CANDLE SPOTIGHT: Paris ~ Lavender Macaron

Products: candle (official Easter candle)
Area used in:  living room
Time Period: Easter

Description: A truly French treat that combines the fragrance of lavender blossoms with a delicate patisserie cookie

So as y'all may or may not know, I LOVE lavender; it's by far my all time favorite fragrance note. That said, any BBW scent with lavender in the notes, I'm all about it. So when this sucker came along I had to try it.

Before it made its nationwide release, there was some debate as to what this candle was going to be a repackage..cuz 9xoutta10 it wasn't gonna be a completely new scent. So back in the good ol Slatkin days there was an actual Lavender Macaron ( misspelled as "macaroon") also known as Lavender Caramel (and yes lavender caramel is an actual thing). It was marketed as fall scent and then as a French dessert (or vice versa, I get confused which came first). In both cases, the scent didn't end up being popular as it had an odd unmentioned and misplaced sage that gave the scent a weird savoriness - the general consensus being that it smelled like Stove Top stuffing. I personally had my doubts about this theory - BBW is all about playing it safe and mainstream nowadays so they wouldn't bring back such a weird experimental scent. Now what I and couple of others thought it might be was the queen of unicorn scents, Lavender Marshmallow. But the question remained - would it be a total repackage or a tweaked repackage with a twIst? We'll get to that in a second

So I was a little leery about this candle's performance cuz sooooo many people were complaining about it on social media - low flames, canyoning, no throw, etc. Well I must've hit the jackpot cuz (knock on wood) I haven't had any issues...yet. When I first lit it, the flames were kinda puny and the wax took a long ass time to melt. But eventually the wicks developed mushroom tops and the waxpool was totally even. Then I burned it again Easter morning and again that night, the burn was flawless. And the throw was what I like to call "blanket throw" - not too light, not too strong and it envelops you like a warm blanket. Even though it is a lavender scent, I would not want this scent to be any stronger than it was as it's a bakery scent and I'm just not a huge fan of those kinds of scents...just small doses.

So this definitely is not Lavender Macaron/Caramel as there is no weird sage-y Stovetop stuffing action. However it isn't Lavender Marshmallow...at least not entirely. The top notes are very similar to LM, like a sweeter toned down version. However there is an undertone of bakeriness that differentiates it from LM. The bakery notes kinda reminds me of Pink Petal Teacake; if you took away the strawberry and rose notes and what was left with the sugary glaze and white cake notes, that's what I got. So think toned down 80% LM mixed with 20% of the cake note from PPTC. The combo as a whole smells less like an actual lavender macaron and more like a lavender petit fours  - vanilla white cake with sugary icing. Now as this was burning, I sweartagawd I smelled a hint of Cinnamon Sugared Doughnut. It could just be my nose tripping but whenever I was really close to the candle, I would get CSD or rather it's doughy notes...very strange!

In conclusion, I like this scent but I'm not in love with it and I don't really know what to think. On the one hand, I think it's cool that BBW finally brought back LM after years of clamoring for it buuuuuut why did they have to tweak it? Futhermore, the scent as a whole doesn't smell like macarons, it smells like petit fours. They should've added an actual almond not as macarons ar made from almonds and it would've given the blend some depth. And even it did smell like a lavender macarons, what does that have to do with Paris? When you think of gay Paree, I guarantee you that the first thing to come to your mind isn't lavender macarons! Though I guess why should be grateful that we have this and not Paris Daydream again. Anyhoo, this scent is lovely and unassuming. For those of who haven't bought it cuz you're afraid it's too sweet or too herbal, don't be cuz it's a perfect balance. But buy at your own risk cuz you may get a DID, dud in disguise.

FIN