Scentsy is known for its wax bars; they’re the foundation of the company. Yankee Candle’s most popular product is its jar candles, so it would be interesting to know how their wax melts would compare to Scentsy.
In this article, I am going to compare the two brands based on ingredients used, fragrances offered and pricing structures.
Stick around to learn about each company’s approach to making wax melts in order to determine which one you’d prefer.
Yankee Candle Wax Melts vs Scentsy Wax Bars
Both Scentsy and Yankee Candle are American companies that sell wax-based products and accessories. While Yankee Candle primarily focuses on home and car fragrance products, Scentsy’s products also include personal care, laundry, air purifiers and collections for children and pets.
Yankee Candle Wax Melts Overview
If you wanted to try a new Yankee Candle scent years ago, you could buy a wax tart. These little tarts were less than an ounce each but had a strong fragrance throw when melted.
You may be able to still find Wax Tarts in stores like Bed, Bath & Beyond or online through Ebay or Amazon but at this point, they’re collector’s items.
Yankee Candle has officially discontinued production of their tarts, replacing them with Wax Melts, which come in single and multi-packs.
Wax Melt Singles are 0.8 oz (22 g), just like the tarts were. Their 2.6 oz (75 g) multi-pack contains 6 wax melts, each weighing 0.43 oz (12.5 g). Each section can be warmed for up to 8 hours before the fragrance begins to fade.
I think that the single tarts are still a nice entry into the brand and can allow you to try a fragrance before purchasing a larger candle or multi-pack of wax melts.
Scentsy Wax Bars Overview
Since the start of their company, Scentsy has been offering customers wax bars. So I guess you can say that wax bars are also an entry into the company, but in a different way. This is the one product you’ve been able to buy from them from the very beginning, but access to it has changed some over the years.
Traditionally, the only way to purchase Scentsy products was through an independent consultant. Now, you can also buy their products online through sites like Amazon which is especially convenient if you don’t have a Scentsy consultant in your area.
Scentsy wax bars weigh the same as Yankee Candle’s multi-packs, 2.6 oz (74 g), but they are divided into eight sections instead of six. Fragrance intensity for each bar lasts for six to eight hours, but according to customers, fragrance lasts much longer than that and is closer to 10 to 20 hours.
Single bar sections are not available for sale. Typically, you would test out Scentsy products and fragrances through an Independent Consultant during a Scentsy host party. I’m not sure if this will ever change since parties occur less frequently due to the pandemic but in the meantime, you can order sample sets in order to try out multiple Scentsy fragrances.
Are Yankee Candle Wax Melts Better Than Scentsy Wax Bars?
This is a hard question to answer. Both companies develop a high quality product using purified wax, strong fragrance combinations, and their prices aren’t significantly different.
| Yankee Candle Wax Melts | Scentsy Wax Bars | |
| Weight | 2.6 oz (75 g) | 2.6 oz (75 g) |
| No. of Segments | 6 | 8 |
| Wax Type | premium paraffin wax blend | high-quality paraffin wax blend |
| Fragrance Type | fragrance extracts and essential oils | natural and synthetic fragrances |
| Scent Longevity | 8 hours | 6 to 8 hours |
| Price | 💲💲💲 | 💲💲💲💲 |
| Pros | Fragrance quickly fills the room Balanced scent that doesn’t overwhelm Many of your favorite fragrances are available | Heavenly fragrance Scent lasts a long time after |
| Cons | You’ll need to use a wax melting accessory | Requires a wax warmer More expensive |
Yankee Candle & Scentsy Wax Melts Face to Face Comparison
Let’s dive a little deeper into the similarities and differences between these two companies’ wax melts. We’ll be looking at the kind of wax used, fragrances and fragrance ingredients, and the amount of value you can get from each product.
Wax Type
Both Yankee Candle and Scentsy use a form of paraffin wax. Both companies consider their wax to be high-quality and/or premium. What I take this to mean is that they go through a refinement process to ensure that there aren’t any toxic ingredients in the wax.
Paraffin wax has gotten a bad rep over the years but I am learning that it’s not necessarily worse than soy wax, it’s simply another wax option.
Keep in mind that companies have to meet safety standards before offering their products on the market. If either company used toxic wax, the government would have shut them down by now, or at the very least sanctioned them.
While I can’t account for the safety of other ingredients, like dyes used in their wax formulas, both companies are family-oriented. Scentsy especially has posted about its commitment to only producing safe products for their customers.
Some people may question how the words “safety” and “paraffin wax” can co-exist. I like this explanation about the differences between paraffin and soy waxes.
For so long, paraffin wax has been demonized and labeled as toxic, but it’s actually a purified natural resource that is unlikely to cause illness.
Also, if pesticides are used in soybean crops, soybean byproducts can be more toxic than paraffin.
Takeaway: Both companies use premium or high-grade paraffin wax that is safe to place inside your wax warmer.
Fragrance Options
Yankee Candle offers over 600 fragrances overall, but their wax melts are only offered in a portion of those scents. There are over 100 Wax Melt fragrance options available by Yankee Candle.
Because Yankee Candle was founded in 1969 and has become one of the most loved candle companies in America, there are a lot of customers who attach different memories to popular Yankee Candle Wax Melt scents. Because of this, some people may choose Yankee Candle over Scentsy merely due to the emotional connections.
Another high point for Yankee Candle is that their fragrances are formulated to be released in layers. There are top, middle, and bottom fragrance notes for all of their scent options. The top note gives you an initial impression of the scent. Middle notes are what you’d smell the most and the bottom notes give you a final layer of appreciation for the scent.
Seasonally, Scentsy offers at least 80 fragrance options in their catalog. Their scents are a combination of natural fragrance oils and synthetic fragrance formulas.
Although they haven’t been in business as long (since 2004), Scentsy fragrances also create emotional connections with their customers. The difference is that Scentsy more frequently discontinues fragrances. They also introduce more seasonal scents and rotate them in their catalogs.
While you can likely buy Pink Sands from Yankee Candle year-round, you wouldn’t be able to purchase a Scentsy fragrance like Paradise Punch, during the winter months. You’d have to wait until the spring/summer catalog.
On the other hand, whenever a new scent is introduced, low-performing ones are given the boot. They also host the “Bring Back My Bar” promotion, which allows customers to stock up on their favorite scents within a short window of time.
Takeaway: Yankee Candle offers more consistent and nostalgic scent options than Scentsy does. There’s more rotation in Scentsy’s fragrance offerings, but your favorite scent might cycle back around or be temporarily voted back to the roster.
Fragrance Ingredients
Both companies combine natural and synthetic fragrances in order to create a more consistent product and to keep prices down. Since natural scents can sometimes vary from crop to crop, even if only slightly, incorporating synthetic fragrances helps them to ensure that Pink Sands or Welcome Home always smells the same when repeat customers buy it. This strengthens customer loyalty.
Completely natural essence is expensive. If companies like Yankee Candle or Scentsy used 100% natural scents, the cost of their product would greatly increase.
Another factor is fragrance strength. Natural fragrances are lovely but often aren’t as strong as synthetic ones. While the kind of wax being used also factors into fragrance strength, combining the natural with the synthetic makes a difference.
Customers report that Yankee Candle fragrances are stronger than Scentsy. It’s possible that they double- or triple-scent their wax. But this is proprietary information customers will likely never know for sure.
Also note that not all synthetic fragrances are bad. Many of them are safe and will not cause any harm when used appropriately.
Takeaway: Both companies use a combination of natural and synthetic fragrances that are safe to customers and keeps costs down.
Pricing & Value
The last factor I’ll cover is pricing and the amount of value you can get for the price paid.
While both companies have densely scented wax melts, Yankee’s is described as being stronger than Scentsy. On the other hand, Scentsy fragrance is said to last longer than Yankee Candle – like more than twice as long.
Both types of wax melts can fill the room beautifully but I guess the question you’d have to ask yourself is whether you want an intense fragrance release at the start, or whether you’d prefer to have scent lingering for hours after you’ve turned off your wax warmer.
Scentsy is slightly more expensive than Yankee Candle and Yankee Candle is more expensive than economic brands on the market.
A reason to avoid the economic brands is because they often use lower quality ingredients that might actually release toxins into the air.
With Yankee Candle and Scentsy, you know that they have used high quality ingredients that are safe to use on a regular basis. In this way, they both offer value.
In terms of fragrance, though, the value is subjective. You’re getting the same amount of wax that’s broken into six or eight sections. And with either company you can use more or fewer wax cubes in order to alter fragrance intensity.
Takeaway: Value is subjective. If you want an intense shorter-term fragrance throw, you might prefer Yankee Candle, otherwise for fragrance that lingers, you might find it to be more valuable to buy Scentsy Wax Bars.
Which One Should You Choose?
You are likely to find fragrances that you like from either company. There are many similarities between them. But amongst the slight differences – fragrance options, intensity, and throw, as well as value for the asking price – you have to decide what’s most important to you.
Choose Yankee Candle Wax Melts if:
- You are more price-conscious
- You want to try out a Yankee Candle fragrance with single Wax Melts
- You want to experience the strongest fragrance
- You prefer versatile wax melts that can fit into almost any wax warmer
- You like more nostalgic scents
Choose Scentsy Wax Bars if:
- You don’t mind paying more
- You are less concerned with company structure
- You don’t mind more limited and/or evolving fragrances
- You prefer all of your wax melt ingredients to be safe
No matter the choice, you will need an electric or non-electric wax warmer in order to use either company’s wax melts.
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