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Showing posts from March, 2016

NEWNESS UPDATE: More summery tropical coconutty BS

So finally we have some new collections currently testing. Don't get your hopes up just yet - it's more summery, beachy, tropical crap and the "new" scents all sound like repackages The first collection is nothing remotely exciting... Sunny Coconut - The fragrance of sunshiny orange blended with a creamy vanilla coconut that's a beautiful breezy trip to the beach (this sounds like South Beach Sun from '14, although it could also be Poolside from back in the day) Seaside Gardenia - Stroll on the shore with the fragrance of gardenia tree swaying in soft sea air and fresh bamboo (if this isn't Rainforest Gardenia, I'll eat my shoe!) Sparkling Waves - A blend of cool citrus, watery bergamot and musk that captures the moment when sunlight sparkles like diamonds on the water (Bergamot Waters all the way) Returning scents Endless Weekend , Black Sands and Pineapple Mango, Suntan, Beach Cabana and Tiki Beach  The second (lidless) collectio

WHITE BARN EXCLUSIVENESS: Spring

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Products: candle & wf bulb Area used in:  living room (candle), guest bathroom (wf bulb) Time Period: whenever Description: Spring is in the air with the fragrance of early daffodils, apple blossoms and sycamore woods Missing notes: tulips, daisies So how excited was I that one of my all time favorite spring scents was back in action after a 2 year absence. Yet how utterly disappointed was I that it was a WB exclusive which just makes absolutely no sense; it was at one point a springtime staple for pissakes! Now newbies who never got to experience this vernal delight won't get to if they don't live near a WB store and have to settle with tired ass Honeysuckle and Lilac Blossom, the basic bitches of spring. Performance-wise, this candle was kinda iffy. Once burnt, the wicks sort of shriveled which caused some tunneling. But eventually the wicks self-corrected themselves and it's burning like a charm. Over time the wax totally turned cruddy and yucky looking

BLAST FROM THE PAST: Verbena Waters (2011)

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Products: candle & wf bulb Area used in:  bedroom Time Period: whenever Description: A fresh blend of citrus and watery verbena, sweetened peach and rich sandalwood Trivia: was repackaged as " Lakeside " in the Summer Lake collection in 2013 I first smelled this back in spring 2012 - back then I wasn't nearly as obsessed with BBW/Slatkin candles as I am now, I was borderline indifferent especially when it came to spring and summer scents. My bf actually bought this candle and wf bulbs to try and we both grew to really enjoy it. Then I bought it when it came back as " Lakeside " the following year though that version was significantly lighter. Then it completely disappeared. Despite its absence, I've been on a Verbena Waters kick lately; I bought a 2011 version of Evilbay last spring and bought another one this spring. So far the performance has been flawless but not at first. Unfortunately many Slatkin candles from 2011-2012 were plagued with

CANDLE RETROSPECTIVE: Spring

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Well today is the first day of spring, so i thought it appropriate to look back one of my all time favorite spring scents -Spring. Spring has the dubious honor of being my gateway candle into floral scents which for the longest I absolutely hated with a passion. Before Spring, I normally stuck to aromatherapy herbal type scents like Lavender Vanilla or nondescript fresh clean scents like Renew & Refresh or Fresh Cotton or Fresh Linen . I left heavy floral scents right on the shelves. Then into 2013, I come across Spring for the first time and to my surprise found myself absolutely loving it and it became my official springtime jam as well eventually making it into my top 10 . Then it came back the following year and needless to say I was quite excited... that is until I burned it. It didn't smell bad or anything but it was making my bf sick. As soon as he walked in the door, his eyes would water, his nose would tingle and he would eventually get really bad headaches

CANDLE SPOTLIGHT: Beautiful Day

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Products: candle and wf bulbs Area used in:  living room Time Period:  end of February - mid April Description: Experience the perfect spring day in New York City with a fragrance of sun-kissed apple mixed with a bouquet of daisies and fresh pink peonies Missing notes:  pear, cassis, lily of the valley, white peach, blonde woods I've said over and over time and time again - I do not like candles based on bodycare...which I could care less about (although I will say that I do enjoy the Beautiful Day handsoap and pocketbac). Honestly I got this candle out of sheer desperation as for whatever strange reason, there are no good fresh floral spring scents this spring. Now I bought Beautiful Day way before I found that Spring was being released as a WB exclusive; I had I known that I would not have bought BD as it pales in comparison to Spring. And I didn't feel schlepping all the way back to GSP just to do one exchange so I decided to keep it. Moreover, and I'm gon

WALK 'N' SNIFF: Hello Beautiful and Hawaiian candles

I haven't been in a BBW stores in almost a month; frankly things have been so lame lately that I just hadn't a reason to go. In my desperation for some newness, I stopped in briefly at one of the BBWs in the City since I was in the area.  walked in, sniffed around and left empty-handed. So, let's get started Hello Beautiful So as I said in my last post  , I theorized that BBW released this and Thousand Wishes to distract people from the fact that there were no new collections in the works...and it worked, people got distracted. After seeing so many people post pics of HB on Instagram, I wondered if it was worth all the hype....it's not. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I am not a fan of bodycare candles cuz the notes are always so muddled and generic smelling and HB is not the exception. First of all disregard the notes - I didn't get grapefruit nor did I get gardenia; jasmine, eh maybe a tiny bit. What I did get is an intense blast of peony.

RANT OF THE DAY: Spring hasn't sprung at BBW

I made a post about this on Instagram and decided to write a blog rant about it as at the moment I don't really have anything to talk about So this "spring" has been kinda strange... BBW/WB (and I don't why they do this) has released ALLLLLLLLLLL of these candle collections around the same time, most of which was more summery/tropical/coconutty BS. The closest we've come to spring scents was those fruity/bakery White Barn Market-esque candles and the Wallpaper collection...but that's it. Now it seems BBW has shot their proverbial wad too quickly and they don't have any collections to release soooo what they do? They release "A Thousand Wishes" and "Hello, Beautiful" to distract people from the fact there is no newness and won't be for awhile...and it's working, people are distracted. I sweartagawd, if I see one more person post a damn Thousand Wishes candle on Instagram, I'm gonna scream!!! But here is my biggest compl

THIS IS THE BOMB.COM: Cinnamon Spiced Vanilla

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Products: candle Area used in:  living room Time Period: whenever Description: The delicious fragrance of rich vanilla beans sprinkled with sugar crystals and freshly ground Mexican cinnamon So this was the only candle candle in the entire Taco Bell collection that I wanted and only because I heard thru the grapevine that it was a repackage of the original Cinnamon Sugared Doughnuts..which I only had 2 left. Having smelled it in the store and confirmed that it was good ol CSD of yore and I for one couldn't be happier! Performance-wise, it burned like a champ; super high flames and the wax pool was deep and even. The wicks are kinda flimsy; they had mushroom tops that crackled and popped and would eventually fall off into the wax. Throw-wise it has the strength as the original CSD which wasn't much, about a medium. The scent lingers forever after you blow the candle. There's really not much to say about the scent - as I stated earlier, it's a repackage of