Strawberry Candles

Candle #2 - “Sweet Strawberry” from Yankee Candle

Of course I had to try Yankee’s strawberry for this review.  I mean, come on...they’re the giant of the candle world.  I never buy from Yankee because I think they’re too expensive and know I can get better smelling candles from other companies, but I had to see how their strawberry scent compared to the others out there.  So does being the most famous candle company of all time mean they have the best scents?  Well, as far as authentic strawberry scents are concerned, NOPE!

Yankee candles are way too expensive so to save money I just bought a few of their strawberry votives and lit them all at the same time in my living room one night.  Once the votives were burning for a few hours and had a chance to release their scent into the air, I wasn’t that impressed.  You can kind of tell it’s a berry smell, but it’s definitely not the true succulent strawberry I was looking for. It smelled artificial.  Sorry Yankee.  Their description for Sweet Strawberry is:

“Simply glorious...the playful, juicy sweetness of perfectly ripe wild strawberries.”

According to my nose, this is way off.

My Thoughts So Far On My Hunt for the Perfect Strawberry...

After striking out with two of the biggest candle companies out there, I was starting to believe what my candle-friends were telling me.  It IS hard to find a good strawberry!  I wasn’t running low on hope though.  I thought if anyone had an authentic strawberry, it’s gotta be from one of my favorites...Pure Integrity or Candles of Eden.  I’ve never had a fake smelling candle from either company.  Their vanillas are awesome, their citrus scents are true and mouth-watering and their bakery scents are to die for.  I couldn’t wait to see what their strawberry candles were made of.

Candle #3 - Strawberry from Pure Integrity

I’ve tried a lot of scents from Pure Integrity, but strawberry was never one of them.  I’ve always been so thrilled with my jar candles from this company so I figured their strawberry had to be good.  I waited with anticipation for my package.  As soon as it came to my door, I lit that baby right up in my office and had it burning next to me as I did my CandleFind stuff.

As the smell filled the air, I knew I liked it better than the Yankee or Bridgewater strawberry I had.  It didn’t have a fake smell to it, but at the same time, I wasn’t blown away by this scent like I normally am with all their other candles.  I could definitely tell it was strawberry.  It had a medium to strong scent throw and was filling my office nicely, but it just wasn’t that oh-so real juicy strawberry scent I was after.

Other than saying this candle smelled like strawberries, I couldn’t think of a good way to describe it.  One day I had this candle burning for a few hours in my living room when my hubbie Frank came home from an errand.  I was in my office upstairs and he yelled up, “It smells like Bubble-licious in here!!” I said...”you’re kidding me!  You never say that you can smell anything!”  He said again, “it’s bubblelious in here!!”

When I came downstairs to take a whiff, he was right!  This candle smells just like the strawberry bubble-licious gum I’ve been munching on lately.  It is SO rare when Frank ever says anything about a candle. Whenever I’m burning a candle that I’m not sure of for a review I ask him...”do you smell anything?”  His standard answer is “Nope.”  I don’t know if your man is the same, but Frank never notices ANYTHING new in our house, so when he comments on a candle he smells, it’s usually a winner in my book.

I give this candle an A+ for smelling just like strawberry bubble gum and for having a strong throw, but a thumbs down for being that totally authentic strawberry smell I’ve been searching for.  If you want the smell of strawberry bubble gum, I definitely recommend this scent.

Just so you know I’m not alone on this one when it comes to this scent being a true strawberry, I asked my brother in law his advice on the candle when he was over the other night.  He said it didn’t smell like real strawberries.  Sorry Pure Integrity!  You hit the mark on strawberry gum, but it’s another miss on my hunt for the PERFECT strawberry scent.