Bath and Body Works Three Wick Aromatherapy "Love" Rose and Vanilla Candle Review

Even though it isn't my ultimate favorite, I do love a good floral scent in a candle as long as it isn't that fake chemical floral scent.  In all of the years that I have been burning candles, to me, rose scent is the one that companies jack up the most.  So I have to warn you up front that it's very possible that I may not care for this scent at all.  I am reviewing it though because I want to review the entire line of Bath and Body Works Aromatherapy candles and this one is part of that line.

Recently, I did a review on the Nest Fragrances Rose Noir and Oud three wick candle that was just amazing.  The Nest candle wasn't overwhelming with a fake, chemical rose smell so we'll see how this one measures up to it.

I purchased two of these candles from the Bath and Body works website when they were running, and I use the term "sale" loosely here, their $14.50 candle sale.  I had a $10 off when you spend $30 coupon and since I wasn't interested in any of their other products, I purchased three candles.  Add in their $5.99 shipping and the 7% Indiana sales tax and the $10 coupon pretty much covered tax and shipping for a final cost of $14.17 per candle.

So let's start on the outside and work our way in, shall we?

The labels on these Aromatherapy candles are all very close in appearance.  The only difference is the name of the candle and the background color.  They all have the mortar and pestle, candle name
in a handwriting font and a botanical.  This one has a cabbage rose which I'm guessing is possibly the type of rose scent that they are trying to bring out in this candle.  The labels are reminiscent of, or a mock up of a hand poured or hand made candle from an artisan when these candles are clearly not hand made or hand poured or made by an artisan.  The label is definitely cute though.

The lid on this one is different than the rest of the candles in the Aromatherapy line in that it is the Bath and Body Works generic black candle lid.  Metal with the name, Bath and Body Works, in raised letters across the top.

This one also has the plastic ring on the inside that will seal the candle up when you aren't using it.  My guess has always been that the plastic rings may be there to keep the scent from evaporating and the candle from drying out when they aren't being used.

The wicks on this candle looked good before they were lit.  Nice, ample and like there won't be any problems with them.

This candle has white wax which means that if or when it mushrooms while burning, you'll want to remove the mushroom tops before lighting it again.  Otherwise you'll end up with what looks like pepper in the wax or it can even turn the wax a really icky color.

One thing that I seem to ALWAYS forget to mention when reviewing these candles is the listed burn times.  The Bath and Body Works three wick candles have an advertised burn time of 25 to 45 hours.  There are a lot of things that can have an effect on the burn time of a candle including air movement in the area where the candle is placed while burning.

Now we can move on to the scents.  Specifically cold smell first.

The name of the candle sort of gives away the listed scent profile of this candle.  Kind of.

What you see on the label says that this candle is rose and vanilla.  The listed scent notes are rose oil and vanilla extract.

Technically their label on the front isn't a flat out misdirect but if you look at the label where it says " with natural essential oils" under the scent of rose and vanilla, most people are going to be led to believe that the vanilla scent in this candle is essential oil when it just isn't.  It's extract and I'm nit picking on that but as a reviewer, that what I'm supposed to do.

Now that my nit picking is done, lets move on.

On cold smell this one straight up smells like that fake rose scent.  It reminds me of those old gel floral perfumes that Avon used to sell.  (Yes, I was exposed to a lot of Avon when I was a kid!  LOL!)  I feel like I could dip my finger into the candle wax and rub it on the inside of my wrists and if it would transfer, no one would be any wiser in thinking it was that old Avon putty like perfume.

I don't hate it but I think the only reason that I don't hate it is because of that memory.  I get a VERY slight tinge of vanilla mixed with the rose at the end but not much.  I wouldn't even call it an after thought here.

Again, the scent on cold smell can be a lot different when the candle is burning, so let's check that out.    

This candle received five burns averaging three hours each.  The first burn was on the bookcase by the window in the hallway.  That is where the majority of the burn video for this candle was filmed because I didn't feel like dragging my filming lights out that day.  I let it burn for three hours before putting it out.

Second and fifth burns were on the bookcase that I normally film on that is in the middle of my crazy long hallway.  The candle burned for two to three hours there and I did do some of the filming for the burn video there.

Third burn was in my office.  I burned it in there on the third burn wondering if I could stand the rose scent.  I let it go for 3 hours.

Finally, the forth burn was in the bedroom to see what the scent release would be in an enclosed room.  The candle burned for two hours that time around.

On the first burn the candle did pretty good.  It made it to almost a full pool in about an hour.  There was just a small bit of wax around the edge that hadn't melted at that point.  Scent release wise, I actually smelled it the first time when I walked back up to the candle to hit the record button about 10 minutes in.  This candle does have scent release.  How much depended on where it was burning at.

The scent was still rocking but I noticed something that I really need to point out.  The candle's wax changed color from white to a grody looking gray.  The gray wax in the photo was the wax that had pooled out in the previous burn that I did on this candle.  

My earlier suspicions were correct.  It is straight up chemical, fake rose smell.  When I say fake rose, it's kind of like the difference between eating a real, ripe and juicy orange and eating a piece of orange flavored hard candy.  Your brain tells you that both are orange flavored but one is the real deal and one is fake.  This candle is the orange hard candy in that scenerio.  I don't hate it and I can tolerate it but I really don't care for it very much at all.

The scent release on this candle is good, but not stellar.  It did well in the bedroom and there was no missing the scent when you walked into the room.  I don't expect a Bath and Body Works candle to scent an entire house and this one does do a good job with a single room.  In other places, sometimes it was subtle, other times it was obnoxious.  Open concept floor plans will definitely be hit or miss with this one.

Final Thoughts and Will I Buy This Candle Again?

The quick answer on buying it again is NO.  The reasons why will wrap this review up.

One is that I don't like the scent.  The scent release is adequate, but the scent is a chemical fake rose scent that I'm simply not a fan of at all.

Second it that I don't believe for a second that a Bath and Body Works candle is worth $14.50.  I'll admit that I purchased this candle to experience it and review it but since I do more online purchasing than in store, any coupons are really null for me since I have to pay $5.99 shipping.  In the end, that adds to the price of the candles so it's a no for me.

If you want to take a closer look at this candle, you can see it on their website here.

Unfortunately I just really didn't care for this one at all.

Do you have any experience with this candle?  If so, let me know what your thoughts are on it in the comment section below.