Real Talk About Bath and Body Works Candles

As 2014 draws to a close, I thought it would be nice to sit  back and reminisce on the scents that came our way throughout the year from the spring to this winter. So if y'all will indulge a bitch, I'd like list my favorites of 2014! Fleur de Provence This was really the only scent in the Destination collection that spring that I liked. It was the perfect union of my two all time favorite scents - verbena and lavender. While on cold throw it did smell a little like Fruity Pebbles, the warm throw was total relaxing aromatherapy goodness Lavender Marshmallow The rare and mysterious failed test scent that had everybody's coochies exploding. Not too too sweet and not too too herbal, just a perfect blend French Lavender Everybody knows that my love for lavender scents runs deep. While there have been several lavender blends there hasn't been a straightup lavender (well technically there as in '12 but it didn't go wide. Anyway, FL came along and all was right...

*DISCLAIMER* I wrote this post on the same night of the $8 candle sale but just forgot to post it So I stepped in my fav store in NYC so not expecting to this collection but lo and behold there they were in all of their glittery glory. And when I tell y'all, folks (mainly girls) were goin on absolutely apeshit over these SOBs. I on the other hand was nonplussed; I've been by and large indifferent about them cuz none of them intrigued me scent-wise and it takes more than glitter to grab my attention...sometimes. Anyhoo, despite my indifference, I decided to give them all a sniff... Live in Sunshine ~ Fresh Blossom - As I soon as I first saw the notes and the wax color, I knew exactly what it was going to be a repackage of. As soon as I sniffed it, I totally called it .... it's First Bloom. It's a very heady sweet almost body spray-like floral scent. Sparkle Everyday ~ Confetti Cupcake - Yep, you guessed it...it's Frosted Cupcake! Actually it's more like ...

Twisted Peppermint (shot) Pinnacle Peppermint Bark Pinnacle Whipped Cream Pour a splash of PPB and WC over ice in cocktail shaker. Pour contents into shot glass. (You can either place a candy cane in it or line glass rim with crushed candy canes or peppermints) Frosted Cranberry (Cosmo) Ocean Spray White Cranberry Strawberry juice Absolut Cherrykran Peach Schnapps Triple Sec Pour in your Cherrykran (or Raspberri) over ice in shaker. Add a splash of Peach Schnapps and an even smaller splash of Triple Sec. Top with White Cranberry Strawberry. Shake and pour Winter (highball) Orange juice Lillet Blanc Marmalade rosemary Muddle rosemary with pulpless orange (or blood orange) juice in a cocktail . Add a dollop of marmalade and then ice. Shake then pour in glass. Top with Lillet Blanc Vanilla Bean Noel (martini) Pinnacle Chocolate Whipped Pinnacle Vanilla Rumchata vanilla Pour in a splash of PCW and PV over ice in cocktail shaker. Top with a splash of Rumcha...

So there I am at work, counting down the hours til it was time to go so I could get my shop on finally. And of course, the day went by so agonizingly slow. Finally it was that time and I ran like The Flash out the door, hopped on the subway and ran some more to the store. I got there and the joint was mob deep, packed like crazy! I didn't let this deter; I knew exactly what candles I wanted and found them all with ease. But oy vey, the lines were excruciatingly long. Luckily there were roaming SAs with awesome handy handheld portable debit/credit card machines. I did two transactions with two $10 off $30 coupons and as soon as the super sweet and patient (and pretty) SA girl finished my transactions, I ran out the door before it got anymore crowded. So ladies and gents, this is what I bought.... 2 Ski Lodges 1 Champagne Toast 1 Winter 2 Merry Mistletoes 1 Gourmet Espresso 1 Be Daring Then later that same evening, my boyfriend came home with a nice candle haul. He bou...

Products: candle Area used in:  living room (weekends) Time Period: Thanksgiving - New Year's Eve Description: A Christmas classic gets a touch of fresh creamy pumpkin added to a  scrumptious mixture of just baked gingerbread and golden vanilla  So long story short, I wanted a nice "weekend morning" scent that would take me from Thanksgiving and straight through Christmas and this was the only scent that I could think of from this collection (truth be told, the other scents in this collection didn't appeal to me at all). I decided to get over me intense vehement dislike of both pumpkin scents and bakery scents, get out of my proverbial comfort zone and try this sucker. I gotta say, I'm kinda glad that I did cuz I found myself liking it. So far it's been performing like a boss - high dancing flames, plump mushroom tops, deep wax pool. So far so good! Now a lot of people have complained that the throw is super light to the point o...

Leaves (highball) Apple Cider Brandy Cinnamon Cointreau Pour brandy over ice ( you can also use whisky or applejack. Then pour one drop of Cointreau (you can also use Triple Sec) Top with (preferably pre-mulled/spiced) cider. Add a dash of cinnamon and stir. Could also be drunk hot as a toddy, just add hot water Autumn (Tom Collins) Applejack Pama Liqueur Pomegranate juice Angry Orchard (Crisp Apple) bitters Pour in Applejack first, then Pama liqueur and pomegranate juice. Top with Angry Orchard then add one dash of bitters Cranberry Woods (highball) Ocean Spray Cranberry Raspberry (or Cranberry Pomegranate) Pama Liqueur Darjeeling Tea Cinnamon Syrup Prepare your homemade syrup (cook and reduce sugar, water and a cinnamon stick and brew your Darjeeling Tea (regular black tie or Orange Pekoe would suffice if you can't find Darjeeling) Pour in your Pama over ice, then your tea after it has cooled down a bit, then top with cranberry juice. Slowly add in y...

Let's talk about the Holiday tradition and Martinis and Mistletoe candles shall we.... First of all, how friggin cute are these Holiday Traditions candles, with the little animals?! Anyhoo, I won't talk about Twisted Peppermint, Winter Candle Apple, Evergreen and Vanilla Bean Noel cuz E'RYBODY should know what those all smell like. Holiday This SOB came out back 2012, replacing Slatkin's go to holiday spice candle Spice and has been a Christmastime staple ever since...I dunno why cuz it ain't all that! If you like red hot spicy cinnamon scents like Cinnamon & Clove, then you'll probably like Holiday - they both smell very similar. Holiday also has bergamot in it which you think would give it a very aromatic citrusy kick but nope not so much. It makes the blend for some reason smell very ancient and dusty/musty smelling, like an old person's home. Holiday makes me think of old dusty/musty cardboard boxes of Xmas decorations in your grandparents'...

Hey e'rybody! Let me first off apologize for bein MIA lately. I've had a lot goin lately, including a new job, so I don't have nearly as much free time as I used to. Furthermore, up until today, I hadn't had much to talk about B&BW-wise; I had nothing to review that I hadn't reviewed already and I haven't been inside a B&BW store until a few days ago. After work, I visited my favorite store in the city and it had all of the winter scents so I decided to get my sniff and mentally note which scents I was going to eventually get. Because there are so many scents to talk about, I decided that instead of making one long ass post that Id split it into two parts. Part one will be the Ski Lodge/Snow and Slopes and Home Traditions candles and Part two will be the Holiday Traditions and Martini and Mistletoe collections. So let's begin... So everybody should know what Fresh Balsam, Winter , Tis the Season , Vanilla Snowflake, Marshmallow Fireside and Mahog...

This is for my fellow cocktail enthusiasts...aka lushes. Light up your favorite new fall candle and make yourself a cocktail inspired by it! BTW DISCALIMER: I don't use measurements so do like I do and use your better judgment! Wasabi Apple (Tom Collins) Smirnoff Green Apple Vodka DeKuyper Sour Apple Pucker Domaine de Canton ginger liqueur Soda Place some ice in your cocktail shaker. Pour in your Smirnoff. Add a dash of Sour Apple and an even smaller dash of DdC. Shake it up and pour in ice filled glass. Top off with club soda. Blackberry Bramble Tea (Tom Collins/Tumbler) Black tea (preferable Darjeeling tea) Blackberry Elderflower Pimm's Vodka (or gin) Brew yourself some black tea (or if you're adventurous, you could make yourself tea infused syrup). Add sugar and let your tea cool off. Pour in your favorite unflavored vodka (I personally think this is better with gin, something dry and London-ish)in an ice filled glass. Then pour in your Pimms (it HAS to...

Products: candle Area used in:  living room Time Period: off and on from October - Description: A warming blend of orchard fresh pumpkin-apple cider, ground nutmeg and a hint of clementine orange So as I've stated before, I'm not the biggest fan of pumpkin scents. With my run of bad luck with Pumpkin Cinnamon Bun and especially Pumpkin Sugared Manfeet ...I mean Doughnuts, I was ready to completely ignore this entire collection. But I found myself really intrigued with Spiced Pumpkin Cider. Surely the apple cider and clementine notes would cancel out the evil pumpkin funk. So I gave it a sniff and found myself really liking it. Now in my recent favorite fall scents post, I said that I love apple scents for fall and my go-to apple/cider scent was Spiced Cider. And as you know for the first in years, Spiced Cider wasn't in this fall's lineup. I gotta say that I don't miss it cuz SPC is soooo much better! Performance-wise, it's been pretty bad-ass. Super ri...

Products: candle and wallflower bulbs Area used in:  bedroom Time Period: mid-September- end of October & November-December Description: Nutmeg and cinnamon stick are layered over a rich base of applewood and cedar to evoke the perfect autumn night So I was lookin for a new sexy manly fall scent for my bedroom, something other than my baby Black Pepper Bergamot . I was initially excited that Tailgate was coming back and had actually made it past test phase but found out to my dismay that it was the same Tailgate from last year (repackage of Mad about Madrid ). Anyhoo, Autumn Night sounded right up my alley so I thought I'd give it a try and I wound up really loving it, my bf too! I was hyping it up and defending it against haters on Facebook - it was/is my jam and became an instant fall fav/must have for me! So why did I give it my patented "THIS IS BOMB.COM" title? Mainly because the performance. The performance kinda sucked! As you can see there's...

Products: candle Area used in:  living room and wallflowers Time Period: mid-September - end of October Description: Jump into a pile of leaves! Celebrate the brilliant colors if autumn with this rich blend of golden nectar, red apple and spiced berries As most of y'all already know, Leaves is by far my all time FAVORITE scent for fall - a definite must have, fall in a jar, one of many things to look forward to in this season! I'm not gonna go into too much detail about the scent cuz EVERYBODY should know what Leaves smells like. Plus I already did an in-depth review on this scent last year. So I'm just gonna talk about the performance. It performed like dream, as usual - thick mushroom tops, high flames, deep pool, nice throw, yada yada yada. My only complaint as that this candle, more than any candle I've gotten and burned recently, burned down ridiculously quick. Now I know B&BW has shortened the burn time for whatever asinine reason, but goddamn! Now...

Just when you've gotten used to all of the current fall scents and have wrapped your brain around of the upcoming winter scents, there is a new collection of scents comin our way.... The Perfect Wish: LIGHT UP THE ROOM AND BE DARING!!!! Uuuummmm...okay?! This collection appears to be various bright and vibrant scents in colored glittery tumblers meant to uplift and invigorate you; scents that would, oh I dunno, make you wanna ignite the light and let it shine and own the night like the 4th of July! act.mtv.com So back in 2012 (I think), BB&W had a collection called "The Good Life" collection; it was a scent of scents with various aromatherapy notes/blends with very sappy saccharine emotion themed names like "Happy" "Passion" "Peace" "Joy", etc. Many of these later became scents that we all know and love - "Relax" = Lavender Vanilla , "Relief" = Eucalyptus Mint, "Renew" = Renew&R...

So I was in the City takin care of business and decided to take a trip to my favorite BBW and see what it had in store It had all of the lidless color glass core scents..which I just realized that I didn't sniff them. Not that it matters cuz they're all scents that I know already The store also had the Snow and Slopes candles that are online - Winter, Hot Buttered Rum, Fresh Balsam, etc. It also had a mason Jar of Alpine Frost. Alpine Frost is...aight. On cold sniff, it does kinda smell like a Pine-Sol; just a generic clean, fresh "pine" scent with a hint of citrus. It reminds me of a failed test scent last winter called " Frosted Pine"   . Less intense, less dirty smelling and with the faintest slightest hint of something orangey. And finally there was the Intrigue and Opulence candles sitting in a grand shrine in the center front of the store. *sigh They all smelled very pleasant and I liked the look of the glasses...but they are not, I repeat, NOT w...

Products: candle Area used in:  living room Time Period: none Description: Have a holly jolly Christmas with this festive blend of bright mandarin, red pomegranate and fresh balsam So, I saw this SOB on Evilbay and thought about getting it cuz very very few people were talking about it. So after going back and forth and deliberating with myself, I decided just to go ahead and get it just to ease my curiousity. That was a big mistake! Now some people were saying that HJC smelled like Winter ...and I was like "No, can't be. That doesn't make an ounce of sense!" I get a little leery and distrustful when folks on various social media start comparing scents and saying suchandsuch smells like suchandsuch cuz many of these people are relatively new to BBW and don't know any scents past 2013...like Winter. Anyhoo, based on the notes, I had a hunch that maybe it was a repackage of an old Slatkin-era Christmas classic called " Winter Garland " Now the note...