Vanilla Candles

Vanilla from Pure Integrity

As most of you know, Pure Integrity is a company that has impressed the heck out of Christina and me.  Their candles have always been “top-drawer” to us... the authenticity of their scents is dead-on and the throw of most of their candles is super strong.  For a couple years now Pure Integrity’s plain old Vanilla scent has been a favorite of mine so I had to include it in this review and give this vanilla it’s due praise.

Here’s the scent description from the Pure Integrity web site:

“We have been told our vanilla candle is absolutely outstanding! Who can resist the warm, sweet smell of vanilla? A wonderfully enjoyable and relaxing scent. A favorite I return often to!”

This Vanilla has always been a favorite of Jeff, the owner of Pure Integrity, and it’s no wonder why.  This vanilla is so authentic, so strong, so rich and has such a warm, creamy depth to it that comforts me to the core.  It also has just the right amount of sweetness... not overly sweet like some vanillas can be.  Just about everyone that’s tried this scent based off of my recommendation has loved it.  If you’re a vanilla lover and haven’t tried this one yet, all I have to say is...your nose has waited long enough.

P.S.  A few months ago a CandleFind fan told me this scent seemed to be more of a caramel-like vanilla.  Even though I’ve filled my house with this scent a few times, I didn’t notice the caramel undertone until this fan pointed it out to me.  Any bit of info like this that helps me better describe a plain vanilla scent to you is a good thing.  :-)

Vanilla Bean from WoodWick

I’ve been curious about Old Virginia’s WoodWick candles ever since Christina reviewed one in the summer.  The online store, FreshBet.com was nice enough to send me a free Vanilla Bean WoodWick to try...no strings attached.  That sounded good to me!  I figured I could kill two birds with one stone...I’d get to try a WoodWick and test yet another vanilla scent for this review.  Before I go on, let me just thank Fresh Bet by giving them a little plug.  Their online store looks pretty cool.  You can find all kinds of home fragrance products like candles, air fresheners and potpourri as well as scented bath and body goodies.  Ok, now onto my candle...

As soon as my WoodWick was delivered, I ripped open the box and lit that baby right up.  I couldn’t wait to see the wooden wick and “hear” it as well.  It’s the coolest thing ladies.  If you haven’t tried one yet, I highly recommend it.  It sounds just like a crackling fire, on a smaller scale of course.  It’s pretty soothing.  If I don’t have the TV or radio on when I burn this candle, it creates such a cozy atmosphere.  We don’t have a fireplace, so I guess for now this is the closest I’ll get to the real thing.

The description of this Vanilla Bean scent on Old Virginia’s site is plain and simple...

“Relax with the warm natural scent of pure vanilla bean.”

I really love this scent.  The description just about says it all.  Smelling pure Vanilla Bean was a nice break from all of the heavy bakery vanillas I’ve been burning lately.  This scent has a delicious creamy quality to it that I just love.  Every time I breathe it in, it reminds me of Bryers Vanilla Bean Ice Cream.  Mmmm...one of my favorites.  This candle smells exactly like that.  In fact, whenever I burn this candle lately, I’m finding my craving for Vanilla Bean ice cream getting bigger and bigger.  I hope I get to the end of this candle soon, or my waist line’s gonna pay the price!  :-)

My WoodWick candle is the larger 22 oz. size.  The scent throw on this one was not overly strong.  It’s one of those scents that has a subtle feel to it yet is capable of just about filling your whole room.  Sometimes I really enjoy these subtler scents.  They’re definitely yummy enough to enjoy, but not too strong where you need to blow it out to give your nose a rest.