Yankee's April Scent

Garden Sweet Pea

I brought the calendar home from work so I could post the pictures for each month that go along with the scents.

"The sweet perfume of delicate blooms accented with hints of pear, peach, freesia, and rosewood." This is a sweet floral - similar to other sweet pea scents I've smelled, like from B&BW. It reminds me of a candy - like sweet tarts or smarties or something. But the mixture of floral and sweet is nice.

SCENTBUG Review

Finally I'll give my review of the Slatkin & Co. SCENTBUG Home Fragrance Oil Fan found at Bath & Body Works.



I bought the black one so it goes with my decor. They come in a variety of different colors though. I was hesitant to try this product. First, because it has the name "bug" in the title (to be completely honest). I hate bugs and that really turns me off. Then because I thought I didn't need another form of home fragrance - but there really is nothing else like this of this caliber. When my sister said she loves hers and I finally figured out what it really was all about, I bought one and now I love mine too!

You put 2 AA batteries (which are included) in the bottom and that's also where you store the extra cotton pads.



Then you put several drops of oil onto one pad and put it in the little drawer that pops out when you push it.



Then on the other side is the little button you push to turn it on and it turns green. There's a little fan that runs quietly that pushes the scent through the air. You press the button again to turn it off. So easy!



I put mine in my bathroom and only turn it on when I want to freshen the room. I haven't yet had to replace the pad or put more oil onto it. It still fills up the small room pretty quickly and I've had it for a couple months. I love this mainly because there's no continuous fragrance, which if you read this blog you know I hate. You turn it on when you want it, it fills the room with fragrance, and then you turn it off. I put a very neutral scent - Fresh Linen - in the one in my bathroom because it goes with other home fragrances and is year-round but you can use any of their oils. Usually whatever they have a candle in, they have it in the oil too.



I think this is a great addition to the home fragrance world. Plus, since it uses batteries (which I haven't had to replace yet either) you can take it into any room whenever you want to freshen any area of the house. Plus it's so light and small too. It doesn't take up much room so you can put it virtually anywhere and you can get a color to match your decor. You can use this if you want fragrance that is not as strong as a room spray or if you don't want to wait for candle wax to melt. Plus unlike diffusers, there's no mess with the oil. I definitely recommend these. Tip - my sister likes to change out the oil in hers so she can have different scents and when she does, she saves the cotton pad if it still has oil on it and stores it in a plastic bag so she can reuse it later.

{Currently Burning - Slatkin & Co. Green Tea & White Pear}

Incense

Time to talk about another form of home fragrance.

I think this is a love it or hate it thing. I've always liked burning incense - ever since I was introduced to it at a local hippie store/head shop - whatever you wanna call it. But recently I found it again at a privately run scent shop. It's a good way to get scent quickly and it's usually enough to fill a room. You will need an incense burner/holder to catch the ash but I always used to stick an incense stick in a votive candle if you don't have one. They come in a ton a different scents, although they do all have a similar type of aroma. I tried vanilla this time and it's really nice. Dragon's blood is very popular and one of my friend's favorite scents. I think all parents still think that if incense is burning, someone is smoking pot, and I'm sure a lot of people still use it to cover that up, but it's an interesting alternative to candle burning as well.



I bought this little dish from L'Occitane that holds their mini candles perfectly but since it has the little hole in the center, it's an incense burner too! How cool. :-) Wait till you see it with the little candle it's made for. I bought it with one of their most popular scents. That review is to come.



{Currently Burning - Pineapple Orchid by Slatkin & Co.}

Yankee's March Scent

Midnight Jasmine

This is pretty nice for a floral scent. I like jasmine and it's good for spring. It is a tad perfumey but I would say I like it overall. It's a soft floral with the sensual, romantic jasmine fragrance so it could be called a "floriental" scent.

Spring Scents 2010

After a long search, here are my picks for spring. I apologize for not having pictures for all of them. I don't know how the whole thing works with posting pictures that aren't legally yours so I'm just following the rule of only posting pictures that I have personally taken.

Slatkin & Co Green Tea and White Pear



I don't know if I liked this the first time I smelled it. I don't even know if I was interested enough to pick it up and smell it. This is very complex with a lot of different notes to it. It's fruity and fresh at the same time so it's great for spring. Bathandbodyworks.com says "A light, clean blend of Asian pear, Yuzu, and a custom blend of green tea is infused with delicate florals gently layered over the ancient and restorative scents of oak, patchouli and warm musk". Uh...yeah, like I said...very complex.

Yankee Spa Fresh



My friend lead me on to this candle and I'm sooo glad he did. This isn't a new fragrance but I don't remember this coming out. This is one of my new favorites. Out of all Yankee candles. This has a little bit of a fresh-cut grass smell to it without being overwhelming since it has other notes to it as well. "A naturally revitalizing blend of soothing lavender, invigorating eucalyptus and stimulating mint". Those notes blend very well because I can't pick out any one of them separately.

Slatkin & Co Pineapple Orchid



"Delicate white orchid blended with sweet pineapple and rich black currant." This is pretty sweet. But it has the floral that is typical of spring. I don't like straight floral scents, as you can see from my picks for spring, so I like that this mixes a floral with a sweet. I also have this Scentportable in my car right now. But be careful, I was in my sister's car today and her scentportable starting to drip onto my pants! So be careful not to puncture the little pocket where the oil/gel/scent is.

Slatkin & Co Nectarine Mint

I was first introduced to this scent as an anti-bac soap so I never really gave it a chance as a home fragrance item but I love it so much, why not? Fruity and fresh, mixing different items found in a spring garden. Perfect. "A fresh blend of juicy nectarine, grapefruit, sugar, and crisp mint leaves."

C.O. Bigelow Lemon

No one does lemon like Bigelow. No one. Bath and Body Works has a couple lemon fragrances and so does Yankee but they're nothing like this. I couldn't find this item on www.bigelowchemists.com but I did find it listed on www.ilovebigelow.com. Is that even an official site? It looks like one. Weird. Anyway, their lemon line is amazing. The lemon perfume is actually one of my all time favorite perfumes. Also perfect for spring and summer. Unfortunately, Bath and Body Works does not sell this candle. Their Bigelow selection is kind of small. But if you can get to one of the Bigelow stores, get this candle.

Yankee Early Sunrise

I gave a full review of this earlier so I'll refrain from doing it again. But like I said before, this was the only brand new spring scent from Yankee that I liked.

{Currently Burning - Spa Fresh by Yankee}

Spring is Here!!!!!

I am making the official annoucement. Spring is officially here and if you have been having the dramatic weather change Pittsburgh has been having lately, you would agree with me. I am super excited. I have taken down the snowman wreath on my door and replaced it with a spring garden sign, the snowman and polar bear B&BW soap dispensers have been thrown away (I used most of the soap) and spring anti-bac scents are out, spring pillows are put on the patio chairs and the Christmas/winter candles and scents are put away and not to be seen again until late November.

I'm doing some shopping this weekend to find a great spring scent but for now I'm burning Slatkin & Co.'s Strawberry Patch.



Bathandbodyworks.com describes this scent as "Succulent and sweet - this invigorating fragrance quenches your thirst with ripe strawberries, juicy mango, and tropical white peach gently layered with rich vanilla." It is extremely sweet. When I first burned it (last year) I didn't like it and put it away. When I took it out this year, I didn't mind it as much. It's still really sweet and sugary, but I don't hate it. Maybe that's just how much I'm longing for spring scents. And I missed Slatkin after all those Yankee reviews. For now, it'll do. Happy Spring! Go outside and frolic.

I guess I need to put away the snowflake Yankee Candle plate. :-)

Yankee's New Spring Scents - Ocean Blossom

Tooooo strong again. Almost headache-inducing. I thought I'd like this scent also since it sounds like a nice tropical summery scent but not so much. I think it might be the worst one! This smells like perfume too. Yankeecandle.com says "Like a swim in a tropical lagoon ... paradise calls in this blend of sea salt, lotus and water lily." Sea salt...really? I would say this is a strong fresh floral.

Overall I'm not a big fan of Yankee's new spring scents, as you can tell from my reviews. The only one I would consider buying in a larger size is Early Sunrise. The other ones are just too strong and perfumey and fake smelling for me. I have some great summer candles I'm saving but I have yet to find the perfect spring scent this year. I'll keep looking!