Design Porn: Yankee Candles Dream Garden

CANDLES! Bring them to me. Bring them on.

As someone whose home is as wildly over-candled as the boat scene from Phantom of the Opera, it's safe to say I bloody love a scented candle. Ones that smell like booze or magic especially.

We've already enthused wildly about Yankee Candles on DS, and my applause on seeing Yankee Candles' new limited edition Dream Garden range went on for quite some time. Their classic jar design is all well and good (ie, bit boring), but someone in the design department has clearly got their thinking cap on because these are really pretty.

Not only does their little size now come in a lovely ceramic jar - although be warned, it's more expensive and lasts five hours less than the small jar -  as well as the usual small pillar and large two-wicked pillar candle, but they have great new labels. I really like that needlework pattern - lovely.

Serious BizNose

Let us get down to brass tacks: what do they smell like?

I put one in my sitting room, one in the kitchen, one in the spare room and sparked up to see which one filled the space more. I was surprised by how limited the throw was: for anyone who has complained about Yankee Candles being overpowering, these might be your ideal candle.

Even after a good hour, my small kitchen was just pleasantly scented and the spare room smelled fresh. My sitting room, which is by no means massive, was less good: you wouldn't know you had lit a candle at all.

As Gemma pointed out, Yankee Candles are supposed to smell of what's on the jar. This is certainly the case with Sweet Pink which I did not get on with. I am not a fan of fluffy sweet scents, and this one smelled like cheap teenage girl fragrance, and not the good Impulse kind. 

My favourite was Garden Time: floral, but in a leafy low-key sort of way. This surprised me as I was fully expected Blue Lavender to win. I adore anything with lavender on the label, but disappointingly I didn't notice much in the way of that lovely plant here. Literally, even when I kept it lit on my bedside table and went to sleep next to it - that limited throw can be a bit of a bore.

While I think I'll stick to my trusty Melt Still candle, it is really good to see Yankee Candles trying something different. The scents might not have charmed me, but the designs are wonderful, and I really hope they continue to investigate new avenues away from the classic jars.

• Large tumbler 2-wick candle (up to 85 hours burning time) £19.99
• Ceramic tumbler (25 to 40 hours) £14.99
• Small pillar (35 to 45 hours) £9.95