CANDLE SPOTLIGHT: Sea to Santorini ~ blue water & white sails (LAST CANDLE FOR THE SUMMER)

Products: candle
Area used in: living room
Time Period: August - mid September

Description: A refreshing mixture of Neroli blossoms, seawater and sparkling orange inspired by a day of island-hopping. Ready for an amazing odyssey?

* part of the new Destination line of candles - Malibu Heat (test scent; Nair), Aloha Waikiki (generic tropical/floral air freshener, ie. Glade, Renuzit, etc) and Rio Glow (Bubbalicious tropical flavored bubble gum)

So, unlike so many BBW-ERS out there, I'm simply not ready to start burning fall candles as I am very much still in summer mode. Seeing as though I live in New Orleans where the current temp is between 90-100 degrees, it's pretty darn hard to get into fall mode. With that said, I was looking for something to be my end of the summer scent. At first, I was gonna go with Lakeside but decided not to because of it's awful performance and lack of throw. So I opted to go with Sea to Santorini instead.

This was the only scent in the collection that jumped out at me; even my bf was intrigued with this one as we both enjoy fresh, clean, watery type scents. However, I was a little leery. With it's aquatic theme, I (like many others) thought for sure this would be package of the dreaded.....OCEANSIDE!!!!    

Oh Poseidon, Greek god the sea, please do not allow this candle scented like your domain to smell like that hot mess of a candle Oceanside!!!

Fortunately, it doesn't...thank Poseidon!

I will say...the two do smell quite similar. They both share an ocean-esque aka cucumber and melon aroma. BBW has a habit of using cucumber/melon to replicate the freshness and saltiness of the ocean; Oceanside has it in its notes as does Sea Spray and possibly Seashore/Renew&Refresh. However that's where the similarities end. I would probably describe Sea to Santorini as Oceanside's more sophisticated and sexy European sister (Oceanside would be a tan spiky haired guido from the Jersey shore fist pumpin on the beach). I definitely think that StoS has a more distinctive elegant, floral, feminine vibe to it that sets it apart from Oceanside.

On to the notes.....as I said before, it has the same cucumber/melon note as Oceanside; it's fresh, it's clean, it's crisp and it's salty sweet..if that makes sense. If not, bite into cucumber and you'll know what I mean. But before you can smell that, you have to get past the neroli. It's PUNGENT! The neroli hits your first before anything else. If you're unfamiliar with neroli, it's like bergamot in the fact that it's a bitter orange; it smells pretty bitter and almost metallic. To me, it almost accentuates the crispness and saltiness of the "ocean" note. Lastly there's an "orange" scent though BBW isn't being specific; is it orange juice or orange peel/zest? I personally think it's orange blossom as the note isn't quite zesty or citrus-y but rather very soft, floral and powdery. I think overall if I had to use blanket terms to describe this scent, I would use both floral and powdery.

On to the performance. At first light, it burned perfectly and the wax melted nice and even. Then after that, it started to friggin canyon, the wicks(the thin braided rope kind) were barely keeping afloat and I had to use the cotton ball trick. After that, it started burning more consistently; no high dancing flames though. And, as with all white/crème candles, the wax color became cruddy. The throw was decent; I'd describe it as medium...which is fine with me cuz I don't think I could handle this scent if it was super strong.

For some reason, unlike the other Destination scents, BBW didn't release a wallflower bulb. I know they existed as I saw them on Ebay. However I didn't think it was worth ordering these on Ebay or calling a test store so instead I used the Lakeside bulbs. They're both aquactic/citrusy scents so I figured I'd blend the two and it works.

In conclusion...StoS is...alright. It's certainly nothing to throw a parade for nor does it get me ready for an Odyssey. However I do applaud BBW for coming up with such a unique and sophisticated blend. And I love the beautiful picture on the label as well as the patterned blue and white lid. I think this scent would be better suited in a bathroom; something to light while taking a bubble bath as it is a soothing and relaxing spa like scent. I wouldn't say this is a candle to light anywhere else for the fun of it. If you see it, try it; I believe it's on discount now at $10. If not, you're really not missing much!