Review: Home Fragrances from Quinn Lilly

Like many people I love to have scented candles around the house. I like different fragrances at different times of the year. Right now I’m all about fresh zesty scents to liven up my home. Now I’m a parent I try not to have lit candles around my son, so candles are reserved for after his bedtime.

A few years ago I discovered reed diffusers, which are ideal if you enjoy home fragrances, but without the worry of burning a candle around children or pets (or if like me, you forget and accidentally leave it burning all night long). I always have at least one in the house these days. I’ve recently been introduced to Quinn Lilly, a luxury home fragrance brand based in Scotland. They specialise in reed diffusers, glass candle jars, travel tins, fragrance oils and car air fresheners.

Quinn Lilly started making candles and other home fragrances in 2015. They work to create high quality soy wax candles and other natural fragrances which are sourced from different parts of the world. They strive to ensure their products are environmentally friendly and use combinations of natural soy wax and oils to try to create cleaner products. Soy wax is free from pesticides and herbicides, which make the wax eco friendly and cleaner for the environment and your home too.

They have four signature fragrance collections to choose from – Grapefruit & Mimosa, Lavender & Rosemary, Lime Basil & Mandarin and Pomegranate. Plus a range of other fragrance products available.

Home Fragrances from Quinn Lilly PLUS Win a Reed Diffuser

Quinn Lilly’s luxury reed diffusers last for around three months and cost just £12.99. They’re stylish, elegant and are ideal for discrete fragrancing in any room of your home. With a range of beautiful fragrances available, which would you choose?

To view the full range of Quinn Lilly candles, reed diffusers and other home fragrance products, visit their website.

Review: Voluspa Maison Candle

As autumn turns into winter I like to fill my house with festive smells. Cinnamon and spruce are my go to scents at this time of the year. I think scented candles, especially in the run up to Christmas are a simple way of creating a cosy and festive atmosphere in the home. We were sent the Voluspa Maison Candle scented with spruce cuttings to put to the test, but what did we think?

Voluspa Maison Candle

The two wick Voluspa Maison candle comes in a beautifully decorated tin, so you can take it wherever you go. The “Spruce Cuttings” candle is made from royal Colorado blue spruce cuttings, so when you light this candle the room is filled with an authentic spruce fragrance. The tin is also useful for keeping your candle dust free. I always find you can never adequately dust your candles, so a candle with a lid or cover is always welcome.

All Voluspa scented candles are made with without phthalates, parabens and sulfates. This lovely two wick scented candle is made from 11oz of coconut wax and has a burn time of around 50 hours.

Voluspa Maison Candle

The “Spruce Cuttings” Voluspa Maison Candle would be a lovely candle to have in the same room as your Christmas tree, enhancing its natural tree fragrance. The candle has a good throw – meaning that it fills the room fairly quickly with fragrance. I’ve had it lit downstairs this morning and I can still smell it upstairs. A good throw is generally an indicator of a good quality candle.

Voluspa Maison Candle

The Voluspa Maison Candle costs £20 which compared to other high end candles of this quality is good value. It’s made with high quality ingredients and the tin looks lovely and is the kind of thing I’d keep and keep bits and bobs in afterwards.

The Maison “Holiday” range includes several different festive fragrances including Cinnamon Ceylon and Copal and Visions of Sugar Plum, as well as a selection of different candle types including gift sets.

Voluspa candles are available on their website and from a range of retailers including House of Fraser.

Review: Sparkle On, Gorgeous Yankee Candle

It is no exaggeration to say when I opened the box containing my latest Yankee Candle – Sparkle On, Gorgeous I let out an audible gasp of adoration. Not only was this candle beautifully different to any other Yankee Candle I’ve seen but it smelt intoxicatingly different to my normal go-to fruity scented candles.

The Sparkle On, Gorgeous Yankee Candle is part of a new range of tumbler candles designed to be given as a gift. The range is based on some of the most popular and classic Yankee Candle scents and features bold colours and a striking design. I personally loved the design of my Sparkle On, Gorgeous candles, not only is it my favourite colour, but the contemporary styling worked really well in my house.

Sparkle On, Gorgeous Yankee Candle

This 10oz tumbler candle should burn for up to 40 hours, retailing at approximately £15, my slightly wonky maths makes that just under 38p per hour – pretty good value. The candle wax itself is almost black, it has two wicks and sits in a lovely decorated glass tumbler. Its contemporary styling and brushed metal lid would suit a wide range of rooms and it would make a very lovely and stylish gift.

The Sparkle On, Gorgeous Yankee Candle features the classic “Midsummer’s Night” candle. It’s an intoxicating and musky blend of masculine scents including patchouli, sage and mahogany cologne. At first sniff it’s very like a delicious musky aftershave. It’s masculine, but it’s not just for men, I can imagine many women would burn this scent because it is so evocative.

Sparkle On, Gorgeous Yankee Candle

The “throw” on this Sparkle On, Gorgeous Yankee Candle is pretty good. It takes maybe half an hour for the scent to start to fill the room, but once it gets going it’s delicious; reminiscent of hot sultry summer nights, but still perfect for burning all year round, whatever the weather.

As the autumn nights begin to draw in, burning this lovely candle will remind me of warm summer evenings and the heady almost Mediterranean scents of patchouli, sage and the aftershave of the man I love. Delicious.

Note: We were sent the Sparkle On, Gorgeous Yankee Candle free of charge for review purposes. All images and opinions are our own.

Review: Blueberry Scone Jar Candle from Yankee Candle

I love scented candles. My work room at home is filled with them. If I’m going to be at my desk for a few hours invariably I’ll light one to invigorate my mood, often I’ll light them in my bedroom to help me wind down before bed, hardly a day goes by without me lighting a candle, especially now the boy is a bit older and can be trusted near naked flames.

I was sent a summer fragrance Yankee Candle to try out, I received the Blueberry Scone large jar candle (rrp £21.99). It’s a big jar which should burn for 110+ hours or more. The heavy glass lid keeps the candle fresh for when you’re ready to light it.

blueberry scone yankee candle

The fragrance is lovely and really does smell of freshly baked blueberry scones. Warm blueberry scents with a soft undercurrent of fresh from the oven scones with a hint of vanilla, just a hint, because vanilla can be an overpowering fragrance.

Often with scented candles they “throw” the fragrance only a short distance from the actual candle. Some scents travel better than others. I lit the Blueberry Scone Yankee Candle and it quickly filled the room with the smell of fresh blueberry scones, the smell travelled reasonably well but didn’t fill the house, which to my mind is fine, but I know others prefer a lengthier throw.

This candle has a home in my work room now and will be burnt on a regular basis. If you like a fruity, warm scented candle, then this is worth looking out for. I adore the warm spiced autumn candles full of cinnamon and apple, but this is a good summer version, smelling of kitchens and cosiness.

Yankee Candles are widely available online and in gift shops, you may have to hunt a little for the Blueberry Scone Yankee Candle, but it’s worth hunting down and having a sniff to see if you’d like it. Fragrance is such a personal thing, these remind me of a trip to America I took when I was a teenager and I briefly became obsessed with everything blueberry.

Note: We were sent the Blueberry Scone Yankee Candle free of charge for review purposes. All images and opinions are my own.

Seasonal Scents from Febreze

Having grown up in the 1980’s I have a slight phobia of air fresheners; back then they came in a huge aerosol and were available only in cloying fragrances like “pine forest”, which just smelt like toilet cleaner. When your mum liberally sprayed the house before visitors came, it was like she’d washed the walls with cheap toilet cleaner; so determined to be different, my method of freshening up the house was always to light a scented candle and open a window.

That was all very well and good until we started a family; whilst I’ll complain about the odours the small boy produces, I wouldn’t like to inflict them on other people. Since day one of being parents, we’ve always had some Febreze on hand to spritz the house with if visitors were expected. We were really pleased when Febreze got in touch and asked if we fancied having a sniff of their Winter Collection. Then they sent this…

The hamper contained –
Febreze Air Effects Apple & Spice Air Freshener
Febreze Apple & Spice Scented Candle
Febreze Apple & Spice Set & Refresh Scented oil diffuser
A tub of Whittard of Chelsea Mulled Wine flavour instant tea
A colour in stocking and fabric pens

It was a mightily impressive hamper! I was impressed with the range as it’s versatile enough for my house. The scented oil diffuser is ideal for my downstairs loo which is located right next to the front door. I won’t go into detail, but I live with two boys who don’t always focus enough on the task in hand!

The scented candle is a winner for me, during the run up to Christmas I especially like lighting a scented candle in the evening, because I like the house to smell a bit more Christmassy and if you get cinnamon scented ones it smells like all the baking you’ve not got round to doing yet. Happily the Apple & Spice does contain wafts of those Christmas cooking spices, more of which later. The candle itself is attractive and wouldn’t look out of place as part of a display.

The Air Freshener isn’t at all like those 1980’s monstrosities. You don’t need to spray much, because unlike my mums “pine forest” it eliminates odours, it doesn’t mask them. This is just right for giving the place a quick spritz (take note mother) before visitors arrive.

The apple and spice fragrance itself is very pleasant, it contains a Christmassy blend of cinnamon, cloves, apples, berries and vanilla bean. The vanilla bean is very faint, which is a good thing, vanilla is a lovely scent but used in excess it can be quite sickly. The apple and spice blend is uplifting and comforting, the perfect kind of fragrance for this time of year.

The Febreze apple and spice range in their winter collection is lovely and they’re something I would fragrance the house with from autumn up until Christmas. I’m particularly impressed with the candles, so I’ll be getting a few more of those in to light in the run up to the big day. I’m looking forward to colouring in the stocking with the small boy on Christmas Eve too. Thank you for my Christmas hamper Febreze, Merry Christmas!

Note: We were sent the hamper free of charge, I was under no obligation to review or write it up. All images and opinions are my own.