Burn baby burn - scented candles 2013

Hi there!

Hope you are enjoying fall as much as I do... although that might be quite a taks to tackle. I went nuts for fall decor this year!
Looking back, I think it all stems from pre-christmas last year. December 2012 was not exactly joyful. My grandpa died, I drowned in work (ok, I always drown in work, so that  does not really count) and above all I went to a congress overseas, came back by plane early in the morning, headed to work for some meetings, jumped into the train and went off to our collaborators for even more work. Then it was back to my family which was great and off to my Mister's place directly followed by hitting the road for new year's in Berlin. Phew! Just writing it down stresses me out again.
Long story short, I managed to not put any (ANY!!!!) christmas deco up. Nothing. Nada. Niks. So whenever I actually was home, I opened the door to a dull, chaotic, cold (heating broke down as well) apartment. Though I was too tired to care back then, it hit me later that it did make me sad. Even more so, when we went to visit a friend and her house was all warm and welcoming and cozy (not just because her heating worked, but also figuratively speaking).

So for 2013 I vowed to be better. Even though my work load seemed to exponentially increase this year, there must be decorations for the seasons to give me a sense of home when I manage to finally go home.
It has not been easy because these little things are always the first ones to cut out when we are stressed, but it worked. There was easter decoration, which I forgot to post here but looked similar to this.

Summer does not exactly interest me so no real effort there and no regrets concerning that. And then, two weeks ago, fall approached... and I love fall as you can see here.
Ok, so the deco is done and it already included some candles, but I decided to go all in and also get some scented candles to create a nice sphere.
I bought candles from two different stores.

First up, its lifestyle which is a dutch interior decorations store. I got the "spiced pear" and the "pumpkin" scented candles. Both cost 16.95 euros so definitely a splurge. But: They both smell really nice and do not give a too strong scent when you burn them. I live in a tiny, tiny apartment (20m2) and the scent is absolutely right for the room. I have to admit though that the pumkin one is my favourite. The dark tinted glass looks just more polished then the big jar of the spiced pear one. Also, every once in a while the spiced pear to me has a strange smell. On the other hand, the pumpkin candle wick was annoying in the beginning since it tended to form "mushrooms" and that created flickering.

Next up, an even bigger splurge. Really, I almost fainted when I paid for these babies. But what can you do... fall decor frenzy it is.
Yep, I went to the Yankee Candle store in Amsterdam and bought a lot of stuff. First of all, the staff there is amazingly friendly. They left me alone when I wanted to mind my own beeswax and were there when I had a question. They also offered to order whatever was not in store at that moment. Thanks guys, you will see me again! For those of you interested, here is their website: http://www.fragancias.nl/c-2168091/yankee-candle/

The candles I bought included a tumbler in the scent "Fireside Treats" and four votives, since they had the 4 for 10 sale. The votives are "Salted Caramel", "Lake Sunset", "Warm Spice" and "Nature's Paintbrush".

Now, I have not burnt them all but here is a first impression after burning "Salted Caramel". The scent indeed reflects caramel, whether that is salted or not, I could not tell. Maybe my nose is not sensitive enough... But: here comes the problem with yankee candle. The scent is very, very, VERY strong. The candles are made with a high amount of natural oils, which makes them very rich in scent. And very rich in price, btw. The tumbler was 20 euros and the four votives were 10 euros altogether. Outch!
So you do get a lot of scent for your money, but if you want to use the candles in a small space, you may need to burn them in intervals. To me, the room was more than enough scented after burning the votive for an hour. The positive side effect of this is that one candle lasts you longer. The negative point is that because they are so strong, you can quickly get satisfied with the scent and may not like it anymore after the candle is burnt. No more salted caramel for me for a while...

So that was my adventure with scented candles so far. Enjoy the rest of the week!





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