I'm loving getting settled into my pretty new Loring Park apartment, but with any apartment, there are bound to be little kinks and things to get used to. One of my weird diva-ish things is that I'm super sensitive to house smells of any kind, and an apartment that's been occupied by others is bound to smell, at the very least, a little musty. My particular apartment had been sitting empty since July, so it was un-aired and a bit stuffy when we first got in last Wednesday to power-clean. The floor-to-ceiling scrubdown we gave it did help, but I still just wanted to freshen it up.
Enter candles. I'm a candle maven, an absolute freak for them. Every time I go to Anthropologie, I smell every one I can find in the store (even if I know what it smells like). I've wasted an hour in the candle aisle at Target. Don't even get me STARTED on the Yankee Candle Store. That place is my yuppie homebody crack den. When I went to Baltimore to visit Kaitlin, we smelled every candle in the store. That takes like...an hour. No joke. And that's without going back to your favorites and re-smelling them to get the smell of a yucky one out of your olfactory memory.
I usually have a candle in every room of my apartments...I find it's just a nice way to make sure things stay fresh-and-pretty-smelling when you've got a lot of people cooking, sharing and living in a building. I usually keep the bathroom ones pretty floral or clean-scented (for obvious reasons, ew, people poop in there!), but I love fall-scented candles in my kitchen, living room, and bedroom. Here are some of my favorites, at every price point!
This Autumn Harvest one is from Target (in-store exclusive, limited edition). It's not too aggressively pumpkin-y, for those who don't like that...there's almost a bit of fresh, cedar-ish undertone there. And who doesn't love a good double wick? At $10 for the large jar and $5 for the small, they're a great deal, too.
My other favorite Target fall candle find is this triple-layered Nature's Wick (also an in-store exclusive). The wick is made of wood, so it crackles super cozily while it burns. With Pumpkin Biscotti, "Bonfire Nights," and Vanilla Dolce layers, the scents melt together and get even more delicious. This one will set you back $13.99.
At Yankee Candle, one can't go wrong with my two favorite classics: Autumn Wreath and Spiced Pumpkin. I always get the big, BIG jars from Yankee...at a burn time of up to 150 hours, you get at least a month's worth of candle (if you light them the second you get home and burn them til you go to bed like I do!). They're pricier at $27.99, but Yankee runs buy-one-get-one deals all the time that make these much more of a bargain.
And of course, what would a post on candles, from me, be without Anthropologie?
This one is sitting on top of my fireplace mantel right now. I've only lit it once so far, because I'm waiting to use up my Autumn Harvest from Target...and because this one's scent is so potent, it can't be burned with other candles...it just overwhelms them completely. Look how pretty the tin is! The scent is spicy and pumpkin-y in just the right proportion, with a warm vanilla base. I'm obsessed. And at $18, it's not that bad a deal either!
The real steal of my Anthropologie party, though, is this guy: Apple Ginger Pie, folks. I feel like apples get forgotten about in the fall sometimes in lieu of pumpkins, but this baby totally puts them back on the playing field. It's the yummiest. I may have purchased two...when they dropped to the absurd sale price of $9.95. Oh yessss.