We all like and buy candles for various reasons. I know of many who buy un-scented candles, because they are mainly interested in the light rather than smell. I buy scented candles most of the time..I like the light plus am a big fan of fragrances. After controlling my passion and piling up on perfumes, I drifted the passion to candles. As an 'everyday' candle user, I tried using many brands, but with time I have come to observe and realize few things about the brands and how they make their candles.
Pottery barn: I love Pottery Barn candles for their unique fragrance. From my experience, their collection is so different and hard to match anyone else. I always use them for a special occasion or mood because none of the others can excite me and make me smile with glee as these. The trouble I have is they are very subtle. I need to have a few of them in my room to actually smell the aroma, but cannot buy so many of them because they are expensive. Also, I do not like the fact that they do not last long. I shop the outlets most of time to save a few bucks, because the regular stores in the malls can be more expensive.
Yankee candles: I like Yankee candles for the large collection of fragrances. More fragrances to choose from than Pottery Barn, few of them are very very good, and a lot of them are 'nice'. For the same size, they are lesser expensive than the Pottery Barn candles and last relatively longer too. They are still expensive. To beat the price, I do not buy fragrance of the season, I normally wait until they go on sale and stock up to use whenever I like. The 'home fragrance' collection and few others have a strong aroma, so I normally use these to light up the house and diffuse the smell while I am cooking, and they work well for that purpose. I also do not need very many of them..probably 2-3 scattered across kitchen and living area are good for my purpose. I occasionally use few signature collection fragrances for special occasions. These candles are almost worth their value, burn well, and last long..and burn almost to the bottom of the jar.
Colonial Candles: These are the best value for price and fragrance and size. The fragrances are not the best for smell, but they have a decent collection. The price is decent. The best feature: they burn until the last drop of wax in the jar...and last months. I use them more like a regular candle while cooking and even though I leave them burning for about 2-3 hours and probably 1 in the kitchen and 1 in the living room..thats enough to diffuse the smell from cooking and they last about 4 months for a 23 oz jar.
Occasionally few other candles from Glade or Bath and Body Works or Pier1 Imports attract me, but probably I'll not buy a lot of them to fill the house and use them everyday. I am yet to explore the unbranded local artisan work.