What Is The Difference Between White Barn And Bath And Body Works Candles?

ByChloe Bennett

Bath & Body Works and White Barn are two popular candle brands owned by the same company, L Brands. Both offer a wide variety of scented candles to customers seeking high quality home fragrance products. Bath & Body Works launched in 1990, starting out as a bath and body store before expanding to candles and other home fragrance products. The White Barn brand was introduced in 2003 as a higher end, more sophisticated candle line to be sold alongside the flagship Bath & Body Works products.

While the brands share similarities in their offerings, there are also some key differences between Bath & Body Works and White Barn candles related to fragrance options, pricing, jar designs and more. This guide will explore how the two brands compare in depth.

Brand Origins

White Barn was founded in 1990 as an independent candle company known for its sophisticated and luxurious fragrances. The brand quickly gained popularity for its distinctive jar designs and high-quality ingredients. In 2003, White Barn was acquired by Bath & Body Works, allowing it to leverage the retail footprint and operational infrastructure of the larger company. However, White Barn has maintained its own identity and branding, appealing to a more upscale customer segment compared to the Bath & Body Works brand.

Candle Lines

Bath & Body Works and White Barn Candle Company offer distinct core candle lines. Bath & Body Works has their 3-wick candles as their standard line, available year-round in a wide variety of scents. These candles come in decorative jars with 3 wicks for even burning and fragrance dispersion. Bath & Body Works also has single-wick candles, travel-size candles, nightlight candles, and seasonal collections like the Valentine’s Day and Holiday lines.

White Barn focuses more on scent and experience. Their core lines are the Signature Collection, which features fresh scents with essential oils, the Alpine line with outdoorsy scents, and the seasonal White Barn Classics line. Rather than decorative jars, White Barn uses simple yet elegant white packaging to let the scents speak for themselves. The 3-wick candles provide a strong scent throw and long burn time of 24-45 hours. Overall, White Barn concentrates on a core collection of sophisticated scents while Bath & Body Works has trendier scents across wider product lines.

Fragrance Types

Both White Barn and Bath & Body Works offer a wide variety of candle scents across different fragrance categories.

White Barn is known for more sophisticated and complex fragrances like their iconicMahogany Teakwood and Winter scents. They utilize higher concentrations of essential oils and natural ingredients to create distinctive scents.

Bath & Body Works trends towards more playful, youthful and novelty fragrances like the Sweet Shoppe collection. They use synthetic fragrance oils to produce affordable and long-lasting scents.

Some of the most popular fragrance types at White Barn include seasonal scents likePumpkin Apple and Spiced Gingerbread, as well as complex aromatherapy scents likeEucalyptus Rain and Lavender Cedarwood.

Bath & Body Works has become known for their food-inspired scents like Strawberry Pound Cake and Hot Cocoa & Cream. They also offer popular floral and fruity scents.

While there is some overlap, White Barn aims for a more natural, sophisticated nose while Bath & Body Works trends sweeter and more playful.

Ingredients

There are some key differences when it comes to the ingredients used in White Barn and Bath & Body Works candles.

White Barn uses a proprietary soy wax blend that is designed to maximize fragrance distribution and retention. Their wicks are also carefully engineered to provide an ideal melt pool for an even, clean burn. Essential oils and natural extracts are used in their fragrance blends.

In contrast, Bath & Body Works uses a different soy wax blend that produces a stronger scent throw. Their wicks may be a bit thicker to allow the wax to pool higher as it burns. The fragrance oils tend to be more synthetic in nature compared to White Barn.

So in summary, White Barn focuses on a high quality wax and wick for an optimal burn, paired with essential oils for a natural, balanced fragrance. Bath & Body Works uses a wax and wick for maximum scent dispersal, with more synthetic fragrance oils.

Jar Styles

White Barn and Bath & Body Works offer candles in a variety of unique jar shapes, colors, and designs. Some of the most popular White Barn jar styles include:

  • Classic jars with white barn branding
  • Oversized jars with bold colors and patterns
  • Faceted jars with a gemstone-like cut
  • Round bubble jars
  • Geometric jars
  • Speckled jars
  • Ombre effect jars that fade between two colors

Bath & Body Works tends to offer more novelty jar designs, like:

  • Jars shaped like houses, trees, and other objects
  • Glitter jars
  • Iridescent jars
  • Two-toned swirl effect jars
  • Jars wrapped in decorative paper
  • Engraved logo jars
  • Jars with ceramic ornament lids

The jar style often reflects the specific candle fragrance and collection. Both brands frequently introduce new limited-edition jar designs. The variety of jar options allows customers to choose not just based on scent but also aesthetic appeal.

Pricing

When it comes to price, White Barn and Bath & Body Works candles have some key differences. Bath & Body Works tends to offer more frequent sales and discounts, with candle prices ranging from $10-$15 during semi-annual sales to around $24.50 full price. White Barn candles are more premium, usually priced from $24.50-$27.50 full price. While White Barn rarely offers sales beyond “Buy 2, Get 2 Free” offers, their candles are seen as higher end and can command the higher prices.

Bath & Body Works incentivizes bulk buying with their sales and discounts, trying to get customers to purchase multiple candles at once. White Barn focuses more on the quality and home decor aspect of their candles rather than discounts. Their higher prices reflect their positioning as premium home fragrance.

Performance Differences

When comparing the performance of White Barn and Bath & Body Works candles, there are a couple key factors to consider – burn time and scent throw.

In terms of burn time, White Barn candles are designed to burn between 45-55 hours on average, whereas Bath & Body Works candles tend to have shorter burn times around 22-24 hours. The wax blends and jar shapes play a role in the differing burn times. White Barn uses a proprietary vegetable and paraffin wax blend that allows the wax to pool evenly as it burns. The curved shape of White Barn jars also promotes more even wax pooling and full fragrance release. Bath & Body Works often uses paraffin wax which can burn quicker, paired with straight-sided jars.

For scent throw, White Barn candles tend to fill a room more strongly with fragrance. They use higher concentrations of fragrance oils along with specialized wicks to maximize fragrance distribution. Bath & Body Works aims for a lighter, more body care-like scent from their candles. The strength of scent can vary across collections and seasons for both brands.

In summary, White Barn candles stand out for their long burn times and strong scent throw, while Bath & Body Works offers more casual performance in quicker-burning candles with lighter scents.

Exclusivity

One of the main differences between Bath & Body Works and White Barn candles is their availability and exclusivity. Bath & Body Works candles can be found in all of their retail stores across the United States and Canada as well as on their website. They produce candles in very large quantities to be distributed widely. White Barn candles on the other hand are more exclusive. They are only available in White Barn retail stores, which are more limited in number and locations. White Barn does not sell their candles on their website or any third party retailers. This makes their candles harder to find and more exclusive. Often times certain scents will only be available for a limited time, adding to the collectibility of White Barn candles.

In summary, Bath & Body Works aims for mass market appeal and wide availability of their candle scents. White Barn takes a more exclusive approach by limiting sales to stand alone retail locations, making their candles more scarce and collectible.

Conclusion

The key differences between White Barn and Bath & Body Works candles come down to brand image, fragrance types, ingredients, and pricing. White Barn aims for a more sophisticated, luxurious, and natural image with their products and packaging. Their candles use more complex and mature fragrances, natural wax blends, essential oils, and minimalist packaging. Bath & Body Works has a younger, trendier, and affordable mass market image. Their candles tend to have sweeter, bolder fragrances, paraffin wax, synthetic fragrance oils, and colorful decorative packaging. While there is some overlap in scents between the two brands, White Barn focuses more on specialty seasonal scents while Bath & Body Works has many signature core scents. Ultimately, White Barn targets a more discerning candle enthusiast willing to pay premium prices, while Bath & Body Works provides great value candles to a broader mainstream audience.

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