WALK N SNIFF: Nordic Home Collection and Miscellaneous
So today I had to go to the mall and since there was a WB there, I thought I might as well step inside and sniff around. Not that I was remotely interested in the latest round of scents but I felt I might as well give them a sniff for the sake of a review. That said, I got to sniff the Nordic Home Collection...
......yay?!
*sigh
I really don't understand this collection at all...like, at all!
First of all, this collection with its theme and chosen scents is obviously wintery however BBW is marketing it as a fall collection! Why?! Nothing in this collection is fall or even fall transitional but straightup winter.
Secondly, almost every candle in this collection IS ALREADY OUT in another collection. There are 2 that are repackages of another scent in another collection. There is only ONE candle that's new and not currently in another collection
Third, what do any of the candles in this collection have to do with Nordic culture or Nordic winter?! If BBW was really desperate to go with this Nordic angle, why not re-release and/or update the Hygge collection ?!
But of course, it's not about the candle/scents themselves, it's all about the cutesycutesy cartoony labels with the adorable animals right? That's the reason folks buy candles in the first place right?!
Anyway, enough ranting; onto the review...
So you already know what Fresh Ballsack, Flannel and Hot Cocoa & Cream smells like. I'll briefly talk about the remaining scents that I haven't written a solo review for.
Spiced Apple Toddy - basically Leaves with a heavy apple note
Frosted Cranberry - a scent that has been around since the dawn of time..not really, just the late 2000s. It's essentially Ocean Spray cranberry in a jar. It's a melange of crisp tart fruity notes - cranberry, raspberry, apple and peach. Sometimes the notes mention vanilla or tonka bean, don't really get that. It's a nice enough scent but nothing interesting.
Maple Cinnamon Pancakes - straightup Pumpkin Caramel Latte. No maple, a little but of cinnamon, definitely no pancake. Anyone who tells you they do get pancakes, they're either in denial or they're nuts. Dunno why MCP is a thing or why it's in this collection but it needs to retire and disappear.
Snowflakes & Citrus - sigh...it's Midnight Blue Citrus. It's alarming, sad and disappointing that folks don't know this. And shame on BBW for desperately trying to make this thing. MBC will NEVER be winter/holiday scent!
Frozen Lake - I talked about this before when it first came out. It's essentially Sparkling Icicles' replacement. Like Sparkling Icicles, it's a coloney mandle meant to capture wintery ice. Take Juniperberries & Pine mixed with Sweater Weather mixed with Iced Vanilla Woods and that's essentially Frozen Lake. It's a blend of very cool and crisp notes - juniper berries, eucalyptus and lavender. It's a pleasant fresh, cool, clean manly scent but at this point it's oversaturated and over-released.
ALL of these candles are currently out in other collections. Here's the one lone new scent
Winter White Woods (9242M8V1D) As you know, there's a Winter White Woods soap which is confusing yet suprisingly pleasant winter holiday soap - a little sweet, a little cool, a little spicy with a hint of pine. If you're expecting the candle to smell like the soap... you should know better as the candles never smell like the soap it's based off of (*cough cough Crisp Morning Air) The two have a similar vibe as they're both vanillic/resinous piney blends but that's where the similarities end and they go in different directions. There's a dry piney cedarwood note, maybe a little birch and pine/balsam needles. And though there's no mention of it, but there's a definite smokiness to the blend. As a whole, the blend feels very old world; it has a definitely old fashioned Christmas feel to it. If you like smoky/piney blends like Frankincense or Winter Night or Snow Mountain Lodge or Smoked Birch, you'll like this one.
ADDENDUM: You may remember there was a scent last year for winter called Yuletide; I'm not 100% sure but WWW may POSSIBLY be repackage of that. There was also a candle with a similar vibe called Balsam & Firewood; WWW could be that too. If you, my dear reader, have either of those candles, please do dare to compare for me.
And now, these directionless random ass candles...
Are they part of the Nordic Home Collection? If not, what are they? What is the point of these candles? What's the theme? Why do they exist?
There is absolutely no reason to waste my time or yours talking about Winter, Marshmallow Fireside, Black Cherry MerNO and especially MaBLAHgony STANKwood.
Iced Cranapple - this isn't new, this was actually out last winter. So basically, take Frosted Cranberry and mix in Farmstand/Heirloom Apple, and that's Iced Cranberry. With Frosted Cranberry, what is the point of this scent?! It's just there to be there.
White Eucalyptus & Sage (9237K3A2) - so this was not at all what I was expecting. Based on the name and notes, I was expecting a crisp fresh herbal piney outdoorsy scent like Winter Mint & Spruce or Snowed in or Vanilla Sage. What I was not expecting was men's body spray. So yeah, it's a mandle for sure. It's definitely herbal but not in an outdoorsy way or aromatherapy but in a man's bodycare way. You get a hint of pine needles and a cool blast of eucalyptus and possibly some lavender and/or rosemary. Sage, mmm...that's debatable. I do like this scent but I don't really get the point of this scent at all.
Apple Cardamom & Crisp (9238AGA1) - this seems to be the fan favorite in this bunch *in mocking voice "because it's bakery". So I'm sniffing this candle and it's smelling quite familiar. Then it hits me - Warm Apple Pie. I even did a side by side comparison...
Thankful ~ Frankincense + Myrrh - so right off the bat this is NOT the Frankincense candle nor is it the Myrrh candle from the same year and collection nor does it smell like the 2 mixed together; it seems to be its own separate entity. I do get both main top notes. Frankincense almost smells a little piney with a hint of citrusiness and a touch of smokiness while myrrh has a sweet smoked vanilla vibe to it. And there are some other notes that add to sensual orientalness - some amber maybe, clove, vanilla, sandalwood. For such a soft sensual oriental scent, it smells a little.... cologney. In fact itsmells like a specific mandle from backintheday but for the life of me, I can't think of what it could be. At any rate, I'm diggin it; it's a great addition to the Aromatherapy family and makes for a sexy/lusty boudoir candle and great for meditating/doing yoga or having a nice hot bath.
*sigh
I really don't understand this collection at all...like, at all!
First of all, this collection with its theme and chosen scents is obviously wintery however BBW is marketing it as a fall collection! Why?! Nothing in this collection is fall or even fall transitional but straightup winter.
Secondly, almost every candle in this collection IS ALREADY OUT in another collection. There are 2 that are repackages of another scent in another collection. There is only ONE candle that's new and not currently in another collection
Third, what do any of the candles in this collection have to do with Nordic culture or Nordic winter?! If BBW was really desperate to go with this Nordic angle, why not re-release and/or update the Hygge collection ?!
But of course, it's not about the candle/scents themselves, it's all about the cutesycutesy cartoony labels with the adorable animals right? That's the reason folks buy candles in the first place right?!
Anyway, enough ranting; onto the review...
So you already know what Fresh Ballsack, Flannel and Hot Cocoa & Cream smells like. I'll briefly talk about the remaining scents that I haven't written a solo review for.
Spiced Apple Toddy - basically Leaves with a heavy apple note
Frosted Cranberry - a scent that has been around since the dawn of time..not really, just the late 2000s. It's essentially Ocean Spray cranberry in a jar. It's a melange of crisp tart fruity notes - cranberry, raspberry, apple and peach. Sometimes the notes mention vanilla or tonka bean, don't really get that. It's a nice enough scent but nothing interesting.
Maple Cinnamon Pancakes - straightup Pumpkin Caramel Latte. No maple, a little but of cinnamon, definitely no pancake. Anyone who tells you they do get pancakes, they're either in denial or they're nuts. Dunno why MCP is a thing or why it's in this collection but it needs to retire and disappear.
Snowflakes & Citrus - sigh...it's Midnight Blue Citrus. It's alarming, sad and disappointing that folks don't know this. And shame on BBW for desperately trying to make this thing. MBC will NEVER be winter/holiday scent!
Frozen Lake - I talked about this before when it first came out. It's essentially Sparkling Icicles' replacement. Like Sparkling Icicles, it's a coloney mandle meant to capture wintery ice. Take Juniperberries & Pine mixed with Sweater Weather mixed with Iced Vanilla Woods and that's essentially Frozen Lake. It's a blend of very cool and crisp notes - juniper berries, eucalyptus and lavender. It's a pleasant fresh, cool, clean manly scent but at this point it's oversaturated and over-released.
ALL of these candles are currently out in other collections. Here's the one lone new scent
Winter White Woods (9242M8V1D) As you know, there's a Winter White Woods soap which is confusing yet suprisingly pleasant winter holiday soap - a little sweet, a little cool, a little spicy with a hint of pine. If you're expecting the candle to smell like the soap... you should know better as the candles never smell like the soap it's based off of (*cough cough Crisp Morning Air) The two have a similar vibe as they're both vanillic/resinous piney blends but that's where the similarities end and they go in different directions. There's a dry piney cedarwood note, maybe a little birch and pine/balsam needles. And though there's no mention of it, but there's a definite smokiness to the blend. As a whole, the blend feels very old world; it has a definitely old fashioned Christmas feel to it. If you like smoky/piney blends like Frankincense or Winter Night or Snow Mountain Lodge or Smoked Birch, you'll like this one.
And now, these directionless random ass candles...
Are they part of the Nordic Home Collection? If not, what are they? What is the point of these candles? What's the theme? Why do they exist?
There is absolutely no reason to waste my time or yours talking about Winter, Marshmallow Fireside, Black Cherry MerNO and especially MaBLAHgony STANKwood.
Iced Cranapple - this isn't new, this was actually out last winter. So basically, take Frosted Cranberry and mix in Farmstand/Heirloom Apple, and that's Iced Cranberry. With Frosted Cranberry, what is the point of this scent?! It's just there to be there.
White Eucalyptus & Sage (9237K3A2) - so this was not at all what I was expecting. Based on the name and notes, I was expecting a crisp fresh herbal piney outdoorsy scent like Winter Mint & Spruce or Snowed in or Vanilla Sage. What I was not expecting was men's body spray. So yeah, it's a mandle for sure. It's definitely herbal but not in an outdoorsy way or aromatherapy but in a man's bodycare way. You get a hint of pine needles and a cool blast of eucalyptus and possibly some lavender and/or rosemary. Sage, mmm...that's debatable. I do like this scent but I don't really get the point of this scent at all.
Apple Cardamom & Crisp (9238AGA1) - this seems to be the fan favorite in this bunch *in mocking voice "because it's bakery". So I'm sniffing this candle and it's smelling quite familiar. Then it hits me - Warm Apple Pie. I even did a side by side comparison...
Not the same but still quite similar. It's basically a watered down WAP mixed with Spiced Graham Cracker. You get the same super sweet artificial apple pie filling note from WAP but much weaker. Then there's a bakery note that gives a very graham cracker crust vibe. Then finally there's a sugar and spice (with emphasis on cinnamon and cardamom) blend on top. It's a nice enough scent but once again, what's the point? Why have a scent that smells so close to WAP when WAP is already out? Is adding cardamom and graham cracker to the mix enough to make this scent new and exciting? And why call it "Grateful"? What does that have to do with anything? Why is this the only candle to get a adjective for name? I just don't get it!
I did also get to smell the Thankful Aromatherapy candle
Thankful ~ Frankincense + Myrrh - so right off the bat this is NOT the Frankincense candle nor is it the Myrrh candle from the same year and collection nor does it smell like the 2 mixed together; it seems to be its own separate entity. I do get both main top notes. Frankincense almost smells a little piney with a hint of citrusiness and a touch of smokiness while myrrh has a sweet smoked vanilla vibe to it. And there are some other notes that add to sensual orientalness - some amber maybe, clove, vanilla, sandalwood. For such a soft sensual oriental scent, it smells a little.... cologney. In fact itsmells like a specific mandle from backintheday but for the life of me, I can't think of what it could be. At any rate, I'm diggin it; it's a great addition to the Aromatherapy family and makes for a sexy/lusty boudoir candle and great for meditating/doing yoga or having a nice hot bath.
Re: Winter White Woods (which I just purchased). I have both Yuletide and Balsam & Firewood and compared all three. WWW is definitely not Yuletide which has notes of eucalyptus and rosemary--far more "herbally" than WWW. However, it's a VERY close match to Balsam & Firewood with just a little less smokiness. WWW is a bit more nuanced to me, perhaps because of the sandalwood it contains which isn't mentioned as an ingredient in B&F.
ReplyDelete