CANDLE RETROSPECTIVE: My Top Ten Fall Scents

"Should hot ass summers be forgot

and never brought to mind

Should hot ass summers be forgot

for it is autumntime!"

(I made that up myself lol)

HAPPY AUTUMN EQUINOX!!!

Well it is now officially fall and I could not be happier. What was a pretty blisteringly hot as balls summer (and that's comin from an ex-New Orleanian adapted to swampy humid sub tropic heat), I'm lookin forward to brisk crisp autumn days...although due to El Niño, it looks as though thi fall and winter are gonna be strikingly warm...though anything is better than 90 degree + heat..but I digress

I dunno about y'all but I'm ready to get my basic bitch on, tis the season after all. Bring on the foliage watchin, cider sippin, PSL chuggin, doughnut munchin, pumpkin carvin, apple pickin, sweater wearin and, most importatntly, candle burnin!

That said, let's talk about my favorite falls scents which have sorta changed over time, especially from when I first started this blog. So from least to all time fav....

10. Caramel Apple (2010?) - I first got this one during the 2012 June SAS and I loved it; I preferred it over Cider Lane which everyone was going apeshit for. You get sweet apple/pear notes with creamy yet surprisingly not cloying caramel. It also was very heavy on brown sugar and nutmeg. And it also almost had a slight nuttiness, like roasted peanuts. For some reason, the scent made me think of Halloween (more so than Pumpkin Carving and I would burn it as I was getting into my Halloween costume.) Sadly we haven't seen it since that SAS though it down sorta come back albeit watered down this past spring as Home ~ Sweet Caramel Comfort

9. Cranberry Woods (2009?) - This used to be in my top 5 fall favs. Unfortunately it seems to have fallen off the face of the earth. Lately I've found myself not missing it. Besides, the latest incarnations of it have been dramatically weak. However I do have enough fondess and reverence for it to keep it in my top 10. It's a nice change from all the apple and pumpkin scents we're bombarded with in fall. It's sweet without being cloying, spicy without being bakery and woodsy without being cologney. It makes me think of dark misty mysterious midnights during late autumn. I do hope BBW comes to their senses and brings this back.

8. Autumn Night (2014) - Say what you want, this was totally a repackage with a twist of Autumn Day, one of many Slatkin classics that have disappeared. Honestly I preferred AN over AD anyway. It's dark and rich, smoky and woodsy with a lil hint of spice. It had the exact same base notes of AD with added almost incense-like smokiness and intense cardamom. While AD definitely had an early morning walk on the farm vibe, AN was definitely a night time scent - you're out with your friends in front of the campfire chugging hard cider on an..AUTUMN NIGHT

7. Spiced Pumpkin Cider (2014) - So for a while my all time favorite apple/cider scent was Spiced Cider...which looking back was generic and craftstore smelling. I was a little disappointed that it didn't come back last year but I got over it when I sniffed SPC which in my opinion was so much better. Unlike SC, SPC smelled like legit cider. I had a little earthy pumpkiness with a splash of bright zesty mandarin, I'm a little sad it didn't come back this year

6. Porchside Pumpkin (2015) - I've said it before and I'll say it again..I'm not a fan of pumpkin scents although this year I've been coming around. And I gotta say this scent has kinda gotten my on the pumpkin bandwagon. Get this..it's a pumpkin scent that's NOT BAKERY...MINDBLOWN. You get deep earthy pumpkin, the only spice you get is cardamom...maybe ginger, sweet aromatic wood and the slightest hint of floral. And it's kinda cologney, y'all know how I feel about cologney scents. It's "like a sexy man in a pumpkin patch"

5. Cinnamon Sugared Doughnuts (2011) - OMG..CSD!!! Like pumpkin, I was not a fan of bakery scents at all...but CSD made me change my tune. It's crazy how authentic and genuine CSD is; it really smells like fresh cake doughnuts right out the grease and rolled around in cinnamon sugar. For whatever reason BBW started selling CSD in the spring; in my mind it'll always be a fall scent. We also got imposters lately, Cider Donuts and Pumpkin Sugared Doughnuts but try as you might, you just cant replace good ol CSD!

4. Sweater Weather (2012) - a fall scent with no apple, no pumpkin, no spice yet still captures the essence of fall?! Yes please! I admit when I first smelled SW I did not get the hype at all! However, once I lit it..FALLGASM! It's so fresh and crisp and brisk; it's like you're walking around on cool autumn afternoon in your favorite sweater. It's always makes me think of walking around Central Park in autumn. It could be my nose playin tricks on me but I feel like the '14 and '15 versions are different, almost sweeter and not as intense. And I do wish they would stop with orange/yellow piss wax color. The '12 version is the bomb diggity!

3. Apple Crumble (2011) - why oh why does BBW refuse to bring this back, it's perfection! Granted they bring it back for SAS but still! It's one of the best apple scents on the market and it's bakery without being diabetes inducing. And it's the perfect example of what I like to call "warm blanket throw". It's sweet, its' warm, it's comforting..just autumntastic!

2. Black Pepper Bergamot (2012) - seriously y'all, do I need to go on about this damn scent?! Everybody who knows me knows this is my bae and my love for it runs deep. I'm currently burning one now and I have one more left and that makes me sad. For reasons I can not for the life of me understand, they refuse to bring this back and instead continue to push Mahogany Stankwood and Autumn Sky down our throats. For those who have had the good fortune to sniff this, just try to describe this scent without using the word sexy. It's warm, it's inviting, it's chic, it's sophisticated, it's high end, it's sensual. And it has a fall vibe with nary an apple or pumpkin note and there's spice but it's not cinnamon/nutmeg/cardamom. *SIGH

1. Leaves (2008?) - it is simply not fall without Leaves, period! Leaves is the only candle thoughout the course of the year that I HAVE to have; fall simply can't begin without it. I can't even fathom a fall without Leaves; I was kinda freakin out this year cuz for awhile no one was talking about it or saw it stores but thankfully it appeared and no one was more relieved than I. Leaves just has everything - apple cider, cinnamon, cinnamon, mandarin, berries. It really is fall in a jar!

Honorable mentions include Mountain Leaves, Oakmoss & Vetiver, Autumn, Pumpkin Carving, Pumpkin Caramel Latte, Tailgate, Cranberry Pumpkin and Pumpkin Pie