I was doing some very important shopping in Next about a month or so ago. I found myself in the Home department with my basket of important shopping. Of course I was looking at candles, they also have some amazing bedlinen choices and cushions.
But these two sets caught my eye because I loved the candle holders. Also £6 for each set was a bargain, I noticed that they had some of the candles in larger jars sold separately but they only had Clean Cotton.
Each box had a list of the top, heart and base notes of each candle which was very detailed.
Floral & Fresh Set
White Jasmine
Top – Violet Leaves and Plum
Heart – Jasmine and White Lily
Base – White Musk and Amber
This was one of my favourites of the six candles. Couldn’t smell the plum notes though but not really that fussed. 5/5
Apricot Blossom
Top – Mandarin and Pink Grapefruit
Heart – Apricot Blossom and Mango
Base – Amber and Coconut
I’m not a great apricot fan but the blossom smells sweet but not too overpowering. The mango and coconut really balanced this one out. Sadly the scent got pretty weak after the first burn. 2/5
Clean Cotton
Top – Sun Dried Cotton
Heart – Peony Blossom
Base – White Musks
This one featured Next’s Odour Neutraliser so I tried this after making a chicken vindaloo to see how it would handle it. They are pretty small candles so it didn’t quite get rid of the smell but I did notice that the next day the smell wasn’t as bad as it normally is, that lingering curry smell the day after isn’t for everyone! I liked the smell of this too, couldn’t really make out the blossom but could the white musk. 5/5
Sweet & Fruity Set
Sweet Fig
Top – Fig Leaf and Lavender
Heart – Fig Orchid
Base – Vanilla and Precious Woods Musk
This one is very lovely, I have a definite new found love for Fig scents. This is sweet but not sickly. The vanilla makes it sweet and you can smell the lavender giving it the sudden kick at the end of each sniff. My favourite of the lot. 5/5
Citrus Zest
Top – Orange and Lemon
Heart – Lime and Grapefruit
Base – Patchouli and Musk
Whilst this might not have been the intention the grapefruit really comes out in this. I think the patchouli helps take away the sour smelling side to grapefruit and leaves a lovely fresh smell. It is zesty but can’t smell the other fruits at all really. 3/5
Strawberries & Cream
Top – Strawberry and Apple
Heart – Peach and Plum
Base – Vanilla and Cream
Absolutely smells like a peach candle. No strawberry scent at all. A little disappointed but I like the peach scent, hopefully it could be renamed! 0/5
But as a peach candle… 4/5
My reviews on the scents are pretty varied. That’s the beauty of these sets that now I can go back and get the larger ones in the scents I did like.
My review on the packaging is slightly annoyed… I loved the boxes. So much so that I have taken the bottoms of the boxes and used them for storing stationery in my desk. But the annoying bit each candle was placed into the plastic casing with that peel off stuff (the stuff that looks like clear snot) but this was the harder stuff. So when I took the Sweet Fig candle out of the box first, because it was purple and I just had to sniff the candle… the paper overlay on the holder ripped! Now I know these were £6 but why was that snot packaging wotsit invented! Carefully I removed the others and I get that they could move about in the box but maybe something a little less daft please Next!
The candles themselves burnt alright, the wicks weren’t placed straight in a few so tunneling was bad. They didn’t smoke and although they are votive sets they are small votives. I have cleaned out my jars and I’m using them on my desk as votives won’t fit in them. It doesn’t say that this is their use after the candle has finished but it is what I had in mind for them. I might make my own candles maybe.
They are such pretty holders though!
Also another thing… why do Next not have a lot of candles on their site anymore? Weird.
Apologies for the long post. Has anyone else tried these? Or any other Next candles or reed diffusers? Let us know in the comments below.
