So, with all
of our Christmas decorations packed away in a timely fashion (come on, it’s
never the same after Christmas Day!) it was great to have the rooms clean and
bare again, ready to start the year anew. We also wanted a break from the
seasonal and warming fragrances and needed
to bring a touch of life and freshness back to the house. The photos
this week are also sparse and fresh, after all the indulgences of my Christmas
ones!
The week
started with a lovely burn of our small jar of Sicilian Lemon. Having had some
previous disappointment with lack of scent, it finally is coming through when
burning. Must get a large jar of this beauty!
New Year’s
Eve started with a fresh, bright burn of Vanilla Lime and during the evening we
used Sandalwood Vanilla. Another we’d had periods of no scent from, it came
through boldly during this burn. Such a lovely combination of the oily, woodsy
Sandalwood softened slightly by vanilla. We’re beginning to be sure that you
can get scent layers in the large jars. In other words you’ll get some strong
burns full of fragrance, but other times you can hit a ‘dry patch’ with no
scent at all for a while. Anyone else think this?
Into the New
Year and a bright burst of the almost fizzy Pink Dragon fruit. My first candle
of 2014!
The all time
classic White Gardenia took us through the evening with its strong, crisp,
white floral notes. This along with its almost sister candle Midnight Jasmine
continue to stand head and shoulders above all the other florals in the Yankee
Candle range.
In amongst
the ridiculously stormy weather we have had for some time now in the UK, there
was a morning of sunshine. A chance to whoosh things up a bit with a bright,
sparkly dose of Island Spa. This candle is like an extra fresh version of
Sparkling Lemon – perfect for any sunny
day.
We visited a friend's house during the week and she was burning our Christmas present to her.. True Rose! Brought a real touch of elegance to her already lovely room.
It was my
birthday at the weekend and I kicked things off in style with a candle from one
of the Yankee fans most treasured ranges, ‘My Favourite Things’. (For the
uninitiated the candles have phrases from the song in their titles). Blue Satin
Sashes seemed appropriate because of its bow wrapped picture (and yes I got a
nice couple of pressies) and also because of its lovely clean freshen-the-atmoshpere
smell for the mornings. It’s a bit like Lemon Lavender and Clean Cotton - rolled
into one!
Black
Coconut had a long luxurious burn through the afternoon. Forever lush, this
terrific fragrance released last year, even has non coconut fans like me
swooning over it!
Into the
evening and the bright and fruity theme continued with the lovely Paradise
Spice. Its very strong banana notes are tempered with a light sprinkling of creamy
spice. Full of mystery and promise!
Onto Sunday
and the fresh, lemony Fluffy Towels kicked off the day..
This was
followed on another one of our sodden afternoons with Coastal Waters. Its salty
sea spray smell was as wonderful as ever, although with the weather being so
cold and dank, I had a devil of a time getting it to burn a pool across the
candle. In this weather illuma lids often can’t manage to make the candle pool
on their own, so for the last hour or so I wrapped the candle in kitchen foil
to try and help the heat distribute better. After 5 hours, I still didn’t get a
complete pooling!
Closing the
week and after a cold day, we needed warming up, so the lovely Salted Caramel
was used. Always strong, always reliable, its pungent sweet, yet slightly
bitter flavour brought a comforting feel to the room. And you can still make
your candles look delectable, even when they are well used…
More soon!