Yankee Candle White Gardenia Wax Tart

After I purchased my latest scent, “Spiced Orange,” wax tart by Yankee Candle recently, I couldn’t wait to buy “Midnight Jasmine,” and upon returning to my stockist, I was a little disappointed to find that the wax tarts had been sold out. This usually happens to me if one of my favourite scents is “Scent of the Month,” and all the buyers have bought the tarts, leaving behind the weaker votives and more expensive formats like the jars. Undaunted and just as I was about to leave, the sales lady ran up to me and asked me if I had tried “White Gardenia,” which is one of Yankee Candle’s 2012 scented candle perfumes. I recall trying “Sheer Gardenia,” quite a few years back and thinking it was far too strong and induced sneezing in the home when I bought it. This candle is far and away removed from the likewise similar name that appeared in 2005 and even has a different colour in white as opposed to the original pastel light green to prove it.

Pricing & Product Safety

For the wax tart format though – so called because of their fluted shape and wickless – they will need an independent deep concave potpourri oil burner supported by electric means or the humble tea light candle. Yankee Candle also sells their exclusive burners in many styles if you have a strict budget. Compared to their votive/sampler candles which have a wick through them, the Yankee Candle wax tart can be unsafe to keep around inquisitive pets or children and although priced at 90p on average, they are cheaper but burn for 8 hours as opposed to 15 hours you’d get from the votive candle, but the latter isn’t as strong as the wax tart – and it’s a mistake that most buyers make thinking the votive will have a bigger amount of scent. In both cases, whenever the tart or votive is lit, both holders will get extremely hot – and you need to be aware of the wax tart when it is being used.

Removing the wax tart is very simple though – no need to attack with a knife once the wax tart has been left to cool down. Simply take out the tea light candle and put the entire holder into a freezer for a minimum of 15 minutes. After which, turn the holder over and the tart should fall out of the burner, easily. If this doesn’t happen, touch the solid tart and try moving it with your finger – you will find that the disc is fairly easy to remove. Sniff the base of it however and if there’s scent left, the candle has more to give and can be used again, if you wish.

What Does It Smell Of?

White Gardenia has a wonderfully rich recipe of natural smelling Gardenias but there are a few surprises along the way. The first tone that rattles off this candle is that of white Gardenia flowers. It may already sound a bit too much for you if you aren’t into flowers of any kind, but I have been pleasantly surprised to find that this is an extremely open and rich candle that is both pleasing as well as spiritually positive. The second tone that comes off this candle is a very understated ever so light sweet tone of Vanilla – not the heavy “French Vanilla,” that Yankee Candle produce, but a similar tone of Vanilla that was added ever since the “Sandalwood & Vanilla,” scent was released not so long ago. YC have a habit of adding vanilla to stretch out a scent and in some cases it works against other cases where the sweetness is too much. YC have nothing to fear here as the whole embodiment of this flowery candle pales very closely to that of their washing powder/fabric conditioner tinged “Fluffy Towels,” and by its own accord, “White Gardenia,” could pass off as another fabric conditioner inspired scent instead of the royal flower.

The final base tone of white lilies seems to aid the white gardenia in freshening a whole home if you leave this tart to burn for the whole 4 hour duration per average tea light candle.

Strength & Delivery

Unlike “Freesia,” and “Fresh Cut Roses,” – two flowery scents I can’t stand because they’re too heady and rich, Yankee Candle”s “White Gardenia” is very strong, but not to the point that you have to keep burning it to freshen a room. When it begins to melt, this candle builds up the fragrance bit by bit before it streams the scent into other rooms in the home, if you leave your doors open. It certainly pervades well and is able to mask odours particularly well, even if it struggles on tobacco smoke initially. It is a fantastic accompaniment to “Fluffy Towels,” to the point that I soon experimented with combining one full White Gardenia tart with one half of “Fluffy Towels,” wax tart to give a heady Vetiver effect from the lemon additive in “Fluffy Towels,” to combining one half slice of both scents to give a better, watery balance to the scent that conjured up many a Lenor fabric conditioner appeal than that of the original “Fluffy Towels” alone.

Without any other tart, this is a very strong wax tart that offers good value for money. On average I found “White Gardenia” to sustain the 8 hour promise on burn duration that Yankee Candle state, more often than not being able to last a week, to double the time duration when mixed with other candle scents.

Downsides & Other Formats

Granted, “White Gardenia” isn’t going to appeal to anyone – but to anyone who likes the washing powder and likewise fabric conditioner scents – that Yankee Candle produce, this candle is a good accompaniment to each and also serves as an alternative if your favourite “Clean Cotton,” or “Fluffy Towels” isn’t available. It is also a good alternative to other scents that Yankee Candle sell such as the cologne tinged “Soft Blanket,” and “Midnight Jasmine.” However if you don’t like the smell of lilies, then you’ll have to avoid this candle scent.

As this is a relatively new scent to the market, “White Gardenia,” isn’t available in all formats that Yankee Candle sell, and dependent on sellers with it being so new, the 25% “Scent of the Month” discount may not be applied. The following range comprises of:

Wax Tart (22 grams, 8 hour duration, £1.15 to £1-20 each.)
Votive candle (1.75 oz 15 hour duration, average price £1-60 to £2)
Small Housewarmer jar candle (7 oz 25-40 hours duration, £7-49 to £8-99)
Medium Housewarmer jar candle (14.05oz 60-75 hours duration, £14-99 to £15-45)
Large Housewarmer jar candle (22 oz 100-150 hours duration, £18-45)
Large 2-wick tumbler (22.7 oz 70-90 hours duration, £17-99)
Medium lidded glass tumbler (12 oz 40-50 hours duration £14-49 to £14-99)
Regular lidded glass tumbler (7oz 35-45 hours duration, £8-99 to £14-49)
Tea light scented candles (240 grams, 4-6 hours per candle, 12 in a box £6-25 & upwards)
Botanical Reed Diffuser with gift box (3fl. Oz oil duration 8 weeks, 4 floral stems and sticks £17-99).

One final downside is usually a good indication of just how pure a flower based scent by Yankee Candle is. I made the mistake one day of burning a steak in our nearby kitchen and I had White Gardenia burning in one room that was floating through. Not thinking, I opened the kitchen window for fresh air and only moments later looked up to find a bee buzzing beside the window, only to be joined by a few others! I quickly shut the window and ran to the room where White Gardenia was burning. I have experienced this before when my mum burns “Fresh Cut Roses,” in her home and the likewise incident can happen if it’s sunny and you leave your windows open!

Final Thoughts

For a freshening flowery explosion, there are quite a few different Yankee Candle scents on the market, and I’m not keen on many of them as they induce coughing or sneezing. “White Gardenia,” however hasn’t been the case where I’ve badly reacted to it. It is a very strong, warm and cosy scent that has the great ability to mask odours, freshen rooms and just allow a bit of your garden to come into the home. It is also quite powerful and spiritual when compared to "Midnight Jasmine," almost like having Midnight Jasmine for the day!

Aided by its flowery back drop 'White Gardenia," is also quite a natural smell, lacks synthetics and is undoubtedly a very strong candle given the longevity I’ve had out of one wax tart. I would definitely consider the tarts again, or even go as far as purchasing a larger glass jar version. White Gardenia is also good for mixing different scents with and providing good versatility if you want to change the scent slightly. It won’t be for everyone, but at least it appeals to me! Thanks for reading. ©Nar2 2012

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