**Introduction and reason for purchase**
I've become a fan of the Yankee Candle Co after reading so many positive reviews about their products and in particular have a slight 'obsession' with their wax tarts. I've been using scented candles, oils and even incense sticks for many years but it is only in the past year or two that I have been buying Yankee branded products as the sound of their wax tarts greatly appealed due to the format. Since buying my wax burner I've been experimenting almost exclusively with just wax tarts so when I was given 4 votive candles as a Christmas present by a good friend I was intrigued to see how they would fare in the fragrance stakes when burned.

This review focuses on the homely sounding scent entitled 'Fluffy Towels'.


**How Yankee describe this**

"...the fresh scent of clean towels warm from the dryer with notes of lemon, apple, lavender and lily..."


**my experience of using this**

The format I was bought in this fragrance was the votive sampler which is basically a 'mini candle' that is small enough to sample the fragrance (hence it's title). I've never really bothered with samplers, preferring wax tarts as I feel for the money they offer a stronger and more concentrated aroma and give a good indication of how true the fragrance is if thinking of choosing to buy a large glass house warmer jar for example.

The sampler is a classic 'candle shape' being a stubby cylinder shaped object which is 49g in weight and sells for anything between £1 to £2 depending on where you choose to shop with the average RRP being realistically around £1.50/ £1.80, but again this greatly depends on where you buy your candles from as I've seen large differences in the pricing but the cheapest I've seen is from official Yankee sellers online from eBay stores at £1.50 each.

On opening the bright white sampler from it's shrink wrapped transparent wrapping I was instantly greeted with a very sweet and fresh aroma that took me by surprise. For some reason I had it in my head that this would be a very subtle scent but I was pleasantly surprised by it's strength and wasted no time at all in burning it that same day. The wick is quite large and needs to be trimmed so I snipped a small amount off before placing on a glass plate candle holder I have and lit the wick accordingly. The first real hit of aroma came around 10 minutes into burning the candle once the wick had started to burn down into the wax and making it pool into a hollow.

Yankee state that this candle contains lemon, apple, lily and lavender. Whilst still encased in it's plastic wrapper before using I could instantly smell a sweet floral scent which I presume to be the lily and I could detect a calming aroma which very probable was the lavender though I had no idea what this was supposed to smell like at the time I received it as how do you describe the scent of a fluffy towel apart from being 'clean and fresh?' The picture on the wrapper suggests a floral element as it depicts neat white folded towels with flowers placed on top so the fact it's 'flowery' isn't too much of a surprise.

Once the candle started burning down the scent started to take hold and wafted gently through each room. When I burn wax tarts I tend to place my burner in the safest position in my most central room which is my kitchen on my window sill. I live in a small cottage with only 6 rooms and it is all on one level and because it's quite open plan a scented candle/ wax tart or even spraying air freshener tends to make it's way through to each room fairly quickly and Fluffy Towels was no different.

Once the scent started to make itself known I could really smell the beautiful floral element of the lily and whilst I'm not normally a floral fan of anything I couldn't help but like this as the addition of the lavender added a calming soothing note in the background. What I really did like with Fluffy Towels was the fresh and clean aroma it emitted with the apple adding a crispness and the lemon giving it a slight uplifting feel - all in all this shouldn't work with the sharpness of the apple and lemon and the more calming lavender and lily but somehow it does and it smells simply divine.



This votive offers 15 hours of burning time according the label though I would say it lasted on average 12 hours in total as I burned the candle each night for around two hours for just under a week. I found that approximately 2 hours of burning were sufficient to create a calming ambience and even when the flame had been extinguished the beautiful aroma continued to permeate the air for a good hour afterwards.

This is not a candle fragrance I would have automatically chosen myself but I've been very impressed with it's fresh and clean aroma and I have already placed an order for the wax tart variety which I'm looking forward to receiving. I would say if you are a fan of clean floral scents then this will automatically appeal but then again I'm not and I've been captivated by it's fragrance so it's worth sampling even if it's not normally your preference. The wax of the candle isn't too messy either which I was pleased about as I'd placed it on a flat circular glass candle disc and I was starting to regret this once the candle was burning as I had visions of wax cascading down the side of the candle onto my window sill but instead it melted inwards creating a hollow where it pooled inside each time.



I've been very impressed with this and even though I do prefer wax tarts still I will start venturing into using votives more even if they are merely for decoration purposes as you can't beat a flickering candle flame on a cold winter's night to add an air of comfort.



5/5 from me.