tiny treasures...light up

i know for me, a good candle is worth spending some money on. not crazy money, like the ones that approach $100, but most good candles cost at least $18 - the cheapest i know of that smells incredible and burns long is the voluspa seasons candle tins for $18, which i get at anthropologie. the subject of candles warrants its own post(s), but for the purposes of tiny treasures (small indulgences for $5 or less), i want to talk about one small aspect (pun intended).

recently, i've started to buy votive size versions of very good candles because they usually cost between $1 and $2 and pack all the concentrated scent of their larger counterparts, but aren’t such a commitment. because one of the advantages of nice (read: expensive) candles is their burn time, the small ones last surprisingly long, provided you trim the wick each time before burning. set on a pretty little dish, in a mason jar or even in an antique teacup, they bring a smile to my face.

i usually get the colonial candle ones i buy at the amish market across from my office, and they’re $1.50 each, so for under $5, i can get three candles and use the scent throughout the house, one in each downstairs room. i tend to do this when i’m in a seasonal mood of some sort. the other day, i bought the farmers market scent which is a fresh, autumnal scent. later in the year, i’ll probably buy warm apple cake OR....

i could get this sampler set of votives from yankee candle that has four of their new fall scents (thanks for the heads-up to reader and friend kim!). the names of their new scents alone make me want to get in the car and head to the mall -- they're called: be thankful, autumn fruit, almond cookie, and moonlight harvest, among others. how much, you ask? it's as if this set was born to be a tiny treasure....$5!

with good candles priced the way they are, the votive sizes are great for so many reasons - it's nice to have so many points of fragrance when using the same scent throughout your home, rather than just have the immediate area around the candle smell good. also, it's a great way to test out a scent and decide if you really love it before you buy a larger one. also, it's a way to enjoy several scents in different areas of your home, if that's what you prefer, without having to take out a loan to buy all the full size candles.

to me, this is a perfect tiny treasure, just as tiny treasures should be - a small but wonderful luxury at a price that makes it easy to indulge.

votive photo from http://www.bbc.co.uk/; farmers market photo from http://www.colonialcandles.com/; yankee candle photo from www.yankeecandle.com