Yankee Candle Water Garden: Resurrection

On December 30th, 2020, I wrote a review of Yankee Candle's Water Garden fragrance. It was nothing short of scathing – I condemned the candle for its waxy, unpleasant scent when lit, going so far as to say "Either this candle I've got is a dud, or Yankee majorly failed with this one... I'm hoping it's the former, because I find it hard to believe they'd put out such a gross scent"... harsh!
Not long after I published that review, I would chuck my small jar of Water Garden into the trash. What was the point of keeping it around if I wasn't going to burn it? But even after that jar was long gone, I remained curious about Water Garden. Multiple people in the Team Yankee Facebook group lauded it, with many pronouncing it as one of the company's best fresh/floral scents. After all, I had quite enjoyed the fragrance on cold sniff. And don't even get me started on the wax color and label... after much thought, I decided I would give Water Garden another chance. Besides, the small jar I'd purchased months ago had been old and discolored, and on second look, it appeared to be of... dubious quality (the most glaring issues being the waxy scent, which even old Yankees should not give off, and the unusually long jar neck, a telltale sign of a knockoff). So I jumped on a 2018 pour large jar and I must say... I am much happier with the results this time!

Water Garden, with my
favorite Illumalid.

For starters, it's the right freakin' color! This beautiful light teal is how Water Garden is meant to be. Also, there was an update to the photo on the label – I personally prefer the old one, but that's neither here nor there. 

The most important thing is the smell, and this is certainly an improvement over the last one! It's the same watery fresh floral scent as I got on cold sniff last time, but it actually smells like that when lit! It's definitely less sweet when burning – which does make me like it significantly less – but it's still a fairly nice scent. I would liken it to the air freshener we kept in my childhood bathroom, which I believe was also a waterlily type scent... not a bad thing, since I remember being quite fond of that air freshener! Maybe not my absolute favorite, but I will definitely be using it in the upcoming warmer months.

Let me tell you, this thing throws like a beast. I started getting whiffs just a few minutes after lighting, and it completely filled my room within the half-hour. I opened the door to my bedroom and the scent traveled all throughout the top floor of my home, eventually filling the bottom floor as well. I’ve never had a candle fill my entire house before! 

So do I think it's magical? Would I rank it up there with the all-time greats? Is it even my favorite fresh scent? ...No. For me, Water Garden is a 6/10 scent with an 10/10 throw. If you remember from my first post, my entire motivation for wanting this candle in the first place was its name, wax color, and label. And I am most certainly delighted by that... it creates a gorgeous wax pool.

And until next time... xx