Tag: candles

Spring Scent-Scape Your Home

With a new season unfurling on the breeze, tender leaves poking through (sometimes still frosted) soil and buds, well, budding; we’re joyously welcoming spring and using the opportunity to change-up the way we’re scenting our homes. We feel, since lockdown and with so many still Working From Home, that most of us now understand that candles certainly aren’t just for Christmas or the colder, darker months anymore.

Nowadays, we adore punctuating the hours by lighting differing scented candles to match the season (and our mood), and perfuming our homes with diffusers, incense and yes – even pot pourri is having an olfactory moment once again!

Here, we offer suggestions for how to layer your home fragrances, and point you toward some that feel so-right for right now – casting off the heavier, swaddling scents we’ve loved and lived with the last few months and getting ready for lighter, brighter perfumes wafting as we WFH…

 

How to Scent-Scape:

Expert Maxine Brady says: ‘Scent Scaping is an up and coming trend I’ve seen really grow the last few months. It’s about using aroma and scents to zone our homes, either room by room or during differing times of the day. I like using a different fragrance in the morning to evening. I like decorating a home with candles and diffusers, and arrange them much as I would art in a room, to bring them to life. I never think a room is finished until I put a candle on my sideboard.

Lately our homes have been our whole world – that’s a lot of pressure on our surroundings, and it’s hard to set boundaries, so using home fragrance allows me to transfer from a work space feel to a more homely escape. It’s a very clever way to balance our mental health as well as making our homes smell beautiful.’

 

Use your nose as well as your eyes to decorate your home. Perhaps a hallway is where you put a lovely diffuser to welcome your guests and having it smell gorgeous at all times? As a decorating tool, home scents are a really clever way to bring up & coming trends into your home without changing all the furnishings! Use complimentary coloured vessels to your wallpaper or furnishing colours. People are loving sharing #shellfies on social media.

Use aroma to mark the changing seasons. Fresher sunny scents in summer, and warmer woodier scents in colder seasons. Changing those scents and bringing them into your house really helps stop one day blending into another. According to John Lewis, the average online searches for home scents went up by 600%. For diffusers, the searches were up by over 1000% A candle is an instant pick me up when you need a treat.” Michelle: “I like to use home fragrance to enhance my mood or to change up my mood.”

Create an indoor garden bringing the outdoors in. We know home plants have become incredibly important – the flow between spaces can be between your garden and indoors. Dot plants and succulents around a diffuser – reuse the containers when empty as plant pots or the diffusers as mini vases.

Press the reset button with the power of scent. After a busy and stressful day, it can be hard to mark a line between weekdays and your weekends – reclaim your home and say the weekend starts now. Clear away work things, laptops from tables, shove the kids toys in a box and light a candle as a scene-setter and mood re-setter.

Maxine Says: ‘All these tips are ideal if you rent rather than own, because you’re unable to change wallpaper and paint, or sometimes even furnishings, you can make the space your own by stamping your personality with home scents…’

What We’re Burning:

 

 

La Montaña Cloud Burst £39 for 220g

Spring showers are, of course, a feature of the weather this season, but Cloudburst is inspired by the mountainside after a summer storm, when the rain clouds part and strong sunshine lances through, stirring up a heavy mist of fragrance. In this haze, notes from our herb garden mingle with fresh citrus from our lemon and lime trees, along with the signature fragrances of the wild mountainside. We’ve always thought of this as a sister fragrance to First Light; in First Light it’s all clarity and freshness, whereas Cloudburst seems older and wiser – but just as beautiful.

 

 

La Montaña Wisteria £39 for 220g

We have a long history with wisteria, from the flower-festooned walls in Granada on our first wedding anniversary to the wisteria we tried to grow in a pot next to our front door in England. But now (finally!) we have it growing abundantly in our garden here in Spain and it’s a divine scent that says ‘home’ to us. Wisteria is a stunning, one-of-a-kind fragrance anywhere, but when it’s flowering in pure mountain air, the beauty of its perfume is life-affirming.

STORIES Nº.01 Bougie Parfumée Scented Candle Trio £95 for 3 x 70g

Stories No.1 was the transformative beginning of founder Tonya’s healing journey through scent and travel, telling ‘the uplifting story of sorrow transformed into beauty, of the dark yielding to the light.’ So, woodiness and amber swoons with swirling blossom notes on a breeze. A limited edition, sustainably made, scented candle trio, inspired by the individual top, heart and base notes of STORIES Nº.01 Eau de Parfum – reflecting the top, heart and base notes of STORIES Nº.01 fragrance; inspired yet not identical, with some creative tweaks.

STORIES Nº.02 Bougie Parfumée Scented Candle Trio £95 for 3 x 70g

For 02, Tonya reached further back in her fragrant memories to recollections of her own childhood, evoking joyful days spent in her grandfather’s garden. ‘In the greenhouse, rose bushes stood among orange trees, on which blossom and fruit grew in tandem,’ Tonya recalls, with pots of patchouli lining the patio, which she had the sensation and scent memory of rubbing the leaves on to her wrists. In this trio, you will discover plumes of perfumed garden memories which bring the outdoors in so, so beautifully.

 

Written by Suzy Nightingale

Shining a light on La Montaña – perfect candles for Christmas!

With the perfect candles to guide you through the scented season, La Montaña are our perfumed pick to focus on for home fragrance gifting, but also for treating ourselves to a little something wonderful (and which fills our whole homes with gloriously evocative scents).

Formerly a PR dynamo in the beauty and fragrance world, founder of La Monaña, Cassandra Hall, quit England for a Spanish mountaintop and a ‘quieter life’, a few years ago. Oh we’re not envying her at all, no no… Okay. We are. Quite a lot right now. Though transporting ourselves to warmer climes isn’t an option for many, we can indulge our senses and make our homes smell fabulously festive with her exquisite scented candles we’re selected for the season…

 

 

 

Ah this is such a fabulous fragrance and perfumes your whole home with a cheeringly spiced citrus zing! A perfect melding on soul-lifting sunshine extracted and condensed with a comforting hug in candle form, there’s no surprise it’s a perennial perfumed fave and one of their all-time bestsellers. As La Montaña explains, it’s a festive mix of… ‘A warm, spicy, zesty blend of Valencia orange, cinnamon, red apple, and clove. This is our interpretation of the fragrance of the Valencian orange harvest that takes place throughout winter, with added hints of nostalgia from the English Christmases of our childhoods. This is one to come home to after a crisp, crunchy, winter walk – cheering, cosy and comforting.’

Winter Oranges £39 

 

 

As the festive season unfurls, we adore lighting this one to really bring a sense of midnight mass, family gatherings and special moments shared. Says La Montaña: ‘Everyone in the village looks forward to the Three Kings holiday and its unique fragrances – a highlight of the winter months.’

‘We love to walk down into the village, through the woods, with their gorgeous fragrance of trampled pine needles (which smell to us like a field full of fresh Christmas trees). Then, we get to the heart of the village, where the church doors are wide open and the air is suffused with incense, as well as the warm scent of traditional, homemade turrón (almond nougat) being sold from stalls. It’s usually cold (even in Spain), so there’s much milling about with the promise of a brightening tot of brandy. What a winter treat!’

Three Kings £39

 

As party season is in full-swing, we relish family and friends gathering after the difficult years we’ve all experienced, and this scent really plunges us into the heart of a buzzing atmosphere with fragrant food and scented spirits being shared, laughter of loved ones echoing through the night and wood fires, plumes of cigar smoke curling through the frosty air. And did you know, it’s inspired by an actual Alfredo…?

‘Alfredo and his café are very real – and very wonderful – and the beating heart of village life. The only thing missing from this fragrance is the sound of chatter, and laughter, and old men slamming down their dominoes.
This was one of our very first four fragrances and the most complex we’ve ever had to formulate – taking over forty drafts to perfect. It’s also the one most people ask for as a cologne.’

Alfredo’s Café £39

 

 

Perhaps after all the over-indulgence of the season, or simply if you’re absolutely knackered and need a rest at this time of year (and oh, how we hear you!) it’s time to hit the Snooze button and enjoy the blissful calm that this scented candle can take you to? Ahhh, that’s better…

‘A lullaby for your senses: lavender, juniper, and thyme.

A summer swirl of calming herbs and flowers. It’s siesta time: close your eyes and imagine yourself drowsing on a hot afternoon, gently swinging in a hammock in the shade of a tree, with the crickets chirruping, and the sun-baked fragrances of the countryside lulling you to sleep. Dreamy!’

Siesta £39

 

To dream of the sunshine and escapism even more, you can read more about Cassandra’s story of founding La Montaña, and learn of her five favourite smells of all time…

P.S. If you really want to spoil someone – or you know you love the scent yourself – there’s also whopping 3-wick versions of each candles available! Shining those scented lights all season long…

The Scented Letter magazine ‘Time to Shine’ Christmas edition has landed!

We’re delighted to launch the latest 52-page edition of The Scented Letter – and as we close the year, it’s a celebration of all things fragrant – the gifts to give, the celestial scents to spritz and the aromas of this very special season.

We’re also celebrating something VERY special: a hat-trick of Jasmine Awards in The Fragrance Foundation, with two for our stellar writer Suzy Nightingale, and a Judges’ Special Recognition Award for one entire edition of the mag, ‘A Life in Scents’, published earlier this year.

Scroll down for a preview of some of the articles, which you can read online here in flickable format, recreating the sense of reading a real-life mag.

Alternatively, we are now able to take orders for a limited run of printed copies of the magazine, priced £12.50 to our VIP Subscribers (£15 to non-VIPs), here. And you can now also buy an annual print subscription to The Scented Letter, here…

  • Heaven Scents: The Christmas 2021 Gift Guide A stellar selection for everyone on your list – that’s a tick, tick, tick!
  • In Memories, Dreams & Reflections, leading astrologer Shelley von Strunckel shares a lifetime in fragrant recollections
  • The ever-brilliant British perfumer Ruth Mastenbroek gives Suzy Nightingale the low-down on her creative working life
  • Agony uncle James Craven answers your seasonal scent-selection and present-choosing conundrums
  • Perfumers are looking to the night sky for inspiration to compose fragrances that sparkle, charm and dazzle, reports Suzy Nightingale in Celestial Scents
  • Founder of Perfume Walks London, Olga Petrouchenko, time-travels to a Russian childhood and a snowy winter holiday
  • Plus as usual, we bring you all the Latest Launches, news – and so much more

 

 

Scented candles we’re coveting

Scented candles have helped us stay (mostly) sane this year. A bold statement, but when we’ve spent more time than ever at home – working, raising families, interacting with partners or house-mates on a 24 hour basis or simply trying to get through the day alone – it’s been an easy way to instantly change a space, a vibe, with fragrance.

And it seems we’re not alone in this perfumed passion. Sales of fragranced candles, along with ‘premium food’ have been one of the mood-markers of 2020.

As The Guardian newspaper recently commented, ‘cold weather and coronavirus restrictions encourage Britons to hunker down for winter,’ reporting that what we’re been turning to are ways of making ourselves feels better, hence: ‘Sales of scented candles, potpourri and essential oils for diffusers jumped 29% in October, according to the research group Kantar.’

It makes sense. Candles can help us feel calm – not only for the scent, but focusing on the flickering flame awhile. They bring a feeling of warmth and comfort, a cosiness that’s been sorely needed as the temperatures in the U.K. plummeted and the darkness drew in. We’ve gone from tropical exoticism in the bathroom to torrid sensuality in the bedroom (or the kitchen, why not?). We’re using zingy scents to get us going in the morning, soothing smells to help us wind down of an evening, and traversing the world through our noses all the many, many hours in-between.

Because good grief, how we’ve longed for ‘newness’ – and the act of lighting a scented candle can genuinely shake you out of the doldrums!

Quite apart from how fabulous some of the containers look, and how good quality candles can contiunue to scent a room even unlit; they also make thoughtful gifts. But personally, we’re doing the ‘one for you, one for me’ rule with the following selection of some of our favourites to stock up on. Which will you give, and which are you coveting for yourself, we wonder…?

Ruth Mastenbroek Ancient Frankincense £55 for
Cosy as toasting your toes by a roaring fire, this is one to light, snuggle up on the sofa and read something unashamedly soothing with. Or kick back with a frivolously festive film. The warmth of frankincense, precious resins of myrrh and labdanum are tickled by pink pepper up top and swaddled in rich patchouli in the base. Aromatic notes of cypress and pine, meanwhile, remind us of walks through the woods – wrapped up in your favourite coat, savouring the frosty freshness of the air. Sublime!

(PS: Get your hands on a mini size of either Ancient Frankincense or the Rebel County candle as part of our sumptuous Indulgence Discovery Box, for £36 / £32 for VIPs)

Boujee Bougies Queen Jam £55 for 220g
Outrageously jam-y, this sashays up with bucket loads of berries – raspberries and bilberries, to be precise – and oodles of rose petals; that unctious stickiness shot through with flashes of tart green to prevent it being sickly. Olfiction perfumer Pia Long has created a stunning evocation of a Finnish preserve that feels equal parts grown up glam and giggle-inducing frolics. Check out their entire range via the super cute mini candles for £25 (buy one of each and you’ll get one free as part of their launch offer, while stocks last!)

Floral Street Sunshine Bloom £28 for 200g
A welcome shaft of sunlight for the duller days, this scented candle keeping the memory of summer vibes alive with luminescent notes of jasmine, creamy fig leaf (which smells like being on holiday – close your eyes and you can almost feel the sunshine, hear the waves…). Meanwhile, wild orchid, black pepper, incense and salted musks manage to be both delicious and vibrant. This is a solar scent that truly sparkles and recalibrates: a fragrant re-set for the mind, if you will.

 

La Montaña Siesta: £39 for 220g
We don’t know about you, but getting absolutely anything done right now seems to sap twice the amount of energy as usual. We could all dearly do with a daily siesta, but not all of us can make that space in our day. This candle cossets with lavender, juniper and thyme – an herbaceous breeze from a garden as you ‘close your eyes and imagine yourself drowsing on a hot afternoon, gently swinging in a hammock in the shade of a tree, with the crickets chirruping, and the sun-baked fragrances of the countryside lulling you to sleep.’ Oh we’re SO there…

Tom Daxon White Narcissus: £25 for 185g
A winter’s walk captured in fragrant form, here, with a bouquet of white flowers – gloriously heady narcissus and hyacinth – and the snapped-stalked freshness of galbanum and green violet leaf, which manages to temper the otherwise fabulously blowsy floralcy. Tendrils of cardamom-infused smoke drift drowsily through the cold, still air as gaiac wood and cedar smoulder on the shady vetiver base. One to gift those who are about done with cinnamon and eggnog and are checking the weather forecast, hourly, for the first signs of spring. That’d be us, then.

By Suzy Nightingale

The Alchemistress solves your scented candle woes…

Are your scented candles burning too fast, or creating that dreaded ‘tunnel’ (or ‘core’ to give it the correct name) of doom, where the wax only melts in the middlle and traps the wick? We’ve all exclaimed profanities and desperately dug around with nail-files to try and save them, but we just watched a BRILLIANT Instagram video that solves these woes with ease…

Lesley Sparks (hello, nominative determinism anyone?!) is also known as ‘The Alchemistress‘ – an independent maker and purveyor of the most beautiful perfumed candles. And she has got tips and tricks up her scented sleeve to make sure your candles perform to their best and (most importantly) ultimately to save your hard-earned money.

You can watch the instructive ‘How To’ on her IGTV channel, and afterwards, if you find yourself casting your eye critically over your previous burning performance (and general lazy lack of candle maintenance) then you’re in great company, as that’s exactly what we did, too. For shame!

Looking around The Perfume Society home-office, we suddenly realised that we already owned one The Alchemistress candles, in fact (look, we have quite a few scented candles, okay? It’s not a problem, we can stop any time we like… we just don’t ever want to). It’s called Persian Nights – a smouldering mix of sultry spices, featuring cardamon, black pepper, orange, ginger, coriander, patchouli, cinnamon and cedarwood – and has us dreaming of more exotic climes, and when we can next travel there, every time we light it.

 

 

The Alchemistress Persian Nights Apothecary Jar £8.95
thealchemistress.co.uk

…And now, of course, having watched Ms. Sparks’ instructional video, all our candles will be burning more brightly from now on. We hope you find it just as helpful as we have!

By Suzy Nightingale

Make your home a fragrant haven

What with the continuing global pandemic and all, we’re spending so much extra time at home, now, trying to find little nooks to transform into sudden workplaces, and perhaps even somewhere to relax and wind-down awhile (wouldn’t that be nice?) We’re here to help, with ideas of how to use fragrance to make your home a fragrant haven…

You may not be aware of it, but scent plays an important, subliminal part in how we define a space. On a large scale, you’ll have noticed that supermarkets pump out fresh baking smells to entice you to the back of the shop, and spas smell gloriously relaxing the moment you step inside; but you can use the same principles to shape your own home into individually fragranced areas.

Have a look at some of these ideas to keep you alert, refreshed, comforted and soothed….

 

 

Tip: Use uplifting scents in your designated work-space – be that the spare room, a corner of the siting room with a fold-out table or even with your laptop balanced on your knees (which is less than ideal, we know!) Keep them fresh, invigorating and aromatically stimulating to keep you alert.

Try: Diffusing rosemary oil in an aromatherapy oil burner, or soaking a ceramic disc (or cotton wool, inside a pomander) and tying with a ribbon to your radiator, or near where you’re working. Far from being ‘an old wive’s tale’, rosemary has now been scientifically proven to aid memory retention and clarity of mind. Something we could all do with right now, eh?

Buy: La Montaña First Light Candle, £36
An immediately mood-altering scent gently welcomes you to a new day, while herbaceous mountain breezes get to work on un-beffudling (is that a word? It is now) your brain. Much needed at Nightingale Towers, I can tell you! Plus £5 from every sale will be donated to the National Emergencies Trust Coronavirus Appeal.

La Montaña founder, Cassandra Hall, explains why she chose rosemary as inspiration for their first candle:  ‘On our mountain, at first light, there’s a heavenly fragrance in the air. Before anyone starts an engine, or lights a fire, the air is clear, and still, and silent. The first breath of the day carries the perfume of wild mountain herbs: fennel, rosemary, mountain pepper and intoxicating rock rose. The alchemy of the fragrances, blended naturally on the breeze, weaves a magical spell.’

 

 

Tip: Transform your kitchen into a more intimate setting – if you’re lucky enough to have room for a table, or are finding yourself in there far more these days (cooking up a storm with leftovers, maybe whipping up a cocktail or three…), banish the clincal cleaning-product smells or foodie wafts, and pretend you’re in a romantic restaurant. (Do take the bins out, though.)

Try: Growing fragrant herbs in pretty pots on the windowsill, or bringing in some fresh flowers to enjoy their scent while you toil over the stove. Do make sure they’re strongly scented enough to smell over the competing scent of cooking, though. Or simply cook a cake with vanilla and spices to ensure hours of ‘Mmmm!’ (Added bonus: cake.)

 

Buy: Miller Harris Rendezvous Tabac Candle, £45
You might not think of a ‘tobacco’ scented candle as an obvious choice for the kitchen, but bear with me. This one’s inspired by the romantic brasseries of Saint-Germain, and makes your kitchen (or anywhere!) feel cosy, welcoming, somewhere to willingly linger, not *have* to be.

The Cuban cascarilla oil and pimento berries tingle their way to a heart of velvety sage and cool drifts of pine against the cosiest background of creamy tonka bean and Malay patchouli. Even if it’s once a week, treat yourself to a proper tablecloth, linen napkins, ‘the best’ china or glasses and polished silverware. It feels extra fancy, so maybe even consider wearing your best pyjamas while planning your next meal out-out.

 

 

Tip: Turn your living room into a place of scented sanctuary with opulent florals – somewhere to chill out in style while binge-watching your favourite shows, to browse your favourite magazines (including The Scented Letter, obvs) or catch-up with friends on a phone call.

Try: Find local flower deliveries at flowersfromthefarm.co.uk and fill a vase with deeply-scented flowers to cheer you (and anyone who walks past your house) up every time you see and smell them, or using a vintage jug for a fragrant display, surrounded by candles, in the fireplace.

 

 

Buy: Sana Jardin Jaipur Chant candle, £48
Opulent with real Indian tuberose essential oil, Moroccan jasmine and French narcisse with a twist of Italian lemon, this exquisite scent is redolent of exotic climes and will absolutely fill your space with floral beauty (even if you can’t get any flowers delivered, or want something longer-lasting).

Sana Jardin founder, founder Amy Christiansen Si-Ahmed, was inspired to create this scent after taking part in a Hindu devotional ceremony, where tuberose flower garlands are exchanged and play a symbolic role, connoting love, deep emotion and sensitivity. In this fragrance, the flower is given added vibrancy with Morroccan jasmine, narcisse and musk, resulting in a stunning sunshine-filled scent that will enhance your home at any time of year (and whatever the weather is doing outside).

 

 

Tip: Taking a candlelit bath with a fragrant oil while listening to soothing music is self-care you deserve. It’s difficult enough to unwind at the end of the day, when your muscles are knotted with tension from, you know, worrying about the global pandemic on top of everything else…

Try: Using a muscle-relaxing bath essence that also scents your entire house with gorgeously aromatic wafts. Aromatherapy Associates Deep Relax Bath & Shower Oil is a best-seller for a reason: it works. Soothing sandalwood, camomile and grounding vetivert will sort you out.

Buy: diptyque Paris En Fleur small candle, £30
Petite enough to be placed bath-side while you soak, this is an evocative scent to carry you away with dreams of being impossibly Parisian chic. The first Chypre for the house, a flurry of fruity rose petals merge with deeply resinous patchouli – relaxing and quite a lot sexy, all at once…

For this celebration of Paris, diptyque drew its creative inspiration from the rose and its thousand scents, such as the roses of the Bagatelle gardens or the Marché aux fleurs. To adorn the scent, they worked with the artist and friend of diptyque, Pierre Marie. Together, they created a decoration inspired by Art Nouveau, like a lattice bedecked with flowers on which roses intertwine with metallised foliage.

 

 

Tip: If you’re likely to nod off, a lit candle’s not ideal for the bedroom, but there’s a fabulous range of fragranced reed-diffusers available now. Why not change up your sleeping space with a luxurious scent and pretend you’re in a hotel (maybe change the sheets, too…)

Try: Not everyone loves lavender (yes it’s beautifully soothing, but only if you like the smell!) so surround yourself in bed with scents you adore – something that makes you stop a moment to breathe in and appreciate it better. You’ll actually feel your shoulders drop as you close your eyes.

Buy: Ruth Mastenbroek Firedance Diffuser, £30
We absolutely love this for the bedroom (or boudoir) because it feels like a 5-star scent even if your space doesn’t quite live up. It’s incredibly long-lasting (so excellent value – we’re talking months of scented contentment, here) and smells utterly unique. Divinely smoky rose smoulders beguilingly on the rich, woody base, and if your bedtime routine’s not exactly petal-scattered sheets and romance, you can dare to dream!

Rejoicing in a moment of true contentment was perfumer Ruth Mastenbroek’s muse for this so-sultry modern interpretation of the classic rose perfume, as exotic leather dances in surprise harmony with the main character – smouldering Damask rose. Set against a warming backdrop of oudh and patchouli, a shining amber note radiates in this scent which is perfect for anywhere in the home (especially anywhere you’d like to smoulder, yourself…)

However you’re coping (or otherwise) with re-arranging your house/routine/life in this current climate of uncertainty, while filling your home with designated scented spaces might not magically make everything better – I absolutely guarantee that it WILL help.

If you don’t happen to live in a mansion with a wing for every member of the household, or spare rooms that can be converted into handy separate office spaces – it’s essential to divide up what space you do have into areas that feel like passing from one phase of the day into another, that split up the many roles you may be juggling – for your own sanity, not merely a pleasant perfume to smell. And home fragrance is the easiest way of doing that, subliminally. It genuinely can change an atmosphere instantly, and, therefore, your mood/how your day rolls out.

We’re living through times we’d never imagined, that nobody knows how ‘best’ to deal with. So treating yourself to a little scented luxury is important – perhaps more now than ever before. You’re worth looking after, too, you know…

By Suzy Nightingale

Scenting the ‘sulking room’ with candles we covet…

Which candles should you scent a boudoir with? Here’s a list of just some we’re swooning over…

The word boudoir comes from the French ‘bouder’, meaning to pout or sulk, and for centuries has been a private, feminine space to indulge ones desires. Boudoir-type fragrances evoke images of face powder and rosy lipsticks, be-ribboned furnishings and velvet chaise-lounge to swoon on while reading love letters – or to recline on silken cusions while eating violet cremes and idly flick through the latest papers, searching for scurriolous gossip.

In fact, the boudoir was often the only place a woman could do as she liked, historically, and so they became intimate places of great mystery, a sanctuary to write and dream in, or a hotbed of sensual power.

In our just-published ‘We’ll Always Have Paris’ issue of The Scented Letter Magazine (which recently won another Jasmine Award from The Fragrance Foundation – we’re so thrilled to say!) we foucused on boudoir perfumes you should try; but there are so many more ways of scenting this ‘sulking room’, and here we’d love to share with you some of the candles we’re currently coveting for our own boudoirs and bedrooms.

A dreamier duo you’d be hard-pressed to find – burn this limited edition separately or (our favourite) together for a deliciously naughty infusion of soft, powdery caresses that follow, perhaps, a crack of the whip…?

Diptyque Leather & Violet Duo Set £94 for 190g candles

Evoking memories of orchid-hunting trips – tales regaled to you while you recline in something too sheer to be seemly – this blend of exotic blooms and smooth cedar will certainly get your senses swooning while he drones on.

Urban Apothecary Ambrée Noir Candle £30 for 300g

Lady Blanche is busy lady, dispensing ‘female-friendly advice’, so Penhaligon’s intriguing story goes, from within her boudoir. There, the scents of rice powder and makeup mingle with rose perfume, and (we gather) utter lasciviousness.

Penhaligon’s The Powder Room Candle £48 for 290g

Narcotic tuberose was once banned by polite, Victorian society, for fear the heady scent was causing flighty females to experience involuntary orgasms. My my. We can’t vouch for that, but it is very lovely.

Kilian French Boudoir Candle £60 for 220g

Written by Suzy Nightingale

An absolutely darling Diptyque 34 Boutique pops up at Liberty

This morning (22nd September), the Perfume Society gang was lucky enough to see the preview of Diptyque’s lovely pop-up store in Liberty.
Reminiscent of how they first started out –as a ‘bazaar’, with links to fabrics and design –creativity was abounding in the room.
As they tell us: ‘Diptyque has always fostered a passion for objects with a soul. As soon as the first store opened at 34 Boulevard Saint Germain in Paris, the founders – Christiane Gautrot, Desmond Knox-Leet and Yves Coueslant – displayed their surprising finds side by side with their original upholstery fabrics. Italian glass bead necklaces, hand-sewn change purses, potpourris blended according to the owners’ changing inspirations…’ (And with Liberty having started in the same way, it’s a natural ‘home’ for this lifestyle pop-up.)
They had a host of new innovative products just bursting with gorgeousness, so we’re going to give you a quick run down…

La Madeleine

The new candle – with a scent composed by Fabrice Pellegrin –  is inspired by the little lemon-y cakes from Cazelle Bakery, a Parisian bakery founded in 1905. Apparently their famed madeleines are mouthwateringly delicious, ‘A simple sponge cake that’s so irresistible even the raw, melted butter dough gets your taste buds dancing’, is how Diptyque put it. And the candle smells just so, all citrus-y, creamy vanillas – practically edible.
La Madeleine candle £55 for 220g
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Carrousel

Now this has got to be one of the cutest, most delicate examples of prettiness we’ve seen this year. It’s an object that adds life to a candle’s flame: the stand – with its intricate metal bird cut-outs – sits atop any 70g candle, and once the wick is lit the heat generates a current of air that makes the stand turn slowly. The birds dance around the candle and their playful shadows are projected: a small wonder to amaze both adult and child.
Carrousel (limited edition) £30
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Essences Insensées 2016

Every year since the launch of their successful Collection 34, Diptyque have created a scent based on a particular floral harvest. In 2016, the fields of May roses in Grasse were exceptionally abundant, inspiring Fabrice Pellegrin to create a scent bursting with petals from the Centifolia rose,  sweetened by accents of honey and red fruits. Whoever declared rose ‘boring’ clearly had yet to sniff this delight.
Essences Insensées 2016 £105 for 120ml eau de parfum
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Reflet

A beautiful object that creates a glow around your candle like no other. A round plate of oxidised mirror sits behind the candle, giving the flame a hypnotic, mesmerising, malachite halo. It was inspired by the back wall at the 34 Boulevard Saint Germain store (also made of oxidised mirror) and adds an enchanting element to the ritual of lighting a candle.
Reflet candle holder (limited edition) £110
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Fabrics

Long before Diptyque was ever known for their fragrance, they were renowned for the upholstery fabrics designed by the founders themselves. Taking inspiration from the fabric archives, illustrator Charlotte Gastaut created contemporary interpretations of the brand’s original designs – and let us tell you, they’ve never looked more at home than in Liberty. Available in pillow covers, fabric totes and pouches.
Pillow cover (limited edition) £50
Pouches (limited edition) £28
Fabric tote (limited edition) £35
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The Diptyque Liberty pop-up will be open until Christmas 2016