I love it when I can feel confident that my home smells nice. I'm so paranoid about household odors, especially since my family includes a huge cat. So I'm always trying new products that can help keep my home smelling fresh.

I was happy for the opportunity to try Febreze scented candles. Febreze is a trusted name in my household, their fabric spray product is terrific! So when I read that the new Febreze candle is supposed to smell nice AND eliminate bad odors, I was excited to try it.

I received the Apple Spice & Delight scent. It came in a beautiful box that I plan to keep. The 3" round candle consists of red wax surrounding a white center core. The red wax smells terrific right out of the box. Does it smell like apples? Not any apple I've ever smelled. But it does smell nice. Of course, the other scents this product comes in Meadows & Rain, Spring & Renewal, Linen & Sky, Vanilla & Refresh don't make a whole lot of sense to me. I can't imagine, for instance, what "Renewal" or "Sky" are supposed to smell like. In any case, this candle smells nice, and looks nice, in its heavy glass jar. Too bad Febreze doesn't recommend reusing that glass jar, and they don't sell refills.

Of course, you can't really decide anything about a candle until you light it, right? So, last weekend, I set the candle on the sink in the bathroom where the cat's box resides. Lit it up, and left it for a while. (The cat was outside at the time, I would never leave a candle lit unattended with a curious cat in the house). The box tells us to let it burn for at least an hour for maximum odor elimination.

Unfortunately, I blew it out long before the hour had passed. Why? Well, because I started to feel sick. Even though I was several rooms away, I was feeling some symptoms that were very familiar to me. My chest felt tight, my nose was dripping, and, worst of all, breathing felt a bit difficult. Why do I say these symptoms felt familiar? Because I like to use Airwick's scented oils throughout my house. I love the scents, and they provide nice nightlights, too. Those holders have a diffusion setting, and I always leave mine set to "minimum". But one time, my cleaning lady turned them all to "max" and I didn't know it. That weekend I felt awful, with those same horrible symptoms, until I figured out what she'd done. Now there's a law in my house and believe me, the cleaning lady knows it. Keep those dials set to minimum!!! Well, unfortunately, the Febreze candles have no such dial. I blew out the candle and felt better soon thereafter.

Let me also state for the record that I have used many other scented candles without any problem whatsoever. This was a definite first for me, as far as reacting to a candle.

While the candle was lit, I will say that the odor diffused nicely. I could smell "something" several rooms away. I wouldn't ever identify it as "apples", "spice", or "delight", but it did smell nice. My husband also liked it a lot, saying it smelled "sweet". Going into the bathroom, I could still smell the cat box. But whether odor would have been eliminated if I'd left the candle burning longer, I can't say. I guess I'm a bit of skeptic about this whole "odor elimination" thing.


2nd Try

OK - I hear what you're thinking - why would I try this candle a second time, if it made me sick the first time? Well, because I felt like I couldn't "prove" that the symptoms and the lit candle were related. After all, maybe something else was in the air that day, or maybe I was overreacting a bit? In any case, I decided to try it a second time, just to be sure. As my symptoms started right back up within minutes of lighting it up, I can now say for sure, that this candle and my body do not get along, and I won't be giving it a third try.

In order to really give the candle a fair try, though, I left it burning in the house (with my husband who was not having any problems with it) while I went out and did some errands. When I was ready to come home, I called my husband to have him blow it out before I got there. At this point, it had burned for nearly three hours. When I came into the house, 20 minutes after it was blown out, I could smell a small amount of sweetness throughout many of the rooms. Nothing strong, and nothing that set my symptoms off again. Heading into the bathroom, I could definitely smell the cat box. Thus I conclude that if these candles eliminate odors at all, they only do so when they're lit, and not with any effect after the fact.

So - do I recommend these candles?

Well, it's a bit hard to say. Just because they make me sick, doesn't mean anyone else will have that same problem. But I'd say to use caution if you have any kind of allergies or sensitivity to scents. (Would that be scentsitivity?)

Assuming you have no such problems, I suppose this candle has some nice things going for it. It looks nice, it smells nice (but not like apples) and it might do a bit of odor eliminating while it's lit. It's completely drip-less, and they're supposed to last for about 30 hours. On the other hand, at a suggested cost of $6.99 to $7.99, and without refills, they seem a bit expensive to me.

In the end, I really can't recommend them.

I do want to thank Procter & Gamble for the opportunity to test this product, free of charge, in exchange for my honest review.


Recommended: No