I love Yankee Candle. Some things you can share about yourself, and they seem simple on the surface, though there is a depth of that characteristic in your soul that isn’t visible to the naked eye. You’re probably thinking, “yeah, ok cool, Stoney – we get it. You like Yankee Candle.” But, you don’t really understand it. You can only understand the depths of my love for Yankee Candle if you’ve known me for the last 15 years, since that fateful day in Mount Juliet, Tennessee. That was when a young, bright-eyed, and bushy-tailed Stoney Keeley walked into the Yankee Candle in the Providence shopping center. I had no desire to buy a candle. I honestly have no idea what even compelled me to go into the store. What can I say? It was 2006, and a gigantic shopping mall opened up in the small town that I grew up in, knowing only as a two-lane road and a Cracker Barrel. I was curious. I was exploring.
And, what ended up happening? I was captivated. Prior to this serendipitous occasion, I thought candles were little more than lavender and vanilla. I didn’t know the exhaustive depths to which Yankee’s catalog plummeted. It was September. I remember that much. The fall fragrances were out, yet it was still hot outside. I was intrigued by Autumn Woods, and figured, “what the hell?” I gave it a shot, and I never looked back. I found that the fragrances, synced with the current season, did a masterful job of enhancing my mood. I quickly became a regular at that store…at one point, I was even close to getting a job there. I knew all of the employees, and though they would look at me like, “we don’t see a lot of grown ass men in here who are shopping for themselves and not their wives,” I felt like apart of the Yankee community. So, yeah – I like candles, but it goes a lot deeper than that. Yankee Candle might as well be in my blood. That’s how much I love it. I love my blood.
Anyway, I’ve tried approximately every fragrance that has come out since 2006 throughout the years, and I’ve done what I can to catch up on the scents that came out prior to my attending of the Mount Juliet store on that fateful day. I don’t know if I want to call myself an expert. I don’t know if that’s the responsible thing to do as a journalist. But, that’s exactly what I’m going to do. I thought this factoid would make me uniquely qualified to rank the top 100 Yankee Candle fragrances. I am an expert on this stuff, and I can say that more confidently than I can say I’m an expert on anything else I write about on this here website. So, here we go.
The Top 100 Yankee Candle Fragrances
100. Treehouse Memories – I don’t remember if this candle is actually good, or if it just reminded me of how awesome I think treehouses are and just stuck in my brain for the rest of my life. Listen – in all seriousness, it’s a great fall candle that smells like a bit of a sweeter version of Autumn Woods. But, it was one and done upon release, so my memory of it isn’t that vivid. If you want to find one of these things, good damn luck. You’re going to pay for it.
99. Nectarine and Honey – Man, I look a good, rich, sweet citrus as opposed to a straight up fresh and fruity citrus. That’s what you get with Nectarine and Honey. It’s like an Old Fashioned minus the whiskey. Damn, now I’m going to have to go pour me up a drink.
98. Icy Blue Spruce – I love this one in the winter time because it’s a great winter tree fragrance, but there’s almost a hint of mint or some sort of herb in it. I don’t know. I just know that it gives me that tingly cold feeling right up my nose like I just popped a new piece of gum into my ol’ gobbler.
97. Orange Dreamsicle – The only reason this candle ranks so low on the list is that it makes me want to actually eat it, and that is unacceptable. You just can’t eat the Yankee Candles. So, this candle smells so much like an orange dreamsicle that it creates that conflict in my brain. I can’t trust myself around orange dreamsicle, so I have to dock points from it.
96. Under the Palms – It’s like Yankee Candle could read my mind as a guy who appreciates a good coconut fragrance in the summer time, but always gravitates towards the fresh and outdoorsy smells. “Hey, what if we took coconut and added some grass and leaves to it?” That’s how Under the Palms was born (I don’t know this for sure – I’m only guessing).
95. Tahitian Tiare Flower – I usually reserve my floral fragrances for the spring and the spring only, but Tahitian Tiare Flower has some nice sweet…maybe even coconut-y…undertones to it that make it a nice change of pace from all the beachy fruity fragrances that I usually burn in the summer time.
94. Pumpkin Ginger Bark – Look, I’m not going to lead y’all astray. I like a lot of weird shit, but at least I’m going to be honest and open about it being weird shit. Pumpkin Ginger Bark is some Grade A weird shit, but I love it. It’s spicy – you get the classic pumpkin scent that you love in the fall, but there’s that tinge of ginger that just dazzles the nostrils.
93. Holiday Hearth – Yeah, sure – Holiday Hearth is like a diet Home for the Holidays. It’ll do if you want something just different enough from Home for the Holidays that you can justify branching out and trying something new instead of just burning Home for the Holidays all month every Christmas. But, deep down we all know….you should just burn Home for the Holidays during the entire month of December every single December of all time.
92. Willow Breeze – I don’t remember exactly why, as Willow Breeze is hard to find these days and I haven’t burned it in probably a decade, but there’s something comforting about it. It’s like a fresh summer day with the wind blowing down from the citrus grove. I want to say there’s some cedar in there, too but like I said, I don’t quite remember. I just remember loving this candle. If I could travel back in time to 2009, I could probably write a more accurate expression of my love for this candle.
91. Grapevine & Oak – Sometimes, I don’t think y’all understand how good Yankee Candle’s wine fragrances are. Of course, there’s Vineyard and Mulled Wine, which you’ll read about later on in this list. But, there’s also Napa Valley Sun and Napa Valley Harvest that are combining to make this one of the most slept-on genres of Yankee Candle out there. What I love most about Grapevine & Oak is that it takes that grape profile, and adds a little bit of fresh Earthy-ness to it.
90. Sea Harbor – Well, they damn sure didn’t base this fragrance off of what the harbor smells like in Panama City Beach, Florida. I’ll tell you that much. I love the soft warm hints of jasmine and vanilla that finish off an initial gust of saltwater wind. If all lighthouses smelled like this, I would’ve given up my life to do whatever the fuck it is that Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson do in The Lighthouse.
89. Green Bamboo – An underrated spring-to-summer transition candle. It smells like straight up grass, but then, you get the faintest hints of some sort of wood, and some sort of floral notes. It’s a hard one to find, but it is worth the effort.
88. Cinnamon Vanilla – This is like the Little Caesar’s Hot-N-Ready of Yankee Candle fragrances. You know what it is. It’s cinnamon. It’s vanilla. We’re not going to beat around the bush about what this creation is. It’s hot, and it’s ready. “Yeah, but is it really that good?” It’s HOT. And, it’s READY. Just like you can’t go wrong with cheese and pepperoni, you simply cannot screw up two of the G.O.A.T. scents (in general), cinnamon and vanilla.
87. Mulled Wine – I don’t know that there’s another Yankee Candle fragrance that warms the soul the way Mulled Wine does on a cold winter day. It’s like someone tipped over and poured a little Christmas into Vineyard. Plus, there’s a hint of clove in this one, and if you don’t know anything else about me, please know that I go hard in defense of the clove as the most criminally underrated spice in existence.
86. Fruit Salad – Go on and pour a little bit of every fruit fragrance you have in one jar and suddenly you’ve got one of the more fun fresh and fruity fragrances in the Yankee Candle catalog. I’m not convinced they didn’t just have a bunch of stuff left over from other candles and decided to just pour ’em together and see what happened.
85. Island Spa – This used to be one of my favorite summertime candles. When I first discovered it, I was still living at home with my parents. One day, my dad walked into my room and told me Island Spa smelled like lemon Pledge. This candle has been ruined for me ever since.
84. Enchanted Moon – Enchanted Moon was on the initial top 100 list I jotted down when I started this post all the way back in November of 2021. But, honestly, now that I’m actually writing it out, I can’t for the life of me remember what Enchanted Moon actually smells like. I can’t even remember what the label looked like. Did a bot write that initial top 100? What am I doing here?
83. Home Sweet Home – Overrated. There I said it. I love Home Sweet Home – don’t get me wrong. But it is obviously a Christmas fragrance hiding as a “whenever-you-want-to” fragrance. I simply cannot support that, and even though it smells delightful, I have always resented Home Sweet Home because of it.
82. Storm Watch – Storm Watch is so slept on in the grand pantheon of Yankee Candle. It’s like the moisture of an oncoming storm with a fresh, Earthy, outdoorsy fragrance blended in. If storms actually smelled like this, there is a 100% chance I would be killed by Mother Nature because I’d be out in the back yard during every thunderstorm and tornado that came through here.
81. Black Coconut – Black Coconut has a little more variation in it than the more traditional Coconut Bay – the Yankee machine calls it ‘pineapple’ and ‘wood,’ but I was going to say it smells like someone sprayed their perfume in a jar of Coconut Bay.
80. Plumeria – That 2009 spring line definitely belongs in the Yankee Candle Hall of Fame. It may, and folks, I do not say this lightly, be the greatest Yankee Candle line of all time. I don’t even know what the fuck a Plumeria is, but I know this fragrance is one of my favorite spring candles of all time.
79. Cottage Breeze – Cottage Breeze can be very tricky..if you get the wrong cottage with the wrong kind of breeze blowing, you’re going to get a candle that smells like the ogre swamp from Shrek. Thankfully, the scientists at Yankee Candle found the right cottage, one that smells like the beach, but one that has pine trees growing on it.
78. Honeydew Melon – It might sound kind of basic, but honestly, I think that’s what makes it so beautiful…it’s simplicity. Sometimes, you just want to bury your face in some melons in the summertime. Honeydew Melon is the perfect encapsulation of that. Not to mention, it gives you a different kind of fruity vibe in the summer.
77. Black Cherry – Listen, I will give Yankee Candle props for the longevity of this candle. I would never in a million years have thought that a candle that just smells like straight up cherries would be so wildly popular. But, I get it – it smells great. It makes me hungry. Maybe the cherry industry conspired with Yankee Candle to create this candle to drive up sales. I don’t want to just hurl wild accusations around recklessly, but come on. Don’t say you haven’t thought the same thing before.
76. Pumpkin Wreath – Who am I fucking kidding? I can’t tell the difference between all of these different pumpkin fragrances anymore. I just know that I like them, okay?
75. Singing Carols – As you’ll see on down the list, I am a huge fan of the Christmas fragrance Silver Bells. You just can’t find it anymore. It’s been discontinued, and I don’t think it was ever popular enough to come back as a returning favorite. But, Singing Carols comes pretty damn close to it. It definitely has that “cold metal” smell to it, but there’s also a little spice…a little homey-ness to it…that gives it a nice traditional Christmas scent vibe to it. I’ll have a full video review of this one dropping at Christmastime.
74. Ocean Water – Ocean Water would rank much higher on this list if it actually smelled like my favorite summertime beverage from Sonic. However, it is not very accurate in that regard.
73. Kitchen Spice – Listen, I’m a big cloves guy. If Yankee Candle made a straight up “Cloves” candle, I’d be burning it every waking moment of my life. But, they don’t. So, you factor in a little cinnamon and a little citrusy smell, and you get the closest thing to it: Kitchen Spice.
72. Candy Cane Lane – I’m sure we’ve all spent our restless and sleepless nights wondering what a road would smell like if it was paved in candy canes. That’s just a joke that I thought would play here and is no way, shape, or form indicative of what Candy Cane Lane actually smells like. It smells like peppermint, but like….sweet peppermint….like a candy cane that has been dipped in frosting.
71. Frosted Pumpkin – I like my pumpkin fragrances in the fall. You want to add some frosting to it and make it a little sweety sweet? By all means – don’t let me stop you. I’m not typically a “baked goods” fragrance kind of guy, but Frosted Pumpkin always did the trick to get my pumpkin frosted if you know what I mean.
70. Clean Cotton – You know what? I’ll say it out loud – Clean Cotton is a fine candle…but if you’re not some disgusting ogre, you’re probably going to be smelling clean cotton every day because your clothes are clean. Is that a hot take? I don’t know. It’s a basic fragrance, and they’ve sold a million of these things. I like it in the early summer.
69. Beautiful Day – I always thought Beautiful Day kind of got lost in the spring shuffle. It didn’t smell like any one spring fragrance…instead, it was like a multitude of fresh and floral fragrances in one candle. Maybe that’s why it didn’t catch on and it’s so hard to find in the Returning Favorites section – Beautiful Day, as underrated as I thought it was, might’ve just had an identity problem.
68. White Gardenia – full review – This is another one of those scents that just takes me back. I love a good floral and fresh combo for the late spring/early summer, and that’s what we have here in White Gardenia. It reminds me of visiting my grandparents’ house that time of year – I’d be playing outside, shooting some basketball or something, and then I’d have to come rushing inside to take a dump. My granny always had some sort of air freshener that kind of smelled like White Gardenia. So, that’s what it reminds me of….taking a dump at my grandparents’ house.
67. Haunted Hayride – full review – Haunted Hayride makes me wish I could find a good witch to spank me right on my bare ass. I never would’ve thought that I’d go for a candle that had hints of ‘charcoal’ and ‘black pepper’ in it, but I think that uniqueness is exactly why Haunted Hayride goes so hard. They lean into the Earthy death fragrance and I’m here for it. I’m guessing ‘Haunted Hayride’ was a little more marketable than ‘Open Grave,’ but that’s what I’d say is more accurate.
66. Cliffside Sunrise – full review – I love Cliffside Sunrise as a sort of amalgamation of fresh, floral, and fruity summertime fragrances. You get hints of hibiscus, hints of strawberry, and hints of some sort of fresh air/water/musk kind of smell. You could hurl me off the side of whatever cliff it is that smells like this, and I would die a happy man.
65. Be Thankful – Yankee just straight up told us to be thankful, and you know what? I’m cool with it. I’ll allow it…because I am thankful for this candle. It is a nice, underrated fall fragrance. It is everything good about your fall staples – the cinnamon and spice…the pumpkin…and yet, there’s a fruity note that makes it stand out from the pack. I’d say it’s like Harvest and Mango Peach Salsa had a lovechild.
64. Beach Walk – I’ll be honest. This one would’ve ranked a whole lot higher if there wasn’t walking involved. I know I say “I just don’t know how they did it…” all the damn time, but I really have no idea how Yankee Candle was able to so perfectly capture the essence of a salt water breeze coming off of the ocean.
63. Cascading Snowberry – Y’all probably know by now if you’ve been following my Yankee Candle reviews, that I like “different.” Well, Cascading Snowberry is a very “different” take on the Christmas/winter time candle. It’s almost got an ivy quality to it. Like frosted poison ivy…but….like…I’d imagine that probably wouldn’t test well in focus groups. This is a nice scent that’ll change things up during December, but isn’t so Christmasy that you have to put it away before New Year’s. I’d burn this thing into February.
62. Sweet Honeysuckle – Lord, take me back to the days of my childhood, sleeping in, watching Little House on the Prairie, eating oatmeal and bacon, and then going outside to play until it got dark. That’s what Sweet Honeysuckle reminds me of…mainly because I used to eat that shit all the time as a kid. We had some fresh honeysuckle bushes right outside the house.
61. Golden Sands – Where are these golden sands that Yankee Candle speaks of? I love this brilliant summertime fragrance for its hints of ‘beach’ and its hint of ‘orange.’ What an outside-the-box combination for the summertime!
60. Almond Cookie – I would’ve loved to have been in the meeting room for this one…it’s like they couldn’t decide between an almond and a cookie, so they just went with both. Do almond cookies actually exist? Is that a thing that I’ve just missed out on my entire life? Regardless, I like to burn almond cookie in the early fall – the warmth and sweets of it all just remind me of the oncoming holidays when I’m inevitably going to gain 80 pounds.
59. Crisp Morning Air – It’s a different approach to the fall candle, and it’s a welcomed effort to get away from the apple and pumpkin that usually accompanies the arrival of fall. They really lean into the fresh eucalyptus with this one. It’s more a fresh, “herbal” fall fragrance, and I don’t know where on Earth the air smells like this, but I want to go there.
58. Alfresco Afternoon – I had never heard of this fragrance until I scooped it up off the shelf in a recent semi-anny. But, boy am I glad I did. How Yankee was able to capture the essence of getting drunk on a patio outside somewhere is beyond me, but they did. There’s a wave of the fresh outdoors in this candle, with a follow-up of fruity cocktail, and folks, it is tightening my JNCOs if you know what I mean.
57. Cranberry Peppermint – Yankee definitely has the mad scientist vibes going with some of these fragrance combinations. Not all of ’em hit, but some of ’em do. I would not have thought cranberry and peppermint would go well together, but as a Christmas fragrance, this one makes for a nice break from all the cinnamon, trees, and cookie scents. It adds a little sweetness to that minty goodness.
56. Sun and Sand – This might be a little low for some folks’ liking. It really is an all-timer, and one of Yankee Candle’s most iconic summer fragrances of all time. I don’t know that I’ve ever smelled anything this close to smelling like an actual beach. One might even call Sun and Sand one of the four pillars of Yankee Candle’s summer scents (along with Midsummer’s Night, Coconut Bay, and what? Clean Cotton?). But, I’ve burned it so much throughout the years that the shine has worn off a bit. I like stuff that is a little more “different” these days, and that’s why you’ll find this one on down the power rankings.
55. Bahama Breeze – OOF, I take a whiff of this one and it immediately takes me back to the warmth of Panama City Beach with an ocean breeze blowing through my luxurious chest hair. Depending on the rules at the beach, I might even have my sack out blowing in the wind, too. Fond memories with a fruity cocktail (and some suntan lotion mixed in there, too).
54. Moonlight Harvest – Am I the only one in the world that actually liked this scent? I mean, it came out one fall and then BOOM – gone forever. It was on the clearance racks the very next semi-anny. It was a fan-fuckin-tastic early fall fragrance…heavy on the ‘harvest’ scent, but it had the slightest little undertow of a musky Midsummer’s Night-esque scent in there too. Perfect for making love under the stars or in the back of your 1996 Chevy Blazer.
53. Juicy Peach – Nah, I ain’t talkin’ about ass. I’m talkin’ about the Yankee Candle that literally just smells like straight up peach. Nothing fancy – they don’t even try to give it a poetic name or invoke any certain emotion or anything like that. They’re just like “here’s your peach candle, you piece of shit.” And, I for one, am gladly accepting it. This is a great, low-key summer candle. I like burning it around the 4th of July or Memorial Day because it reminds me of getting peach cobbler at the cookout.
52. Autumn in the Park – I’d really like to know what park Yankee Candle went to to come up with this fragrance. I’m beginning to think these people live on a different planet. I’m a big fan of dead leaves in my fall fragrances, and we get plenty of that in this one. It’s like a hodge podge of the Earthy fall fragrances and the apple-y fall fragrances.
51. Moonlit Cove – full review – Moonlit Cove instantly became one of my favorite summer fragrances of all time. It has a nice subtle Earthy sort of smell to it that pitches a change-up to the usual floral, fruity, and tropical tones of the summer scents. Yankee cites notes of lemongrass, ginger, and citrus in this one, and I’d say that’s pretty close to spot on. Ginger is such a unique and interesting scent to throw in a summer fragrance, but it really keeps this one smelling different. It’s like a combination of Bahama Breeze and Midsummer’s Night. Personally, I think this is a great night time fragrance, and can really set the mood for your partner. I dare say Moonlit Cove is a natural aphrodisiac. You’ll be calling it Moonclit Cove in no time because of how riled up it gets you and your partner.
50. Pineapple Cilantro – One of the absolute best and most unique “fruity” summer fragrances. Who doesn’t love the smell of pineapple? And, those geniuses at Yankee took it a step further and said “let’s spice it up with some cilantro” to make it a little more complex and different. Bonus points for being able to burn this candle on your front porch in order to let people know you’re a swinger and welcome group sex with strangers.
49. Silver Birch – Silver Birch was tailor made for that sweet spot in between late summer and early fall. It has just enough ‘fall’ in it to make you look forward to the change in seasons, but there’s still enough ‘fresh’ in it to remind you of dying trees in the forest. It’s very Earthy and free. One of my favorite transitional candles.
48. Crisp Campfire Apples – Hey, if you love some fall fragrances but want something other than one of the pumpkin-based fragrances, give this one a shot. What’s more ‘fall’ than apples and bonfires? I think that speaks for itself here. Yankee has a wealth of apple fragrances – this is low key among the best of ’em.
47. Cranberry Chutney – An underrated Christmastime fragrance. I don’t know if it was designed to be a Christmastime fragrance, but it definitely has that “sweet fruity spice” factor as I call it. I’ve also never made chutney, but judging by the chutney on the label of this candle, I really want to make some.
46. Cherry Blossom – Oh, how I miss Cherry Blossom. My heart longs for your subtle transitional scent from Valentine’s Day into the spring. It was like being in Washington DC when the cherry blossoms bloom. I’ve never been, but I’ve heard a lot about it and am just projecting that. Nonetheless, it is one of the all-time great spring fragrances from Yankee’s catalog.
45. Red Raspberry – Much like raspberry is an underrated fruit in the grand scheme of fruits, Red Raspberry is one of Yankee’s most underrated fruit fragrances. It’s hard to find these days, but I think it’s a nice change-of-pace candle that pairs well with Fresh Cut Roses around Valentine’s Day.
44. Spiced Pumpkin – You know what? I’ll say it – some of y’all overrate Spiced Pumpkin a bit. It’s a quintessential pumpkin smell, but we’ve gotten way too big and way too grandiose with the pumpkin fragrances since. It just doesn’t do it for me the way it used to, but even being the Spiced Pumpkin hater I am, I have no choice but to respect the pedigree.
43. Summer Storm – full review – I am a sucker for a good, fresh, and musky fragrance in the summer time. Summer Storm fits into that ‘Midsummer’s Night’ profile. How the scientists managed to get right in the middle of a storm and discover what lightning smells like is beyond me. It takes some real gumption to pull that off. But, I expect no less from the fearless individuals at Yankee Candle.
42. Pink Sands – Damn, there’s a lot of sand on this list. I guess I never stopped to think about how many ‘sands’ there were in the Yankee Candle catalog. I’m not sure what the distinction is between pink sand and regular sand, but I always felt like this one was a little less beachy and a little more fruity. That makes sense, right? A beach can smell fruity, no?
41. Mountain Lodge – A surprisingly versatile fragrance, Mountain Lodge can fit just about anywhere on the calendar and that’s part of the reason I love it so much. You can burn it in the summer time to bring back memories of heading to the cabins of the Smoky Mountains on vacation. Or, you can burn it in the fall for it’s musky scent. It’s one of those rare “it doesn’t really matter when you burn it” candles for me.
40. Cherries on Snow – The mad scientists at Yankee Candle strike again – who would have ever thought, “hey see that snow over there? We should go dump some cherries on it and I bet it’ll smell good.” That’s just what makes this company so great. Cherries on Snow is one of my favorite transition scents to burn around Valentine’s Day – it has the “freshness” of one of the good winter scents, but the cherry adds a nice fruity touch that reminds me of like…chocolate-covered cherries or something…I don’t know…but it just works for that time of the year. Stop judging me please.
39. Fresh Mint – There’s just something about Fresh Mint in that late spring/early summer window that is both Earthy and refreshing. It would definitely be higher on this list if it didn’t make me want a mojito every time I burned it. It’s so hard to find, though – I think I’ve only had two large jars of it my entire life. So, if you see one on your shelf, pick one up for your boy.
38. Cafe Au Lait – My sources are reporting that this means “coffee with milk” in French, and now it makes sense as to why this candle smells so much like coffee. Wow – look at Yankee Candle mixing in language lessons to broaden my horizons as a cultured human. How thoughtful of them to essentially teach me French.
37. Pomegranate Cider – I’ve never had pomegranate cider. As a matter of fact, I didn’t even know that it was a thing until Yankee Candle. It’s just another thing that they do well – not only do they give us great smelling candles to enhance our lives, but they also introduce us to new concepts that help us grow as people. Is there anything this company can’t do?
36. Ciderhouse – I’m going back-to-back cider scents here, but since I make the rules on this piece, I don’t care. Ciderhouse is great because of how the fruit and the spice fragrances balance each other. It is heavy on the apple, but it has just the slightest hint of spice to make this a tremendous transition from the summer into the fall – burn this thing from the last week of August through Labor Day and you are going to be in the fall spirit in no time.
35. Lucky Shamrock – full review – This is a blissful spring candle that you can burn beyond just St. Patrick’s Day, but holy shit, if you only want to burn this candle on St. Patrick’s Day, it will last you the rest of your life. Anyway, I love Lucky Shamrock because it takes the more traditional grassy and Earthy scents and adds a little moisture to it. It smells like you’ve just walked into a cave, and I don’t know about you guys, but I fucking LOVE the way caves smell.
34. Maple Pancakes – Are you into torture? Specifically speaking, do you love to torture your own family? Well, I have just the candle for you – Maple Pancakes. Nothing will inflict mental anguish on folks quite like waking up early on a Saturday morning, burning this candle, and having everyone in the house think they’re waking up to pancakes, only to discover that it’s just a candle. That’s how accurate this one is.
33. Vanilla Lime – It’s like key lime pie. What’s better in the summer time than a nice slice of key lime pie? That’s what I get out of Vanilla Lime, and it’s a nice diversion from the usual fresh, floral fragrances that typically come with the summer time. The vanilla adds just a touch of sweetness to the scent that will break up your routine while also tempting you to take a fork and knife to the jar.
32. Fall Festival – I’m a big fan of Fall Festival and believe it has its place among the grand pantheon of Yankee Candle’s fall fragrances. It’s a little bit spicy like Harvest, with that traditional autumnal fragrance profile. But, it has a little more sweet to it as well – like a creamy sweet pumpkin scent or something. It’s a nice hodge podge of what makes the fall lines from Yankee Candle so great. I have yet to attend a festival that smells like this, though. Just saying.
31. Holiday Bayberry – No sane person knows what a bayberry even is but it smells like Christmas and that’s all that fucking matters. It smells like plants and Christmas. That’s exactly what I look for in a Christmas candle that I don’t want to smell like cookies and cinnamon. Every now and then you need to break up the routine, y’know?
30. Green Grass – Green Grass should not smell as good as it does. It’s one of those candles that you read the label, you smell it and indeed realize that that does smell just like fresh cut grass, and you think, “there’s no way.” But, yes way – there’s no quicker way to get your house smelling like the freshness and renewal of spring and summer than by burning Green Grass.
29. Hydrangea – full review – I don’t think the floral scents get the credit they deserve in the candle game. Yankee Candle is the GOAT of floral scents, and Hydrangea is no exception. I don’t know what’s different about the ‘blue’ variant, but it’s out there, too. This one is a springtime classic. Blue Hydrangea has been discontinued, so it’s pretty hard to find, but you should be able to find a stray Hydrangea on your shelves in the ‘Returning Favorites’ section some time.
28. Fresh Cut Roses – It might sound like a stark contrast to go from the holiday and tree scents directly to a floral scent, but I find that Fresh Cut Roses is a nice bridge between winter and spring, something to burn right around Valentine’s Day. It could also trick your wife or girlfriend into thinking there are actual roses in the house. It’s that close to the real thing.
27. Evening Air – I’m going to be honest with you guys, Evening Air used to be a top 10 candle for me back in the day. It’s a great late summer/early fall fragrance. But, one day, when I was still living at home, my dad walked into the room and said it smelled like pencil shavings and it just completely wrecked me. I haven’t been able to smell it the same since. Nonetheless, I loved it for how outdoorsy it smelled while also sneaking in hints of a cool evening breeze into it.
26. Sparkling Cinnamon – There’s no denying what this candle is or what it’s about. It’s just cinnamon, and fuck me if cinnamon doesn’t smell damn good. It’s as safe a gift as you’ll find – a good quality fragrance without a particular component that might make it weird to some. That’s probably why they sell a boat load of these bad boys at Christmastime.
25. Meadow Showers – full review – You have a plethora of options when it comes to the fresh spring fragrances with Yankee Candle, but after much thoughtful and journalistic deliberation, I’m saying that Meadow Showers is the best of ’em. Nothing captures the essence of bathing nude in a fresh and natural spring quite like Meadow Showers. I can feel the wind blowing on the tip of my penis just typing this. It’s a great late spring/early summer scent.
24. Hazelnut and Coffee – Does anything in the morning smell better than a fresh pot of coffee? This is one thing that Yankee Candle does incredibly well. Their simple scents, stuff that’s right on the nose, just hits right on the spot. Their aim with this one was hazelnut and coffee, well guess what! This smells like hazelnut and coffee. Bing bong.
23. Woodland Road Trip – full review – This is a newer fragrance, but I’ll be damned if it wasn’t the highlight of the 2021 class of fall candles. It’s been a hot minute since something came out and immediately contended among the fall heavyweights. Listen – Yankee Candle does fall like nobody else. That’s not easy to do. Woodland Road Trip smells like warm sunshine with a cool fall breeze and the ripe smells of an Earth that is beginning to cool off for the season. I tell you hwhut, it damn well smells just like a ride in the car right up through Gatlinburg, Tennessee…in the heart of the Smoky Mountains.
22. Autumn Wreath – I swear Autumn Wreath smells just like a combination of all of the other fall fragrances from the Yankee Candle catalogue. There’s an inherently Earthy scent to it, but the more it lingers, the more the smells of cinnamon and apples hang in the air.
21. Christmas Eve – I don’t know if they call this one Christmas Eve because it smells like what I would imagine the musk of Santa Claus smells like or what, but it is a delightful holiday fragrance that has all of the holiday spice you’re accustomed to with all of the holiday magic to go with it.
20. Vineyard – Be still, my beating heart. A deep purple candle that smells just like a cup of wine? AH! It is orgasmic, and best of all, it’s not beholden to one season. You can burn Vineyard at any point on the calendar, and it will play well. It’s like a relaxing afternoon spent bathing in the sunlight at your favorite vineyard.
19. Garden Sweet Pea – I usually go fresh and floral for my spring time candle rotation, but what I love about Garden Sweet Pea is that it does have just that oh-so-subtle hint of sweetness to it that makes it stand apart from the other spring fragrances. It’s been retired, but every now and then, you’ll see it pop up in the returning favorites section. So, keep an eye out for it and stash it away for the next spring.
18. Red Berry and Cedar – It reminds me of the old cedar wardrobe my parents had when I was growing up…I can still smell that thing on an early Christmas morning to wake them up so we could open presents to this day. It’s a different type of holiday scent, but it’s underrated in the larger holiday candle conversation.
17. Mango Peach Salsa – Two of the best fruit fragrances out there, mango and peach, make sweet sweet beautiful love in this candle, and I dare say it is my favorite fruit fragrance outside of any of the fall/holiday candles. Shocking, I know…but I stand by it.
16. Amber Glow – Soft, rich, and Earthy, Amber Glow is among my quintessential transition candles from summer to fall. It has ample amount of freshness, but it also has some rich rocky tones in it that make it feel closer to an Earthy fall candle than a fresh-air summer candle. If you want to say it smells like a golden hour sunset, well then who the hell am I to stop you?
15. Red Apple Wreath – Who says the apple has to go after fall? I respect the rules as much as the next guy, but I dig it. Let’s put a little more fruit into our holiday rotation with this one. Also, do they actually put apples in wreaths somewhere on this planet? Because I’m in.
14. Silver Bells – Good luck finding Silver Bells anywhere these days, but it is absolutely on my Yankee Candle Christmas Mount Rushmore. It’s all the spice of a holiday candle mixed with brass. That’s right – straight metal. They won’t say that because you’re not going to sell any damn candles by saying they smell like metal….but it’s a win in my book.
13. Lakeside Birch – I rather enjoy the woodsy, wet fragrances in late summer when the tropical vibes of the season have worn off and I’m beginning to look forward to fall. That’s exactly what I get with Lakeside Birch. It brings back memories of the swampy frisbee golf course in Smyrna, Tennessee.
12. North Pole – The crisp sting of fresh snow and fresh winter air paired with the sweetness of a candy cane. I would imagine this is exactly what the Candy Cane Forest at the North Pole smells like, and I wouldn’t put it past the Yankee Candle team to have conjured the magic to get there and know what it smells like in person.
11. Harvest – If you could capture the essence of a good pumpkin patch without worrying about driving to an actual pumpkin patch, wouldn’t you do it? I think all of us would. We all love a good pumpkin patch. Harvest is one of the heavy hitters of the Yankee Candle catalog, and for good reason. It is one of the quintessential fall fragrances.
10. Farmer’s Market – full review – The reason I like Farmer’s Market so much is that there’s a nice little hint of fresh fruit in it that makes it smell above and beyond the traditional harvest-style fall fragrances. The Farmer’s Market I usually go to can smell like garbage water sometimes. So, smelling this candle gives me hope that a beautiful market exists in the world that smells like this and maybe one day when I retire, I can spend my golden years chasing it down.
9. Autumn Leaves – full review – In case I haven’t established this already, I’m more of a fan of the Earthy and leafy scents in the fall than I am the overbearing pumpkin scents. Give me some shit that smells kind of like dirt, and I’ll be a happy camper. That’s why I like Autumn Leaves so much – it doesn’t try to be too sweet. It knows exactly what it is – dead ass leaves – and it stays in its lane. For that reason, I burn it every September.
8. Coconut Bay – It’s the quintessential summer scent if you ask me. You just can’t beat a good coconut in the summer time and Yankee Candle has managed to capture the essence of an entire bay filled to the brim with coconuts in a single candle. It smells so good that I’ve often thought I probably wouldn’t be able to handle an actual Coconut Bay because I would die of a joyous heart attack.
7. Balsam and Cedar – full review – I mean…it’s a Christmas tree, right? Who doesn’t love the smell of a good live Christmas tree during the holidays? I can’t put it any simpler than that. Balsam and Cedar is precise and accurate – you will have people walking into your house saying “where’s the live Christmas tree?” Imagine the utter shock on their faces when you tell them – SURPRISE – it’s a candle.
6. Apple Pumpkin – If you were to boil the fall down to two scents, I think you’re going with apple and pumpkin. So, what did the geniuses at Yankee Candle do? They combined ’em. So simple, yet it has never been done before (I can’t confirm that with facts – it’s just a hunch). That makes Apple Pumpkin one of the most consistent and steady fall fragrances out there.
5. Sparkling Snow – My father nearly ruined Sparkling Snow for me back in 2008 when I was burning it and he walked in and said it smelled like soap. After that, I was afraid it was going to lose a bit of its holiday luster. Can’t be talkin’ ’bout Christmas spirit when it smells like Irish Spring, SMDH! Nonetheless, I was able to power through that mental block out of sheer mental toughness, and to this day, I find Sparkling Snow to be a good change-of-pace holiday candle. It’s a nice, clean, pure scent that makes for a delightful alternative to the typical Christmas smells like sugar cookies, trees, and cinnamon.
4. Hot Buttered Rum – This might be my hottest of hot takes when discussing Yankee Candle fragrances, but Hot Buttered Rum is easily on my Mount Rushmore of Yankee Candles. There is something about it that is so warm, sweet, and cozy that it just replenishes the spirit. I don’t know what kind of voodoo they put in it to get that, but I will fire it up every winter and pile the blankets on top of me. It’s hard to find, so chances are you’ll have to shell out the dough to find this bad boy on eBay.
3. Midsummer’s Night – full review – There’s a reason this fragrance has been around for as long as it has. It’s a bit musky and natural, which makes it stand out from any of the other summer fragrances. I’m not sure where the scientists at Yankee Candle have visited that smells like this in the middle of the night, but I for one would love to visit there. I also wouldn’t mind wearing this scent as a cologne.
2. Home for the Holidays – It is my go-to Christmas scent and has been for as long as I can remember. I like the warm and ethereal fragrances, and Home for the Holidays fits the bill. It helps that it has notes of clove in it, and clove happens to be one of my favorite holiday flavors. This one always reminds me of the smell of Christmas decorations and helping to decorate the house as a kid. I’m not sure why, because we never burned Yankee Candles in our house when I was a kid. *shrugs*
1. Autumn Woods – Believe it or not, Autumn Woods was the candle that started it all for me. Back on that fateful September day in 2006, when I walked into the Yankee Candle in Providence Marketplace here in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, it was this very candle that I walked out with. To this day, it remains my favorite. Part of that, I’ll admit, is that there’s a certain nostalgia in looking back upon the start of my journey as a Yankee Candle fan. But, mostly, it’s just a damn good fall fragrance. It smells like the wind, blowing through a deciduous forest in the fall, catching Earthy scents in its breeze, and carrying them directly to your living room.
So, what do you think, Yankee Candle fans? Did I get this list right? Let me know in the comments, and thank you for coming along this journey with me.
Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley
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