CANDLE RETROSPECTIVE: My Favorite Scents of 2015
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 winter..YIKES! This winter was just all kinds of underwhelming. Now you would think that they would try to end the year on a high note...yeah no. Not a single bakery item save for Merry Cookie, BBW went on a major balsam kick and put it everything, and there were just the most weird and uninspired blends. And throughout this whole year were plagued with issues - scents (ie the new Aromatherapy candles) appearing and disappearing, never knowing if something was an "exclusive" or not, "production issues", scents being switched with something else with either the wrong wax or the wrong label, different batches of scents with it smelling one way in one store and totally different in another store, the most shitty sales ($15 candles). Just bad all the way around from start to finish.
Anyway, so I usually do a list of my favorite new scents of the year..as you can see, this years list is very small. We got very little newness this year, most of which I was by and large quite unimpressed with. But there were a few that left an impression...
Strawberry Rhubarb Marmalade
You know BBW doesn't have a good track record with strawberry scents so when I first heard about SRM, I was a little leery. But then I smelled and I loved it. It's by far the ONLY authentic strawberry scent that BBW has ever come out with.
Cherry Blossom Sangria
This one really surprised me; I did not think I would like this one at all. It initially wrote CBS off as a pink girly-girly fruity sugar candy scent and it wasn't remotely interested..that is until I smelled it and found myself really diggin it. It was a Shirley Temple in wax form!
Tequila Lime Cupcake
People either really liked this or really hated it...I personally really liked it! TLC wasn't the most authentic lime scent on the market but that didn't turn me off. And it was totally misnamed - it smelled like a key lime pie and should've been that. It's really a shame that this was an exclusive, such a wasted opportunity
Bowties & Bourbon
I have been waiting for a patiently a cologney scent to give me life..and this bad boi definitely did and then some. I wasn't sure of BT&B when I first saw the notes but when I smelled it...NOSEGASM! This is the first candle in an EXTREMELY long time to give me a nosegasm. In the absence of my two baes, Black Pepper Bergamot and Boathouse Row, this filled in nicely.
Southern Sweet Tea
I have never really cared for London Calling and in my personal opinion, this scent was London Calling made better. I liked that SST was more tart and astringent, it made LC more palatable to me. Now granted, with a name like "Southern Sweet Tea" it should've been syrupy diabetes inducing sweet but honestly I'm glad it wasn't cuz I don't think I would've like it as much
Summer Bonfire
SB was/is such a strange strange STRANGE scent! I took me a long time to get onboard with this candle. I have come to truly appreciate this scent..though it could just be the newness factor of it...and if that's the case, I still appreciate it.
Lime Granita Margarita
Finally...a real legit authentic LIME SCENT!!! LGM was the closest thing the amazing but sadly now forgotten Sparkling Mojito. And it was sooooo stupid that BBW decided to go mainstream and release basic ass Island Margarita instead.
Porchside Pumpkin
It's a shame that this candle got the poor marketing it did cuz it t smelled soooooo good! I loved the fact that it was a pumpkin scent but it wasn't bakery! WB totally swept that one under the rug and let it be overshadowed by more basic scents.
Cranberry Pumpkin
CP really surprised me; I did not think I would like it as much as I did. It was just a perfect classic autumnal scent. It was a little annoyed that BBW called it a "pumpkin" scent despite it not smelling like pumpkin then the ruined the illusion by repackaging it as a pumpkin-less wintery confectionary but whatevs it was still a really good scent that deserves to stick around.
Pumpkin Pie
Finally after ALLLLLLLLLLLL these years, we finally had a pumpkin pie candle! After ALLLLLLLLL these years that we had to put up with Shit Cinnamon Pumpkin, we had a better and more legit option! I really really hope PP stays around and becomes a fall staple.
Thankful
I know..technically it's not new but still I'm glad C&C came back this year; out of all the scents on this list, Thankful was the candle I was most excited about. I don't care that it was marketing as a fall scent, all I cared about was that it was there!
Peace
The one lone new candle this winter that I truly enjoyed! I've been wanting a good cologney scent for winter and now I've got it. And it combines my two loves - cologney scents and lavender notes! It's like a masculine version of Lavender Vanilla and I love it!
So what NEW scents did you enjoy this year?
Anyway, so I usually do a list of my favorite new scents of the year..as you can see, this years list is very small. We got very little newness this year, most of which I was by and large quite unimpressed with. But there were a few that left an impression...
Strawberry Rhubarb Marmalade
You know BBW doesn't have a good track record with strawberry scents so when I first heard about SRM, I was a little leery. But then I smelled and I loved it. It's by far the ONLY authentic strawberry scent that BBW has ever come out with.
Cherry Blossom Sangria
This one really surprised me; I did not think I would like this one at all. It initially wrote CBS off as a pink girly-girly fruity sugar candy scent and it wasn't remotely interested..that is until I smelled it and found myself really diggin it. It was a Shirley Temple in wax form!
Tequila Lime Cupcake
People either really liked this or really hated it...I personally really liked it! TLC wasn't the most authentic lime scent on the market but that didn't turn me off. And it was totally misnamed - it smelled like a key lime pie and should've been that. It's really a shame that this was an exclusive, such a wasted opportunity
Bowties & Bourbon
I have been waiting for a patiently a cologney scent to give me life..and this bad boi definitely did and then some. I wasn't sure of BT&B when I first saw the notes but when I smelled it...NOSEGASM! This is the first candle in an EXTREMELY long time to give me a nosegasm. In the absence of my two baes, Black Pepper Bergamot and Boathouse Row, this filled in nicely.
Southern Sweet Tea
I have never really cared for London Calling and in my personal opinion, this scent was London Calling made better. I liked that SST was more tart and astringent, it made LC more palatable to me. Now granted, with a name like "Southern Sweet Tea" it should've been syrupy diabetes inducing sweet but honestly I'm glad it wasn't cuz I don't think I would've like it as much
Summer Bonfire
SB was/is such a strange strange STRANGE scent! I took me a long time to get onboard with this candle. I have come to truly appreciate this scent..though it could just be the newness factor of it...and if that's the case, I still appreciate it.
Lime Granita Margarita
Finally...a real legit authentic LIME SCENT!!! LGM was the closest thing the amazing but sadly now forgotten Sparkling Mojito. And it was sooooo stupid that BBW decided to go mainstream and release basic ass Island Margarita instead.
Porchside Pumpkin
It's a shame that this candle got the poor marketing it did cuz it t smelled soooooo good! I loved the fact that it was a pumpkin scent but it wasn't bakery! WB totally swept that one under the rug and let it be overshadowed by more basic scents.
Cranberry Pumpkin
CP really surprised me; I did not think I would like it as much as I did. It was just a perfect classic autumnal scent. It was a little annoyed that BBW called it a "pumpkin" scent despite it not smelling like pumpkin then the ruined the illusion by repackaging it as a pumpkin-less wintery confectionary but whatevs it was still a really good scent that deserves to stick around.
Pumpkin Pie
Finally after ALLLLLLLLLLLL these years, we finally had a pumpkin pie candle! After ALLLLLLLLL these years that we had to put up with Shit Cinnamon Pumpkin, we had a better and more legit option! I really really hope PP stays around and becomes a fall staple.
Thankful
I know..technically it's not new but still I'm glad C&C came back this year; out of all the scents on this list, Thankful was the candle I was most excited about. I don't care that it was marketing as a fall scent, all I cared about was that it was there!
Peace
The one lone new candle this winter that I truly enjoyed! I've been wanting a good cologney scent for winter and now I've got it. And it combines my two loves - cologney scents and lavender notes! It's like a masculine version of Lavender Vanilla and I love it!
So what NEW scents did you enjoy this year?
I was unimpressed by BBW this year too, but Pumpkin Pie was absolutely amazing!
ReplyDeleteRight?! Bbw deserves a pat on the back for PP
Deleteas a newcomer to the bbw candle world (around fall of this year) I noticed that there wasn't a wide variety of scents. I was asking myself, why are there so many candles with pumpkin in it (pumpkin cupcake, pumpkin pecan waffles, pumpkin carving, bahhh! how many variations of pumpkin can u do??) around winter I asked myself why everything has pine/balsam in it??? looking back on your posts I wish I wasn't so late to the game! it seemed like bbw put more thought into the past collections and I would have bought a lot more candles..(chocolate mint, frosted gingerbread, snow day)...
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately you arrived at a very shitty time candlewise though better late than never. If you don't mind paying full price, I recommend going on Amazon and/or Ebay and look up ol school candles; every once in awhile youll find a candle at a decent. Personally Id rather pay full price for a good candle on Amazon or Ebay than pay for a crappy candle on sale
DeleteI barely bought any candles this year! My favorite was strawberry rhubarb marmalade because I absolutely love rhubarb scents. Aside from that, I just got a few Sweater Weathers in the fall and ended up getting a Dashing Through the Snow candle for xmas. I'm so over BBW candles now, with just a few exceptions. I prefer Illume, even though they're more expensive, because the scents are interesting and more sophisticated.
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of bbw fans are feeling that way; their constant cycle of really stupid decisions is turning a lot of us off. Im becoming more and more over it
DeleteAn anyone tell me if the new Party Dress scent is the same as the one they discontinued? It is pink now and the old one was purple. I absolutely loved the old scent. Thanks so much
ReplyDeleteLisa, just because the wax color is different doesn't mean the scent is going to be different. Rest assure, it's the same Party Dress albeit slightly lighter on cold throw
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