Candle Review: Brown Road Candle Co

by Julia Wooten

Brand: Brown Road Candle Co.

Type: 8 oz Soy Mason Jars and Soy Wafers (melts)

Fragrances: Log Cabin,
Blackberry Sage
Stargazer Lily

Bonus: Scents of Twilight collection – Radiance (Bella)
Dazzling (Edward)

Cost: $4.50 ”“ $11.25

Scent Strength: Varied

Introduction to my review of Brown Road Candle Co:

Location, location, location!… This is a very exciting review for me to do…

Brown Road Candle co. is located in West Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. I couldn’t have chosen a candle company farther away from where I live and still be on the same continent. If it weren’t for the internet, I would never have known about this great find. Thank goodness for the World Wide Web… It has literally opened up a whole world of candle smelling opportunities for all of us who crave scent.

I feel like I’m traveling when I can burn a candle from so far away. Shipping from Canada to the United States was no problem, and I’m sure some of our Canadian readers will be happy to find another great candle maker from their side of the border.

The Brown Road Candle co. website is irresistible and filled with rustic Canadian charm. The colors of tan and brown make it feel like a warm country store. The photographs are intriguing, and made me want to see more, like there were treasures to be discovered here.

Brown Road candle Co offers an assortment of candle styles, including mason jars, tins, tea lights, melts and even enamelware mugs. In addition, they offer room sprays, reed diffusers, potpourri, and straight up fragrance oils, as well as a small assortment of primitive bath soap bars. Be sure to check out their Keeping Room primitive soap bar… it’s rustic chic.

Despite the old world look and feel of Brown Road Candle Company’s website, it is thoroughly modern when it comes to functionality. There is a complete fragrance description list, an area to track orders, company history, easy to find contact information, and, oh yes, a blog and twitter page to keep us all updated. It’s a well thought out website that is easy on the eyes and a pleasure to navigate.

What did my candles look like?

For this review, I sampled three 8 oz mason jar style candles, 3 oz wax clamshell type wafers, and two 5 oz flared glassware candles.

The mason jars were a good size and had a wide mouth opening which I liked for maximum scenting. Each jar was labeled on one side with a tasteful Brown road Candle co. logo and scent name. the labels had a rustic, prim look to them and the jars each had a bit of twine tied around the neck with a sweet bow. The lids were a basic twist on brown metal in keeping with the primitive look. All around, some very handsome jars. The Log Cabin candle’s wax was a taupe color. Stargazer Lily was a pretty pink, and Blackberry Sage was kept natural with a creamy white wax.

The clamshell melts or wafers as Brown road Candle co. calls them, were in the standard clamshell container, generously filled to the top in the same colors as the mason jars. Each three ounce clamshell had a proportioned primitive style label on it with Brown Road Candle Co and the scent name.

The Twilight inspired candles that I sampled were five ounce flared glassware. Each candle arrived boxed in an elegant black box, perfect for gift giving, specially labeled with “Scents of Twilight” scrolled on them along with the scent name and the name of the character that inspired it. The flared glass containers were sparkly pretty like big gemstones, and the wax was a natural white color.

How did my candles from Brown Road Candle Co smell?

Log Cabin

Here is the description from Brown Road Candle Co.:

“Imagine walking through the forest & embracing the aroma of pine & woodsy spices while smoke lingers from a log cabin in the distance.”

This scent caught my eye because it evoked the feeling of a log cabin from a cool distance instead of the warm cedar interior that many other Log Cabin scents boast.

The only thing better than being inside a warm homey log cabin would be anticipating that warmth from a distance, and savoring the promise of a fire and a hot cuppa. To be returning from a brisk walk in the woods and seeing the welcoming site of wood smoke from the chimney and the warm glow of a lamp in the window. Yeah, that’s even better than actually getting there.

That is why this scent was one I had to try, and this Log Cabin fragrance sent my imagination soaring. I smelled exactly what was described, a mostly deep green pine scent with smoke from a wood fire, but with a little extra twinkle of something icy and fresh. I smelled a hint of eucalyptus that gave this scent an icy, snowy surprise and further enhanced the feeling of being outside looking in.

The scent was masculine without being the least bit cologne-like. The clamshell melt gave off a robust burst of scent in the room. I only used one cube at a time and the fragrance filled my main living space. I found the melts to be more strongly scented than the candle in this instance.

Blackberry Sage

Brown Road Candle Co. describes Blackberry Sage:

“Tart blackberries, floral, sage leaves, & a touch of vanilla make this a very unique aroma. *Best seller!”

Blackberry and Sage is a fairly common scent combination. It is a crowd pleaser for good reason. Herbs and berries are a comforting smell and always seem to make a home feel more welcoming. This candle scent from Brown Road Candle Co. was a very enjoyable and true scent, if not particularly unique. The blackberry was tart and sweet but not too tangy, which I really appreciated. The sweet blackberry scent mixed well with the earthy, herbal sage. Adding vanilla to this blend was a thoughtful way to tone down the tartness of the berry and also smooth out the bite of sage.

The candle burned very well from start to finish with a complete melt pool and a strong flame. I found both the melts and the candle to have a medium scent throw. Though the scent was lighter than some other versions of Blackberry Sage, I kept getting a fruity fresh whiff of scent when the candle was on the desk next to me. As a melt it was a pleasant background scent… the kind that doesn’t knock visitors back on their heels, but still sets a comfortable atmosphere.

Stargazer Lily

Brown Road Candle Co. describes their Stargazer Lily as:

“Sweet & sensual aroma of the white & pink lily flower. Very feminine.”

Let me just say, for the record, that I adore stargazer lilies. They look so exotic but give off an innocently sweet smell.

The spectacular stargazer lily blooms are an interesting contrast of visual exuberance and subtle scent. That’s why they are often a florist’s show stopping centerpiece.

Stargazer Lily used to be my favorite Yankee Candle scent. As far as I can tell, Brown Road Candle Co.’s Stargazer Lily is not meant as a duplicate scent… it just happens to feature the same flower as my old favorite. It’s been a long time since I’ve smelled the distinct bouquet of this lily, and I’m so glad I was able to revisit the beauty of this light fragrance. It was a feminine and youthful scent with almost a delicate purity. Stargazer Lily was a light, spring-like floral; not heavy like a rose or hyacinth might be. The scent was similar to a honeysuckle or daisy scent. I enjoyed this scent completely.

The melts and candle scent had a light to medium throw, and, the wax smelled the same melting as it did cold. I kept this scent in my medium sized bedroom the whole time I had it. I used both the melts and the jar candle at different times during my testing and the scent just seemed best suited for that sized room. Even though this scent was the lightest of the scents I tried from Brown Road Candle Co., I would absolutely order this fragrance again.

Scents of Twilight Collection

Radiant – Bella

“Feminine soft lavender and deliciously sweet freesia.”

Bella, oh bella… always the romantic. Lavender and freesia…soothing and sweet. This is a lovely combination of fragrances. Why haven’t I seen these two florals combined more often? I smelled mostly freesia with this blend, which is just fine with me. Lavender can be somewhat overpowering, if it’s not artfully blended. Brown Road Candle Co., however, offers up this beautiful, precisely blended scent to represent Bella from the ever popular Twilight book series. It is a youthful, romantic scent that is as hopeful as it is calm.

The jar itself was square glass that flared out at the top. At 5 ounces this gem was best suited for my smaller rooms. The Radiant scent got lost in my larger spaces, but did very well in my smaller entrance-way. When I had the candle near me on my desk, the strength was just right.

Dazzling – Edward

“Honey, Lilac, Amber and a few other secret touches to match Edward’s perfect masculine beauty.”

Dazzling was a pleasant enough sweet floral. I had hoped for a stronger honey note but would have settled for a stronger overall scent. Representing Edward from the Twilight book series, I expected a stronger, bolder fragrance.

Though pleasing to the nose, this scent was wispy and light. In order to get a feel for the scent itself, I had to be right on top of it. The lilac was fresh and reminded me of Springtime, but I didn’t smell much amber. This scent just smelled like a fresh, light, sweet floral. It smelled good, but didn’t dazzle as much as I had hoped for.

How did my candles burn?

I had a tricky wick in my Log Cabin scented mason jar, and at first had a hard time keeping it lit. The small flame led to a melt pool that fell short of reaching the jar sides which resulted in some tunneling and an even smaller flame. I burned my candle for the recommended amount of time with each burn but still encountered some tunneling and eventually needed to pour off a small amount of wax to get this one burning well. Once I got this under control, the candle performed better and it lasted a long time.

The wicks in my other two mason jar candles performed flawlessly, and burned well. The wicks stayed strong and produced a decent melt pool. The jar sides stayed clean, with no wiping, and these jars were very pretty to watch burn.

The melts or wafers, were highly fragranced and melted well. The wax was soy, but wasn’t too soft. The clamshells had a nice snap when I broke the cubes apart. The cooled wax was easy to get out of my melter too, which is always a bonus.

The flared square jars for the Twilight book series inspired scents burned well. I pressed the wax in from the corners down into the melt pool when the candles first got going, but after that the melt pool reached the sides with ease. It was just a matter of a round melt pool in a square jar. Once I initially pressed the corner wax in, I had no further issue. The flame stayed strong and burned without soot. There was a thin film of wax on the jar sides so I wiped them down between burns. These were really lovely jars.

Closing to my review of scented candles from Brown Road Candle Co…

I had a lot of fun with these candles. They were all pretty and smelled good. What more could a candle fiend ask for? I had a good experience with Brown Road Candle Co. from shopping and ordering, to opening the well packed box, to burning and sniffing all of these fantastic treasures.

I hesitate to choose favorites here because they were all enjoyable, but of the scents I tried this time, the Log Cabin and the Stargazer Lily scents were certainly stand-outs for me…but there are many tempting scents yet to be discovered at Brown Road Candle Co. Happy Canadian shopping.

Happy candle smelling!

~ Julia

Visit Brown Road Candle Co