NEWNESS UPDATE: Fall 2016 Test Scents/Fall Preview?

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 this preview - I've heard that every BBW will be doing a fall preview this week...which is awesome. But I've also heard that the preview is exclusive to WB stores only...which is not so awesome. I've also heard that only BBW/WB double stores will only have them. So who friggin knows. Before getting all excited and schlepping to your store, I suggest calling first so you won't get disappointed.

So it seems two collections are being previewed - and all pumpkin collection (again, most of the scents don't smell like pumpkin and this go round, it's more blatant) with annoying nonrelated cutesy cutesy cartoon labels as well as fall inspired cafe collection with autumnal gourmand scents (which label-wise looks very 719 Walnut Ave-ish)

So let's start with the all pumpkin nothin but the pumpkin candles

Pumpkin Fireside - Fall Pumpkin, Nutmeg, Vanilla Bean, Smoky Cinnamon (yes, those are the notes; no more flowery vague novels of BS) (by all accounts this a repackage of last fall's Toasted Vanilla Caramel which was a repackage with a twist of Vanilla Firewood from winter '13 )  

Pumpkin Woods - Woodland Spruce, Cedar, Clove Buds, Smoky Vanilla (I was really hoping this would be Porchside Pumpkin. There was also a failed test scent back in '13 called Pumpkin Woods. It's neither; supposedly it's Welcome ~ Spiced Autumn Wreath aka Welcome ~ Cinnamon Pinecone)

Berry Pumpkin Strudel - Sweet Blueberry, Baked Apple, Blackberry, Pumpkin Spice, Puff Pastry (now you would think that this would be a repackage of Blueberry Pumpkin Patch...nope, not so much. It's a new scent...that doesn't smell like berry. Apparently it smells similar to Apple Pumpkin Pancakes)

Pumpkin Banana Muffin - Caramelized Banana, Pumpkin Puree, Walnut, Cinnamon Sugar (the general consensus is that its a repackage with a twist of Banana Nutmeg Bread Pudding) 

Pumpkin French Toast - Warm Maple Syrup, Pumpkin Spice, Caramelized Brown Sugar (this seems to be the runaway hit of this collection. Most people are saying that it smells like last year's Pumpkin Spiced Cheesecake sans the cheesecake with an added maple note)  


Returning scents include Pumpkin Cupcake, Pumpkin Apple, Pecan Pumpkin Waffles, Vanilla Pumpkin Marshmallow, Pumpkin Coconut, Caramel Pumpkin Swirl, Pumpkin Cinnamon Bun and Pumpkin Pie

And now the fall gourmand collection...

Honeycrisp Apple - Golden Honeycrisp, Apple Blossom, Fresh Sugarcane (sounds lovely, right? Don't get intrigued, it's just Farmstand Apple)

Spiced Pomegranate Cider - Ruby Red Pomegranate, Sweet Apple Cider, Mulled Blackberry, Star Anise (the only truly new scent in this collection; some say it smells like cider with a splash of pomegranate while others say it's almost tea like...with pomegranate)

Chocolate Pistachio - Pistachio, Chocolate Truffle, White Powdered Sugar ( this scent mysteriously appeared on the scene today not long after I wrote this post. I assume this must be Malted Pistachio Truffle)

Returning scents include Cinnamon Sugared Doughnuts, Sparkling Pear Riesling, Black Cherry Merlot (which smells more like the soap this time), Pumpkin Spiced Cheesecake, Caramel Pumpkin Swirl, and Buttercream Icing

Randomly popping up in stores in a third collection is the grand return of Cider Lane.  Autumn Day, another forgotten Slatkin fall staple, is supposedly making a grand reappearance as well..most likely in this same collection. No word of Autumn, Leaves or Shit Cinnamon Poopkin...calm your coochies everybody, it's still early! There's no reason to test or preview classics like those, they'll be back with a vengeance with the nationwide release for fall!

Also popping in stores is a WB core collection called Warm Apple Pie, which was also the name of an old Slatkin era WBNY True Temptations candle from the early 2002. It's safe to assume there will be more fall WB core scents but there are no reports of what they might be

For pictures, check out @candleafficionado @whitebarncandlefan @peace.love.and.candles @danwilliard @_scentsgalore . Also Tinadivalicious did a review vid on most of these