Got my Halloween candles delivered today. Honestly I was surprised how fast they shipped out, although I think I was one of the very first people to place my order. (Kept refreshing the front page until they showed, then placed my order in about 30 seconds lol.) I got 4 Halloween scents that were new to me, and it was kind of a mixed bag. Haven't burned any yet, but here are my thoughts on cold sniff. From most promising to least -
Graveyard Night - this one was a returning scent, but new to me. I had high hopes for it, despite not finding any great reviews on it (apparently there is an older version of this scent that is different, and a lot of the ambassadors I watched had the older one). Well, yay, I LOVE it. To me, a classic Halloween scent. The caramel-pumpkin mixture reminded of Sleepy Hollow, but whereas as Sleepy Hollow has a more spooky vibe due to the incense note, Graveyard Night is more just classic Halloween. I had heard some people say it was sweet and was worried about that, because mostly I do NOT like sweet scents. Caramel is about the only "sweetness" I can tolerate. Well, on cold, I'm not getting anything super sweet. There's some nice spices in there to balance out the pumpkin and caramel. Can't wait to burn this one in October. I wanted one of the new (to me) pumpkin scents, and I think I picked the right one.
Krampus - definitely a weird one, which is what I wanted and expected from this one. I'm very excited to burn it, even though I'm not even sure if I'll like it. Obviously I hope I like it, but I was happy to get one "weird" one this year and I love the story/myth of Krampus, so for me, if nothing else, this was good for a collector's item. There are just a lot of different scent notes in it but on cold, they seem to all work together...the only one putting me off a little is that vegetable note, which I don't get until the end of a "sniff." It's not a terrible scent, but makes me think of vegetable soup. Which is a weird note to have in the mix. Definitely happy with this candle though, and very curious to burn it.
Vampire's Kiss - another one I had high hopes for, but feeling much less sure about this one. Off the top I get an EXTREMELY strong berry note. And to me, it's a very sweet berry note, which, like I said, I don't really sweet scents. Not only that but I got a bit of a medicinal fruit note in there that reminds me of a cough syrup, which I do NOT like - anything remotely like cough syrup makes me gag. However, I kept huffing and huffing it for several minutes and finally felt like I was starting to smell the oakwood/spice notes, which improved it a bit. I don't get a wine note at all though. I'm kind of disappointed in this scent on cold, but also kind of curious to burn it... we will have to see.
The Raven - the most disappointing, right out of the box. I knew I should have trusted my gut with this one, which was telling me it would be a straight-up cologne scent - YUP. Straight-up cologne. I don't get anything remotely spooky or earthy from it, which is what a lot of ambassadors were saying. Only one ambassador I listened to said that it smelled "not masculine, but like a fresh-smelling man" - which I took to mean it was like a light cologne scent. Should've listened to her, but others kept saying it was spooky and earthy and nature-y. But i have learned over the years that for some reason, people often equate "cologne" scents with nature. I don't know why. To me it's just cologne. I will not be burning this one and hoping I can exchange it for something else. Otherwise, I'll be giving it away to a family member, probably.
I also ordered Cedar Incense from the fall collection, and I'm also on the fence about it. I really want to like it, but I swear there's something creamy/sweetish in there that's throwing me off... looking at the scent notes, I can't figure out what it is. If I put this one in my above ranking, it would probably fall just ahead of Vampire's Kiss - I'm kind of disappointed but hoping I'll like it burning.
Overall, definitely a disappointment after last year, my first year doing a big order from Kringle for Halloween - I got Witches Cauldron, the Conjuring, Sleepy Hollow, Mummy Marshmallow, Haunted Hallows, all which I really loved - also Black Cat and Cabin in the Woods, which I loved less but still liked a lot. Compare to this year, only one scent I really loved straight out of the box, two which I would say were not disappointing. Granted, this is partially because so many returning scents were new to me last year, but still.
Ones I did not order but was on the fence about include Scarecrow, Sisters Three, and Haunted Harvest. I'm still kind of curious about Sisters Three but probably won't order it unless it goes on clearance or something. I might still try Scarecrow. Haunted Harvest sounds like a nice one, but I just keep thinking that I have so many pumpkin spice type scents, I don't need another.
Oh, and I also ordered Haunted Hallows and Sleepy Hollow, which were two I also tried last year. Love those two.
