What’s the weather like where you are?
If the temperature has plummeted and the rain is more common than not, why not make the most of being indoors by creating a cosy, welcoming environment. Whether you’re hunkering down under a soft rug with a good book or inviting friends into your home for a casual dinner or get-together, lighting a scented candle can be a great way to further enhance the mood. The soft glow of a flickering candle can be just the thing to enhance a gentle and soothing ambience in your home and help slow your thoughts for a little while.
To ensure you make the most of your chosen candle, there are a few guidelines to follow. One of the most important is to ensure when you first light it, you will be able to leave it lit for long enough for the wax to melt and pool all the way to the edge of the glass. This will help prevent tunnelling and help ensure it lasts for the maximum number of hours burn-time.
Scent memory is a powerful thing, and many candle makers play on it, designing fragrances that capture or recreate some of our favorite moments, things or edible elements, like lingering fireside or breathing in the warm spices from a glass of mulled wine. Winter’s best candles often have richer, deeper notes, touches of soft woods or smoky elements, even delicious spices.
With that in mind here are some of the best candles to burn right now:
Glasshouse Fragrances winter limited editions
Many of us fancy a winter getaway to Queenstown to enjoy some snow fun, scenic vistas and a glass of the area’s best red. If you can’t swing it this year or want to recall your favourite moments in the alpine haven, evocative candle brand Glasshouse Fragrances has again created its limited edition ode to the Otago hotspot. Decadent and grounding, warm and enveloping, Fireside In Queenstown burns with notes of smouldering woods and cinnamon, clove, sandalwood, orris and guaiac wood. Previously the brand’s fastest selling and most popular limited-edition item, it’s back again this year, but this time has another winter-inspired candle joining it. Last Run In Aspen conjures up visions of fresh powder, either as your carve first tracks or dusting the tops of wild blooms including Lily of the Valley and Rose. Warm and alluring, pear, raspberry and saffron are balanced with notes of amber, delicate wildflowers and intoxicating woods. These special editions are available online from from July 3 and in-store from July 10.
Circa winter candles
Vanilla Bean & Allspice brings all the comfort of a hug to your home, says Circa. Say no more. If you find the scent of vanilla evocative of happy memories and delicious treats, you’ll love this candle, but pleasingly, it’s not sickly or cloying. The fresh top notes and softer middle that make it perfectly balanced and appealing to most people. It has opening notes of bergamot, orange, lemon and caraway, a heart of jasmine, rose and green muguet and a base of sandalwood, patchouli, vanilla. Amber & Sandalwood brings that warm, elegant and rich vibe to any room, perfect for winter entertaining. It has notes of zesty orange and delicate magnolia with vanilla and musk and woods.
Dior Ambre Nuit candle
Rose is sometimes considered an old-fashioned scent, but the bloom has been reinvigorated by perfumers in recent years by combining it with unexpected and more deep, masculine notes. Here the soft, spicy and unisex scent, also an Eau De Parfum by Dior, makes the perfect home scent in the cooler months.
“The idea was to create a sensual Rose by combining it with Ambergris, two of the most emblematic ingredients used by perfumers. This accord was particularly important to me. I worked on it for many years before successfully creating Ambre Nuit,” says François Demachy, Dior Perfumer-Creator, who created the scent.
ECOYA ‘The Great Indoors’ limited editions
Ecoya is playing straight to our current mood with its new ‘The Great Indoors’ collection that comprises two limited-edition candles designed to ‘bring the outdoors indoors’. Blackcurrant & Tuberose is a juicy, fruity-floral that still has a lingering depth that feels appropriate for the season, with a considered mix of bergamot, blossom, blackcurrant and pear, atop jasmine, tuberose, cedar and musk. Eucalyptus & Patchouli is warm and woody but still has a uplifting feel with an opener of sunny citrus and spicy top notes of bergamot, lemon, eucalyptus and cardamom with geranium and ylang-ylang and a base of patchouli, moss and amber.
Maison Margiela By the Fireplace candle
Margiela’s Replica fragrance line is designed to be just that, a replica of familiar and favoured scents captured in perfume or candle form. So if you aren’t able to have an open fireplace in your home, or you’d simply love the smell to linger, the incredibly accurate woody ember scent this emanates is quite amazing. Inspired by a smoky fire, this warm, familiar scent combines notes of chestnut accord, red berries, clove oil and cashmeran.
Malin+Goetz Dark Rum candle
Like the name suggests, this candle provides all the throaty warmth of a tumbler of rum. The full-bodied blend of leather, rum and vanilla, with bursts of bergamot and plum is a unisex scent that fills a room with just the right mix of sophistication and cool.
Jo Malone London Myrrh & Tonka candle
Sensual and stylish, one of Jo Malone London’s popular colognes really works for winter spaces as a candle. It’s rich with a warm balsamic note of amber, Namibian myrrh infuses the fragrance with vibrant sensuality. Tonka bean adds that yummy warm element with accents of almond and vanilla.
Image (top): Circa candles
