*~*Introduction and reason for purchase*~*

I've mentioned in previous reviews of a similar nature that I enjoy making my home smell fragrant with scented candles. I've always been a fan of such items from the likes of Glade etc but last year I discovered the wonderful world of Yankee candles through reading such glowing reviews. Although I've always favoured the candle form, since buying my first wax tart I haven't looked back since.

For anyone that has been living under a rock for the past few years and isn't aware what a wax tart is it's basically a wick less candle in a circular disc shape which is melted to give off it's aroma, which tends to be more intensified than that of a candle. A few weeks ago I bought a mixed batch of wax tarts from an Ebay store and amongst them was this fragrance - Sandalwood Vanilla. Having recently burned this, my review will now focus on this particular fragranced wax tart..


*~*How Yankee describe this*~*

"...Yankee Candle Sandalwood Vanilla Wax Tart- Pure indulgence the luxurious warmth of fine aromatic sandalwood and rich, comforting vanilla..."



*~*Price, packaging & availability*~*

Yankee products such as wax tarts and candles can be found in certain card and gift shops though it's best to check if they stock them before making a visit. I have found a stockist quite close to my home which is a Hallmark card factory shop and though it doesn't always have Yankee products in stock around 70% of the time it does as they sell off 'old stock' at reasonable prices (sometimes as low as 60p each). I tend to purchase in bulk though from Ebay when I have funds sitting in my paypal account and find the average RRP per wax tart is around the £1.20 mark though if bought in bundles often you get 1 or 2 thrown in for free. The wax tarts are 22g in weight and give an average of 8 hours burning time.



The wax tart, like the majority of other Yankee wax tarts, comes presented in a sealed plastic wrapper. The wrapper is transparent so the colour of the tart is always visible, and on the front is normally a circular sticker depicting an image associated with which ever fragrance has been picked. The Sandalwood Vanilla shows what appears to be sea shells and a lily on some kind of twisted reads - if I didn't know what the fragrance already was due to the logo I'm afraid the picture alone wouldn't give much indication as to what it was supposed to be in this instance.





*~*My experience and thoughts*~*

As this was part of a 'mystery' mixed bundle of wax tarts I had no idea which fragrances I would receive. I've ordered mixed bundles from the same Ebay store in the past and have always been satisfied with the choices, and in this particular batch I received several fragrances that I'd been wanting to try for a while but simply not gotten around to purchasing. I saw this in amongst the other wax tarts and decided to save it until last as the faint hint of aroma it gave off whilst still encased within it's wrapper was very alluring so kept it until a few days ago as it seemed to give off such a delicious aroma.

On opening the (quite difficult) cellophane style wrapper I was greeted with the same fragrance but it was really intensified and to be honest quite potent. I decided to cut it in half and melt a small amount as it had such a strong aroma and I thought it may be too overpowering to burn all in one go. I've found that using just half gives the same strength anyway but makes the wax tart last far longer as the other half can be burned on another separate occasion.

On placing the cream coloured wax disc into the centre of my burner I found that the scent once again grew far stronger as soon as it started to melt. The wax started to pool inside the centre of the disc within a few minutes of the heat activating it and this is when I noticed the overpowering musky aroma. At first I found the sandalwood amalgamated perfectly giving a musky undertone with a sweet top note from the vanilla and though strong it was really quite captivating.

I found that around the 10 minute mark though the sandalwood took over completely, drowning out any remaining hint of vanilla, and became quite nauseating to the point it induced an immediate headache and I had extinguish the flame of the tea light there and then.





*~*Results and recommendations*~*

I found that despite only burning this fragranced wax tart for 10 minutes in total on the first occasion the aroma till remained for at least one hour after the candle being blown out. As mentioned before in similar reviews I tend to keep my burner on the window sill in my kitchen as a) it's the safest place in the house as it's out of reach from my children/ not likely to get knocked over and b) the kitchen is the most central room in my small cottage meaning any aromas filter through to the rest of my rooms equally.

I wasn't overly fond of this Sandalwood Vanilla fragrance once it was being burned as it's simply too strong - for my tastes anyway. It's not that it gives off a horrible aroma as it doesn't, it's a rich and creamy scent that is really quite opulent, it's simply far too overpowering even in small doses.

I've since used the remainder of the wax tart up and found it did start to wane in strength after the 2 1/2/ 3 hour mark but even so I had to burn for periods of no longer than 1 hour at a time as it's strength was just too much. The scent lingered in each room for up to 3/4 of an hour after using and was stronger in my kitchen where it was based and did help to eliminate any nasty odours caused by cooking. I prefer much 'cleaner' crisper scents if used for this reason but I can't deny it did help to freshen up my kitchen area after cooking some cabbage on one occasion (bubble and squeak seemed a good idea at the time).



The overall fragrance this leaves is a warm and comforting one which suits the darker evenings and cooler weather but I found myself only liking the aroma once the wax tart had nearly come to an end. I would say it gave at least 5 to 6 hours worth of burning time in my home (that's both pieces) and whilst the scent it left in it's wake was warming in a seductive manner the initial blast of strength I had to endure each time to get it to that point leaves me with a decision of would I therefor recommend it?



I would say if you are a fan of strong musky type aromas then by all means give it a try. I found it just too strong unfortunately and I don't think it's worth enduring a headache each time when I can simply buy a softer version in another fragrance.



Middle of the road score of 3/5.