Between us we probably have enough candles to stock a small shop but like so many things, in my eyes there is no such thing as too many candles, so I decided to use some of my birthday money to replenish my stock.
The main thing that I wanted was either a medium or a large Yankee Candle in the Lemon Lavender fragrance for my room. The lilac colour matches the paint work in my room perfectly and the subtle but zesty lemon tones perfectly compliment the clean, heady hints of lavender. This is one of my all time favourite Yankee scents and I tend to burn it just before I go to bed because I find it quite a soothing scent, some people though find it quite zingy and refreshing, it all depends on your nose I guess. I bought this one from a local retailer Collectables and this is the medium jar candle which retails at around £18.99. (Note to self though don't leave candles in hot cars because they have a tendency to melt a bit!).
While I was in Collectables I also got a few votive candles. These are ideal for more intimate fragrancing, and for fragrancing smaller spaces. I'm intending to use these ones in my craft room / office when I get it sorted, so I picked a couple of refreshing and revitalising scents, that will hopefully help me combat that afternoon slump. The two fragrances that I chose were Mango Peach Salsa, and Lemongrass and Ginger. Mango Peach Salsa is a real old favourite of both mine and Mummy Lou's, it absolutely mouthwatering and smells like a peach and mango smoothie with just a hint of spice. Lemongrass and Ginger on the other hand is a relatively new addition to the Yankee stable, and as you would expect it has the lovely, aromatic citrus scent of lemongrass. I can't really pick up the ginger but maybe that will come to the fore when I burn it. Yankee Candle votives or sampler candles normally retail at £1.80 each.
That was it for full price shopping but a couple of weeks ago, my bestie Dawn and I went on a little road trip for her birthday, the whole point was to head to Seaham, a small town on the North East coast just south of Sunderland, and eat ice cream in probably one of the best ice cream parlours around Lickety Split! If you follow any North East blogger on Instagram (including me!) then you'll know about their amazing ice creams, and ice cream sundaes - if your up north at any point then you must pay a visit!. Anyways I digress, the weather wasn't that great on the day, so after a little walk around the marina we got back in the car and headed a little but further south to the Dalton Park Outlet.
Dalton Park is basically just a large outlet village in Murton, Co Durham that is crammed full of Outlet stores, ranging from national chains such as M&S, Next, Thorntons, Joseph and Gap, to more localised stores including a Collectables.
The first store when went into was M&S and whilst my bestie was trying on work clothes, I had a little look at the small home section and I saw some candles and decided to have a sniff. The one I fell in love with was the M&S Specially Blended Jasmine & Orange Flower Aromatic Candle.
There were several sizes and style to choose from but since I'd never tried an Marks and Spencer candle before I went for the small 90g size which came in a cute glass jar tied with raffia. I love anything to do with jasmine at the best of times, and combined with the orange blossom, this candle has a heady floral scent that just screams summer. It actually smells very like the Courreges La Fille De'L' Air perfume that came in a recent My Little Box (see my unboxing video here). I've been wearing the fragrance quite a bit since I got it and to me that's very similar to what this smells like. It was reduced to just £2.25 and based on this experience I'm definitely going look at Marks and Spencer's candle selection next time I'm in store.
Our next stop was the Collectables outlet, and I picked up a few pieces, in some more of my favourite scents. Me and my mum already own these fragrances in both small, and large Yankee jars, but I love the scents so much I couldn't resist picking up both a votive and a wax melt, in both the Tarte Tatin, and the Pain Au Raisin fragrances. As I say votives are perfect for fragrancing a smaller space, and the melts, or tarts as they used to be called are ideal for a strong, quick hit of fragrance. The two scents that I chose are in no uncertain terms foodie fragrances, and as Yankee Candle fragrances are so true to life, the names pretty much describe exactly what they smell like. Tarte Tatin smells exactly like an apple tart, with the tartness of the apple, the warmth, sweetness and buttery taste of the pastry, and the spice of the cinnamon, where as Pain Au Raisin has the buttery scent of the dough, and the sweetness, and spice of the cinnamon and raisins. I probably saved a few pounds on these in total and I'm really hoping that these sweet, cake scents, will help me with my cake and sugar cravings.
We had another wander round and some how we ended up in the Hallmark Outlet. This basically a card outlet and it was full of cards and gift wrap, but they also has quite a few gifting items including two huge candle displays. I was a bit candled out by this time so I just had a little look at the Village Candle display. I've never tried anything from Village Candles before so I had a good sniff, there were some amazing scents, but I stayed strong and decided to just buy some candle accessories instead. All of the Village Candle accessories were reduced and since they are the same size and the medium and large candles I decided to treat myself to a shade and a candle plate.
I didn't look at the price till I got to the till and when I did and I was really surprised at just how cheap they actually were. The Lilac Lustre Candle Plate was just £1, and the matching shade was just £2. The prices were absolutely insane, after doing a bit of research their accessories are cheaper than Yankee anyways but the quality is almost identical and a comparable set from Yankee would probably retail at around £23 for a set this size - Bargain!
I really love these, they make you candle look more like a little lamp, and the shades really help your candle to burn more evenly and last longer. I particularly love the crackle glass and the way that the candle light reflects through onto the walls. This is what the set looks like with my Yankee Lemon Lavender.
The final candle related item that I picked up was a set of glass votive holders from Poundland. Obviously these were just a £1 for the two, and the blue and white stripe and spot design will work perfectly with blue walls, and carpets and the white ceiling in my office.
If you're interested I've also uploaded an You Tube video to accompany this haul so please have a little watch below or if you're on a mobile device you can watch it via this link x
Ahhh I can't wait to start burning all of these now and to experience all of these lovely aromas. I can't help it I'm just addicted to candles and I think they are something that I will never stop buying. I am trying to branch out a little more in my brands though and step away for the Yankee, so if you've got any candle recommendations I'd love to hear them, and in particular if you have any Village Candle recommendations I'd love to them and I'd also love to know where you buy yours from x Thanks for reading and happy home fragrancing!
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