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 Fragrance Mixology

Like the best celebrity chefs, Yankee Candle fans love to mix their own recipes. They may take a little fruit, add some spice, and perhaps a touch of sweetness and voila! They get a scent unlike any other - their own custom home fragrance. At Yankee Candle we call it Fragrance Mixology, but you can call it the finishing touch that makes an ordinary event extraordinary!

To create your custom scent, think of it in terms of taste - what flavors go well together? If you have a little sour, you probably need a little sweet to balance it. The headiness of a floral might be tempered nicely by a fresh scent. Once you've thought about what might make a nice blend, it's time to shop for the fragrances! Narrow down your choice to 2 or 3 scents that sound like they’ll go well together and you can have fun experimenting. If you use Tarts® wax potpourri, you can break them into pieces and add a little of each into the bowl of the warmer until you get the aroma that you like. (Be careful not to add too many pieces, you don’t want melted wax to drip out of the warmer!) If you use Samplers® votive candles, you can either use several holders throughout your entertaining space or you can buy a unique clover shaped holder at www.yankeecandle.com that will allow you to burn 3 votives together. Once you're a master mixologist, you could even try blending scents with non-candle forms such as warming oils, or even using a candle in one fragrance and a reed in another. The scents will mix as they waft through the air.

Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• Spiced Orange + Cranberry Chutney + Vineyard® = Autumn Harvest
• Creamy Caramel + Buttercream® + Fireside™ = Campfire Marshmallow
• Patchouli + Spiced Pumpkin = Witches' Parlor

You can see that the possibilities are endless – truly limited only by your own imagination. Have fun and let me know what custom scent you create!

New From Yankee Candle: Fragranced Figurines

I have a new way to add round-the-clock fragrance to my home and boy is it cute! No, I haven't given up on candles - not by a long shot. But there are times that I want to add scent without lighting a candle. Of course I use electric fragrancers but in my old home I don't always have a convenient outlet. That's why I was delighted to find these new fragrance diffusers from Yankee Candle®. They're pleasant to look at and pleasantly scented, adding seasonal charm wherever they are. The key is in the unglazed porcelain stem and leaf at the top of the pumpkin and apple. When you fill the vessel with MacIntosh or Spiced Pumpkin fragrance, the oil wicks up the porcelain and wafts through the room.
My home feels so warm and inviting even when the house has been empty because these darling little figurines are working overtime!

Fragrance Layering

Fragrance layering is a term that has been used by beauty and fragrance companies for years. Women and men alike have been educated in applying their personal scents in multiple layers: bath and shower gels, shaving and body lotions, powders and colognes. What many people don't know is that you can layer your home fragrance, too! Start by deciding whether you want to layer a single fragrance, or create your home's custom scent by introducing complimentary fragrances. Once you've determined that, you can mix both passive and active fragrance forms until you find the strength you desire.

Here's what I do. I start with the season and select a fragrance that matches my seasonal decor. Right now I'm yearning for summer so my scents are Beach Walk™ and Sun & Sand™. I use an Electric fragrancer in an outlet near my door so that I get a whiff of my favorite scent as soon as I come home. Then I put a bowl of Sun & Sand™ potpourri in my foyer and a Beach Walk™ fragranced reed - in that beautiful Signature bottle - in my living room. All of these are products that fragrance the home around the clock so they add a great base layer of scent. Then, when I know I'll be home for a while I light candles to add that powerful punch and beautiful ambient glow. Fragrance layering - it's my favorite way to make a statement in my home!