They'll think you make your own biscuits! (Yankee Candle in General)

Member Name: manlybeach

Product:	Yankee Candle in General
Date:	18/10/08 (962 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Authentic smells

Disadvantages: One or two let the range down

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This information is taken from the official website:
Christmas 1969, Mike Kittredge aged 17, couldn't affored to buy his mother a Christmas present. He melted crayons to make her a candle and a neighbour who saw this convinced him to sell her the candle. With the money he made from the sale he bought enough wax to make another two candles, one for his mother and one to sell. From these humble beginnings Yankee Candles was born. They now have retail outlets all over the world and are considered to be the leaders in candlemaking. They say with every new fragrance they introduce their reputation is on the line and it is not enough to be as good as its competitors it must be better. It has to possess the realism, accuracy and pleasentness of the true flower, fruit, food, place or experience that inspired it.


There are many different candles on the market but in my opinion Yankee Candles are the best in terms of fragrance and the length of burn time. Some of the cheaper candles I have tried have a nice smell but I find it disappears as the candle starts to burn down. With Yankee Candles the fragrance can be smelt right through to the end and just as strong as it was at the beginning.

Master Chandlers ( candlemakers) whose skills have been passed down through the generations combine with Master Perfumiers to develop candles of quality, consistency and a fragrance as true to life as possible. Made with fragrance extracts and real essential oils I believe Yankee candles are the most realistic smelling of all the candles I have tried.

There are over 150 different fragrances in the range so I am not going to list every one or we'll be here all night so I will just give you a taster of what is available.
FLORAL
Sweet Honeysuckle
Evening Primrose
Jasmine ( I have used this one and it does have a delicate jasmine smell)
Freesia ( This one is lovely)
Sweet Violet
Fresh cut Roses

FRESH
Clean Cotton ( This is the only one I have come across that hasn't impressed me. Much too sweet to be clean cotton)
Country Linen. However it is a matter of personal taste and you may well like it.

Autumn Woods ( described as Cedar and Sandlewood accented with Cloves Cinnamon, Musk and Roses)
Sun and Sand
Lemon and Lavender
Island Spa

FRUITY
Black Cherry
Mango Blossom
Peach and Sweet Berries
Cranberry Chutney
Sweet Strawberry ( This really does smell like strawberries)
Granny Smith ( Smells just like biting into a crisp green apple)
FOOD AND SPICE
Creme Brulee ( described as Vanilla cream custard drizzeled with honey, brown sugar and nutmeg)

French Vanilla
Cinnamon Stick ( had this one at Christmas very festive smelling)

Roasted Coffee
Sandlewood

Chocolate Chip Cookie ( smells like you've been making homemade biscuits)
This is a very small selection of the fragrances available and whilst I haven't smelt all of them I have tried many. Whenever we go to the garden centre my husband will go off to look at the plants while I make my way to the gifts department where I can invariably be found sniffing the contents of the different candles on display.

During one of these sessions I came across one that took me straight back to when my children were babies. The smell was so real I just had to ask another woman who was also sniffing candles what she thought it was. "Ooh Johnsons baby powder " she said straight away . If you were blindfolded you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the candle and the baby powder it's so true to the smell. I bought one to stand on my bathroom window sill and at the checkout i noticed a few other women had also bought it. When my daughter in law smelt it she asked for two of them for Christmas!
I haven't lit this one as I like to keep it just as a room freshner. When the breeze from the window wafts the smell through the bathroom it's lovely. That's the thing about Yankee candles you don't even have to light them to appreciate the fragrance and they can be kept for years without losing any of their smell. Some of the smaller sampler candles i keep in my underwear drawer until i'm ready to use them and they make my smalls smell great!

Yankee Candles have recently brought out a new range of world fragrances from different places around the world. I have only tried one so far the New Zealand Wild Berry and whilst I have never smelt any wild berries from New Zealand I do really like this one. It is quite sweet and slightly strawberry or rasberry in smell with a green woody hint.

At Christmas time more festive smelling ones are available. I have had the Cinnamon Stick and Christmas Cookies which make the house smell like you've been baking all day .It's a good cheats way to make out you've baked your own biscuits and they'll never know you've bought them from Morrisons!
Another good one is Christmas Tree which I put underneath or in the branches of my artificial tree to make it smell like a real pine tree. Obviously I don't light them or I would have a melted Christmas tree!

The longevity of Yankee Candles means you can buy your Christmas candles in the January sales knowing they will be still fresh for next Christmas. However they are so popular there are often not a lot left for the sales so grab them when you see them.

Whilst I really rate Yankee Candles there are some that disappoint. Clean Cotton as I said above didn't , to me, smell anything like what I was expecting. I bought it as an electric plug in but had to turn it off after half an hour as the smell was too overpowering and gave me a headache. It was very sweet and not that clean fresh smell I would associate with clean cotton.
Also the "sea" themed ones don't do it for me. Whilst there is a slight seaside smell they don't capture the salty ozone aroma which can be detected when beside the ocean. Although I do think this is a particularly hard fragrance to replicate and up till now have not found anything that does do it successfully. These gripes aside I do find the rest of the range very true to life in terms of their smell.

The candles come in different formats as listed below
Candle Jars which are glass jars with a pull off top. The jars are decoritive enough to be used as storage jars once the candle has burnt away and they have been thoroughly washed out Or you could use them to make your own candles in as well. An added bonus of the candle jars is that you don't get that unpleasant burning smell when the flame is extinguished. Instead of blowing the flame out you simply replace the top which cuts off the air supply and the candle goes out immediately leaving no nasty niffs!

Large 22oz burn time 110 -150 hours £16.99
Medium 14.5oz burn time 65 -90 hours £13.99
Small 3.7oz burn time 25 -40 hours £7.49
Wrapped samplers which are about 3" in height and have a burn time of up to 15 hours £1.60

Tealights burn time 4 -6 hours £3.49 for a pack of 12
Wax Tarts burn time 8 hours 95p each

I had never used the tarts until last Christmas and I was surprised how long they burn for. Much longer than the estimated 8 hours in fact I am still using the same wax tart from Christmas and there is still plenty of burn time left.
The initial outlay is more as you have to buy a tart burner and unscented tealights to melt the tart. The burner has a tealight holder in the bottom and a dish above for the tart . Ideally special slow burning tealights should be used to gently melt the tart but I have found that ordinary unscented ones do the job just as well and are a lot cheaper (50 for £1.99 in Morrisons) although they don't last as long as the slow burning ones obviously.
Another advantage of the tart burners is that you can use up any left over bits of unburnt candle on it thus saving any wastage.

Other items in the range
Pot Pourri
Electric plug ins
Car jars/freshners for your car
Fragranced sachets
Candletins
Fragranced Reeds
Room Sprays
Candle trays and jar accessories eg shades which make the candle look like a lamp
Sampler and tealight holders
Wax Tart Burners

Yankee Candles can be purchaes at good garden centres and department stores although be careful not to confuse them with Colonial candles who have a very similar packaging. Whilst Colonial are good they do not have the same quality and trueness of smell as the Yankee ones. You will pay slightly more in a garden centre/store than buying online but if you are only buying one or two it might work out cheaper than paying P&P from an online store. The prices I have quoted are from Yankeedoodle.co.uk but are fairly representitive of what you will pay.
Yankee Candles may be more expensive than others but for the quality and authenticity of smell I am willing to pay that bit extra.

When you light a candle for the first time try and let it burn for a minimum of 3 hours. This helps to stop the candle burning down more on one side than the other and creates a more even burn.Always make sure the wick is no longer than half a centimetre for the optimum result.

Next time you are in a shop that sells Yankee Candles go and have yourself a sniff it won't cost you anything and you're bound to find one that you like.

Thanks for reading
manlybeach
Thank you for reading

Summary: The very best candles you can buy