SCENTED CANDLES: RED DOOR REVIEW

Eating right and exercising regularly aren’t the only things required to live a healthy lifestyle. Proper rest and relaxation is also needed in order to ease your body of stress and recover from you workouts. This is what led me to look into the world of scented candles.

Now, I have to be completely honest in that I have very little knowledge on this specific subject. But the little that I have read indicates that scented candles (and other related products) can help you relax quicker and make you more at ease. With that in mind, I decided to try some of them out.

During one of my visits to the TriNoma Mall, I saw this quaint stall in the third floor called “Red Door” that specializes in scented candles. So, fine, I bit the bullet and bought one to try it out. I bought a large one in a container, which is about ten inches tall and has a three inch diameter. I chose the vanilla scent for the simple reason that I like the smell of vanilla. It cost me around Php400, I believe, but the lady said that I could refill the container when it runs out for only around Php200. She also said that if the candle were lit all day and night, that it would last for a solid two weeks.

Anyway, so I tried it out. The first day was pretty lovely. The scent would fill the room and leave me utterly satisfied of my purchase. I wouldn’t leave it on the entire day, though; just the times when I wanted the scent to be present.



The second day onward, though, was a different story. The scent wouldn’t spread anymore. You had to be really close to the candle to smell the fragrance. It was there, sure, but only if you were standing right over it. Even if it was constantly lit much of the day (eg: more than six hours), the scent would still be just mostly absent. Not really what I had in mind.

Also, something rather irritating occurred after a few days. I had previously been using common matches to light the candle. After a few days, the candle had, of course, shrunk down to a certain size. Because of the container, however, I could not reach the wick before the flame traveled up from the match to my fingers! I tell you, when you point a match diagonally downward, the flames will spread upward very, very quickly. Burned fingers are definitely not what I consider relaxing. I wound up having to buy a stove lighter from the Tri Noma for Php200 just so I could continue using the sucker.

So, about a week after my initial purchase, I bought another candle with a stronger scent. The lady recommended their “bamboo” scent for my needs so I got that. It’s supposedly their strongest scent, and a small one (about four inches tall with the same three inch diameter) cost me around Php250. This one, however, didn’t have a container (which was, oddly enough, a plus for me).

So, I try it out. Unfortunately, it was the same story. The second day onward, the scent was barely noticeable unless you stood directly above the candle. Sure, the scent was way stronger, but you still had to stand completely over it to even notice it.

So, two thumbs down for Red Door from me, and, until I can find a very reputable location to buy scented candles in my area, two thumbs down for the whole idea in the meantime.

I’m going to try and explore potpourri next time. My experience with the candles shows me that such products’ scents only spread throughout a very minimal area, but, unlike candles, I can put them wherever I want (in my PC work station, for example), so I’m hoping for better results next time.

Anyone else tried using Red Door products or scented candles from other companies but have had a totally different experience? I’d love to hear about it!