Vanilla Candles

Vanilla Velvet from Blue Moon Candle Co.

Before I go into my thoughts on this fragrance, I wanted to comment on how my candle arrived to me.  The entire packaging was so classy and beautiful so I really wanted to mention it.  When I opened the shipping box to see my candle, I first saw a simple black box with Blue Moon's Logo on it. It was very simple but nicely done.  The candle itself was a 12oz modern style Metro Jar with a flat glass lid.  The jar had a cream colored ribbon around the upper rim where the lid is with a lovely silver heart charm strung on the ribbon that said, “made with love”. My candle was nestled inside the box and cushioned in black tissue paper along with orange and yellow fall leaves.  It looked so cool!!  Now this candle was specifically sent to me for this review so I have no idea if this is the standard packaging for this candle or not.  Regardless, good job on that Blue Moon!  That really impressed me.  Here is the scent description for Vanilla Velvet:

“Our Best Seller!  Very warm, rich, sweet, high powered vanilla... a definite must try!  A very popular favorite among candlelovers everywhere since 1998!” 

I love the word “velvet” and paired with a scent name makes my imagination run rampant.  When I think of velvet, it brings to mind “smooth”, “creamy” & “luxurious” and those are just a few... so I was looking forward to finding out what this vanilla smelled like.  Just sniffing this candle cold didn’t give me much to go on because it smelled like a faint vanilla.

I lit this candle in my master bathroom which is the size of a small bedroom and began to notice the scent within 20 or so minutes.  I think that’s pretty good considering this candle is fairly small in size.  After sniffing away at this scent all day, I thought it was a very nice and smooth vanilla... not overly sweet and not gagifying in strength.  I found it to be a nice happy medium which suited me just fine.  I think I would classify this version as a classic vanilla scent. It wasn’t bakery, I detected no floral or perfume either... just a nice smooth vanilla.  I liked it.

I didn’t get a chance to melt tarts in this scent so I can’t comment on that but I can say that Blue Moon is an excellent company and one I’ll continue to order from.  I’ve tried their tarts and like them a lot.  They’re over sized and reasonably priced.

Vanilla Velvet was pretty good and my sniffer felt it ranked under the classic type vanilla category.

Sinfully Vanilla from Spotted Hog Candle Co.

Four candle companies down with four more to go... Holy Mackerel am I getting my fill of Vanilla scented candles!

I came across The Spotted Hog Candle Co. well over a year ago and have since become a regular customer.  This company has two vanilla scents on their menu, French Vanilla & Sinfully Vanilla.  I didn’t want to review both so picked the one that caught my attention the most, Sinfully Vanilla.  I figured any scent name that has the word “sin” in it has got to be good.  Boy was I right on the money... this scent although not your classic vanilla was pretty awesome!!  Here is the scent description from Spotted Hogs website:

“The ultimate vanilla!  I am absolutely in love with this new vanilla and the best word to describe it is SINFULL!  It's rich, creamy, sweet and smooth.  The scent lingers forever and is strong enough to scent multiple rooms!  No coconut, French vanilla or perfume type undertones at all.  It’s fantastic!

Now that’s quite a description and if you’re a vanilla lover, it would probably be pretty hard to resist.  I’m not a vanilla lover and it sold me.

I bought a 26oz apothecary jar and some clamshell tarts to try and decided to burn my candle first.  Dude is this scent strong! I had this one candle burning for a few hours in my great-room and could not believe the strength of this fragrance.  The description is right on when it came to the scent traveling.  This candle fragranced my entire upper level and then some and even permeated into my clothes.  I had to go to my daughter’s volleyball game the day I had this candle burning and all the moms kept smelling me and commenting that I smelled really good.  That’s pretty funny.

This is going to be a difficult scent to describe because it’s not your classic vanilla scent at all... at least I didn’t think so.  It smelled pure bakery to me and man oh man was it a warm and rich scent!  If I had to describe Sinfully Vanilla, I would have to say bakery all the way.  I could swear I smelled caramel in it.  My husband swore he smelled maple syrup and my daughter swore I was baking cookies.  Lots of swearing in this household with no definitive results... go figure?  In the end, my entire family liked it and it’s one I’ll buy again.  It’s definitely not your average vanilla and I think that’s why I liked it so much. It wasn’t super sweet and it made my house smell like I was baking something all day.  That’s pretty cool. 

Once I was finished with my candle, my tarts were next and they were equally as strong and very long lasting.  I used 2 cubes from my clamshell pack in my electric burner and the scent lasted all day.  I would say I got roughly 8 to 9 hours out of 2 cubes.  I thought that was pretty good.  I melted these in my downstairs family room and the scent was so strong, it overpowered the candles I had burning upstairs.  That gives you an idea of the scent strength.  So, for those of you who love bakery scents and prefer strong scent throws... totally buy this one because it skyrockets off the scent-o-meter scale.  If you prefer lighter scents, then this is not the scent for you.