Linnea’s Lights Blog Contest Entry by Bonnie Jacobs

Bonnie Jacobs wrote a Linnea’s Lights blog contest entry about a rainy night in Maui, and it shows how one small candle can anchor a whole trip.

Guest post by Bonnie Jacobs
for Linnea’s Lights Blog Contest

The best fragrance experience I have ever had was during my first trip to Maui. It was a beautiful rainy evening and I decided to take my Voluspa Truffle White Cocoa candle outside with me on the balcony.  It just does not get better then sitting outside on my balcony in a comfy cozy chair listening to the sound of the rain gently coming down while looking at the beautiful palm trees surrounding my hotel room with the smell of chocolate in the air from my Voluspa candle.

I just love that Voluspa makes a wide variety of candles in tins because they are great for traveling. I do not like to travel without my candles and they are easy to take with me as I can just toss them in my suitcase and not worry about them breaking.

Whether it is the holidays, a beautiful vacation, relaxing with a nice bubble bath, or just curling up on the couch watching a movie the experience would not be complete without a beautiful candle in the background. Candles have the wonderful ability to relax, soothe, and comfort me and they add to my day to day experiences as well as my special ones.

What makes this lights blog contest entry work

Bonnie’s entry is short, but it does something many candle reviews miss. She does not list notes or burn times. She tells you where she was, what the weather did, and how the chocolate scent fit the moment.

That is how most of us really remember a fragrance. The candle becomes tied to a place, and months later one sniff puts you back on that balcony.

I see it at the shop all the time. Customers rarely say they want a top note of this or a base note of that. They say they want the smell of a certain evening.

I also like that the entry gives a real reason for choosing a candle over any other souvenir. A postcard sits in a drawer, but a scent you light on the road comes home in your memory and stays there. That is a lovely thing to say about a single tin of wax.

A good lights blog contest entry tells a story first and mentions the product second. Bonnie’s does exactly that.

I read every lights blog contest entry the way I read a customer’s note, looking for the moment that made the candle matter.

Her lights blog contest entry proves you do not need a long essay to be memorable.

Packing a tin candle for a trip

Bonnie points out that Voluspa makes so many of its candles in tins, and that is a real advantage on the road. A metal tin with a lid does not shatter like a glass jar can, and the lid keeps the scent from leaking into your clothes.

My own habit is to tuck the tin into a sock or a small zip bag, then put it in the middle of the suitcase between soft layers. It takes thirty seconds and saves you from a waxy surprise.

One practical note: hotels often have rules about open flames, so check before you light anything. If they say no, you can still open the tin and enjoy the cold scent, which is how many people use a candle anyway.

There is one more travel habit worth stealing from Bonnie. She does not leave candles at home when she packs. I feel the same, and my own bag always has one small tin tucked in a corner for the first night in a strange room, when everything smells like someone else’s laundry.

Burn it for a short time only if the hotel allows it, keep it on a sturdy surface and never fall asleep with it lit. The scent matters most in the first twenty minutes anyway, so you do not need a long burn to feel at home.

Her lights blog contest entry also makes a quiet practical point about tins. A metal tin with a lid usually travels better than a glass jar.

If you write your own lights blog contest entry, mention the packing trick too, since readers love a useful detail.

Chocolate scents and a rainy evening

Gourmand scents like chocolate and cocoa tend to feel best when the air is cool and damp. Rain seems to hold the fragrance close, so even a small flame fills a balcony or a bathroom without much effort.

If you have never tried a chocolate candle, think of it as a cozy background smell rather than a dessert. Good ones read as warm and slightly bittersweet, not like frosting. For another opinion on this exact candle, I wrote about it in my Sugar Jones post, where I layered it with a cake-scented candle.

Maui is far from my shop, but I understand the pull. Pair a good scent with a view and a quiet half hour, and the day resets.

I should say I have never found chocolate candles to be all alike. Some lean toward milk chocolate and cream, others toward dark cocoa that smells more like the inside of a bakery. Smell a few cold if you can, and give your nose a break between them with a sniff of plain air.

Fragrance and weather are good partners in general. Humid air carries scent well, which is why a candle can seem stronger on a damp evening than on a dry winter night. If your candle seems faint, try it again when the weather changes.

The Voluspa Truffle White Cocoa candle at the center of this lights blog contest entry is a chocolate scent, which suits rain and a comfy chair.

Few things feel as cozy as a lights blog contest entry that starts with rain.

Making a candle part of the small moments

The last paragraph of Bonnie’s entry lists holidays, vacations, bubble baths and movie nights. I like that she does not save the candle for special occasions only. A scent that shows up on ordinary Tuesdays makes the special days feel more connected.

If you want to read how the contest itself got started, the original announcement explains the idea. For a sense of the place that inspired this entry, the Wikipedia page on Maui gives the geography and climate behind those rainy evenings.

Take a candle somewhere this year, even if the trip is only to the next town. It is a cheap way to make a borrowed room feel like yours.

Whether you win or not, a lights blog contest entry is a good excuse to write down a favorite scent memory.

Keep your lights blog contest entry honest and specific, with a place, a weather detail and one candle.

I would happily read another lights blog contest entry from Bonnie, and I hope this one inspires you to write yours.

Every lights blog contest entry has a winner in the author’s own memory, whether or not a prize follows.

Reading a lights blog contest entry like this makes me want to book a trip.