Candles by Victoria

I know it's been a long time... a reeeally long time... but hey, life has a tendency to do that to us. Rather than waste time explaining where life took me, let's just jump back into this bitch and talk about some fun stuff, yeah?.

So I made my first order from Candles by Victoria! I live in an apartment by myself, and I really wanted to have candles all around my place. I tried some Yankee Candles (which is tough for me to admit because I work at Lush, which makes me educated on fragrance, essential oils, and perfumes. Yankee Candles uses tons of perfume, but hey, I need candles!) but they really disappointed me. Besides the fact that they're not strongly scented enough, they're expensive as hell.

The only reason I haven't ordered from Victoria before is because I hate ordering things that have scent to them, without smelling them first. Scent is so objective, and I have to admit, I'm a scent snob. But I decided to give it a go and I went onto her website and luckily, she has tons of pages full of descriptions of every scent she has (which is a LOT), and it really helped me pick some out. I ended up ordering two 4 ounce candles and three scent shots.

The 4 ounce candles I purchased were Breath of Ireland and White Pepper.

Breath of Ireland is described as "This fresh, romantic floral is fantastic during the whole year! This fragrance begins with top notes of fresh green clover, and ivy with middle notes of romantic snap dragon, rose petals, and carnations; ending with base notes of white musk and fig leaves."
Reading this on the website, it seemed like a really deep, complex scent. I was excited to see what the entire scent would come out smelling like. Plus, I'm half Irish so the name kinda got me too (sucker). Before I say anything, let me say that this does smell really good. I can definitely smell the floral, but it's a sweet floral for sure. To me, it smells like what Fabreeze or dryer sheets want to smell like. It's very fresh and clean without being "fresh linen" fake. I really like it.

White Pepper is described as "Top notes of orange, tangerine, and green ivy and middle notes of cinnamon bark, clove and jasmine blend into a base of birch wood, cedar, and musk."
Oh. My. God. This smells amazing. I don't smell any citrus at all, I smell a lot of cinnamon. But I also get a sweet, unique after scent that's so captivating, it makes you smell it another three or four times afterwards just to catch a tiny whiff of it. I love this. I love anything spicy or fall-scented (being born and raised in New England does that to you) so I already have a bias towards it. But it's such a unique spice; I've never smelled anything quite like this before. This is my favorite scent I got from her. I will definitely be ordering this in a larger size. This is officially my signature fall/winter scent.

The scent shots I ordered were Palm Island, Catchin' Fireflies, and Bikini Bottoms. She also threw in a scent shot of Lemon Lavender, which I had ironically contemplated purchasing, but was too put off by the popularity of synthetic Lemon Lavender scents, I was too deterred to actually try it.

Palm Island is described as "A luxury spa fragrance! Palm Island is a private island paradise located in the Grenadines frequented by many celebrities. Home of one of the most romantic and serene vacation spots in the world, Palm Island is an escape from a busy world. Candles By Victoria has created Palm Island fragrance to embrace the feeling of complete well-being of the mind, body and spirit. This upscale fragrance begins with a rejuvenating medley of sweet orange blossoms, yuzu, and kumquat; followed by middle notes of juniper, Mediterranean fan palm, and rosemary; and creates complete ecstasy with base notes of fresh sandalwood and Tahitian vanilla beans."
Uhhh... how could I resist that description? This smells divine. It's really sweet, fruity without being tangy, and beachy without being herbal. It's the perfect summer smell. Although it's almost the end of summer, I live in the desert, so we still have another two months of 'summer' weather here. So I have lots of time for this. I love this, I'll more than likely be ordering this in a larger size as well.

Catchin' Fireflies is described as "A combination of a rich base of warm amber, sandalwood, vanilla, patchouli, and musk supporting mid notes of rose, orange flower, iris, and lotus blossom, with top notes of berries, plum, orange, and bergamot to create a complex, sensual fragrance."
This one, I can definitely smell the citrus in. It's another one of those laundry-detergent-but-better scents. It's very clean and fresh, like a cleaning product without any chemicals in it. If that makes any sense?

Bikini Bottoms is described as "Top notes of lime, dew fruit, peach, orange, apple, and mandarin blend with middle notes of lily, berries, jasmine, and lavender into a sandalwood, raspberry vanilla, musk, coconut base."
She really kills me with these descriptions. They're pretty much irresistable. This one is seriously fruity. Like, no nonsense fuckin' fruit. I can mostly smell peach and mandarine. I really like it because I love citrus, but I would have liked to smell a little more sandalwood and musk.

Lemon Lavender is described as "Lemon Lavender ~ Everyone loves the calms Lavender brings but put it with our zesty lemon and you have one powerful combination."
Pretty much self explanatory. The lemon in this is definitely more of a sweet lemon than tangy or sour, and the lavender isn't very strong. This one doesn't stand out much to me, I like deeper, more complex scents.

Overall, I'm thrilled with my first experience. Everything was great, except the shipping was pretty slow. I would have liked for that to be a little quicker, but all I truly care about is that my products got to me and I'm enjoying them. I'll be purchasing White Pepper and Palm Island in larger sizes because I'm officially obsessed with both scents. The rest are lovely, and I cannot wait to try more. The scent shots are genius, because I love using my tart warmer. I feel I get a great scent throw with it, and it's a perfect way to try out smells. Especially if you're absent-minded like me, and it's not too safe to be lighting candles all over your house. ;)