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Our Edit Of The Loveliest Festive Scented Candles

There are so many lovely scented candles available, but how to chose the best ones? Our roving reporter Emma Reinhold has done the perfect festive pick from the very best candle makers. Enjoy! 

For some people it’s shoes, for others it’s handbags but for me, there’s something about a candle that gets me every time. Maybe I was a moth in a previous life but that little flame really is quite enchanting. From tiny tea lights to the giant votive currently filing my house with the pleasing scent of citrus, I’ve coveted, collected and combusted candles with shameless abandon.

You’re literally burning money, say some, but to me, a beautifully scented candle is the ultimate gesture of comfort, peace and luxury. The subtle way a candle releases its scent and gently fragrances a room, enveloping you in deliciousness is like nothing else on the scent spectrum. With a fragrance or a scented body lotion, you have that immediate hit but it fades. With a candle, it’s there all along, building slowly in the background, reassuring and relaxing, transforming my home into a sanctuary of scent. Sure, a good candle is an investment but the absolute joy I have when I see that flame dancing, reflecting light out across the room is worth every penny.

So draw the curtains, pull on your favourite cashmere and watch that flame flicker…Here’s the We Wear Perfume edit of our favourite candles to scent your home this season.

Diptyque Sapin Lumiere 190g, £53
Of all the festive candles gracing store shelves this season, this one stands out, not only for the whimsical decoration by French illustrator, Pierre Marie, which is an optical illusion in itself, but for its truly divine scent. One sniff and you are transported to Lapland. There’s pine of course, but this is softened with patchouli, which lingers and gives a woody, mysterious depth to the fragrance. There’s a room spray too, which is perfect to spritz on an artificial tree or wreath to bring some wintertime cheer into your home this year.

Victoria Cator La Vie En Rose 270g £50
If your experience of rose scented candles is of sickly pink, cloying smells, then its time to think again. This is the most beautiful rose scent – light, delicate and unashamedly feminine, but with a robustness that means the fragrance doesn’t disappear as soon as it’s lit. Lily of the Valley, lemon and galbanum provide brightness, while Victoria’s alchemy has brought together carnation, geranium, honey and sandalwood with rose to add the depth and staying power. Named after Edith Piaf’s famous song, it really does make you feel happy.

Fornasetti Scacco Otto 300g, £150
A Fornasetti candle is always on my Christmas wish list, and despite this not being a Christmas candle per se, its woody, herby, incensey scent is perfectly positioned to get me into the festive spirit. There is thyme and lavender, cedarwood and orris and a base of tolu balsam, incense and birch, which make me think of libraries in grand houses or aristocratic families of yesteryear gathering together at Christmas. Its iconic packaging would be equally at home in a stately home with Piero Fornasetti’s famous muse, Lina Cavalieri, staring out from the ceramic vessel, disguised by golden squares which will catch the light and sparkle. The vessel can be given a second life once the candle has burned, making it one of the most stylish ways to be sustainable.

Abalon Sevilla Christmas Candle Medium £65
This is a festive candle with a difference. Forget sultry, woody fragrances, if you are after something vibrant and energising this season, then look no further. Fresh, lemony with a mouthwatering gourmand note, the lemongrass scent is the perfect antidote to all things excess and the eco-soya wax leaves a lighter footprint on the planet as well as a cleaner burn. For those more in the festive mood, there are two other scents – Lavender and Cedarwood, Rosemary and Lavender – available. What makes this candle so special is the porcelain vessel, which is handmade in London by artist and founder, Ana Bridgewater. A work of art in its own right, each one is unique and features beautiful gold detailing.

Cire Trudon Amon limited edition 270g £78
Part of the French candle maker’s holiday collection, the nostalgic scent immediately takes me back to Christmas with my grandparents. Part woody, party cologny, it is beautifully balanced with florals and warm notes. Rose and aldehydes dance together with sandalwood, patchouli and tonka bean to create a truly addictive aroma. The famous emerald glass used by the brand has been adapted and reimagined in a fabulously vibrant living coral shade that is bang on trend as Pantone’s colour of the year for 2019. The equally illustrious gold crest glimmers and shimmers with the light of the flame.

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Our beautiful images are by the talented Kate Anglestein.