CANDLE SPOTLIGHT: Champagne Toast

Products: candle and bulbs
Area used in:  living room
Time Period: mid January - mid February

Description: Pop, clink and sparkle with an effervescent blend of Champagne, juicy nectarine and blackcurrant

I was BEYOND excited for this scent. First of all, it was an all new scent...that didn't suck. Moreover, a "champagne" scent was loooooong overdue; Yankee Candles has had its Bubbly Champagne candle for ages. I thought it was nice and once again long overdue to have a champagne candle for New Years and not have to settle for Cranberry Pear Bellini or Peach Bellini. So I bought one on Black Friday and burned it one New Years Day and absolutely fell in love with it...so much so that I wound up buying another one as well  as bulbs during SAS.

So let's talk performance. At first, things were not lookin so good...

Hot tunneling mess!!!

It starting to canyon after the first light. The flames were weak and stubby and left cliffs of wax on the sides. It continued to burn ratchedly like this for the next couple of lights. If the throw wasn't pleasant, it would've sent this back to the store. Then after the 4th or 5th light, it somehow  corrected itself and has been burning perfectly ever since.

*angelic chorus

The wax, so far, has melted into nice deep pools. Unfortunately, with each burn, the wax has become cruddier and cruddier looking, to the point of looking almost khaki. This is the only colored wax candle, besides Beach Cabana, that I've seen grow so cruddy.

The throw has been perfect - not too strong but not too weak either. It fills a room without becoming overwhelming. For this kind of scent, I think CT's strength is just right.

Now the scent.... let's not beat around the bus. Real talk, it smells very similar to Summertime Soda...like almost exactly. It's definitely not a repackage but there's no denying how similar the two smell. I mean, compare the notes...

Citrus (lemon/lime).....................................................nectarine

Cherry.....................................................................blackcurrant

Soda effervescence.............................. bubbly champagne 

Vanilla...................................................champagne (sweet rose)

It's like a crisper and more "winter-y" version of Summertime Soda.

Anyhoo, when you first sniff it, you immediately get the nectarine note; it's very crisp, tart and juicy. It almost smells candy-like, like an orange Starburst. Then you get the even more tart blackcurrant note, which seems to be in lot of BBW's "alcohol-ey/bellini" scents ie. Cranberry Pear Bellini, Peach Bellini and Bellini Café. I'm not a big fan of the blackcurrant notes that BBW uses; there's something kinda cough syrup-y/cough drops-esque about it...like Luden Wild Cherry Cough Drops and I smell it in all of these candles - CT is no exception. Anyway, lastly there's a sweet and pleasant effervescence that hits your nose last. It's not as nose tingling as Summertime Soda or as bubbly as Cranberry Pear Bellini but it's still very pleasant.

The wf bulbs are really nice and fresh although I do wish that they were just a bit more stronger. Not much more I have to say about em.

Y'know I wish I could fall head over heels with CT but the truth is I think it's just aiight! I don't hate this scent by any means, in fact I really really like it. However there's a part of me that wishes that BBW tried just bit more harder on this scent. I just have two very small nitpicky complaint about CT. I just wish that there was a)more of fizziness effect to it like Summertime Soda and b)the nectarine note wasn't so dominant. Because of that, to me this smells less like a sparkling bubbly glass of champagne and more like a mimosa.  In fact, if this was marketed as such with a name like "Morning Mimosa", I think I would be into this scent more. Moreover, because the nectarine note is so juicy and vibrant, to me it doesn't read as a "winter" scent, even with the blackcurrant notes. This is something I would burn in the spring or summer. It's because of this as well as the ratchet burn in the beginning that I didn't give CT the coveted THIS IS THE BOMB.COM title.

However, don't let this minor complaint dissuade you; it's not a bad scent by any means. I daresay this has been one of the more popular scents this winter, with good reason. I do hope it sticks around and becomes a BBW staple.