Helloooo
all. I’m back from a few days away at the seaside and here in the UK we
bizarrely face another heatwave (yes – it’s September – Autumn!) which means
some extended fun with my summertime Yankee Candles this week.
Quite
fitting then that I finally get to talk about last week’s THRILLING Yankee
Candle TSV which featured a wonderful collection of summer candles. It wouldn’t
be quite the same writing this if we were shivering with lower temperatures and
drenched in rain!
For the
uninitiated, TSV – is Today’s Special Value – a daily 24 hour offer from home
shopping TV channel QVC which they run 364 days a year. A few times each year
they offer a Yankee Candle TSV which features a special product at a one off price.
I think it
is fair to say that last week’s TSV was the worst kept secret to date – but wow,
what a groundswell of excitement and anticipation there was leading up to the
midnight launch of the offer on Sunday 25th August!
It had
leaked out via a forum that QVC were going to be offering a special collection
of 3 large Yankee Candle jars – all imported from America! Members of the UK
Yankee Army could barely contain themselves with excitement all of the
preceding week. We often feel sad about the fact we only get some of each quarter’s new candle
releases here in the UK. We usually get 4 or 5 while in the US they often get
6, so this really was an extra special treat.
Yankee
Candle Europe and QVC do seem to be listening to the fans as lots of American
fragrances have been appearing on the official website and via QVC this year.
We’ve had Buttercream, Lavender, Boston Strong, Raspberry Sorbet, Treehouse
Memories and Green Grass to name just a few. This certainly helps the growing
band of UK enthusiasts buy these jars at reasonable prices as availability is
restricted otherwise to limited websites charging around £30 a jar – and similar
prices being fetched on E-Bay.
So – anyway the
Yankee Candle QVC TSV was the fantastic ‘Lost In Paradise’ collection –
Honeydew Melon, Golden Sands and Midnight Oasis.
the stars of the show...
The TSV
launch was at midnight and QVC host and Yankee Candle fan Craig Rowe was kicking
things off along with Yankee Candle Brand Ambassador Rosa Smith. Rosa was in
for the long haul, presenting several shows over the coming 24 hours.
Within the
first 5 minutes Craig announced that 500 sets had been sold, rising to 800
within 10 minutes – I think it was safe to say that this product had been a
hit!
Into the
fragrances and Rosa described them wonderfully :
Honeydew
Melon – fresh, sweet, sun ripened, dew drenched melon. In a later show she
added that the scent was just like cutting into a fresh melon with perhaps a
touch of cucumber in there too.
Golden Sands
– bolder, warmer and richer than Pink Sands and definitely an evening
fragrance. She added later that it created thoughts of walking along a deserted
beach at sunset.
Midnight
Oasis – An ozone fresh midnight walk along the beach, fresh, cologny and
mysterious.
Craig’s
genuine enthusiasm and passion for Yankee Candles is always a pleasure to
experience and he showed an empty jar from his collection to demonstrate how a
full clean (ie no tunnelling) burn should look.
Rosa noted
during the shows that Honeydew Melon had previously been available in the UK
but was retired in 2007. I am sure real long term Yankee fans were delighted to
get another chance to buy this fragrance. She also mentioned that Golden Sands
was a new USA only fragrance having been released at the start of 2013.
Midnight Oasis had already been retired in the USA, so a unique chance for UK
fans to get something special. (And of course we can look forward to Midnight
Oasis getting a wider European exclusive release early in 2014).
Rosa .. having fun on TSV day!
One of the
highlights of the day were the shows with Jackie Kabler co-presenting. Jackie
announced at the start she’d never been a big scented candle fan, but you could
tell she was won over by the wonderful Yankee scents as time went on – even compiling
wants and favourites lists as time passed. I wonder if Jackie has bought any??!!
She noted that she had enjoyed burning Midnight Oasis on her conservatory
leading up to the shows and commented that Rosa was like a pusher – and that
she had become hooked!! I think we know the feeling – hilarious! (Oh and Rosa
we don’t think that at all – you just make us love Yankee Candles even more!)
Tons of
other Yankee products were offered during the TSV day and some of the highlights
were :
A large jar
of Vanilla Chai with a decorative shade. First time I’ve seen Vanilla Chai on
QVC and Rosa noted its heady ginger fragrance.
The Cool
Pops collection was brought to screen for the first time with a decorative
tray (see below). Melon & Lime and Triple Berry were paired together as were Banana
& Blueberry and Mango & Nectarine.
The ‘Weekend
Adventures’ large jar set featuring Over The River (the US name for River
Valley), Fireside Treats and Midsummer’s Night. Rosa described Over The River
as being like ‘a fresh autumnal day by the river with the wind in your hair’,
while Fireside Treats ‘gives a sense of burning embers with the sweetness of
marshmallows’ and she reminded us that Midsummer’s Night was based on the
famous Drakkar Noir men’s fragrance (of which I’ve recently sourced myself a
bottle – and it is GREAT!)
A collection
of 20 summer melts was offered which sold 250 sets in the first few minutes and
a mosaic warmer with 12 melts was also a lovely product.
In fact there
was tons and tons of stuff – much of
which is still available to order from the QVC website.
Lots of
mentions for the Yankee Army throughout the day with scrolling messages on
screen – and a special moment for Ben (see Yankee Fan Focus on him HERE) as
Rosa noted that he’d got his TSV ordered while on holiday in Spain.
Rosa was
asked what size her collection was and she honestly didn’t know but did say she
had a cupboard full, a drawer full and loads scattered around!
Michelle
from Norfolk phoned in and mentioned that her mother-in-law converted her to
Yankee Candle with the Baby Powder fragrance. She stated that she’d bought the
TSV and that along with Baby Powder her other top favourite was Clean Cotton.
Another good
bit of advice from Rosa during the day was that if you do get some tunnelling
in a large of medium jar (ie the wax doesn’t fully melt to the sides leaving a
ridge), then try a Yankee Candle Illuma Lid – they can help negate the impact
of tunnelling. (I can vouch for that too – they do help.)
And lastly,
Rosa noted that her hubby to be Ed had originally not been a scented candle fan
– but that now he buys them himself. I know the feeling Ed!!
A great fun
day yet again with (and I think many of us agree) the best Yankee Candle TSV
product ever brought to us by QVC.
Yankee
Candles are back on QVC this Friday 6th September with a welcome
return for Steven Corfield. Shows are at 2pm and 11pm.
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