Festive Tipples QVC set

As  I sit here and write this blog post, there are only 87 days, 7 hours, 4 minutes and 16 seconds until Christmas. I'm not trying to scare you, but did you realise that Christmas was so close? We haven't even had Halloween yet! Let's not start to panic though about those all important Christmas quandaries such as what we're going to buy Great Aunt Gladys, and let's not even think about what oversized Christmas jumper you just know you're going to get from a secret Santa... Let's think about something that we pretty much all look forward to... A festive tipple!

Last week saw the second set of Christmas Yankee Candle shows this year, and there were plenty of treats for every fandle whether you had been good or bad. Highlights included an auto-delivery set of USA exclusives, Yankee Candle Christmas crackers and a set of three Christmas cocktail inspired fragrances.

The Festive Tipples set included three large jars with 'street party' style labels. The candles are USA outlet exclusives and not currently available at any retailer in the UK. (Some fandles might have spotted some of the 'portrait label' fragrances in Yankee Candle outlets here in the UK, but as far as I am aware, these have yet to make an appearance). If you are not familiar with this different style label, then you might want to check out my blog post HERE which goes into detail about them. I have to point out that these outlet fragrances are not sub-quality and are made to the same great standard and have the same fab fragrance strength as Yankee Candle's main range. One fandle even tweeted me to say "really impressed with the scent from these candles. May have different labels but same great Yankee scent."

So what fragrances are in the set, and what do they smell like?

Cranberry Margarita is a sweet cranberry scent, which I love, as I often find cranberry fragrances to be very sharp. I picked up on a very subtle cinnamon note too which actually took me a little while to figure out what it was. It gives it a really lovely christmasy scent but does not over power the cranberry. This is quite a light fragrance and a welcome change to the traditional bold festive fragrances.

Peppermint Martini is a real minty treat. If you like the Yankee Candle fragrance Fresh Mint, then you will love this one. It's not got a Candy Cane Lane sweet scent as the label suggests, it's more of a realistic mint leaf scent. If you like the odd Mojito, then you will know exactly what this smells like. It's a fresh, icy scent that I thought was the most surprising fragrance out of the three.

Christmas Pomegranate Punch is my favourite. My absolute go-to Christmas fragrance is Red Apple Wreath by Yankee Candle, It defines my December, and this fragrance has a real similarity to it. It's a lighter scent that doesn't have the deeper rich notes like Red Apple Wreath, but it does have that classic Christmas fragrance. It has a sweetness which comes from the pomegranate and has a lovely overall fruity aroma.

I love how the set looks as a whole. The combination of the red and the white wax is perfect for Christmas and the gorgeous images add to the festive look. One of my favourite things about the labels is the clear Limited Edition text. I love one-offs and rarities, so that really makes them special.

If you like classic Christmas fragrances but are looking for something that is a little different, I would definitely recommend this set. The combination of fresh and fruity fragrances is gorgeous and if you fancy yourself as a bit of a Mixologist I think they would work so well if lit together or throughout your house. (Mixology is when you burn more than one fragrance at a time to create a powerful and customised brand new fragrance).

As with every QVC set, this trio is such a bargain at just £29.97. That's £9.99 per jar... Less than a tenner each! Obviously you need to factor in P&P but even after that these are such a bargain. They're a gorgeous limited edition addition to my treasure wall. If you are a casual fandle, then you could even get this set and gift one to a friend. I know I would be more than happy with a rare, USA exclusive limited edition Yankee Candle for Christmas!

You can get the set HERE and half price P&P is available if you buy more than one set.

Did you find this review helpful or already have this set? Let me know what you think in the comments below.

You can follow me on Twitter: @YankeeFandle and Instagram: YankeeFandle

Disclaimer: I do not work for Yankee Candle or QVC. I am a Yankee Fandle who enjoys sharing my thoughts on each fragrance and also photos of my collection that I have taken myself. These opinions are my own.

#ScentSunday - All Is Bright

Next week will see the official launch of Yankee Candle's newest collection... Holiday Party. A collection that will bring a bit of sparkle into any celebration. Now the thought of Christmas might have you breaking out in a cold sweat, but humour me for a couple of minutes because I think the collection will surprise you. So, my first post about the new collection is All Is Bright.

As  this fragrance is so new, I've yet to burn the candle or even a wax melt, so I am writing about it on cold sniff. The reason I chose All Is Bright as the first post is because it was the most intriguing to me. Labelled as a 'Festive' fragrance I wasn't entirely sure what to expect from this one. The first note I picked up was orange citrus and it reminded me, ever so slightly, of the recent Honey Clementine. But it has a real freshness to it with notes of grapefruit that come through the more you sniff. The online fragrance description lists musk as a base note, bringing a very subtle 'festive' feel, but if you're thinking "is it like Egyptian Musk?" the simple answer is no.

I personally feel this fragrance could be re-categorised to the 'fresh' fragrance family. Why? Well, it has such a freshness to it and I would gladly burn this all year round.

One thing that struck me when it arrived is the label. It's just gorgeous, one of the best images Yankee have used in a long time. It has sparkle, warmth, fantasy and vibrance - it's one of the most sophisticated scenes in the current collections. I love the creamy wax too, there's something lovely about these pale waxes that I'm drawn to.

I'm looking forward to burning this and can update the post once I have and comment on the throw. But if you are wanting to try the fragrance before you invest in a full large jar, I'd recommend using a Wax Melt. They are a fantastic way to sample a scent, and they give off such a powerful throw.

I do LOVE festive scents, they remind me of my favourite time of the year and play a big part in my festivities. I automatically get transported to the 25th December as soon as I sniff Red Apple Wreath, Christmas Eve or Sparkling Cinnamon. All Is Bright could definitely make it's way into my festive burns but it's not as full on as some of the traditional festive scents. So if you find the super festive smells a bit too much give All Is Bright a go as a nice middle ground.

All Is Bright is available from Yankee Candle HERE. One extremely exciting thing that will make a lot of fandles happy is that it will also be available in... Drum roll please... a Scenterpiece MeltCup!!!

Do you have All Is Bright already? Let me know your thoughts in the comments box below.

You can follow me on Twitter: @YankeeFandle or Instagram: YankeeFandle

Disclaimer: I do not work for Yankee Candle or QVC. I am a Yankee Fandle who enjoys sharing my thoughts on each fragrance and also photos of my collection that I have taken myself. These opinions are my own. 

#ScentSunday - Autumn Night

The fourth and final post in my series of reviews of Yankee Candle's latest collection, Harvest Time, is a fandle favourite... As voted for by you! This weeks #ScentSunday is the dark and masculine... Autumn Night.

On  first sniff my first thought was "wait... Is this Midsummers Night?" The fragrances are quite similar on cold sniff and this has a similarly masculine feel to it. There's an almost spicy note which gives it a real cologne-like scent. The more I smelt it, the more I picked up on a lavender note.

Now, I must admit that a "masculine lavender" fragrance doesn't really sound that appealing to me, so I don't blame you if you're reading this and feeling a little sceptical. But, I ran a poll on twitter asking fandles to vote for their favourite from the Harvest Time collection and Autumn Night was the clear winner with 40% of the vote!

You may be thinking that perhaps this is similar to the USA fragrance Lavender Sunset... but they're actually quite different. Autumn Night is much stronger. If you like deeper fragrances and premium colognes it'll be one for you. I would say Moroccan Argan Oil and Oud Oasis fans would love Autumn Nights.










If you read the reviews for this fragrance on yankeecandle.co.uk you'll see that three of them say that the throw of this scent is poor. As I write this review I'm melting a Wax Melt (as I have done with all my Harvest Time reviews) in my living room, sat next to an open window. It's throwing really well and I can smell it around the entire house. Sometimes I think that certain fragrances work better in a Wax Melt format, and maybe this is one of them.

The wax is a real deep, deep blue and works so well with the image on the label. I thought that Dreamy Summer Nights had a deep glistening wax, but the wax in this candle is gorgeous. It's as if glitter is running through it and the oils are so clear on the top of the wax. The picture doesn't do it justice to be honest.

So, would I burn this again? Probably not, it's not really the sort of fragrance I enjoy but it has pride of place in my treasure wall, the label and wax colour make it stand out.

Would I recommend it? Yes, I would... But only really to fandles who like their deep or masculine scents. I'm pretty sure mummy fandle will try to pinch it from my collection. This is a very layered fragrance and I think the combination of varied notes works surprisingly well. But, If you like pretty florals, fruit or fresh fragrances, then you might want to look at the other fragrances in this collection.

Autumn Nights is available in all standard wax formats direct from Yankee Candle HERE and also from select Yankee Candle retailers. You can also read reviews of all the other fragrances in the Harvest Time collection on earlier blog posts: HERE for Honey Clementine, HERE for Ebony & Oak and HERE for Rhubarb Crumble.

What do you think to Autumn Nights? Let me know in the comments box below.

Follow me on Twitter: @YankeeFandle and Instagram: YankeeFandle

#ScentSunday - Rhubarb Crumble

The third blog post in my Harvest Time reviews is the one I've most looked forward to writing. I'm a big foodie fan and a real sucker for buttery and cakey Yankee Candles. So, for #ScentSunday this week, I excitedly bring you... Rhubarb Crumble.

So, what does it smell like? On cold sniff, the first note to hit you is, believe it or not, rhubarb! A gorgeously tart fruity scent. I think rhubarb has such a distinct and individual fragrance so I was excited to see how it translated into a candle. Of course, Yankee Candle being Yankee Candle, it is so true to life.
The fragrance has a real buttery softness to it which is perfect to balance the sharp rhubarb. The crumble comes through with a sweet and sugary cakey note.

As with my last two posts, I have been melting a Wax Melt of this fragrance throughout the week. I love Wax Melts, they're not only a fantastic way to sample a fragrance (a Wax Melt will only set you back £1.49) but a great way to get a quick burst of fragrance into your room without having to dedicate the three hours minimum needed for a large or medium jar.
The fragrance was wonderful, it pretty much filled the whole of the house downstairs. I noticed the sharpness of the rhubarb came out even more when burning. A vanilla note started to come through too which worked so nicely alongside the tangy fragrance. The crumble note did start to soften as the rhubarb strengthened.

One fandle tweeted me to tell me that they loved Rhubarb Crumble and that they had found a new favourite. Alison (@ali_court) found it so mouthwatering and exclaimed that people need to know about it!

If you like the Yankee Candle fragrances Tarte Tatin and Pain au Raisin, then you are going to LOVE this. There's nothing more soothing than some home baking as the days get shorter and the woolly jumpers start to come out. This is a perfect weekend fragrance for me. It'll make you want to put on your apron, head down to the kitchen and splat a huge dollop of custard on whatever it is you've mustered up. Mary Berry really would be proud!

The wax is a real deep red so a really gorgeous autumn colour to have out on display. The oils are clear throughout the candle. The top of the candle was glistening in the light. You can really see the oils resting on the top.

When I was little, my parents grew rhubarb in our back garden, so I was excited to see if this fragrance took me back to my childhood, and it definitely did. As a foodie fan I had high hopes for this and it did not disappoint. I have seen so many positive comments online about this fragrance, and now I can see (or even, smell) why.

You can buy Rhubarb Crumble in all standard wax formats directly from Yankee Candle HERE. It is also available from select Yankee Candle retailers.

What do you think to Rhubarb Crumble? Let me know in the comments box below.

Follow me on Twitter: @YankeeFandle and Instagram: YankeeFandle. You can read my reviews of other Harvest Time fragrances by clicking HERE for Honey Clementine and HERE for Ebony & Oak.

Disclaimer: I do not work for Yankee Candle or QVC. I am a Yankee Fandle who enjoys sharing my thoughts on each fragrance and also photos of my collection that I have taken myself. These opinions are my own. 

#ScentSunday - Ebony & Oak

Last week I published a post on Honey Clementine which is part of Yankee Candle's Harvest Time collection. (You can read that post HERE). I don't know about you, but this weekend has felt as if Autumn has well and truly arrived. So, this weeks #ScentSunday is Ebony & Oak from the latest collection by Yankee Candle.





From the name I was expecting a hearty woody fragrance, and boy was I right. If I could describe Ebony & Oak in less than five words, it'd be simple: Autumn in a jar.

The fragrance is a mixture of oak, pine, ebony, eucalyptus and patchouli. The woody notes hit you on cold sniff and the eucalyptus really brings a freshness to it. The immediate notes really are like walking into a forest on an autumn day. The woody layers are not over powering and the patchouli notes add the feeling of taking that first deep breath in on a crisp, fresh early morning.

There is a clear pine note in this fragrance which i love. I personally think this is a wonderful day fragrance for throughout Autumn, but I can imagine a lot of fandles even having this as a December favourite too. (Don't forget, you get up to 150 hours of burn time per large jar. If you burned this for three hours a day over the weekends, it would see you into the new year!)

As with Honey Clementine, I've been burning this throughout the week as a wax melt. The throw is a medium throw. It's a lovely subtle scent that is not overpowering. It is not a scent that will fill your whole house (which is ideal for me as I like to burn different fragrances in different rooms) but it will fragrance a room nicely.

I really like the photo on this jar; it really conjured up happy memories for me. As a child I loved playing in my garden and collecting fir cones and finding acorns in my garden. I used to lay them out and hope that squirrels would come and take them. I'd sit with my Grandma and hope we'd see hedgehogs and other wildlife that wanted to stop by. (Isn't it funny how a picture or a scent can conjure up these types of memories. That's one of the reasons that I love Yankee Candle so much)


Out of the entire Harvest Time collection, I thought this would probably be the fragrance that I would pick last, but I must say, Ebony & Oak really does define Autumn. Woody, crisp and fresh. There is a masculinity to the scent, but it is not an aftershave-esque fragrance like Mountain Lodge (AKA Boyfriend Candle), it has a slightly sweeter touch to it.

Ebony & Oak is available directly from Yankee Candle HERE in all standard wax formats, and also select Yankee Candle retailers.

Do you have Ebony & Oak? Let me know your thoughts in the box below.

Follow me on Twitter: @YankeeFandle Instagram: YankeeFandle

Disclaimer: I do not work for Yankee Candle or QVC. I am a Yankee Fandle who enjoys sharing my thoughts on each fragrance and also photos of my collection that I have taken myself. These opinions are my own. 

The L Word... LABELS!

I wanted to write a post about a topic which seems to be a constant point of debate between fandles, the topic of labels.
I wrote a post on the new branding that Yankee Candle now has in the US a good few weeks back (you can read it HERE) as the new labels seemed to divide opinion and many UK fandles were concerned the labels would be making their way overseas to our shores. Now the debate has shifted to all the different labels that QVC have recently brought to air.

This post is my own opinion on the matter as a Yankee collector. I understand that everyone will have strong views on this touchy subject. You'll see no fancy pictures in this post, no fantasised descriptions and no right or wrong. Just a basic breakdown of what I know and what I think of the varying styles.

It must be tricky for QVC now that the USA have a totally different style label to their classic collection. Gone (perhaps) are the days of importing USA fragrances for customers to get their hands on as 'rare treasure' candles for their collection. Imported USA scents with Deerfield labels were always highly coveted treasures in the UK (a Deerfield label means the candle was produced in the original home of Yankee, Deerfield Massachusetts, the sticker underneath will have USA details instead of Bristol UK). But will QVC continue with imports and bring the new labels to our screens? This would potentially alienate avid collectors who've been quite vocal on the forums but it could bring a whole new (and younger) customer base who like the smaller and more modern design. Importing has added difficulties now that the Pound has fallen against the Dollar, imports are much more expensive. So I imagine the QVC buying team have a lot to consider at the moment and it must take a seriously long time to bring new lines to screen.

For the 12th Anniversary shows, QVC debuted some labels which were alien to us UK fandles. These included the simplistic 'Portrait' labels, a selection of labels which now seems to be widely referred to as the 'Street Party' labels and also the 'Botanical' style labels. I was thrilled to bits when I saw these as they would be an amazing addition to my collection. But some fandles snubbed them on the basis that they wouldn't display well alongside the classic jars.

Essentially these designs are all exclusive to USA Yankee Candle outlets. "Not outlets!" I hear you cry... "Doesn't that mean sub-quality?" Well, according to brand ambassadors Steven and Rosa, the answer is simple: No. What it does mean though is you are getting fragrances that are not available in the UK and paying less than you would for a typical large jar or set. What if your collection consists of only the "classic" Yankee labels, would you consider adding these?

But is the quality really the same? So far I have burnt two candles out of the many sets that I bought. One is Cherry, which I'm burning today and it's giving a fantastic throw and yummy fragrance. I love it, sweet, sweet cherry with a hint of almond. I'd also add that it's pooling really nicely which is encouraging because fandles will often point out that classic label Black Cherry can be prone to tunnelling. The other one I've tried is Pineapple, it's so true to life, throws strongly, filling my bedroom.

Fruit scents seem to have some of the most powerful throws when it comes to fragrance families. Fresh ones tend to be more subtle so it'll be interesting to see how Bright Summer Sky and Ocean Treasure perform.
Looking at the wax in all of the portrait jars you can clearly see the oils running through the entire candle and the bubbles at the top - that's usually an indicator that the scent will be strong.

From a price point of view, the fact that these are outlet ranges means that the casual QVC customer, who may never have bought a Yankee Candle in their life, is going to be more likely to splash out on these sets. With P&P you will typically pay just £35 for a set of three portrait labels versus a classic label trio at £56. Lets face it Yankee Candles are not cheap, you're paying for quality and collecting them is a pricey hobby. So wearing my collector hat I can get my hands on NEW and exclusive fragrances, and pay less for the pleasure.


Each year Halloween brings with it a new collection of Yankee Candles with fun and quirky labels, completely unmatched to the usual range. Fandles (including me) chomp at the bit to get their hands on them. At Christmas Santa brings even more new labels that are must-have collection pieces. Factor in World Journeys, Swirls, Barbershop, Scentiments, the Coconut Collection and Home Inspirations (formerly Simply Home) ranges and you do wonder why there's such criticism of the portrait collection in particular. You get the same burn time as a large jar, the same throw, the same quality, new scents and bargain prices - and the ever-popular easy-payment option.

As I write this blog there are 15 USA sets on QVC's website all having non-classic labels. Am I going to be buying every set that comes to QVC? No, I really can't afford to... Do I like them all? Mostly yes... I will buy the sets that really grab me, maybe even two sets (like I did with the recent OTO that had Banana Nut in it). Some I've been less keen on, the Apple Cobbler and Brilliant Autumn labels for example.

The likelihood is that these labels will continue to make appearances. Remember, Yankee Candle only release 16 core fragrances a year (4 per quarter) with a handful of special appearances and some seasonal treats. All of these are available from multiple retailers so if QVC didn't bring anything else to our screens we'd soon get bored of seeing the same readily available fragrances. Viewers are constantly tweeting and emailing to demand new scents, USA imports, special appearances and more - it seems that they're trying to cater to this.


Yankee Candle have changed their labels more than once throughout their lifespan and will continue to do so - all companies have to constantly evolve their product and brand. There's the age old saying 'you can't please everyone' and it's true, you really can't. 

I would rather see these exclusive sets on QVC than sets of 16 votives, but that's just me. I like variety, I like bargains and having more choice is fine by me. Why not give a portrait jar a try to burn, if not to collect. It's a more affordable way to fill your home with a delicious smell, surely that's a good thing?

What do you think to all the different labels available on QVC? Let me know in the comments below.

Follow me on Twitter: @YankeeFandle and Instagram: YankeeFandle

Disclaimer: I do not work for Yankee Candle or QVC. I am a Yankee Fandle who enjoys sharing my thoughts on each fragrance and also photos of my collection that I have taken myself. These opinions are my own.