Home Fragrance: Candles, Tarts, and more!

For some, any discussion of candles begins and ends with Yankee Candle.  I feel that these people are really missing out.  Although Yankee Candles are far from terrible,  the scents are predictable, yet the quality is variable from scent to scents.   They are also quite expensive unless you get them buy one get one free.  I guess this is because they do a lot of advertising and have high-profile mall locations with a lot of overhead.  Just up the road from here is the gigantic Yankee Candle flagship store in Williamsburg, and from all accounts it is an overwhelming orgy of scented wax.

Candles hold a special place in the hearts of many, because their flickering glow and fragrance add a great deal of ambiance to almost any space.  Taking a long, soothing bath just isn’t the same without a nice scented candle on the counter.

When I met my boyfriend, he had a candle on the back of his toilet tank, to cover up those not so great ‘bathroom’ smells that boys are so good at making.  It was about $5, from CVS.  This candle was about the same size as a Yankee Candle apothecary jar,  but the scent and throw were really quite good.  It was at this time that I realized you could get luxurious, interesting scents for a lot less than $30.

One of my favorite candles ever is Votivo’s red currant.  I’ve read that red candles are a good way to spice up the romantic feng shui  in your bedroom.  I don’t believe in that stuff, but a pretty red candle can’t hurt your chances at love, right?  Fortunately, many other stores now sell a candle that smells EXACTLY like the Votivo – my favorite is at Target, but World Market has the same scent.  Both have a great, sophisticated redcurrant scent with light citrus and rosepetal accents.  And both offer a large candle for around $8 – larger, even, than the $25, 7.3 oz candle Votivo offers.

A more recent addition to home fragrance is the wax melt, or as Yankee Candle calls them, ‘tarts’.  Tarts are generally 1-2 oz of wax,  that you melt in an electric or tealight warmer.  They’re nice if you want to try out lots of different scents, or if you get bored with one scent quickly.  Many craft stores offer hotplate-like electric warmers that you can pair with a ceramic ramekin (like a small creme brulee dish) for an easy setup.  I don’t like the tealight warmers as you have to continuously buy tealights for them, and the electric warmers are that much safer.  Electric warmers may also use lightbulbs but again you have to buy lightbulbs for them periodically.    If you can’t have a candle in your office, you may still be able to have an electric tart warmer.  You will quickly notice people flocking to your door just to catch a quick sniff of the scent du jour!

Wax tarts usually last anywhere from 4-12 hours in burn time,  before the scented oil evaporates.   The easiest way to remove them is to pop the dish in the freezer for about 20 minutes.  The cold air will contract the wax away from the sides of the dish, and the tart will slide out easily.

Yankee Candle offers all of its scents in Tarts (in fact, they claim a trademark on that name,  which is silly if you ask me), but again the quality isn’t top notch and the scent strength varies a lot.  For my money, there are many e-tailer sites that offer tarts that snuff out Yankee Candle.   A perennial favorite is  Micks Wicks.   She offers more than 60 fragrances and her tarts are cheaper, stronger, and longer lasting than Yankee Candle.

I’ll be reviewing more tart and candle scents individually in the future.  What are your favorite candles?  Do you splurge on boutique brands or save by buying drugstore/mass merchandiser candles?