WALK 'N' SNIFF: Destination Candles take 3

So this past weekend, the bf and I went on a road trip to an outlet mall about 40-50 minutes outside of the city. We knew there was a BBW there and was hoping to see some hidden gems and oldie but goodies. We finally got there only to wind up being a bit disappointed - there were no hidden gems or oldie but goodies to be seen ; it was just a regular store

The store had all of the Tropical candles (yawn) as well as not new but new Fresh Picked candles i.e. Market Peach, Garden Strawberry, Lemon Mint Leaf, etc (again, yawn) The store also had all of the Sweet Shoppe soaps, which I found to be very underwhelming, but no candles. The only really exciting things there were the Destination candles.

There were past favorites, London Calling, Paris Daydream and American Boardwalk (aka Summer Boardwalk) along with last years hits Rio Glow and Aloha Waikiki. I wasn't interested in those at all, I just wanted to get a sniff of the new scents from this year, Tokyo Petals, Mahalo Maui, Cheers to Capri and Sydney Harbor.

Now before my "WALK 'N' SNIFF" review, please allow me to rant for a sec...

It seems once again BBW went very safe and mainstream with their choices of this year's Destination lineup. They threw in London Calling (of course, that's a fan fav), Paris Daydream (the scent BBW just refuses to let die) and revamped and relabeled Summer Boardwalk(American Boardwalk) as well as Limoncello (Cheers to Capri). Then they threw in last year's two hits, Rio Glow and Aloha Waikiki. Finally they tossed in all of the most safe and unassuming scents from the ones testing this year. It's really disappointing cuz they're were some really interesting and out there scents..Fleur de Provence, The Greek Isles, Havana Heat, Mad about Madrid, Emerald Isle, etc. Friggin Sunny St Tropez was a repackage a scent that everyone went nuts for the two years that it was released - Suntan/Poolside! BBW is so scared of offending customers and losing money by releasing out there scents that they continue to make safe choices causing diehard BBW'ers to either make Customer Relation purchases sans coupons or make bids Evil-bay. BBW, take a friggin risk!

On to the review

Tokyo Petals/Electric Tokyo
First of all, I'm glad the changed the name cuz I thought Electric Tokyo was a stupid and that didn't fit the notes. I was among many that assumed that this was a repackaged of the dreaded and ancient Japanese Cherry Blossoms. I am relieved to say that it isn't! In fact I daresay that this is 10x better than JCB! However I must admit the scent has me confused. Sake has little to no scent at all and nor do cherry blossoms. And the berry note is blueberry which, compared to other berries, has a very slight unassuming smell to them. So all of the notes used in the description don't smell like much of anything..sooo what the hell did I smell? It's quite floral and a little powdery; it's smells quite jasmine-y, maybe pear or plum blossoms. I am completely stumped, I just dunno..or as they say in Japan...分かんない

Mahalo Maui
This one was just ok. Honestly I didn't really see the point of this scent since there are soooo tropical smelling scents out there. Plus there's already a "Hawaiian" scent, Aloha Waikiki. Now you would think with the moniker "Mai Tai Sunsets" you would safely assume that it would be smell sweet, citrusy, fruity, bubbly. No not so much. This one wasn't as tropical fruit smelling as I thought it would be. It's also a kinda heavy on the musk. To me, it kinda smells like suntan lotion. It's a just very pointless scent whose spot could've been used for a better scent.

Cheers to Capri
It's just Limoncello, there's not really much to say about it. Don't get me wrong, I love lemony scents but I've already smelled this scent before and I'm bored with it. And I feel like BBW has gone overboard with the lemon scents this year - Limoncello, Sugared Lemons, Lemon Drops and now CtC. But everyone loved those scents so BBW is simply givin the people what they want.

Sydney Harbor
This one of the truly unique scents that caught my attention. It sounded super fresh and clean which is right up my alley. Then I saw Touchthefiretwice's review which basically said that it was a repackage of Renew&Refresh. Needless to say, I was disappointed. Then I sniffed it in the store and sure enough it smiled very similar. Then something told me to do a comparison sniff as the store also happened to have this year's R&R. There's definitely a difference. Now there's no denying the two smell very much a like but I don't think SH is a repackage of R&R...maybe a repackage with a twist but it's not a full on dupe. I would say it kinda smells like a mix of R&R and Fresh Bamboo. SH has the same green fesh but woody "bamboo" note in it that Fresh Bamboo has. No eucalyptus note whatsoever which is weird considering Australia is known for its eucalyptus, not so much bamboo. In opinion, a scent like this should've been more similar to Sweater Weather or Eucalyptus Mint&Rain. Take the "rain" note from R&R, mix in the juniper and eucalyptus notes from Sweater Weather and the mint note from EM&R, maybe some cucumber/melon, some sea salt, call it a day. Oh well...

By the way, recently I managed to get two test scent Destination candles that I had my eye on. What are they, you wonder? Stay tuned for my upcoming Spring Extravaganza Haul post and video....

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