up to the other Molton Brown Black Pepper products which is a real shame as the candle had so much potential as it is such an amazing fragrance but the weakness of the candle was just too weak for it to be worth even buying even if it had been a lot cheaper than it actually was. If you like the fragrance then stick to the shower gel and the Eau de Toilette as these are much better quality and more of the luxurious products that you would expect from Molton Brown.