THIS IS THE BOMB.COM: Vanilla Sage

Products: candle
Area used in: living room
Time Period: whenever

So this wasn't initially a BOMB.COM candle. When I first sniffed IT, I liked it but I wasn't blown away..which was odd as all of the notes were right up my alley. Sometime later, my bf and I went to WB and we both sniffed it together. He loved it (he's a fan of anything sage related) and he has pretty good taste in candles so we bought one.  That night, on a whim, we decided to light it up and that's when it happened - I grew to really like it!

The very first burn was very iffy. The wax was taking forever to pool out and it certainly looked like it was going to tunnel. However it did finally pool out completely and every subsequent burn has been flawless. The flames have have been dancing high and as you can see in the picture, the flames look gorgeous behind the tumbler. This is such a beautiful candle to burn, especially at night - ambience out the wazoo! The throw so far has been medium-strong; it was I call a "warm blanket" throw that slowly envelops and wraps around you. It took a minute but it did manage to fill my living room although it doesn't linger very long.

Now, what does this smell like? So on my very first sniff, I initially wrote it off as a Frozen Lake clone - which I like (ish), but I'm not crazy about. It took a few follow-up sniffs to pick up all of the nuances. While it is very similar to FL, it isn't a repackage.

So basically take Frozen Lake and add a hint of Iced Vanilla Woods and a dash of Winter Mint & Spruce and you got yourself Vanilla Sage. The name is a bit misleading as you don't really get too much sage, not enough to warrant the sage being put in the name. If anything you get more lavender than anything else - it's a very soft powdery sweet lavender similar to Lavender Vanilla, Lavender Coconut and Lavender Woods.... which...

ADDENDUM: A candlebuddy of mine mentioned this and I think he might be on to something - this is very similar to Lavender Woods, The notes are similar {lavender, sage, musk}

There's a bit of piney-ness which combined with the lavender has a Winter Mint & Spruce vibe. There may also be a touch of cedarwood in the blend, adding a bit of dry woodiness and some piney-ness (cedarwood is a common base for lavender scents as it adds to the astringent herbalness. All of the notes are wrapped in a creamy, powdery, sweet vanilla, possibly a bit of musk as well; the sweetness intensifies as the candle burns. As a whole, the blend is very calming and soothing and aromatherapy-ish.

All in all, I like Vanilla Sage and I'm glad the bf and I decided to give it a try. As I said earlier, it's a gorgeous looking candle to burn. And it's one of those versatile candles that can work in any room. Because of those herbal notes, it feels very aromatherapy-ish; it makes for a great bubble bath or cuddling under blankets or reading books candle. And because it's so warm and cozy, it's lovely to burn a cool/windy/rainy day.

I do wish this candle was marketed better. It just popped up randomly and thrown unceremoniously into an equally random collection. Furthermore, VS just feels odd that collection; it doesn't feel or smell very autumnal. Winter maybe, but not fall. Sometimes BBW creates new blends that they just don't know what to do with. It joins the ranks of Winter Mint & Spruce, Autumn Sunshine, Peppered Plum etc - unique, high end, smells amazing and is seemingly popular but just marketed all kinds of wrong. And like those scents, I don't see VS coming back in the near future..so yeah, get it while you can!