Our beauty writer and resident candle person, Tembe Denton-Hurst, tested the new Boy Smells candles to see how they compare.
announced that it was rebranding and launching at Sephora, ditching the now-iconic black-and-pink packaging for sleek, custom votives and getting rid of many of its best-known scents. It didn’t go over well with die-hard fans and the fragrance community, who felt that the brand had tossed its identity into the Sephora sea.
The mildest criticism was that it now looked cheaper, and the most scathing that Boy Smells had been “straightwashed,” abandoning its LGBTQ+ origins in favor of an aesthetic and scent offering that appeal to Gen Alpha and Gen Z. Boy Smells responded by saying that it was still very connected to its roots and had gay investors , but the general consensus was that things were worse. Even our friends atThe candle community was noticeably quieter about the change. I think that’s because despite the nice-smelling scents, Boy Smells candles have always been hit or miss. The original candles were notorious for tunneling, which is when a candle burns in the center and nowhere else, creating a “tunnel” of wax. This is generally avoidable if you use best first-burn practices like trimming the wick and letting it burn for a few hours to achieve an even pool of wax. But with Boy Smells, despite being careful, I often ended up with a half-melted mess or a candle I could only sort of smell. After a few-too-many similar instances, I eventually knocked Boy Smells out of the top spot in my best candles story. With Boy Smells 2.0, many of the candles that made the brand famous were scrapped, including Kasey Musgraves’s wildly popular Slow Burn and Kush, once our top overall pick for. All that remains of those are a collection called The Classics, which include Cowboy Kush, Vanilla Era, Red Hot, Hinoki Fantôme, and Woodphoria. The brand also released a new group of candles called The Essentials, six candles with pared-down, fresh-smelling scents that come in heavy milk-glass votives. All of the candles have been reformulated to offer a more even burn — the biggest pain point of the originals. The new wax is made from a soy blend and promises a 50-plus-hour burn time. Previously, the brand used a mix of coconut and beeswax and assured “roughly 50 hours,” which I’m taking as increased confidence in the product. Icurious about the move to soy, because coconut wax is often advertised as having a slower burn time and stronger throw. With that said, wax isn’t the only determining factor of how a candle behaves. The concentration of fragrance, for example, impacts how scented it is, and wick size can determine whether a candle tunnels. For what it’s worth, the new wicks are thicker. Even the vessel has an impact. It’s unclear how much each element factored into the finished candle, but it’s something to consider when thinking about the new iteration and its performance. From the looks of it, the brand has changed everything. Curious about this, I called in a few of the new scents to see if I noticed a big difference between the old Boy Smells and the new. I burned one of the new Classics, Woodphoria, and Herbaceous, one of the Essentials. The first thing I noticed about the candles was the packaging. Both feel nicer in person, and I liked the new boxes, which have monochrome color-blocking and bold type. The glass votives are also substantial and feel weighty in hand. To confirm this, I put the candles on my food scale. An old Boy Smells candle — Sweet Pit — clocked in at 18.8 ounces, and the new one weighed in at a whopping 22.99 ounces. Subtracting the 8.5 ounces of wax, that’s a 4.1 ounce difference, which you can sense when you pick the candles up. The new ones feel nicer, more premium. I’m a fan of the new branding too, although I’m not jazzed about the classics, which feel derivative of the A24 x Joya Studio genre candles that have a similar look and feel. Upon first sniff, both had a strong cold throw — I could smell the scents through the boxes and they made the box they came in smell like a candle store . It made me optimistic about the burn. Excited, I quickly trimmed the wicks and lit them in succession.Woodphoria is described as a woody floral and has notes of coconut water, cardamom, fig, jasmine, sandalwood, and cedarwood. I’d never burned Woodphoria 1.0, but in comparing scent notes, it seems they’ve dropped the suede note. I really like the scent overall, which has the grounded and slightly sweet scent I tend to gravitate toward. As far as the burn, I noticed that it burned a bit slower than my previous Boy Smells candles and a bit more evenly too. The throw wasn’t noticeably stronger; in fact I couldn’t really smell it, though my wife said she noticed it when she would leave and come back into the room.Next, I burned the Essentials Herbaceous candle, which has three notes: bergamot, wet grass, and sage. It smells exactly like the packaging says, an earthy scent that feels like a summer day. It’s a departure from the typical Boy Smells fare, which was always a little sexy and spicy. This is a cleaner, fresher take on a candle, in line with what brands like Flamingo Estate are doing — bringing the outside into the home. I’m not mad at it, but not impressed, either. That said, I do like the scent. After burning it for a few hours, I noticed that the hot throw of this candle was much stronger than the Woodphoria candle. The burn was even too. Instead of the black votive with a sticker, this one has a neat sans serif print of the scent name, minus the notes description that made the original candles stand out. I liked that a bit less, mainly because I like to know what I’m smelling so I can identify the notes in other candles. I prefer the busier original, which looked niceUltimately, I understand the candle community’s muted response to Boy Smells’ rebranding. Because, in my opinion, the rebrand is a net improvement. Everything looks and feels more considered, the burn is better, and the improved packaging feels worth the $38 price tag. I admit that the overall vibe isn’t as good as it used to be. The brand lost some of what made it unique, both from a scent and aesthetic perspective. Instead of metallic Polyamberous candles for “honey-dripped amber-rich love affairs,” there’s So Vanilla candles to “complete your cottagecore aesthetic.” The pivot from poppers-inspired candles to herbal-forward, clean-laundry scents feels like luxury as defined by Flamingo Estate: farmers’ markets, dinner parties, natural fibers. This latest evolution makes it clear to me that Boy Smells is not above listening to the market, that it’s realigned in order to remain relevant in a fast-growing industry , even if that means looking a little bit like everyone else.The Strategist is designed to surface useful, expert recommendations for things to buy across the vast e-commerce landscape. Every product is independently selected by our team of editors, whom you can read aboutI Asked Dozens of Tasteful People About Their Favorite Sandals*Sorry, there was a problem signing you up.You'll receive the next newsletter in your inbox.New York
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