Scents: Vanilla & Passionfruit
Blueberry Vanilla
Apricot Mango Sorbet
Citrus Blackberry
Scent Strength: Perfect for bathroom.
Introduction to my Colonial Candle votive review…
Back in June I reviewed a votive and some tealights from Colonial Candles that were sent to me by their catalog manager. For a while now I’ve had more votives from my package laying around in my “candle room” waiting to be reviewed. The scents are Vanilla + Passionfruit, Blueberry Vanilla, Apricot Mango Sorbet and Citrus Blackberry. I figure I better get these reviewed before we start sniffin’ and writing about Fall scents around here.
You might remember from my last Colonial review that I barely have any experience with this brand. Whenever I see their cool glass container candles in a store, I have my usual fun sniffing everything, but never wind up buying anything. Their prices on their jars are just too high for me. I’m pretty cheap so when I want to get a feel for the overall authenticity of scents a company offers but don’t want to spend an arm and a leg, it’s votives to the rescue!! When I get them for free, it’s even better!! 🙂
What did my votives from Colonial Candle look like?
My 4 votives came wrapped from Colonial in the usual clear plastic with a picture that goes along with each scent. If you’re a candle-holic like me I’m sure you’ve seen their wrapped votives in stores. 🙂
The size and shape of Colonial’s votives are pretty standard. My Passionfruit + Vanilla votive is medium pink, Blueberry Vanilla is light blue, Apricot Mango Sorbet is a peachy-orange and Citrus Blackberry is deep purple. (see photos in review)
How did my votives from Colonial Candles smell?
Vanilla & Passionfruit:
I had to try this scent after reading the description on Colonial’s site:
“The aromas of pink grapefruit and peach nectar are combined with mouth- watering passion fruit and creamy vanilla for a dreamy, luxurious home fragrance.”
I’m in love with this scent. It’s got this great smooth, comforting fruity vibe that just mezmorized me. Each time I had this votive burning, I found myself breathing it in deep. I know I’ve found a winner when I do that with a candle.
The passionfruit stands out to me the most among the three fruits in this blend…hence the name Vanilla & Passionfruit. I’ve never had passionfruit in a candle before but after this one, I’m hooked. It’s got this soft, tropical feel to it that I just love. I’m pretty sure I’m smelling the grapefruit and peach nectar, but they’re definitely not as noticeable as the passionfruit.
I’m loving the vanilla in this scent. I think it was a great idea on Colonial’s part to pair it with passionfruit…the two mixed together are so unique!! The vanilla adds this smooth feel that’s so comforting to me. If you like vanilla in your candles (who doesn’t!) and also like a bit of fruitiness, you’ve got to give this scent a try.
My votive isn’t very strong, but it was just perfect to fill my powder room. I would love to try this scent in one of their jars so I could try to fill a larger room with this soothing fragrance….it’s soooo comforting to me. I obviously recommend this scent, but definitely get it in a larger container.
Apricot Mango Sorbet:
Next to Vanilla & Passionfruit, this one came in a close second as my favorite. Here’s the scent description…
“An irresistible combination of fresh apricot, tropical mango and plum creates a scrumptious fragrance that is delightfully fun and fruity.
“
I’m a sucker for fruity scents, especially when there’s an “orange scent” involved. Whenever I’m shopping for candles in a store, I always pick up the orange candles first to take a whiff. Although this candle doesn’t really have my usual favorite citrus fruits like orange, grapefruit or lemon, it still won me over. Why did I fall for this scent? The Mango!!
The mango in this fragrance is sweet, bright and juicy and definitely stands out the most compared to the other ingredients. When I breathed this votive in the first time I had it burning, the first thing that popped into my mind was my favorite flavor of Rita’s Water Ice…MANGO!! Everytime we take a trip to get some Rita’s on a hot summer night, there is nothing that refreshes me more and tantilizes my taste buds like Rita’s mango water ice! It perks me right up. It’s a fun flavor to eat and a fun one to smell. 🙂
This candle gave my bathroom a nice islandy, tropical feel. When I had it burning, I imagined laying on a white sandy beach somewhere with palm trees swaying in the breeze… how I wish!! Anyway, back to reality….I can’t really pick out the apricot or the plum in this scent. The mango is so dominant, I’m just not noticing them.
The scent strength of this votive was a little stronger than the Vanilla & Passionfruit. It completely filled my bathroom upstairs. If you buy a votive though, I obviously wouldn’t expect a throw strong enough to fill a living room. If you want that kind of throw, I’d go for a larger container to see how that works. I haven’t really tried Colonia’s larger containers so I’m not making any guarantees but it’s worth a shot, especially if you can find some of their candles on sale.
Blueberry Vanilla:
Here’s the scent description for this one:
“Remember picking fresh blueberries right off the bush? Enjoy the delicious essence of fresh picked blueberries vanilla, and sweet cream in your home all year long.”
As soon as I removed the wrapper from this votive, I noticed a nice blueberry smell. After I had the votive burning in my bathroom for a while, I realized how delicate and subtle this scent was. It’s really nice though. It’s a good one to burn for those times when you don’t want an “in-your-face” kind of scent but just want to enjoy something softer.
The blueberries smell authentic and sweet. The vanilla and cream are super-smooth and give this fragrance the same soothing feel that my Vanilla and Passionfruit votive had. I just love how vanilla can make fruit in a candle feel more tranquil. It doesn’t stifle the fruit, it just lends a calming hand, making the fruit feel smoother and warm. I guess you could say it takes the edge off.
This scent definitely had the “softest” and most subtle throw out of the bunch. It did a nice job of filling my bathroom with scent, it just doesn’t have that “punch” to it like my Apricot Mango Sorbet did. If you’re into subtle scents, you might want to give this a try.
Citrus Blackberry:
Here’s the description from the Colonial at Home online store:
“We’ve taken the rich, luscious appeal of fresh, ripe blackberries and paired it with the light freshness of nature’s own citrus fruits.”
This one is my least favorite out of the bunch. I feel like I gave this baby a fair shot, but every time I breathed it in, all I could think of was an air freshner. There’s something to this fragrance that gives it that unpleasant, fake candle smell. I could smell the blackberries a bit, but couldn’t really pick up on the citrus at all. I don’t know if I got a dud of a votive or if this scent really smells like this to every one else, but I am not impressed. Call me crazy if you like this scent, but it definitely smells like Colonial missed the mark on this one. I can picture what a nice, authentic, citrus blackberry blend would smell like and this is definitely not it.
How did my votives from Colonial burn?
My votives burned fine. No soot or smoke.
Overall opinion of my votives & Colonial Candles:
I’m pretty impressed with 3 out of 4 scents so that isn’t bad. I’m more into soy candles now, but if it didn’t matter to me I think I would definitely buy the Vanilla & Passionfruit in a larger container. That was my absolute favorite.
I’m sure most of you have picked up a votive from Colonial here and there since they’re available in just about every gift shop around. I’m not really much of a votive-lover, but like I said before, I think it’s a great way to sample their scents before you decide to buy one of their larger containers. Colonial also offers scented tarts, which they call Simmer Snaps. I’m just now getting into tarts and am loving them so far so I’ll probably give their Simmer Snaps a try when I get a chance.
Happy Sniffing! 🙂
~ Carolyn
