Trader Joe's Kitchen Garden Scented Candle Collection

On my last trip to Trader Joe's (more than 10 days ago), I was fortunate enough to come across something that had just landed on shelves. I figured if I was going to be stuck in the house for an indeterminate amount of time, I would do so in total comfort. And in my world that meant spending nearly $10 on Trader Joe's Kitchen Garden Scented Candle Collection.

Testing this out

With grocery trips more spread out, you can be sure my final tab was much higher than usual. No more mini-midweek trips for me at this point. Most importantly, going less often means the lines will be shorter for other people who need to get to the store.

Despite waiting in line for all of 15 minutes on a line that looked way worse than it actually was, the store was well-stocked for the middle of the afternoon run. The only thing that was absent from shelves was toilet paper.

Hoping to stock up for a few upcoming at-home spa days until things return to normalcy, I found a new set of candles.

Around the holidays, there was a really well-done set of candles that were a limited run. The scents were all solid. But most importantly, I enjoyed having the set and wouldn't have minded if more candle sets hit shelves.

So, I guess maybe they listened.

This set is different from the other set. These are soy candles and these come in glass jars instead of metal ones. And the scents here are all kitchen, or at least garden-inspired.

Each and every one of these scents reminded me of bringing home fresh herbs or at least of what you might grow if you have a garden.

These don't have a lot of throw in terms of aroma. So they'll only go about as far as the room they are placed in.

But for small candles, they do seem to burn quite a while.

And pardon the description here, but you know that scene in the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory where Willie Wonka has the wallpaper that tastes like the fruit. Well, pretty much the lemongrass really smells like fresh lemongrass, the fresh mint really smells like fresh mint (not like candy one bit), and the tomato leaf really smells more like the plant itself than the tomato.

Personally, I preferred the lemongrass and mint. The tomato leaf wasn't quite what I would reach for in a candle.

So, if your favorite candle store is currently closed and won't be open anytime soon, then consider this a good substitute.

Everything here is garden fresh without any artificial smelling aromas.

Overall

For $9.99 it's not bad value but isn't cheap either. But keep in mind, a lot of candles have one major problem: they all seem to not burn every ounce of scented wax when the wick is gone. So if that annoys you to no end, then I recommend getting a candle warmer. That way you can get every last drop of aroma out of your candles.

Would I buy this again? While I personally prefer citrus candles, Trader Joe's Kitchen Garden Scented Candle Collection wasn't a bad set to have under the circumstances.

Did you try it?  Let me know what you think in the comments section!

Visual rundown

The box of Trader Joe's Kitchen Garden Scented Candle Collection: