Bath and Body Works Ocean Driftwood Three Wick Candle Review

After reviewing the Homeworx version of Driftwood, I decided to take the plunge into the Bath & Body Works version to see if it would be even half as good.  You have some big expectations to meet there B&BW because the Homeworx version wasn't half bad at all.

Now, the regular "sale" price on Bath and Body Works candles for some reason has increased to $14.50 since the first of the year.  Their laughable regular price is $24.50.  Who buys Bath and Body Works candles for $24.50?  I have yet to find a B&BW candle that I believe is really worth that "sale" price.  Throw into the price mix that I rarely visit their stores because I'm lazy.  I end up ordering online so I always pay for shipping and to me that adds to the price of every item in the box.  I can say with complete confidence that I won't be purchasing many of their candles in the future unless they wet my beak a bit more because I don't like feeling like I'm not getting my moneys worth from any company out there.

Wow.  That was a bit catty.  Sorry... kind of.

I have recently placed 2 orders though because they did wet my beak with a code for free shipping and freebies added to the mix with the $14.50 "sale" price.  It was difficult but I caved and purchased a total of 6 new candles.  You are going to see each one of them over the next couple of weeks here and over on my YouTube channel.

On to the Ocean Driftwood review because that's really what you are here for.

Let's start with the outside and work our way in with this candle.

I do like the label on this candle.  It's very summer and of course it is beachy.  The label wraps all the way around the candle container and features a lot of sand with vertical pieces of old wood.  I know there's a name for it but I have no idea what it is called.  I'm land locked in Indiana so it's not one of the things that I'm really all that familiar with.  :)

The label appears to be easily removable for recycling the candle jar once the candle has burned all the way.  I like that because I do recycle a lot of my candle jars.

The lid on this candle is also nice.  It is a gold color with embossed palm leaves.  Very fitting for the island, beach theme that they have going on with this candle.

All Bath & Body works three wick candles are 14.5 ounces with a listed burn time of up to 45 hours.

I seriously spaced it on taking my regular photos with this candle and for that, I have to apologize.  I was really wanting to burn it so I lit it within an hour of its arrival and photos just didn't cross my mind.  I brain cramped out.  Fail.  Sorry.

As a result there is no photo of this candle's wicks before they were lit for burning.

The wicks on this candle do of course mushroom so you'll want to take a tissue or something to lightly pull them off before burning after the first go round.  Otherwise you will end up with a peppery looking wax pool while it is burning.

I say this in every review and this one is going to be no different.  I try to avoid, if I can, reading the listed scent notes for any candle until after I have started  burning it.  I do this because I want to smell the candle without any placebo effects from the listed notes telling me what I'm supposed to smell.  I want to get the true essence of what the candle is.  Not what they want me to think it is.  Hopefully that makes sense.

On cold smell, I wasn't a big fan of this one.  It had a floral perfume, hard soapy bite to it.  It wasn't all that pleasant but I didn't hate it either.  It's like biting into a lemon.  You like it and don't like it all at the same time.  After cold smell, I kept telling myself that a candle's scent profile can completely change once it is lit, so there was still hope for an excellent candle here.  I had faith that this one would be good.

The listed scent notes for this candle are:

• beach side oak
• sea washed mahogany
• ocean lavender

I definitely picked up on the lavender on cold smell but the rest to me was straight up soap so my initial thought was that this would be great for a bathroom.

After the candle was lit and burned for a bit, I realized I was wrong.  Spoiler alert and I hate to admit it but... I love this candle.

I kept the candle in my office for each burn and I let it burn for about 4 hours each time.  This candle just reaches out and wraps itself around you like a hug from an old friend that has a freshly showered scent lingering on them.  It's very warm and comfortable.  It doesn't assault your nose when you venture into the air that is holding the scent and there's a nice output of scent with this one.

The throw, or scent release, is good.  You know that this candle is there when you walk into the room that it is burning in.  The scent was strong enough to travel out of the office and into the hallway.  There are no concerns about a regular size room being filled with the scent of this candle.  I would even venture enough to say that it just might perform decent in an open concept area, but the scent would be more subtle and not quite as noticeable.

On the first burn, I could smell it start to permeate the air in the room within 30 minutes of it being set on fire.  Within an hour, it was almost to full pool.  Just a sliver around the edge was left and it was at full pool and throwing nicely at the 1 hour, 15 minute mark.  Very nice.

So, what does it smell like when it is burning?

The lavender is present as a nice undertone.  An after thought or after taste.  After you read the rest, you may be as surprised as I was that it actually works here.

Have you ever walked into a wood worker's shop?  Been around when someone is cutting a good quality wood?  You know that sawdust smell that is floating in the air?  I get that as the main scent for this candle.  Fresh cut, high quality wood.  It's very interesting to me because I've never smelled that in a candle before.  I like it.  Surprisingly very much.  Add the lavender as the undertone and this one is great for adding a bit of an interesting scent to the area that you inhabit.

Final Thoughts and Will I Buy This Candle Again?

I mentioned the Homeworx Driftwood candle at the beginning of my review and said that Ocean Driftwood had a big expectation to meet.  Well, it definitely held its own in the driftwood scented candle arena.  They are quite different from each other but both are very nice.  I wouldn't say that I liked one over the other because I like them both.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have found the first Bath and Body Works three wick candle that I would be willing to pay $14.50 for without complaining about it.  I still don't think it is worth $24.50 by a long shot but this one, in my opinion, is worth the $14.50 price tag.  When you take the scent, burn performance and scent release into consideration this one does the job that it is expected to.  At $14.50 you will get your money's worth.




I can't believe I'm actually saying this but yes, I will definitely purchase this one again.  On a weekend sale.  A coupon would of course be nice in combination with that $14.50 but I'd pick this one up again without it.

Wow.  That was painful to say.  LOL!

I'll be filming the YouTube review for this one shortly and will post it here once it is completed.

Hope you are having a fantastic day and until next time...