Yankee Candle is one of the best known producers of scented candles for the home, selling worldwide. Their catalogue of available fragrances changes with the seasons, and for the past few years they have included a Halloween selection.

I stumbled upon Yankee Candle's Halloween range while I was trawling the early November sales for reduced spooky goodies. I've already written about some of my other finds: Halloween Chocolates (Hotel Chocolat) and Halloween Melamine Plates, Bowls & Cups. I had noticed Yankee Candle's Christmas scents in the shops over several years, so I wasn't really surprised to see ones for Halloween. What did surprise me was the amount of design work that had gone into presenting them.

Yankee Candles are usually sold and burned in chunky clear glass jars. You can get wax melts, tealights and votives which are supposed to be burned in candle holders, but the jars are iconic of the brand. The Halloween range I found departed from this. Some candles were in weighty black ceramic jars. Others were in tall black glass pillar jars, capped with Jack-o'-lantern face lids, with hidden text printed inside and revealed as the candle melts. The pillar jars are so nice; if I can cleanly remove the scent descriptor labels I'll use them for storing knick-knacks when they are empty.

The scents I bought were Forbidden Apple, Haunted Hollow, Sweet Seduction, and Witches' Brew. Fruity Forbidden Apple and the patchouli-based Witches' Brew seem to have been a fixture of Yankee Candles' Halloween range since the beginning; Vanilla-caramel Sweet Seduction looks like the successor to a scent called Candy Corn. That one is too intensely sweet-smelling for me. I also got some unscented Dreadful Drip taper candles, outwardly white candles that dramatically drip red wax as they are burned.

As well as the candles, Yankee Candle have produced a wide selection of Halloween candle holders/burners. I have investigated the other holders and burners released over the years. There have been lots of designs, many of which are a bit too cute for my taste. I think most were for the US market, rather than the UK, like their series of collectible candle holders featuring skeletons: the Boney Bunch. I'm not sure the printed or painted decoration on many of the glass votive holders would last. The Jack-o'-lantern candle holders I got - both orange and black - are solid, heavy ceramic burners designed for tealights and wax melts. I am really happy with the quality of them, and they will get lots and lots of reuse.

I will definitely look out for Yankee Candle's 2019 Halloween range, which will probably be available from late summer or early autumn.