I'm not sure how this happened but this is my first official Yankee review, ever. You want to know the main reason why?... price. I've always thought this company was WAY overpriced for what you get and because there are so many other great candles sites out there...I've never had the desire to buy any Yankee Candles. Even when I've been in their stores and tempted beyond belief, I leave empty handed. How on earth that's possible, I have no idea. I consider myself the Queen of candle shopping and usually buy whatever candles I can get my hands on and question my sanity later. One girlfriend who had never gone to the mall with me actually dubbed herself my personal "Sherpa" because she had to help me carry 40 pound bags stuffed to the gills with candles in each hand to the car. I freely admit my addiction.

I got to thinking that reviewing for Candlefind, one must broaden ones horizons so I finally caved. I think the first time I bought some Yankee candles was last year when they had their huge semi-annual sale. I bought a ton of candles, votives and tarts. I love burning votives in my bathrooms because they scent smaller rooms perfectly. And I must say after trying Yankee, I do like them. I love their scent selection, tarts and votives the best. After buying a truckload of candles (because I'm sick), I have to say I could pass on their jar candles from now on. Some are okay as far as scent throw but the majority I've tried weren't very strong. With such an investment purchasing jars, even on sale, that's a big gamble and one I won't make again.

One of the great features of Yankee is how accessible they are. You can find Yankee in practically every mall, Hallmark, Bed Bath & Beyond, Linens N. Things etc, Plus a ton of other online stores carry this brand. They're everywhere so if you ever run out of candles and need a quick fix, it's no sweat finding these suckers. Yankee is also quite the scent trend setter. Everyone copies popular Yankee scents and they're always coming out with something new every year. The only negative I've heard from many people is they constantly discontinue scents too which can be annoying. I know it is to me.

Yankee also has some great candle accessories so all in all, this is a good company. It's only a matter of finding what you like, catching a sale and stocking up which is exactly what I did.

How Did My Yankee Candles Smell?

Lemon Zest:

When I first sniffed this candle, I detected a lightly sweet lemon scent but nothing really spectacular. I tried this fragrance in both their jars and tarts just to see if there was a significant different in scent throw and let me tell ya… there is a huge difference.

I feel like a broken record here but I love lemon scents, lemon is my absolute favorite and my scent of choice over any other fragrance. This one was nice and I liked it but it didn't knock my socks off at all. It was simply "ok". When it comes to lemon, I'm starting to become picky considering I burn it so much, so I've finally reached the point where I need to "love" the scents I try instead of simply "liking" them. With that said, next time I shop for Yankee candles, I doubt I'll buy Lemon Zest again unless it's on mega sale and too good of a deal to pass up.

I started out with my jars and lit two in my great room and normally, that's plenty to fragrance that size room. I burned these jars for well over a week and the fragrance was very light, so light that I could barely smell a lemon scent even when walking in and out of the room. I don't like that and especially when I paid over $21 bucks per candle and I'm burning two at a time. I could smell the fragrance if I was right next to the candle but what's the point of that? So, the jars were a very big disappointment to me. On a scale of 1 to 10 on scent strength, I give this one a 3 or 4.

I tried my tarts next and boy what a difference! I threw a tart in my tart burner and not even 5 minutes into melting it, my entire downstairs family room was engulfed with scent. Now that's what I was after!! The fragrance was still the same but much stronger and it was nice. Here is the scent description for this scent from Yankee's website:

"Savor a vivacious scent with the tangy glow of citrus to stimulate your spirits!"

That description doesn't give much to go on but the name alone implies a zesty lemon scent and that's not what I'm smelling. Yeah, it's lemon but I couldn't detect a bit of zest, instead I smelled a sweet sugary lemon. Again, not a bad scent, just not the pucker, tangy, crisp lemon that I prefer. I say if you plan on trying this scent from Yankee and you like your scent on the light side, go for the jars. If you like strong scents like me, buy the tarts.