The Old Candle Barn Apples & Spice

What's this? A non-Yankee candle? Preposterous! 

Yes, it's true. This is my very first candle that was not manufactured by Yankee Candle or one of its subsidiaries. In fact, this isn't even from a mainstream or mass-produced brand... crazy, I know!

Apples & Spice in my new and extremely
charming gnome-themed candle holder.

The subject of today's post hails from The Old Candle Barn, a candle factory slash gift shop located in the amusingly-named Intercourse, Pennsylvania. While I don't live too far from the Barn and I could definitely make a day trip out of it if I wanted to, I've never actually been there! This candle comes to me courtesy of the wonderful Facebook Marketplace. (Seriously, if you've never tried it, I would highly suggest poking your head in and taking a look around... you can find some real treasures!) It was part of a lot, which also included: 

• half-full 22 oz. of YC Greenhouse (which I may review here sometime)

• WoodWick Sparkling Orange in a very pretty jar

• a generic brand Christmas Cookie which went to my sister

and... possibly my favorite new addition... 

•the AWESOME gnome candle holder you see in the photo! (My sister is a huge fan of gnomes and offered to buy it from me, but I refused to part with it! I just love it way too much.)

All of this for $20?! What a steal, amiright?

As for the candle itself, I really like it! I'll be honest, it's a pretty generic scent and is a near-exact dupe of Red Apple Wreath, but I'm a sucker for anything cinnamon-apple, so this is no problem for me! The throw is absolutely stellar – it fills the room, and FAST. That's one of my gripes with Yankee Candle... you light it and it takes a half-hour to actually start giving off a scent. This baby needed maybe 5 minutes to start filling my room with that wonderful spiced apple aroma that you just can't go wrong with! 

One odd thing I did note is that the wick mushroomed very quickly. Usually it'll take 3-4 hours for that to start happening, in my experience, but I saw the mushroom begin to form around the 45-minute mark. Very strange, but it isn't a big deal... just something I noticed.

Well, I suppose that's all for today. I finally lit my small jar of YC Sugar & Spice earlier, and I weirdly didn't like it as much as I thought I would... for something with Sugar in the name, I'd expect it to be a little sweeter. There's a sugary element to it, but it smells weirdly savory at the same time... if I had to give it a new name, I'd call it Salted Caramel. That's what it reminds me of!

And until next time... xx