April showers brings Yankee Candle news and maybe a Rainbow’s End? It’s been confirmed here that Yankee Candle Company plans to change their labels, starting 2017. I, for one, do not like the new design. If it’s an attempt to make the jar designs more modern, then it looks like what a 1980s version of modern would look like to me. I think the current label artwork adds to the design, rather than takes away. Why even bother with artwork if they’re going to cut it to a sliver of the original size? The new label font is much more of a presence on the jars and may reflect a change in branding trends. It remains to be seen whether or not this design change involves a price increase.
On to the scent: April Showers melt cup
I feel slightly oblivious for not realizing that the new spring Carefree scent was a Pure Radiance version of the new house warmer fragrance, April Showers. They even have the exact same color of wax.
Fragrance: If you’ve read my review a few posts back, you know I loved the Carefree candle I tried. It’s a spring clean, laundry type scent and it’s my favorite of the year, so far.
April Showers is slightly similar. It has clean laundry notes mixed with a floral and strong fresh base. In contrast, I’ve found that I prefer the Carefree version because it smells sweeter. The April Showers is more bracing and I haven’t gotten any of the lemon citrus note one would expect because of the large lemon pictured on the photo label.
Performance: the product format does make a difference when it comes to enjoying Yankee Candle. The throw of the candle was strong, but not overwhelming. The throw of the April Showers melt cup was super strong and too overpowering for my space.* Thankfully, I learned a Scenterpiece melt cup trick awhile back, courtesy of “Andy’s Yankees” vlog.
I popped the melt cup into the freezer for five minutes, tapped out the wax and broke in half. Put one half back into the cup, saving the other half for later. Then, I set the Scenterpiece near an open window and melted the now half-strength cup. The resulting throw was lessened, which suited my needs much better.
*This throw was the longest lasting of any melt that I’ve tried. I set the timer for 3 hours at noon and could still smell it when I got home at 8 pm, having been off for 5 hours!
Recommendation: If you want a clean fragrance with a powerful throw, go for April Showers. Knowing that the melt cup is extra concentrated, I will likely stick to candles. This would be great in the small jars and votives format.
Even though I prefer Carefree to this version, at least I can get a similar scent profile in tarts of April Showers.
A Rainbow’s End on the horizon?
Sightings of the highly sought after retired candle, Rainbow’s End, have been made at a few outlet stores around the country. It’s also made more frequent and less expensive appearances on ebay lately. That is a sure sign that the candle is in the testing phase and people have been able to get their hands on it. I was lucky to get a Rainbow’s End tart in a mixed lot of tarts, so with the re-release of the candle, I may actually melt it. Hopefully, the jars will show up in my area soon, I sure like the idea of a Rainbow’s End to this stormy weather month.
Any thoughts on the upcoming Yankee changes?
-jaybird
The Scented Library 