Yankee Candle Sun and Sand Wax Tart

Introduction

If you have read my reviews before you will know that ever since we discovered the range of Yankee Candles both myself and my wife have become big fans of the real-life, authentic fragrances which are available to buy. We tend to buy the wax tarts from Yankee for a couple of main reasons, one because they're cheap at around a pound each and act as an introduction to the fragrance they are supposed to represent and the other reason is that if we happen to chose a wax tart that we particularly like we will re-buy it in one of the more expensive glass-jarred options which can cost anything up to around £18.00

Whilst not exactly the weather for "Sun and Sand" at the time of writing this review (January 2011) we ended up buying this wax tart simply because it was on sale in Clinton Cards for just 52p. Normally Wax Tarts are twice the price so unable to pass up such a good offer we ended up buying a few of these in even though we had had no previous knowledge or experience of how it actually smelled. Our past Yankee candles purchases had almost always lived up to our expectations and although the name "Sun and Sand" actually gave us no idea what we could expect from this purchase we were still confident that this would be another winner from the Yankee range.

Wax Tarts

If you are unfamiliar with what a wax tart actually is I will briefly explain that unlike a traditional wax candle these come without a wick and are not burned in the usual way. Instead a wax tart is a solid, fluted piece of circularly shaped wax which measures around 2 inches in diameter and approximately half an inch in thickness and are designed to be placed into the well of a tart burner and gently heated and melted from below by the means of a tea light. Tart burners are available to buy from just a few pounds and tea lights themselves usually cost a few pennies each, complete wax tart, burner and tea-light sets are available to buy on-line should you be brand new to the concept and once you own a burner its just a case of scooping out the wax once the fragrance has depleted and replacing the tea-light as and when needed. Wax tarts from Yankee Candles have their fragrance impregnated into the wax and once melted allows the aroma to be released into the air around you, depending on which wax tart you chose will determine how long the aroma is evident but you can usually get around 6-8 hours worth of fragrance from a single tart.

Sun and Sand

So, "Sun and Sand". An ambiguous name I'm sure you will agree, the illustration on the wrapper of the wax tart brings to mind an idyliic sandy beach complete with a hammock and a vista of blue skies and warm, inviting seas. Once removed the wax tart itself is, well, 'sandy' in colour being a slightly darker butter-shade of yellow, sometimes the essential oils which go into the mix are evident before actually being melted but raising this one to my nose I couldn't really detect what went into its creation. Placing the tart into the burner and gently melting from below slowly begins to reveal the fragrance and my first impression was that this was one of the more subtle fragrances available with an opening of citrus flavours, orange in particular being immediately detectable. After around 15 minutes the citrusy flavours were joined by a more flowery, floral aroma which counteracted the sweetness of the orange and the together seemed to be a balanced mix. According to Yankee themselves "Sun and Sand" is a creation of sweet orange flower, lemony citrus, fresh lavender and powdery musk which I have to say is pretty accurate, the musk and lavender do bring a little depth to the aroma but in no way do they dominate it which is good for me as I don't actually like the smell of lavender myself.

I can't say I was transported to foreign climes whist this was melting to be honest, the fragrance was certainly pleasant enough and not too cloying to be overly strong but in all honesty this was a bit weak for me personally as I tend to prefer the stronger-smelling fragrances which are available to buy. "Sun and Sand" was a bit wishy-washy for me personally although I do concur that it actually was appropriately named, it's a gentle mix of subtle flavours which do work well together and maybe if this was melted in the summer months when the weather is nicer it would be more suited. For a winter fragrance though it does lack 'oomph', perhaps this is why it was available so cheaply from Clinton Cards? an out of season Sale offer on old stock is my impression of this one and whilst there's nothing 'wrong' with how it smells I can't say that this would be a new favourite that I would re-buy in a different format.

Another down-side to this one is its longevity, we didn't get anywhere near 8 hours worth of fragrance from the wax tart, in fact after only a few hours its aroma seemed to lessen and after 5 hours was completely gone. All in all rather disappointing and not quite the winner we were expecting but at least I didn't have to spend too much money to find this out for myself.

Conclusion and Rating

Wax Tarts from Yankee Candles can be found both on-line and on the high street usually from specialist candle shops although their presence is now becoming more noticeable in the likes of Clinton Cards and even B&Q. Expect to pay around a pound for a wax tart though be aware that each month Yankee release a selection of new 'flavours of the month' and have these usually with 20% off their RRP. For what you get for your money in terms of how much aroma is released I still think they represent terrific value for money although in the case of "Sun and Sand" I was disappointed with its longevity, the Wax Tarts in general are an inexpensive way for you to introduce yourself to the range on offer from Yankee Candles and are definitely recommended by me.

As far as my rating goes, "Sun and Sand" gets a disappointing 3 out of 5 stars from me for all the reasons stated in this review, it does smell 'nice' but is forgettable and not strong enough in flavour or has enough longevity to be one that I would buy again.