Yankee Candle is a homey, lovely, and quaint shop that sells a wide array of candles with scents ranging from a vanilla-strawberry blend to the unfamiliar aroma of burnt firewood and mint-green tea leaves. The moment you step in, you are greeted by smiling saleswomen in fresh bob-cuts, ushering you around and shoving obscenely-priced candles straight in your face. Of course, you are a little startled, but the moment your nostrils inhale that delectable fragrance of peppermint mixed with milk chocolate, you fall in love with the store and the atypical workers that come with it.

You may be accustomed to the more predictable and delightful candle scents, but some seem not as pleasant. For example, have you ever caught a whiff of “Ocean Star”? According to the label, it is supposed to help you relax after a stressful day on the job. But how are you supposed to be able to get a good 20-minute nap in when you have the smell of salty seaweed mixed with the barely detectable fragrance of a lotus blossom permeating throughout your bedroom?

The folks at Yankee Candle are notorious for their odd concoctions of bewildering and mortifying scents. Take for instance, the infamous “Hollyberry” which was a Christmas-time special and is now discontinued. The official website had promised a revitalizing scent of roasted chestnuts, combined with the tang of raspberries, and finished off with a dash of holly. However, according to the (rather colorfully worded) reviews on amazon.com, this supposedly “air-purifying” Christmas special turns out to be like a lump of coal delivered by Santa Claus himself! One review described the bogus candle as “a rough combination of fire and the smell a lawnmower emanates after moving a field of grass.” Another went as far as to say “it was like a burnt cookie and a berry had a baby – and it wasn’t pretty!”

But despite some of Yankee Candle’s blunders, many of the most unusual (and most expensive) scents have been blessed by Cupid himself and sent with a golden ribbon for us to enjoy! For example, take “Evening Air” and “Summer Dreams.” Yes, the names may sound a tad absurd, considering you cannot smell air or dreams, but the actual scent of these candles will leave you completely relaxed, completely at ease, and completely empty of all your savings, since these delights cost almost $50 each (plus shipping and handling). “Summer Dreams” gives you the nostalgic scent of sunflowers, nectar, daisies, and the refreshing morning breeze all in one, while “Evening Air” bestows upon you the scent of lilacs, the earth’s soil, and a hint of your ex-boyfriend’s cologne (it seriously does – Calvin Klein wasn’t kidding when he said he would make the best cologne known to man).

Alas, fellow readers, you will now be able to look the next pushy candle-saleswoman in the eye and say, “I know you want to sell me this, but here’s a friendly reminder: half of the names of your candles make no scents!”