Real Talk About Bath and Body Works Candles

So yesterday my bf and I braved the elements and made a trip to GSP; the bf was craving Mexican food cuz there's an awesome Mexican restaurant nearby and of course I wanted to get my BOGO on. Alas I was more than a little disappointed by what they didn't have No Cranberry Woods or Cider Lane ...and that is really pissing me off.  Now there is talk of both being a late release; my fav SA said maybe they'll get by September. But why, why I ask you? Why are these a late release?! No Chocolate Pistachio ... Not that I was remotely interested in this scent but it would've been nice to sniff it No Mahogany Apple (meh), no Sandalwood & Suede (again, meh) and no Autumn Sunshine (I have it already, so one again meh) What happened to the good ol days when White Barns got everything, regardless whether or not they failed? What's the point of a WB store if it has they same stock as a regular BBW? It just doesn't make sense! But anyway, I'm going to jump ...

A weird phenomenon has going on with BBW candles where a certain particular scent smells one way in one store and either slightly tweaked or completely different in another store. Now there has always been batch variances for years but it really only affected burn performance - a candle might have crappy wicks in one store and perfect wicks in another but there were never really noticeable differences in smells. That didn't start to happen until fall of last year. You may remember a certain infamous candle called Red Radiant Maple . There was quite the debate on social media as to what it smelled like cuz everyone smelled something different - most people smelled Marshmallow Fireside with apple, others smelled Caramel Apple/Home~Sweet Caramel Comfort and a handful smelled chemicals akin to rat poison. One could easily write this off as peoples' noses bein on the fritz and, as they say, scent is subjective. But how strange was it that people smelled the same 3 distinct differe...

There's been a slow but steady resurgence of Slatkin era scents lately...and I for one am not complaining! Some have been renamed - Flower Shop aka Amsterdam, Brown Butter Praline aka  Pumpkin Spiced Cheesecake, etc. Some have been much awaited re-returns - Suntan, Summer Boardwalk, Cider Lane, Autumn Day and of course, Pomegranate Lemonade. Everyone has been losing their minds over this candle - it gave both ol schoolers an newbies alike much needed life! Contrary to popular belief (at least amongst the newbies), PL is not a new scent! Nay on the contrary, for awhile it was summertime staple back in the Slatkin days.  The last time it was seen in stores spring 2012 - the last time we got a good balance of new and classic florals, beachy and tropical scents and we weren't bombarded with coconut. Then it completely disappeared. Since then we have had some PL-esque doppelgangers - not straightup repackages but but a very similar vibe. There was Pink Sangria , another Slatk...

Products: candle    Area used in:  n/a Time Period: n/a Description: Chilled Orange, California Mandarin, Golden Amber, Green Fir Needle So my candle homegurl Jenn aka @theshow78, surprised me with this candle as a very early birthday present. She knew I was very intrigued with this scent (as was she) and at the time neither one of us thought that it would go wide (and it didn't) so just in case it disappeared, she went ahead and got us each one.  So when I first heard about about this candle, I thought for sure that it would be a repackage of the now forgotten Slatkin-era scent Mountain Leaves  - mountain air, iced citrus, evergreen and vetiver - sounds very similar to AS right? You can see how I made that assumption. Alas, after sniffing it, it definitely was not ML which kinda bummed me out cuz ML is a really sexy cologney fall scent that needs to come back. But on the flip side, AS is a new scent! AS is very..interesting and unique. It...

Products: candle    Area used in:  bedroom (sometimes in bathroom) Time Period: mid July -  mid August Description A blend of cool citrus, watery bergamot and musk that captures the moment when sunlight sparkles like diamonds on the water So this whole spring/summer season at BBW left me completely cold. There were very few new scents that I considered buying let alone stocking up...until I bought this bad boi. Initially I wrote this off as a typical basic "ocean" scent along the lines of Oceanside (which I hate), Turquoise Waters (over it) or Freshwater & Seasalt (again, over it) and paid it little to no interest. I sniffed it once briefly and while i liked it, I wasn't blown away. It wasn't until I sniff it a second time at a later date that I found myself loving it. I ended up buying one and eventually bought multiples (for the first time in months)...so that should tell yoou something. The performance is impeccable! The wicks were kinda skinny ...

So as everyone already knows (or at least should know), I LOVE fall scents and for the first time since maybe 2013, I'm actually excited (for the most part) about what is being released . That said, there are just some fall scents that I am just beyond sick and tired seeing all the damn time. So here is a list 10 scents that desperately needs a fallcation STAT.... 10. Marshmallow Fireside - I'm gonna cause an angry mob by saying this but MF is very over-rated. I think I might the only person on the planet who genuinely dislikes this scent. Honestly, can anyone tell me what the appeal is? And what I find funny is that the main people who gush over this candle are the ones who typically despise woody and/or fiery scents. Is it just because of the marshmallow? In that case why not just get Vanilla Bean/Vanilla Pumpkin Marshmallow and eliminate the middle man? And with Pumpkin Fireside out this year, is there really a need for another burnt vanilla scent? 9. Flannel - this s...

So a lot of us initially thought that based on the random early preview, BBW was done with "testing"...nope not so much. A crapload of rereleases and new (repackaged?) scents have appeared in test stores. It looks like we're getting some good stuff; for the first time in really long time, I am actually excited for upcoming candles. So here is the complete list of what is currently previewing and testing... Pumpkin Fireside  -  Fall Pumpkin, Nutmeg, Vanilla Bean, Smoky Cinnamon    (repackage with a twist of Toasted Vanilla Caramel ) Pumpkin Woods  -  Woodland Spruce, Cedar, Clove Buds, Smoky Vanilla   (repackage with a twist of Welcome) Berry Pumpkin Strudel  -  Sweet Blueberry, Baked Apple, Blackberry, Pumpkin Spice, Puff Pastry    (repackage with a twist of Spiced Pumpkin Cider ) Pumpkin Banana Muffin  -  Caramelized Banana, Pumpkin Puree, Walnut, Cinnamon Sugar    (repackage with a twist of Banana ...

My curiosity totally got the best of me! I made the schlep out to GSP to see what there was to see and sniff what there was to sniff. I went being pessimistic and not expecting much but I was pleasantly surprised - the store had all of pumpkin scents and all of the fall gourmand scents (sans Chocolate Pistachio) Pumpkin Woods - I was really hoping that this would be Porchside Pumpkin from last fall, but alas it is not. It is a reworked/tweaked version of Welcome ~ Spiced Autumn Wreath /Welcome ~ Cinnamon Pinecone. Some people are saying that it's a repackage of Mahogany Balsam from last winter..which I can get. However I totally get the spice notes that were in SAW. For those who never smelled it, it basically smells like those cinnamon scented pinecones or straw brooms you see in store from fall thru Christmas. Think Fresh Balsam without the eucalyptus mixed with cinnamon stick. Pumpkin Fireside - this another scent I went back and forth with. So this basically a repac...

So unless you've been living under a rock, you must have gotten word that BBW, completely out of the blue, has released for a limited time only FALL CANDLES!!! Since last weekend, social media has been plastered with pics of the latest upcoming fall scents, sending everybody nationwide into fallgasmic overdrive. Usually BBW does a fall/pumpkin preview end of July/beginning of August, so having these fall candles out so early is rather strange. Could it be that BBW is finally doing away with "testing"? The whole test scent thing never really made sense and I've already ranted and raved about how nonsensical and unfair the "testing" process is; I've always said that instead of "testing", BBW/WB should just do mini limited time only previews about a month or so before a nationwide release. It seems BBW is doing that; now whether not that will do this from now on remains to be seen. I've been hearing conflicting reports about the nature of ...