Swift & Supersonically Snappy Short Review #95: Lake Providence Lodge's Autumn Spice

October is in full swing, and I am starting to add fall and winter scents to my melting piles!!!

Lake Providence Lodge's Autumn Spice
Cold Rating: 8/10
Lit Rating: 8.5/10
Throw Rating: 8.5/10
Overall Rating: 8.5/10; true to its description, Autumn Spice boasts an alluring cinnamon aroma. Spices range from nutmeg to clove, fruits are apple in nature if there are any as a base note. LOVE this, but not as much as The Lodge's Kitchen. Warm, inviting scent. Again, a killer throw on this one. The definition of comforting. Snuggling by the fire with your pets, loved ones, a mug of spiced apple cider spiked with cinnamon whiskey....oh, I'm just describing my Tuesday night, minus the fire. Exactly what fall smells like when I picture it in my head. I think I will buy some cinnamon pinecones this year!!!!!

Swift & Supersonically Snappy Short Review #93: Bath & Body Works' Spiced Apple Toddy Candle

Swift & Supersonically Snappy Short Review? For a candle? Who says they aren't worthy of a quick review!?

Bath & Body Works' Spiced Apple Toddy
Cold Rating: 9.5/10
Lit Rating: 9.5/10
Throw Rating: 10/10
Overall Rating: 9/10; quintessential fall/winter scent. Apples, spices, a slight toddyness. Champion thrower each and every time it is lit. Amazing wax pool, each year has been the same since I started buying this candle in 2012ish? I let this burn for hours at a time, transforming our humble southern California home into a gorgeous lodge where it actually snows. Warming, spicy, strong. Beautiful label. Sparkling snowflake. Can't wait for Christmas. Doesn't need to be Christmas to burn this if you're a fan of spiced apple scents. Glory days of B&BW, they don't make 'em like they used to consistently. This is an annual Christmas present I look forward to receiving from my spiced apple-loving husband. 2 for $24 is pushing it, even with a coupon, but I just bought a few more candles so I will haul accordingly.

Swift & Supersonically Snappy Short Review #70: Lake Providence Lodge's Cranberry Apple

Who cares that it was 90 degrees last week and I was holed up in the bedroom with the AC on full blast melting fall scents??

I sure as hell don't. #hatersgonnahate

Lake Providence Lodge Cranberry Apple
Cold Rating: 8/10
Lit Rating: 9/10
Throw Rating: 9/10
Overall Rating: 9/10; Josh's pick during a hot day. Sweet cranberry and apple mix perfectly together with a cinnamon spice to create something that smells exactly like fall, encapsulated. Pungent. Potent. In your face. Lasted 16 total hours in the bedroom, did not want to stop throwing, even with a diminishing throw it was still smellable. Not for the faint of heart. Wonderful melt. Amazing throw, strong, I have come to expect this from LPL. Fall. Apple pickin'. Cranberry cider? Warm thoughts of the end of the year.

Swift & Supersonically Snappy Short Review #69: Beezy Tarts' Clove

"I'm only happy when it rains."
Well, I sure as hell picked the wrong place to be born! :P

Beezy Tarts' Clove
Cold Rating: 8/10
Lit Rating: 8/10
Throw Rating: 8/10
Overall Rating: 8/10; straight-up clove, nothing else. Pungent, wonderful. Spicy, but pleasant, and not bitter in any way like some spiced scents can smell. Quite a strong throw, melted in the bathroom warmer, lingered throughout the house happily for 6-8ish hours. Would be a good background scent while entertaining guests. Angering The Fall Slut. Wishing and hoping for her forgiveness. Mistaking sprinkles of "rain" for "real" "rain." Unnecessary quote end quote marks. Cute and small pictures on the labels. Love of Beezy. He'd also be angered by knowing me, a Californian, calls "rain" "sprinkles" because we know nothing else in SoCal. More quote end quote marks.

Swift & Supersonically Snappy Short Review #65: Flaming Star Scents' Apple Honey Pear Cider

Even though it's officially Spring, I still crave fallish scents. You can't take the cinnamon out of my favs!!!

Flaming Star Scents' Apple Honey Pear Cider
Cold Rating: 6.5/10
Lit Rating: 6.5/10
Throw Rating: 6/10
Overall Rating: 6.5/10; a really lovely medium pear scent with light hints of spice, perhaps cinnamon, and a small apple smell. Would have liked a more heavy apple and pear balance from this melt. More of a sweet scent than a fresh one. Honey is just sweetness to my nose in most scents. Lasted 4 hours in the bedroom. Cute little sun man. To cure or not to cure, that is the question. Winning a gift card for this vendor. Forgetting to go back and buy more. So-so performance overall from this company.

Swift & Supersonically Snappy Short Review #60: Beezy Tarts' Apple Cinnamon

Even though it has been 80+ degrees IN FEBRUARY for the last week or so, I have been longing for winter scents still. So, what better way to get over a scent craving than with something delicious like an apple scent?

Beezy Tarts Apple Cinnamon
Cold Rating: 8/10
Lit Rating: 8/10
Throw Rating: 7.5/10
Overall Rating: 8/10; sweet apple with spicy cinnamon. Smells wonderful while melting and on cold sniff. Medium-high throw. Love the cute little picture on the label. Obsessed with cinnamon and apples scents, even when it's hot outside. Not bragging about warm weather when people are stuck in snow farms. Sweet versus fresh, cleaning apples. Perfect cinnamon. Vendors not opened all the time. Unannounced openings. NEEDING MORE OF A VENDORS TARTS AND YET THEY ARE NOT OPENED. Stressing the same thing multiple times.

Swift & Supersonically Snappy Short Review #59: Front Porch's Moonspice Marshmallow

My love of celtic moonspice knows no bounds, 365/24/7, all the time.

Front Porch's Moonspice Marshmallow
Cold Rating: 7/10
Lit Rating: 8.5/10
Throw Rating: 8/10
Overall Rating: 8/10; FP's marshmallow strikes again. Celtic moonspice creepin' up in all warmers. Lovely throw, pleasant fragrance. Sweet and slightly spicy, but mostly marshmallowy that is sort of velvety, too. Huge cookie shapes. 2-3 melts per cookie. Lasted 6-8 hours each time I melted. Lovely bags. Simple labels. Fantastic blends. Marshmallow being a stand-by scent. Not ordering from Front Porch in a long time, Ignoring emails. Refusing to update email app. Needing a new phone because mine won't charge. Repurchase for sure!

Swift & Supersonically Snappy Short Review #55: Rosegirls Celtic Moonspice Coffee

In the past, I have been notoriously anti-coffee scents in wax because of a bad and skunky experience.
Let me tell you, it scarred me for a long time.
Luckily, it seems like I have grown past it.

Rosegirls Celtic Moonspice Coffee
Cold Rating: 7.5/10
Lit Rating: 8/10
Throw Rating: 8/10
Overall Rating: 8/10; Rosegirls probably has the best coffee scent in wax. It is very lovely, mellow, not super harsh, smooth and a little creamy. The celtic moonspice isn't really there on cold sniff, but does come out a bit more while melting. Strong! Lasted 8.5 hours in the bathroom. Wanting to try cinnamon in my coffee but not knowing how it will taste? What do you put in your coffee? Cute new (sort of?) square labels. Not being open all the time, but new Mini Melters ready to ship!? Purdy colors in teh wax. Teh. Gifties from friends!

Swift & Supersonically Snappy Short Review #50: Lake Providence Lodge's The Lodge's Kitchen

You know those days you wake up feeling miserable and then find greatness early in the morning??? Yeah...that pretty much sums up the morning I melted this.

The Lodge's Kitchen - A mixture of all the spices and ingredients used to prepare the cookies and pies baking in the Lodge’s oven. 

Lake Providence Lodge's The Lodge's Kitchen
Cold Rating: 10/10
Lit Rating: 10/10
Throw Rating: 10/10
Overall Rating: 10/10; the absolute definition of perfection in wax. Incredible cold sniff smell, even more amazing warm sniff smell. Spicy for sure, with traces of light bakery, apples and sweetness, holy cow, this melt is phenomenal! Lasted an entire day, mainly because I didn't want to dump it. Strong, lasting, brilliant blend of scents. Fall perfect, year round acceptable. Not knowing what a lodge smells like. Never having been to a lodge. Would make the perfect snowy day tart. Simple labels, clean looking wax, wonderful scent cups where the wax doesn't stick to the plastic. Lake Providence Lodge = my new top 5 favorite vendor. Etsy overcharging for shipping, but awesome vendor refunding charges if over $1. TRY THIS VENDOR!!!

Swift & Supersonically Snappy Short Review #40: Candles from the Keeping Room's Spiced Cranberry

NOVEMBER IS HERE.
HERE IS NOVEMBER.
WASN'T IT JUST CHRISTMAS LAST YEAR???
I AM ALWAYS DONE WITH SHOPPING EARLY.
Sorry, caps????

Spiced Cranberry-a wonderful sweeten bog cranberry with just the right amount of spice..great all year scent.

Candles from the Keeping Room's Spiced Cranberry
Cold Rating: 7/10
Lit Rating: 7/10
Throw Rating: 8/10
Overall Rating: 7/10; more sweet than tart with mellow spice. Above average throw. Lasted 6 hours in the bedroom. Gravitating towards melting more fruity scents in the bedroom. Not being able to distinguish other possible fruits mixed in with cranberry. A hint of freshness mixed in with the sweet and spicy. Thanksgiving coming soon, cranberry sauce on a turkey sandwich. Jellied cranberry or the other nasty kind? Melting steadily through CFTKR samples.

Swift & Supersonically Snappy Short Review #39: Beezy Tarts' Apple Clove Butter

Perfection, sweet perfection...

Beezy-Tarts' Apple Clove Butter
Cold Rating: 10/10
Lit Rating: 10/10
Throw Rating: 10/10
Overall Rating: 10/10; absolutely, positively, without a doubt perfection. This will be the scent I melt in heaven. Between the sweet, rich apple and the spicy, wonderfully warm clove, this is a recipe for success. Extreme throw, like all the way to the outside of the house strong. Cinnamon and clove spices melange with apple butter so well that you want to eat the air. Eating air makes you look insane. Lasted all. freaking. day. 24 hours. 7am to 7am. Probably would have gone longer, but I needed to give something else a chance. Apple cake. Fall time. Seasons not changing, it was 88 degrees yesterday. This means no leaves changing. Angry at the weather gods. This scent bringing me back to sanity. Wanting a safe house somewhere in the mountains for fall and winter retreats. Mmmmm, treats...

Swift & Supersonically Snappy Short Review #29: Rosegirls Dunk My Donut

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, donuts...

Rosegirls Dunk My Donut
Cold Rating: 7.5/10
Lit Rating: 8/10
Throw Rating: 7/10
Overall Rating: 7.5/10; great spicy bakery scent! Another example of how I am slowly being turned into a bakery nut. Nothing exclusively "donut" about this per se, but definitely a bakery scent, nonetheless. Cakey, sweet, cinnamony, delicious. Lasted 6 hours in the bathroom. Strong enough to smell in other parts of the house. Loving donuts in all aspects of life. Not enough non-chain donut restaurants around my direct house-al area. Coffee and donuts. Coffee scents in was are not my favorite. Addiction to coffee. Not being able to find the coffee creamers you want!

Swift & Supersonically Snappy Short Review #25: Butterfly Lane's Celtic Moonspice

Can you feel it? (Commmmmmmmmmmmin' in the aaaaaaaaaaaaaair tonnnnnnnight???)
*sniff sniff*
Fall is coming, folks!!! It's so close I can almost taste it!!

Butterfly Lane's Celtic Moonspice
Cold Rating: 7/10
Lit Rating: 7.5/10
Throw Rating: 7.5/10
Overall Rating: 7.5/10; all my favorite fall spices and homeyness wrapped up into one splendid scent. Cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, oh my! Pretty great throw, lingering smell. Lasted 6 hours in the bedroom. Not as strong or prominent as other vendors' wax with the same scent. Waiting for the heat and mugginess to arrive...oh wait, it is already here and has been here for a month. UGH. No me gusta the heat. Getting my hopes us for fall every year only to have it not last very long. Vendors opening and closing and opening again. Glad to have the chance to buy more of her products before fall!

Swift & Supersonically Snappy Short Review #19: Candles from the Keeping Room's Cedarwood Vanilla

The only redeeming value of summer is the nice, long nights, which are perfect for nice, long bonfires in the backyard. In fact, we're getting ready to have one right now! ;)

The strong cedar aroma tones down with sweet vanilla Celtic Moonspice...a wonderfully fragrant blend of warm spices, cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg. Gives you that warm home & hearth feeling, like a cozy cottage with a fireplace on a cold snow evening.

Candles from the Keeping Room's Cedarwood Vanilla
Cold Rating: 6.5/10
Lit Rating: 8/10
Throw Rating: 8/10
Overall Rating: 8/10; an unexpected favorite as of recently. Very lovely tart! Excellent throw, stellar scent, extremely pleasant. Not even necessary for fall/winter. Vanilla-y Celtic Moonspice toning down the cedarwood makes this super smooth and uber fragrant, yet spicy and delicious. Realizing I like cedarwood, which is weird. Perfect scent descriptions a la Carol. Wanting to make a spice cake or pumpkin cookies. Missing all of the CFTKR openings since October last year. Not needing any more damn wax but wanting to BUY ALL THE THINGS!!! Remnants of fall. The Fall Slut, omg, have you checked out Deb's blog lately? I CRIED, so funny!!!

Swift & Supersonically Snappy Short Review #8: Candles from the Keeping Room's Full Moon

Do you like the moon? Well, if you don't, you might as well forget the beach and the ocean and your life because THE MOON IS AMAZING and TIDES and STUFF.
#ProMoon.
You know what's even more amazing? Full moons. No, not the "drop your pants as a teenager" kind, the "in the sky kind," ya heard?

Candles from the Keeping Room's Full Moon
Cold Rating: 6/10
Lit Rating: 8.5/10
Throw Rating: 8.5/10
Overall Rating: 8.5/10; orange and clove are the perfect combination. This was good even in the spring. Strong throw, amazing scent. Faith in CFTKR re-instilled. I want this as a car air freshener. Reminders of fall and Halloween, which leads to CHRISTMAS!!! Don't get the wrong impression, I've never mooned anyone. Being pro moon might save your life.

Review: Ava's Country Cupboard's Celtic Moonspice

...aaaaaaaaaaaand I'm back to the spicy spicy scents. I can't stay away for too long or I start to go crazy.

I ordered once from Ava's Country Cupboard  in the middle-fall of 2012 and didn't have the best of luck with her wax. Some of it was really downright smelly (sorry, but it's the truth!), and other tarts were fine, but nothing blew me away. Well, I'm a firm believer in second chances, so I made another small order at the end of 2013 to try some of her tarts again. I was pleased to see that her bags had changed since I had last ordered, and she is now offering TONS of shapes and an expanded scent list. WOOHOO! Plus, free shipping with a $10 order (at the time, not sure if this is still going on or not), I mean, how can you beat that?!

When I spotted one of my favorite scents on her ready-to-ship list, I knew I needed to try it! Ava's Celtic Moonspice came in a biiiiiiiiiiiig bread loaf, and I mean BIG. It might not look like it from the picture, but I could have easily gotten 2, perhaps 3 melts out of this.
Well, being the dope that I am, I didn't cut it up and put the entire thing in my warmer. Go big or go home, right?!

This scent was nice. It's your average celtic moonspice, cozy, comforting, homey, spicy, so I really had no qualms about how it smelled or what it would be like. This lasted 2 days in the bedroom, only because I didn't want to part with it. The scent started out medium-ly and fizzled throughout the course of those 2 days. Could it have been stronger? Yes, but I find I don't need my celtic moonspices to be sucker-punch strong. It was just a nice background scent, something I will always like and always look forward to melting!

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Ava's Country Cupboard's Celtic Moonspice
Cold Rating: 6.5/10; it's hard not to love the comforting aroma of spices, and this is no exception. Lighter than other celtic moonspice scents I've smelled, but not weak by any stretch of the imagination.
Lit Rating: 6.5/10; it's a nice, reasonable scent, nothing too special, yet just what I wanted. So, so lovely.
Throw Rating: 6/10; medium throw, not as overpowering as this scent from other vendors, and threw for a very, very long time (perhaps because I threw in the entire loaf?).
Overall Rating: 6/10; nothing special, but something loved. Medium all around. Giving vendors a second chance and benefit of the doubt. Changed wax bags.

Review: Jaimie Lauren Cupcakery & Confections in Wax's Nana's Kitchen & Glazed Cinnamon Donuts

It has been warm here this past week in San Diego. Winter all but skipped us. #humblebrag
And still, I find myself reaching for the warmth of spices, the smell of a kitchen cupboard, the love of something comforting.

While I was sitting in the "wax room" one day, I stumbled upon my Jaimie Lauren Cupcakery & Confections in Wax stash. As some of you might be aware, JLCCW sadly closed its doors. Jen, the owner, had one of my favorite vendors. Most of her wax is/was pretty consistently strong. If memory serves, she closed because of family issues, so it's good she's getting those solved...but part of me hopes she comes back eventually!

I didn't quite want to get into my Nana's Kitchen reserve stash yet (especially now since she's closed down), so I grabbed this blend of Nana's Kitchen and Glazed Cinnamon Donuts to fulfill my spicy craving. This scent was delicious! The throw was about a medium, but it didn't need to be overwhelming. The donut note in this was definitely there, but obviously the strongest scent was cinnamon. I think I prefer plain Nana's Kitchen to this one since I'm not a huge fan of donuts, but JLCCW's donut is more of a cake as opposed to a fried delight. Overall, a really good scent, pretty strong for a 1 ounce cupcake tart!

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Jaimie Lauren Cupcakery & Confections in Wax's Nana's Kitchen & Glazed Cinnamon Donuts
Cold Rating: 7/10; cinnamon overload??! You really pick up on the donut scent on both cold and warm sniff. Pleasantly spicy!
Lit Rating: 7/10; not a "choke you out" cinnamon, but it's enough to make me want more. Donut smells more like sweet cake, which is good for me because I don't like fried donut scents. Quite nice, pretty sweet, too!
Throw Rating: 6.5/10; decent throw, nothing overly impressive, medium-high-ish.
Overall Rating: 7/10; love the cinnamon sprinkles as embellishments! Nice, but not overwhelmingly so. Hefty donut scent, but still sweet and spicy. Large supply of Nana's Kitchen is now useless and I can't get more. Sadness about favorite vendors shutting their doors. Tears. Warm weather will dry them. Stupid weather.

Review: Sugar & Spice Gourmet Soy Candles' State Fair Funnel Cake

THE DEL MAR FAIR (I refuse to call it by its new name, the San Diego County Fair, because that's just ridiculous) is one of the country's best, if I do say so myself.

This year, Chicken Charlie, known for such wonderful, gourmet delights like deep-fried Kool-Aid, deep-fried cereal, deep-friend Klondike bars, deep-friend avocados (seeing a theme here???) has whipped himself up yet another winner: a sloppy joe sandwich...on Krispy Kreme donuts.

Not that you're reading, good sir, but this is my formal proposal: Marry me, Chicken Charlie. I think we can be happy together and married in baconed, fried bliss.
That is, of course, if Josh doesn't mind. :)

I was in the office filing some things and melted Sugar & Spice Gourmet Soy's State Fair Funnel Cake. This was a nice cinnamony cake scent mixed in with typical carnival friedness. This time, I enjoyed these two things mixed together! Some fried scents (fritters, donuts, cakes, pastries, etc) have that weird undertone I have talked about a lot...not so with this one! In fact, it was scrumptious. The cinnamon wasn't too strong, but it was there, and is was close to something you would really smell at a state fair! Yum! It lasted well over 8 hours. I would repurchase this scent, too!

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Sugar & Spice Gourmet Soy Candles' State Fair Funnel Cake
Cold Rating: 6.5/10; you definitely get the friedness of this scent on cold sniff, which made me nervous that it's be too buttery and icky.
Lit Rating: 7.5/10; nice balance between bakery and spice! Love!
Throw Rating: 7/10; the throw was consistent and lasted quite a while. Very impressed!
Overall Rating: 7/10; yum! Delicious cakey goodness mixed with cinnamon spice and dough! Makes me want to go to the fair; fattening foods socially acceptable there. Chicken Charlie is a mad genius.

Review: Jaimie Lauren Cupcakery and Confections in Wax's Cinnamon Vanilla

Ahoy, waxy friends! Another weekend has almost come and gone, and I want to say HAPPY (belated) MOTHER'S DAY not only to my mother, but to all the mother's out there reading my bloggy-blog. Hope you had a fun weekend celebrating you! Sorry this post is late, Josh and I were celebrating our wedding anniversary! Now, let's get into a review, shall we?! :)

I melted Jaimie Lauren Cupcakery and Confection's in Wax's Cinnamon Vanilla the other day. This was a very nice scent, though it was a sweeter cinnamon than I like. In my opinion, as I've stated in the past, there is a heartier type of cinnamon and then a sweet type...this definitely had that sweetness, which can go either positively or negatively, depending on your scent-mood. This also had an underlying note I did not much care for, perhaps something bready or bakery? Needless to say, it was nice and I did enjoy it. It lasted only about 3-3.5 hours, and I might repurchase it in a blend with vanilla bean noel or something creamier! Don't let my reviews EVER deter you from discovering something on your own, it's also been documented that I'm sort of nuts. :)

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Jaimie Lauren Cupcakery and Confections in Wax's Cinnamon Vanilla
Cold Rating: 6/10; nice on cold sniff, but nothing too strong. Medium, I'd say. Everything about this was just fine!
Lit Rating: 6/10; minus the fact that this is sweet cinnamon and has a stranger undertone, I enjoyed this! Might be good mixed with either vanilla bean noel or Nana's Kitchen/another cinnamon type of scent.
Throw Rating: 6/10; could smell this into the bathroom, but not past there. Didn't stick around too long, lasted just around 3-3.5 hours only.
Overall Rating: 6/10; Sweet cinnamon mixed with creamy vanilla. Medium-ish scent throw in bedroom. strange undertone threw me off from liking this more. Would have liked to see this scent last longer in my warmer!

Review: Candles From The Keeping Room's Cinnamon Indian Bread

...okay, I figured out what it is.
I am trying to get rid of some CFTKR scents to make room for the order I placed on May 2 (my self-given birthday present).
Yeah, I got "some" stuff.

As you may very well know, as it has been thoroughly documented in this blog, I am not big into "bread" scents. Bread scents seem to generally be very wet/moist-smelling, someone once described them as smelling of "tortilla chips," which I find ridiculously accurate. Zucchini bread scents can also smell like cigarette ashes under some circumstances. BLECH.

When I got a sample of Cinnamon Indian Bread from Candles From The Keeping Room a couple of months ago, I thought, "oh, this sounds sweet, let's give it a try!"
...and then it sat. For a long time. And then it sat some more. Things kept piling up that I'd rather melt. I felt bad for these little toasts because they were so cute. On cold sniff, they smelled like nice sweet breads.

Well, the other day, it was their time. They were the chosen ones. These toasts has met their maker...
...and I can't say this was my thing, either.
Granted, this was better than zucchini bread, but not by much. I'm still not a fan of bread. The cinnamon note in this was paired nicely with the sweetness of the Indian bread, but...something always hinders me from enjoying these yeasty delicacies.
Most of you ladies and gents who LIKE bread scents would definitely dig Carol's Indian bread line...it's different from zucchini in that it's much sweeter. This had a good throw, so I'm sure the other fragrances do, too, it's just not my cuppa, so I wouldn't repurchase, but you might love it!

PS: HEY, BLOGGER, STOP REFORMATTING MY POSTS!!!!!!!!

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Candles From The Keeping Room's Cinnamon Indian Bread
Cold Rating: 5.5/10; cinnamon and the sweetness of the Indian bread pair nicely together. I've noticed Carol uses both sweet cinnamon AND regular cinnamon in her wax, and this is definitely the sweet type (but I usually prefer her more straight baking cinnamon).
Lit Rating: 4/10; better than most bread scents I've smelled, but that's not saying much.
Throw Rating: 6.5/10; definitely had a nice throw; I melted this in the kitchen and it lingered throughout the house (but didn't go into the back bedroom).
Overall Rating: 5/10; slightly rounded down. Love of bread overshadowed for disdain for wax-bread. Still searching for the perfect bread scent I actually enjoy. Sweet cinnamon < baking cinnamon. Others would enjoy this.