The newest collection of scents from Yankee Candle is the Coastal Living collection, which follows on from 2016's Riviera Escape spring collection (read the review here). The whole coastal thing isn't a new concept for Yankee Candle, having had many scents in the past including Coastal Waters (which was one of the first Yankee scents I ever tried), Ocean Star and Turquoise Sky, which is still in the main range. When I first heard about the Coastal Living collection, I instantly thought of Beach Flowers, a long retired but beautiful scent! Due to my ridiculously OTT collection of candles, I haven't been buying as many recently as I don't often burn them, but there's something about Yankee new releases that draws me in, and I just had to pick up a couple of votives. I know a lot of people say that the throw on votives isn't that great, but the scents are usually strong enough for my small room. I'm quite sensitive to strong scents, and the wax tarts certainly can be strong, so the votives are perfect.
The scent that I was first drawn to was Garden By The Sea with its deep pink wax. It is described as "a delicate floral scent, with oceanside blooms and bright bundles of sea thrift", and has top notes of violet leaves and peony, a heart of muguet (lily of the valley), sea thrift and water lotus, and a base of white amber and sensual musks. I think out of all the scents in the Coastal Living collection, this is the one I was most disappointed in. It's a very light floral scent, pretty but extremely generic, although the wax and label are both beautiful. Moving onto the scent that I was most unsure about which was Driftwood, especially as I didn't really like the long retired Beach Wood. It is described as being "like a salty favourite, plucked from the beach sand, woody and sun-weathered" and has notes of waterlily, sea salt, driftwood, eucalyptus, tonka bean and crisp cedar. It has a really unique combination of notes, and on first sniff, I didn't think this woodsy scent would be my cup of tea, but I was easily swayed by its complexity and it's one of my favourites from the collection so far.
Sea Air is described as "the refreshing air at the water's edge, laced with sea salt, cyclamen and rose, as well as beach flower and sandalwood. This one isn't overly groundbreaking, it's exactly what you'd expect for an aquatic/marine scent, and would be nice for a bathroom, but I do find it a bit overpowering and a tad powdery. However Coastal Living filled the gap where Sea Air fell short, as "an intriguing mix of salty and sweet, coastal flowers on a warm ocean breeze". It has notes of sea salt, lavender, marine flower, moss and coral musk, and is a really gorgeous scent. It has that underlying coastal accord, but it is mixed with soft florals which make it a deeper, more fresh scent. Sometimes I find marine scents quite overwhelming but this is lovely, and I love the duck egg blue wax.
Overall, my favourites from the collection on first impressions are Coastal Living and Driftwood. In recent years, I've felt like the Yankee Candle new launches have missed the mark for me compared to when I first started getting into the brand around 2014. However, I'm really excited for the next launch, Viva Havana! (which is actually already out as I'm a bit late writing this one), and there are two of the US collections currently on the UK Yankee website: Mediterranean Dreams & Tahiti Escape. I'm very tempted to grab those scents, but I really need to get burning my current collection. I mainly just have tarts and votives, but I've let them accumulate and I go through periods of not burning anything, oops! Make sure you keep an eye on my Empties playlist, as you'll see some of my wax empties there with some of my final thoughts on these scents.
Which do you like the sound of?
