Product Review: Yankee Candle Scentstories Player & Fragrance Discs

Many people remember seeing marketing for the "Febreze Scentstories Player," a new electric home fragrance option, a few years ago. At the time, I thought it was a really cool idea, and my brother actually bought me a Scentstories Player for Christmas. I really enjoyed using the player to add scent to my home, but I guess the idea didn't really catch on, because before long, you couldn't find the Febreze Scentstories Fragrance Discs anywhere and I thought the product had been discontinued.

Much to my delight, I opened up the newest copy of the Yankee Candle Company and saw that new Scentstories Discs using Yankee fragrances were available. Apparently, Yankee Candle acquired the rights to the Scentstories technology from Proctor & Gamble, and they are in the process of launching a full line-up of Scentstories products. As soon as I saw that the discs were available, I ordered a couple, and in this review, I'll cover the Scentstories Player itself in addition to the new line of fragrance discs from Yankee Candle.

The whole Scentstories concept is meant to bring the familiarity of a CD player to the electric home fragrance market. To get started you'll need to purchase a Scentstories Player, which is currently being sold for $24.99 through the YankeeCandle.com website (you may be able to find a Febreze-branded player at a local store for cheaper, although they are difficult to find). The player has a relatively small footprint and doesn't take up a lot of space, so it can easily be placed on an end table or small shelf where it is out of the way. After plugging the AC adapter into an available electric outlet, you're ready to play your first Scentstories Disc.

Just place the Fragrance Disc into the Scentstories Player, then close the lid so the disc firmly locks into place. Now, you simply press play and the unit springs into action. Each Fragrance Disc contains 5 different scents, which are rotated every half hour to provide you with a full two and a half hours of fragrance. The player has an ultra-quiet fan inside which gently fills even large rooms with scent, and you really can't hear the player working except for a faint, mechanical turning noise whenever it is switching from one fragrance to another. The player also has an intensity setting which allows you to adjust the fragrance output, and you can also skip a fragrance or stop the player at anytime.

I purchased two of Yankee Candle's new Scentstories Discs, one called "Tropical Paradise" and the other called "Farmer's Market." Both discs feature many popular Yankee Candle fragrances, including Juicy Peach, Granny Smith, Macintosh, Sun & Sand, Mango Peach Salsa, and even a few more. As soon as the Fragrance Discs arrived, I popped one in my Scentstories Player to test it out. I was actually surprised by how good it smelled. Whenever Febreze was making the Scentstories Discs, I found some of the fragrance to be a bit artificial, almost chemical smelling-the discs made by Yankee Candle, however, definitely smelled true to life (the fruit scents smelled so good you could almost taste them!). I also found the Yankee Candle discs to be stronger than the older ones made by Febreze, which was nice because I could lower the intensity on the player so it ran even quieter.

Overall, I am very happy with my Scentstories Player and Fragrance Discs from Yankee Candle Company. The player definitely gives off more scent than a typical "plug-in," and it quickly fills a room with scent, unlike candles or tarts which have to be burned for a while before you can really smell them. Plus, you each disc contains five Yankee scents, and you can rotate between a few discs, so the Scentstories Player provides you with more options and versatility than many other home fragrance products. The only drawback is that the Scentstories Player & Fragrance Discs are currently only being sold through the Yankee Candle website and catalog, so you'll have to pay shipping to get one of these into your home. With that said, I think that the Scentstories Player is a good investment that will keep your home filled with wonderful Yankee Candle fragrances for years to come!