Fresh Strawberries, Lemon Peel, Summer Breeze, and Summer Slices Candles – Village Candle

by Avery Jordan

Brand: Village Candle

Scents:
Fresh Strawberries
Lemon Peel
Summer Breeze
Summer Slices

Price:
26 oz $18.00
16 oz $15.00

Simmerblend: $2.00

Strength – medium to strong

Introduction to my review of summer scented candles from Village Candles:

Village Candle has been making waves on the candle burning scene. Easily accessible, on line and in retail stores across the US… this company is a class act. Just take a look at the website – very professional, beautiful photographs, and many collections to chose from. (I spent quite awhile flipping through the different scents just to see the artistic photos!)

Village has classic scents as well as some unique ones: Lavender and Pettigrain and Sunset Hibiscus, for example. The styles in their collections include Kitchen (baked favorites), Kitchen Fresh, (contemporary blends), Boutique, (unique scents) and the Premium Round, (classics).

These candles come to us from Maine, a state that prides itself in its long standing reputation of excellence in craftsmanship. (You will note the proud logo: HANDMADE IN MAINE.) Following this tradition, our friends at Village also take pride in “strict quality control, using the most refined wax, the richest colors and the finest fragrance oils”.

Perhaps you are wondering how this company got started? I know that always interests me! In 1993, when the job market was tough, Paul Aldrich decided to make his hobby a full-time job. According to one article I read about Village Candle, he borrowed $20 from a family friend to buy candle supplies in order to get the company started. True story? I hope so… gotta love the spunk of a craftsman that trusts his ability enough to let his future rest on his candle-making talent.

Julia has reviewed bakery scents from this company in the past, but not wanting her to have all the fun, I have jumped in with a group of scents that will be perfect for summer. Not only will we review the candles, we are also going to give the Simmerblends a try as well.

How do my candles and melts look?

The candles for this review are apothecaries (although Village offers other styles as well). I have both 26 oz., and 16 oz. jars, and they are the clear glass style with the glass bubble lid. They really caught my eye because the photograph labels of the scents on the front are very colorful and very professional. No borders on these photos – they just melt dreamily away on the edges with the name “Village Candles” on top in silver.

The Simmerblend melts are cute – they are individually wrapped discs that have the same mini scent photo on top. They are one ounce and they are scored into quarters in case you have the urge to do a little scent blending.

Wait!!! It gets even better – there is a bonus! Most of the Premium Rounds have a little surprise in each one – a matching scented car MiniScenter. When I saw this, I nearly swooned! It is like getting that little prize in the Cracker Jack box (only waaaay better) and I love it! Yes, yes, you’ve all seen me…the one rifling though all the toothpastes on the shelf looking for the last one that contains a free box of floss inside…

Going down the list:

Fresh Strawberry – bright red wax, and the candles all have a removable plastic disc laying on top of the candle wax that advertises the “dual wick technology”. You know what I say – HOORAY for double wicks. The melt is the same color. The label? If you are a fan of strawberries, you will see that the berry depicted on the front is near perfection. Living near strawberry fields as I do, I can tell you – this is the strawberry we are all looking for when we grab our tubs, head out into the rows and go picking.

Lemon Peel – sunny yellow wax, again with the double wicks. The photograph here is a lemon and lemon slices, realistic enough to make the “pucker glands” in my jaw react.

Summer Breeze – this is a very pretty light sky blue candle. The label photo is realistic – you can almost hear a breeze rustle the tall grasses tucked in the sand bar in the beach scene.

Summer Slices – This candle makes you wish for a hot day so you can pull it out and look at the label – it is that refreshing! It is a wonderful “cool” combo for the heat – watermelon slices and cucumbers. (This combo, by the way is a fabulous summer salad…add some feta, mint… oh, sorry! Back on track!) The candle wax is the soft green of a ripe Honeydew.

All the candles sitting together looked like a summer celebration. Together the group looked fun – colors that make you think of popsicles or a birthday party balloon bouquet – the ones tied to a picnic table and bobbing in the summer breeze. It will be hard to light these waxy gems, but its time to bring a little summer inside!

How do my Village Candles smell?

Fresh Strawberries:

“Fresh strawberries just picked on a clear summer morning”

Mmmm, Mmmm, Mmmm – This is a really luscious smelling candle! Not only do you smell the mouth watering sweet strawberries, the finish is slightly tart. This is nice for a berry scent that can be overwhelmingly sweet, and it was more realistic. As anyone knows that has picked and eaten more strawberries than they should have, they are never all sugar-sweet. You end up with one that has a little tart edge now and then – which makes you like the sweet ones even more. The candle scenting was impressive – it was strong enough to scent two rooms, much more than most candles I have purchased lately. The room stayed scented for at least a half an hour after the candle was out.

The melt, using a tealight, was strong! Village says their Simmerblends should last about 8 hours. This one was so strong it easily covered a large bedroom – and lasted about 6 hours. It seems to me that the really strong melts don’t last as long as milder ones. This is OK for me – I would rather have short, strong scent instead of a never ending mild scent!

Lemon Peel

“Lemon zest, grapefruit and pineapple with notes of vanilla”

The first time I lit this candle the throw was subtle. The second time I lit it was different. The scent was stronger, and although it is the lightest of the candles I tried, I could easily smell it wafting through medium a size room. The Simmerblend was stronger than the candle, and it lasted a little more than one tealight. The scent is Lemon Peel – so don’t expect that lemonade, or puckery lemon scent. The grapefruit gives it a little edge so it really is more of the zesty lemon peel scent.

Summer Breeze

“Seville orange, green apple, day lily and beach rose with notes of vanilla”

This is the crisp, clean scent you expect from looking at the label. I am always caught off guard by the scent description of scents like these since I don’t usually think of “green apples” and “fresh” as companion scents. However, when I close my eyes and sniffed slowly, I could pick up traces of the apple that was blended together with the rest of the notes. Slow sniffing gave me both the apple and the crisp lily scent as the strongest notes.

The throw on this scent covered a medium (12 x 12) room with fresh scent. The melts were stronger, but not too intense. I prefer this type of scent in a moderate throw – just enough to make the air feel fresh and clean without being overwhelming. The Simmerblend lasted for more than two tealights. It kept goin’ and goin’!

Summer Slices

“Watermelon, cantaloupe and crisp cucumber”

This is an especially nice candle to burn in the summer. The scent is very spa-like and it is one of those chameleon scents that changes a bit as it burns. It began as cucumber and then the scent filled out more – but it still wasn’t a sweet scent. It was more of a green note – like smelling that white and light green part of the watermelon rind. Later I noticed that it was a little sweeter, more melon like, but it never was a strong fruity-melon, it stayed more in the fresh-spa scents. This was my favorite! This candle’s scent covered a medium room. The melt has the softest scent of the melts I tried.

My final thoughts one Village candles:

I am a fan! Remember that twenty dollars that was loaned to Paul to get his biz started? It was money well spent! Usually I like the candles I test, but then I zero in on the melts. (Interpretation – I order the melts. Lots of the melts…) In this case, I am really liking the candles. I like the clean way they burn, I like styling, I like the scents I tried… and I like that there are several more that I want to try!

If you have not already scoped out Village candles they can be found online and in your area by emailing their customer service your zip code. I have found them in a local grocery store and occasionally some will show up at places like HomeGoods and TJ Maxx. Village Candle often has sales and promotions on their Facebook page, so be sure and look. (The FB site shows the square 38 oz. container candles will be available again soon!)

If you are part of the crowd that has feels like some of the big name candle companies seem to have less throw and keep getting more and more expensive, this is your opportunity – widen those candle horizons and give these a burn. I bet you will be back for more!

Happy Candle shopping!

~ Avery

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