ON THE FENCE: Black Tea Rose 2.0

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Products: candle  and wf bulb  
Area used in: bedroom
Time Period: end of February - mid April

 I feel like I haven't​ done a proper candle review in ages. I know it's super late and most have moved on but hey better late than never.  And since I already talked in depth about this candle already, I'll spare you the details and just get down to the nitty-gritty.

 So the performance was giving me LIFE! The wicks, despite being skinny, produced mushroom tops and didn't curl. The flames stayed high and dancing their fiery little butts off. And the throw...man oh man that throw; I hadn't had  a throw this strong and intense in a really long time. Open the door and expect the get body-slammed by the throw. This is one of the few times I've ever had to blow a candle out because it was too intense. Even the wf bulb was strong; I have NEVER experienced a wf this potent before. All of this would be great If I wasn't so on the fence about the scent itself.

 So on cold throw, I was lovin it! Smooth, rich, sensual, elegant! And I got all the notes and then some and they were all balanced. After burning it however, it was a different story. As you burn it, that cedar note becomes more and prominent to the point that it's pretty much all you smelled..and truth be told I'm not a huge fan of cedar-heavy scents. the rose and tea leaves...byebye. Maybe a tinge, a hint of black pepper. And there were times where the other notes would pop up for a visit and the scent would waver between smelling manly and matronly; the wf in particular after awhile became a little too madame-ish for my taste. 

 So you may wonder what was the difference between this and the elusive and mysterious black test version....



On cold sniff, there really isn't that much of a difference - a little dryer perhaps, the other notes pushed down. I haven't burned mine so I can't say if there's a difference post burn...though a few folks have said there is a huge difference in terms of strength and balance. Having burned the grey nationwide version, I can totally see that. I do wish they would've released the black version nationwide; the cold throw is sooooo much better and based on pics I've seen of folks burning it, it is gorgeous, ambience out the wazoo! The grey version, not so much. It was an extremely stupid decision to scrap the black tumbler just so friggin Mahogany Stankwood High Intensity could have it. 

 Anyway, in conclusion, I just don't know what to think about this. On the one hand, I'm totally here for the newness factor which is quite rare nowadays and I do appreciate it's complexity and uniqueness. However, after burning it, I'm the fence wavering between liking and disliking it.  For anyone remotely interested in this scent and is to keep an open mind and approach it without any expectations cuz it will throw you for a loop


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