A Wren Says

I finally put up my tiny Christmas tree, dressed it in ornaments, and set up my Christmas Village (aka cookie tins I got from Target). I was feeling festive. It was finally time to burn Winter Stroll from Replica by Maison Margiela.

Let’s start with the positives.

It has an impeccable scent throw. I can smell it, of course, while in the room but also down the hall and up the stairs. If you like the scent, you will be happy because, unless you live in a mansion, you can easily fill your home with the smell. What a lovely, segue. I don’t love the smell. To be honest, I extinguished the candle right after I took the picture.

This is not what I was expecting. It doesn’t smell like the I imagine winter. They used eucalyptus, that often gives a cooling scent and sensation to body care products. However, it does not translate here. Instead it just smells like “candle,” something you would burn when you want your home to smell nice and generic. I think by adding eucalyptus, they were hoping to pull out the cool crispness of a winter day. The smell is powerful, which is great in terms of performance, but it makes it overpowering instead of cozy. And I’ll also mention I didn’t get an even burn, even after letting it burn for four hours. I finally had to wrap it up in foil to get it to completely melt. Perhaps there is a reason that this candle seems to be on sale with everyone except the Maison Margiela site.

If I burn this again, I would burn it in a larger room because of the power of the scent throw. Or perhaps in a guest bathroom before folks arrive to leave behind a clean scent. But to get a wintery, Christmasy scent, I would have been better off opting for By the Fireplace, with its mix of smokiness and chestnuts or perhaps Sapin from Diptyque to get the spell of seasonal trees.

But the very reason I didn’t like it might be why you love it. What do you think of this candle? Have you tried this scent?