Heaven Scent

As much as we love fresh linen scents, the winter months call for something a little more cosy and enveloping. Look for notes such as frankincense, patchouli, leather, ginger, amber, pine, smoke and anything woody, rather than the predictable combo of orange and cinnamon. A blend of such notes can be anything from heady and warming (think night by the fire) to fresh and brisk (think forest of pine trees), so there should be something in our list to please everyone. A lot of candles (sadly, usually cheaper ones) smell great when you hold them to your nose in the shop, but do little to change the scent of the room once you burn them at home.

If black smoke discolours the inside of your candle jar, it’s because you need to trim the wick a few millimetres between burnings. To stop the candle burning down unevenly, leaving wax up the sides, burn it until all the wax has melted into a pool across the top; two-four hours is usually optimum for an even burn and great scent. All of these burn for around 40 hours, some as many as 60.

 Jo Malone Pomegranate Noir Home Candle: £47, jomalone.co.uk

This scent has become such a classic it’s easy to overlook it. The fruitiness of pomegranate, raspberry and plum are balanced by the sensuous, heady notes of floral Casablanca lily and smoky guaiac wood (we’re not really sure what that is either). Luxurious and welcoming, it can’t fail.

 

Diptyque Sapin de Lumière: £53, Harrods

 

Of all the candles we’ve burned in the process of testing, this strikes the best balance between being inherently Christmassy without being too heady and stifling. Notes of Siberian pine, Canadian fir balsam and cedar will have your house smelling like a glade of fir trees: light, fresh and yet unarguably festive. Plus, the decadent green jar is better than any bauble.

 

 

Bella Freud Starry Starry Nights Candle: £48, johnlewis.com

 

This packaging was made for advent, evoking all your fondest memories of school nativity plays and/or country nights where the sky is clear and the stars bright. The scent is dark and cosy, with frankincense, cedar wood, tobacco flower, nutmeg and ginger – essentially a winter fragrance checklist of ingredients. Bonus: it’s much more affordable than the fash pack’s favourite Bella Freud merino jumpers

 

 

Sun-Day IV Sous Les Couvertures: £26, sundayoflondon.com

 

‘Sous Les Couvertures’ translates as ‘under the covers’ – and no, not like that. It’s inspired by lazy mornings and duvet days when the house is just too cold and the bed just too warm and cozy to leave. It does so with a combination of musky, calming vanilla and enlivening peppermint and citrus notes. The brown glass jars are 100 per cent worth keeping and using with tea lights when you’ve burned this right down.