Candle, candle burning bright...

I thought that I would share my teeny-tiny scented candle collection with you today! I love the snuggly ambience that candles create, and you get the best of both worlds with scented candles... what's not to love?

Before I start, here's your Health & Safety lecture:
Always burn candles safely my lovelies!! Common sense is the big thing here, and candles have warning labels for a reason so please read it! I don't burn mine where little Gizmo cat could jump up and be burnt or knock one over, and I don't leave them alone either. Remember not to light candles close to curtains or bedding etc, and always make sure that they are properly extinguished before you leave the room or tootle off to bed. You can never be too careful! If in doubt... don't light it! Candles can be enjoyed as decorative items too y'know!

You can relax now. Lecture is officially over :)

Please excuse my rubbish smelly-smelly descriptions by the way. I find it really difficult to describe how something smells (anyone else with me on that?).

My Yankee candles:

(L-R) Shortbread Cookie, Fresh Cut Roses, Granny Smith

There is an amazing little shop two doors from my office which is crammed full of Yankee candles and they always leave the door open so that the most wonderful smell drifts out onto the pavement. I haven't bought a Yankee candle since last summer but I do often pop in and have a nosey and a sniff at their new stock...

I burn the Fresh Cut Roses candle on my dressing table and it smells gorgeous. It sounds obvious but the scent is exactly like roses - not like some of those sickly artificial rose scents around. Thumbs up from me!

I bought the Granny Smith candle to use in my bathroom. I think the apple scent is WOW - crisp and clean, and it's something a bit different. People always comment on how nice it smells :)

I haven't burnt the Shortbread Cookie candle for a while a) because it's been discontinued and I was saving it (I have no idea why I do that!) and b) because it's since been replaced in my affections by a different candle. It's gorgeously sweet and I loved it, and if I hadn't discovered it's superior it may well have been a firm favourite...

Next, my favourite candles in the world. My Country Home candles:

(L-R) Angel Food Cake, Grandma's Christmas, Country Home

I'm not sure if Country Home candles are stocked in the UK shops (I've seen a couple of v expensive ones on eBay) so huge apologies if not, but as I already said, these are my absolute favourite candles EVER... and I have years of testing different brands under my belt!

I got these from my Mummy as she imports a selection from Canada to sell through her business (she hand-makes and sells the most amazing shabby chic homewares and all sorts of other super-cute items. Mum mostly sells the goodies at Craft Fayres etc but a shiny new website is in progress! Woo!)

Mum bought me the Angel Food Cake 10oz (roughly 283g according to t'interweb) candle for my birthday and this is the candle that has far and away replaced the Yankee Shortbread as my favourite candle. Having used both candles, the Yankee smells  "fake" compared to the Country Home one.

I am an absolute sucker for a candle that smells of baking (I'm a sucker for eating anything baking-related too, hehe!) and freshly baked cake is how I would describe this. Mmmmm! I've been burning this in my hall and you can smell it all over the house. Yummy.

Grandma's Christmas smells so welcoming, kind of like freshly baked biscuits - this is what the Yankee candle should have smelled like! I burnt this in my kitchen so much over Christmas, and Mum ended up selling two of these to my friends and one to my neighbour! This is the largest of my Country Home candles (14oz - roughly 396g) and I'm saving the rest of the candle for this Christmas :)

Country Home is what I'm eagerly waiting to use after my Angel Food Cake has all gone. I had to buy this after smelling it burning at my Mum's house. Oh my gosh, it's amaze. It has a cozy toffee fudge-like scent. Can't wait!

If you don't like super-sweet scents you might find these overpowering, but I do, so I don't :D

And last but not least, we have the scrumptious Banana Nut Bread candle from Our Own Candle Company:

This smells divine, like Banana Nut Bread funnily enough! I got this when I was in New York. I haven't used it too much because I haven't seen any of these in the UK. I love the handle on the jar too, it's so unusual... I wish I'd bought more of these :(

So there you have it. My tiny but well loved collection. There is a definite theme running through these sweet smelling candles! I do love other scents too but I'm trying not to buy any more at the moment.

I'd love to try a Jo Malone candle but those are just too expensive for me considering that you're just going to burn it (rrp is £20 for a little travel candle, £38 for a 200g home candle and £260 for a 2.5kg luxury candle. That's a huge candle all right, but YIKES! £260??!! They'd better be good! Haha I'm just jealous!)

What are your favourite candles?

xx