Beauty Bible Gift Guide: Part Four – Christmas Candles
Over the past three years, there’s been a major boom in home fragrance sales. That’s partly, of course, because so many of us were working from home, and a) badly needed a treat to help us keep on keeping on, or b) simply wanted our space to smell great.
What follows is our run-down of the scented candles we’re loving the most right now, mostly with seasonally-appropriate aromas that would work either as a gift, or for scenting the home, office (or wherever doubles as both).
Friends and beloveds please note: you really couldn’t go wrong by giving us any one of these, if you need a hint. (And you generally do!)
NEOM Organics Cosy Nights 3 Wick Candle (above)
Fact: if it’s natural candles you’re looking for, NEOM Organics long ago nailed it, capturing the high ground with their hand-poured natural wax and fragrances. We are superfans from way back, often having uplifting Happiness (neroli, mimosa, lemon) or Real Luxury (lavender, jasmine, rosewood) burning in the office. But right now, we are very taken with this limited edition seasonal offering, deliciously blending frankincense, nutmeg, fir balsam, myrrh, thyme and sandalwood, with a wonderfully warm, smoky feel. Cosy, indeed.
£48 - buy here
Henry’s Townhouse Saturnalia Candle (above)
Henry’s Townhouse is an exciting brand born out of a beautifully-restored Georgian House in Marylebone, with each of the ceramic vessels decorated somewhat Bridgerton-style, with a gorgeous gilded silhouette. Joining the existing line-up is this new, Christmas-perfect candle, with sweet orange, fiery ginger, cinnamon and vanilla, taking inspiration from Georgian Festivites. Posh perfection.
£75 - buy here
Miller Harris Tea Candle (above)
This a blow-away-the-cobwebs, morning-after-the-night-before, perfect-for-the-post-Christmas-slump candle, with a refreshing rather than a festive season vibe. But we’ve always loved the crisp, clean scent of Tea Tonique, with its blend of black tea, mate and a citrusy blast of bergamot. In beautiful ceramic vessels, Miller Harris’s candles are made in the UK and feature a natural wax from rapeseed and soya, with great ‘diffusion’. (No almost having to set your nostrils on fire to smell them!) Have this on hand, with the Alka Seltzer.
£50 - buy here
Romilly Wilde Frida Candle (above)
This is available in two sizes – above is the votive, with a 15-hour burn time. Romilly Wilde are better known for their skincare, but are really rather good at smells – something we’ve known since the launch of their fabulous Idle fragrance, and confirmed here by the Frida candle, which is resinous and woody and altogether very addictive, filling the room with sandalwood, clary sage, cedar, cardamom and amber. This is a candle that you can smell even when it’s not lit; one for burning while smooching close by under a faux fur rug with a beloved, this.
£36 - buy here
Bamford Twelve Days of Christmas Candle (above)
We fell head over heels with this after we took it home from Bamford’s beautifully-styled Christmas press day, perfectly getting us in the mood for the festivities. It’s properly, seasonally spicy, with notes of clove and cinnamon, and is made with a 100% natural blend of beeswax and rapeseed. Gorgeous glass container, too, with its ‘Partridge in a pear tree’ design, by British illustrator Nicholas Hughes.
£65 - buy here
Diptyque Sapin Candle (above)
Does anyone do Christmas quite like Diptyque? Nope. Every year they have magical seasonal offerings, and this year our favourite is the pine-tree-perfect Sapin (um, it means pine tree!), which smells just like crunching your way through a Scandi forest. (If you have a fake Christmas tree, this would be a great way to recreate the smell). There are two others in the Christmas collection: Étincelles (spark) and Neige (snow), all available in a range of sizes, and this year sprinkled with twinkly stars.
£65 - buy here
NEST NY Hearth Candle (above)
From the day Jo was given this candle (by NEST NY founder Laura Slatkin herself, no less), it has consistently been burning on her desk and eliciting compliments as people ascend the stairs to her office, along the lines of ‘WHAT’s that gorgeous smell…?’ The magic lies in the wonderful fireplace smell, as the name implies, with frankincense and a touch of oudh, but it’s as if the edge of the woodsmoke scent has been sweetly buffed and softened, somehow. Smoky, sexy, sultry (and Jo’s saving up for the thee-wick version). NB NEST NY’s glass candle vessels are all gorgeous, and deserving of a second life as a vase.
£45 - buy here
Anatome Energy + Strength Candle (above)
Zing! This is another cobweb-blaster of a candle, from a rising star aromachology brand, in this case offering an energy-boosting blend of orange blossom, neroli, English peppermint, grapefruit, lemon, camphor, tethered by cedarwood and black pepper. In the days between Christmas and New Year, when it often seems so dark, this is pretty much guaranteed to lift your mood – and also, to kickstart the New Year energetically.
£45 - buy here
Victoria Cator Santa Baby Candle (above)
Victoria Cator is what we think of as a ‘chain letter’ brand: when you give a candle to someone, they tend to buy one for someone else, and so the word spreads. We previously raved about her candles, here, but only just discovered the Santa Baby candle (referencing a song that invariably gets us in the festive mood, the minute we first hear it, each year). It’s got a citrus reminder of the tangerine in the stocking, with richly swirling Nordic pine and spruce. Glorious! And we might as well just quote ourselves, here, because we put it perfectly at the time: ‘Certainly these aren’t the cheapest candles we’ve ever found – but the smaller candles have 55-60 hours of burning time, and we think the cost-per-burn is actually quite low, because all you need to do is melt the wax across (takes about 20 minutes), blow it out – and the scent lingers and lingers.’
£65 - buy here
Trudon Fir Christmas Tree Candle (above)
Probably the priciest candles we’re reviewing today and we’re definitely talking VIP recipients (unless you just won Euromillions). But Paris-based Trudon – who almost certainly created the very first scented candle, three centuries ago – is a very, very special brand and we know makes people’s hearts do a little dance, upon opening one of Trudon’s so-elegant boxes. Again, this has a pine-y, fir-tree scent, swirled with incense and resinous myrrh. (We make no apologies for the pine-centric spirit of this candle curation; we’re just not fans of most spicy candles, which we find can sometimes smell rather cheap.)
£98 - buy here
