Real Talk About Bath and Body Works Candles

I was going thru my blog recently and I realized that I had done a cocktail post in awhile; anybody who watches my videos know how much I love cocktails. And with New Years right around the corner and then Twelfth Night and eventually Carnival/Mardi Gras for my Louisianian readers, there are plenty of opportunities to make some festive cocktails. That said, I thought of some quick and easy cocktails inspired my some of my favorite winter scents. Tis the Season (old fashioned,on the rocks) apple cider Calvados rosemary cinnamon brown sugar red food coloring Muddle your rosemary with brown sugar and a splash of lemon. Add ice then pour a splash of Calvados, apple cider then a drop of coloring. Shake and pour on ice. Your can garnish with either a cinnamon stick or a spring of rosemary or both. *You can also serve topped with Martinelli sparkling cider  Winter Garland (bellini) Martinelli Sparkling Apple Cranberry cranberry juice blood orange juice dry champance ...

Ok so let's be real..2015 SUCKED!!! The whole year from spring til winter was a hot shitty mess! This was the year of the most random and nonsensical decisions. In spring they decided not to offer not a single floral scent besides tired ass Lilac Blossom and Honeysuckle. Instead they gave us tropical collection after tropical collection after tropical collection with every single one offering something coconutty. There was the lackluster White Barn Market collection and Screen Door and Sweet Tea collection. And this was the year of "White Barn exclusives" so the scents that people really wanted, they couldn't get! We got a little reprieve and a taste of newness in the summer with the Sunset Summer  and Poptails collections...not much though. Then the fall was an utter dissapointment; very few classics came back, we got a bunch of repackages and candles came out at totally random times. Usually fall is when BBW truly shines...not so much this year. And then finally win...

Ah, Tis the Season...such a quintessential Christmas scent! It still remains a favorite and a holiday must have for me. So this scent has been around for quite some time. It was originally called "Holiday Wreath" and sported pine green wax. Thankfully the year after they changed to "Tis the Season" and it's been that ever since...make sense as it was much more of a conceptual scent and didn't have enough pineyness to be considered a "garland" scent. The following year it became the more appropriate holiday crimson that we've come to associate with this scent. I fell in love with this scent I first sniffed it years ago and it has remained a Christmas staple. For such a simple scent, it made a deep impression on me. To this the day, whenever I sniff TIS it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy; it conjures so many great Christmas memories from my childhood - going into the attic to take down box after box of Christmas decorations, decorating th...

So I know we all have been on a major spring scent kick lately and I dunno about yall but despite the Winter Solstice and Christmas fastly approaching in a few more days, its been hard getting into the spirit. I'm sure this El Niño induced warm spell hasn't helped things. Perhaps the fact that this winter at BBW has been a hot mess so most of us are over it and are looking forward to some newness. However there is still some time left to garner some holiday mirth and good cheer. That said in the spirit of getting us back on the winter holiday track  I thought I'd do a special post about my top ten must have favorite winter scents of all time! 10. Snowed In (2012)    This was an interesting scent to say the least...definitely not for pussies. It was an unabashed outdoorsy scent and it really smelled like you were out in the snow. Think Sweater Weather without the eucalyptus with a hint of Flannel. It did have a weird cod fish oil like aroma after the midway point, but be...

Well gang, here is yet another collection with very little thought behind; just a bunch of scents that BBW "thinks" are fan favorites thrown together willy-nilly. As with many of their collections lately, they're right on the cusp of having a really interesting collection but somehow it just misses the mark. You would think with last year's dismal White Barn Market collection, they would've learned their lesson but NOPE! With just a little more thought and less assumptions and pandering, this collection could've rivaled the infamous Sweet Shoppe collection and as of yet they haven't had a success like that since. At any rate, as usual, I thought of better replacements that would make this collection more interesting Sugared Peony Petals  - So in my scent list post , I was corrected by a reader that "sugared peonies" are indeed a thing. Despite being hip to culinary/gourmet fads, I never heard of that. So yeah it is a thing but that doesn't...

As most of yall know, I posted about the upcoming Spring candles and one of the collections has a "Mexican" theme...*sigh. As exciting as it may sound, sadly many of the scents in this collection are the most basic and un-Mexican things you could think of...almost to the point of being insulting. Y'know BBW has never been the most culturally savvy bunch...I'm lookin at you Electric Tokyo/Tokyo Petals. I just imagine a bunch of palefaces sitting the table throwing out the most mainstream basic scents they could think of and trying to spin them into something international and exotic. But with this collection in particular, they're really diggin deep; this collection is as Mexican as Taco Bell! Now I would never claim myself to be the authority on Mexican culture (although during my childhood living in Houston with all Mexican friends, I was made an honorary Mexicano), I could think of better scents for this collection. The only scent in this entire collection th...

Well ladies and gents, it's about that time again..test stores have started releasing spring scents. My homegurls  theshow78  and tinybubblesfloating has set social media on fire with their pics of the latest candles at their local test store. That said, with their permission of course, the following info comes straight from them. It looks like we're getting 4 collections, though nobody at the moment knows what the names of any of them though. So every spring, BBW releases a collection based on certain international locale; we've been all up and thru France, we've been to Italy, we've been to Hawaii, last year we were taken to the Amazon and now this year BBW is bringing us to..MEXICO!!! Si mis amigos, this collection has an "exotic" Spanish/Mexican/Mayan/Aztec-y theme. New scents include... Prickly Pear and Sugarcane - Bring home a luscious prickly pear fruit and sugarcane inspired by the exotic flavors of Mexico (Hmm, this could be anything - Heir...

Products: candle  Area used in:  living room (weekends) Time Period:Black Friday til New Years Day Description: Indulge in the fragrance of fluffy vanilla marshmallows, which are full of holiday sweetness and peppermint joy So I wanted to a good minty holiday scent other than Twisted Peppermint . Not too long ago I bought the absolutely delicious Mint Chocolate from '13 from Ebay at a reasonable price but I couldnt make myself burn cuz I wouldn't be able to get another one so easily and cheaply. That said I decided to give Joy a try instead. So I eventually brought back my The Original  and exchanged it with Joy. So E'RYBODY on social media has been complaining about this candle's dreadful performance. Unfortunately I must join the multitudes and complain about the craptasticness of this here candle. Look at this bullshittery! This is by far one of these WORSE burning in BBW history; it's right up there with the infamous Blackberry Grapefruit and Maho...

So while I was in the City, I decided to drop by BBW and see if they had the Destinations collection and sure enough they did YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!! I was over this collection when I first heard about em and having finally seen and sniffed them in person, I'm even more over this collection! This is the most strangest, weirdest and random collection in the history of BBW! And yet people are losin their proverbial shit over these bastards and I don't understand why! And if one more basic bitch says on social media that they're buying these candles just for lids, I'm going to muthaeffin SCREAM!!! That's the goddamn muthaeffin problem; we got crappy scents with absolutely no thought or reason put behind them cuz all ya'll care about are the damn lid! And they're not even that damn cute! People are acting like these lids are made of pure platinum with gold flakes and diamond studs! THEY'RE CHEAP LAMINATED GLITTER!!!! GGG...

So I did indeed take part in the $8.50 candle sale. My bf and I got up bright and early and made our way to GSP. White Barn was open early; we got there a little after 9:30 and the joint was already jumpin. I knew I had no time to lose before it got even more crowded so I took out my candle wishlist and made a beeline to the candles I wanted and swiftly put them in my basket. By the time I made it to the cashier, the line had grown exponentially; it curved serpentine like throughout the remainder of the store ending outside. My poor bf who wasn't so quick with his purchases who to go begrudgingly to the end of the line. And speaking of cashier, there were only 3 cashiers working only on the WB with not a single soul on the BBW side. Did they not know how crazy it was gonna get, why weren't there a full number of cashiers workin both sides?! Very stupid! Anyhoo my bf and I got what needed to get and hauled ass outta there! I had a $50 gift card that my mom got my for my bir...

Products: candle and wf bulb Area used in:  bedroom Time Period:Black Friday til New Years Day Description: This luxurious blend of rich chestnut, aromatic cedar and freshly ground cloves evokes happy Thanksgiving memories with family and friends This candle is a testament to how the right marketing and new look/name can turn a candle into an instant hit. For years, this candle could not get a break - back in day when it was called Winter Cabin  people were kinda intrigued but in the end it was completely overlooked by the overabundance of holiday bakery scents. Then in 2012 and again in 2013, it came out with a generic new name and the most boring and basic label ever and it was completely ignored. When I tried it for the first time in 2013, I was blown away and kicked myself for looking past it. When I wrote my review of it, I emphatically implored people to give this candle a try but people weren't listening. And much to my dismay and disappointment, it disappeared...

Products: candle Area used in:  living room Time Period: the week of Thanksgiving (official Thanksgiving day candle) Description: Save room for this delicious autumnal blend of creamy pumpkin, whipped vanilla and flaky pie crust that's as sweet as your favorite pumpkin pie I've always wondered why BBW NEVER had a pumpkin pie scent and why they preferred for us BBWers to settle for Shit Cinnamon Poopkin instead. Every candle company on the face of the planet had a pumpkin pie scent except for BBW. So when they finally came out with one this past fall, I was very excited. I know a lot of folks were burning their PP (and other autumnal) candles as early as August but I waited patiently to burn mine til the week of Thanksgiving cuz it just seemed more apropos. I almost gave this candle my patented "BOMB.COM" moniker but alas, I had some wick issues that made me change my mind. The candle had the dreaded curly wicks that BBW has been using this year. Not only di...

Well with Thanksgiving right around the corner, fall is pretty much over. That said I wanted to make one last fall themed post; I'm gonna throw some ideas for next fall since this fall was a hot mess! So this year as a precursor to the upcoming fall candles, y'all had the Cork & Vine collection which was...uuummmmm....yeah How about next ya'll have a..wait for...Country Fair collection, with blue ribbons on the labels. Y'all can have scents like... Apple Crumble, Caramel Apple, Cotton Candy, Cinnamon Sugared Doughnuts, Cider Lane, Summertime Soda, Toffee Glazed Popcorn, Chocolate Bacon Cupcake Strawberry Rhubarb Marmalade, Market Peach...savory scents that'll sort of wet everybody's appetites for fall For the main fall collection, I'd love to see a more metropolitan themed collection - fall in the city; long walks in the park in your favorite sweater, sipping a PSL while watching leaves fall..y'know basic bitchy. Of course in this collection...

With autumn pretty much drawing to a close, I wanted to take an opportunity to talk about a very undervalued autumn scent - Pumpkin Carving. Now as y'all already know, due to a past encounter with Shit Cinnamon Poopkin, I developed a strong and intense pumpkin scent phobia which I've only just recently gotten over. Despite hearing from other fellow candle connoisseurs of how superior Pumpkin Carving was to SCP, I just couldnt get down with PC. I tried experimenting with a PC wf bulb and though I enjoyed the scent, I just couldn't commit to a candle. Finally this fall I took the plunge and I bought/burned a 3wick ; I could kick myself for ignoring for so long. Now I do believe PC predates SCP (someone correct me if I'm wrong). It first came on the scene in the mid 2000 as "The Perfect Autumn Pumpkin" - very fitting name. The name was eventually changed to "Pumpkin Patch". Then in fall '12 it appeared (4oz only) as " Pumpkin Carving...

So this post was inspired by a video I made several months ago and forgot to post on Youtube; it was about my favorite type of fragrance from BBW - "cologney" scents or "mandles" as I like to call them. Cologney scents tend to get a lot of hate-ration from BBW community...mainly from the cupcake frosting caramel candy sticky sweet ooey goeey lovers whose brains short circuit at the very mention of a non-bakery conceptual scent. It also doesn't help when people with a basic sense of smell describe scents as "cologney" or "blah blah mixed with cologne" as if a) smelling like cologne is a bad thing and b)all colognes are cheap smelling and offensive. I always found calling something "cologney" or "mixed with cologne" (btw hat the hell does that mean?!) as very lazy. Anyway I digress... If, like me, you much prefer deep high end manly woodsy/herbal blends, then this bud's for you! Fireside (200?) smells like: a DILF b...