How Do I Smell My Yankee Candle? Let Me Count The Ways!

As an 18-year veteran of Yankee Candle many people ask me how to smell a candle to get the best idea of the scent. Although there are a variety of tips and techniques, the personal nature of our own sense of smell means that there is no right way or wrong way - just your way and my way!

More often than not, when choosing a candle to buy you’re smelling it unlit in the store. What’s the best way to smell a cold candle? Some say you should smell the inside of a domed Yankee Candle lid in order to get the best idea of how it will smell while burning. While that method has a proven track record, our candlemakers have worked tirelessly on making sure that the candle wax itself offers a strong waft of fragrance, even cold. And, members of our fragrance committee often open the candle slightly to take in the bloom of scent from both the lid and the wax in order to fully appreciate the aroma. We’ve even known some candle connoisseurs to put a Tart® in one scent into a jar lid of another to get an idea of how they’d smell if combined!

It really is all a matter of preference and the number of different techniques makes me think that (to paraphrase a well-known song) there must be fifty ways to smell your candle:

You can smell from the lid, Syd

Sniff from the jar, Star

There's no right way, Kay

Just set your scent free

Light up the wax, Max

Let the scent fill your space, Grace

Just follow your nose, Rose

And set your scent free!

You can set your scent free in our Yankee Candle retail stores, on our website, and in gift and home stores nationwide!

Yankee Candle Helps Make A House Smell Like a Home

I remember when I was house-hunting I would scour the weekend paper looking for Open Houses in neighborhoods I liked. Walking into someone else's house is always a bit strange and sometimes it can be difficult to imagine living there, but when the house smells like a home it can make all the difference in the world. The houses I really liked inevitably had a warm and comforting scent. Sometimes it was a baking aroma like someone just pulled a batch of cookies from the oven. Other times it was just a fresh, clean scent that made me feel like the house was well-maintained. Though the actual fragrance differed from home to home, I always found the source to be the same: a lit Yankee Candle® jar or Yankee Candle® Electric Air Freshener!

If you look at any "Top 10" list of tips for a successful real estate open house, you'll see that my experience isn't just happenstance. In fact when staging your house for a showing, giving it an appealing scent goes a long way in making it feel more like a home. This added element triggers happy thoughts and memories, ensuring that all senses are engaged in a warm and inviting way.

Yankee Candle products are available at all Yankee Candle Company retail stores, on our website, and at gift and home stores nationwide.

Yankee Candle's Top Tips for Using Candles Outside

This weekend, like many American families, we had a backyard barbecue. For ambiance, I decided to use the Mango Peach Salsa candle that I'd placed on our patio table several weeks ago. Only problem? I couldn't light it. The wick just seemed to spark a bit and then it wouldn't light at all. Suddenly I remembered the previous weekend's storm - rainwater had gotten into the candle! You see, water and candles just don't mix. Water can get into the melted wax where it becomes trapped when the wax hardens. Sometimes you can see this as a water bubble just below the surface of the wax. Often a wick won't relight once it's been drenched in water. If it does, the wax can actually splatter as it starts to melt and hits that pool of water. To get the most out of outdoor candlelight, follow these top tips:

1. Keep lit candle away from flammable material such as foliage and grass.
2. A shade or Illuma-lid® jar topper will help keep the candle from blowing out if it's windy.
3. Extinguish the flame when you are no longer outside to observe the candle.
4. Bring your candle in or replace its lid to prevent water from getting on the wick or in the wax.

The Secret to My Gardening Success

Several years ago, our family's garden was part of the local garden club's annual house tour. Having participated in those kinds of events as ticket-holding guests, my husband and I were certainly intimidated by the prospect wondering long and hard about whether our humble gardens would stack up against the rest. So many others had much greener thumbs and an expertise in a certain area: award-winning roses, clever raised beds, tranquil water features, etc. What could be our hook? What would make our amateur patch stand out? As I was lighting my Blue Hydrangea candle several days before the tour, inspiration struck: ours would be a highly fragrant garden! The day of the tour I methodically placed votive holders with Blue Hydrangea Samplers® candles throughout our gardens. Where it was safe to burn them (no overhanging flammable foliage) I lit them, but in most spots I let the warmth of the sun do its job dispersing the fragrance. Our garden was long-remembered as the best scented one on the tour!

Traveling Back to the Sun & Sand™

Years ago Yankee Candle® had an advertising campaign that centered on the question, “Where will our scents take you?” I think of that question every time I lift the lid and smell the fragrance of our Sun & Sand™ candles. Having grown up in a Navy family, I now live farther away from the beach than I ever have in my whole life. Though the surrounding mountains and farmland are beautiful, there are many days where I find myself yearning for the coast. When I smell Sun & Sand™, I am instantly transported to the sunny shores of my youth: the hot sands of Key West, the dunes of Virginia Beach, ice-cold waters in Maine, and famous beaches of Rhode Island. I know it’s just a candle, but when I smell it I swear I can hear the seagulls and taste the salt air. Sun & Sand™ takes me back in time and place and it makes me happy. It’s the best mental vacation money can buy! Where does your favorite candle scent take you?

Top Candle Safety Tips - Part 2

As beautiful and fragrant as they are, candles have become an "e-scential" part of today's lifestyle. A lit candle adds ambiance and can serve as a mood enhancer so it's easy to overlook important safety concerns when our favorite scent fills the room. Here is the second part of my Top Candle Safety Tips:

• Discontinue use when 1/2” of wax remains. When the wax is low in the jar the flame is very close to the glass, making it very hot to the touch and increasing the possibility of cracking or shattering.


• Don’t re-use jar glass for another candle. As tempting as this may be, during the first use of the jar candle the glass may have developed hidden stress fractures that would make it unsafe for reuse as a candle.


• Use in an appropriate holder. If you are using a different candle style such as a tea light, votive or taper, be sure to use the right kind of holder for that style.


• Keep away from flammable objects such as fabric curtains, decorative trim, etc. Flowing curtains and festive evergreen boughs will ignite very quickly and without warning. Keep them separated from lit candles.


• Do not burn on or near another heat source. It is not a safe practice for a candle to be warmed on the outside of the glass, especially while it is also being heated inside. Don’t use your valuable television or lit stove as a candle stand and don’t use a candle warmer with a Yankee Candle!