Winter candles: the best scented candles for your home
The best scented candles can totally transform the feel of a room within minutes. They set the scene on dark winter evenings, filling our homes with warmth.
Welcome visitors as soon as they enter your home with heady yuletide aromas of cinnamon, clove or spicy orange. Save soothing lavender notes and woody musks to help you to relax when they've all gone home.
Home fragrance sets also make the perfect present, and are a great way to trial a new scent. Look out for Emma Bridgewater's Joy Star gift set, spoil your nearest and dearest with an ornamental Feu de Beaumont signature candle or see your loved ones through the party season with Neom's signature Tranquillity collection.
We take our pick of the best scented candles this winter.
1. Wild Fig by Feu de Beaumont
In a fabulous glass vessel with 22-carat gold plate lid, this is a beautiful addition to any room. The Wild Fig fragrance is welcoming yet subtle. Ideal for the winter months, the candle has a burn time of nearly 50 hours.
2. Emma Bridgewater: Joy Star
A light, fresh scent that's perfect for a coffee table or dining room setting to create a cosy atmosphere as your guests arrive this Christmas. The two festive mug candles, coupled with other beautiful vessels in the Joy Star range, can be used time and time again. It makes a lovely gift, and any host will be pleased to hear the mugs and jars are dishwasher safe.
3. Winter by The White Company
The brilliance of this well-balanced spicy scent is in its delicacy. Fragrant notes of cinnamon and clove will instantly warm up any space, while the faintest dash of zesty orange adds clean freshness. A bestseller from The White Company, for good reason.
4. Heal's: Winter Spice
A blend of clove, orange and cinnamon oils, this traditional winter spice candle will add warmth to any room. Part of a relaunch of the design brand's botanicals range - the fragrance is also available as pillar and brick candles.
5. Neom: Tranquility
A pleasing blend of soothing lavender, sweet basil and pretty jasmine. It's a relaxing scent, with organic ingredients and pure essential oils, that promises a good night's sleep during the party season.
6. Tom Dixon: Materialism
With four scented candles - Alloy (ambrette and cedar), Oil (tar, cedar, styrax oils), Quartz (rose ambrette, cypress oils) and Stone (bergamot, sandalwood) - this Materialism gift set is beautifully presented in complex containers, each as unexpected and unique as the fragrances they hold.
7. Jo Malone: Christmas Miniature Candles
Five miniature candles made up of Jo Malone's stunning signature fragrances - including Pomegranate Noir, Peony and Blush, Green Tomato Leaf, Sweet Almond and Macaroon, Frosted Cherry and Clove.
8. Oliver Bonas: Pink Pepper & Gingerwood
A refreshing fragrance, with spicy citrus notes and smooth honey undertones, in a colourful pink box that would make a fabulous gift - and is sure to banish your winter blue.
9. True Grace: Winter Classics
A trio of classic candles - Village Christmas, Manor Christmas and Burlington Christmas - that would make a lovely gift for any host. With a burn time of 40 hours per candle, you can be sure the traditional aromas will take your home right through the winter season.
10. Malin+Goetz: The Votive Collection
A new gift set for Christmas, all of the Malin+Goetz candles collection featured in one colourful box. Evocative names include Dark Rum, Vetiver, Tobacco, Mojito, Neroli, Otto and Cannabis.
11. Shay & Blue: Pine d'Antibes
Ideal for those looking for something a little different this winter. The candle has the unmistakeable scent of silver fir and pine cone, so a hallway setting or large reception room would work well.
12. Lilou et Loic: Moroccan Wood
A masculine mix of woody tones with the leathery notes of orris and labdanum. The signature silver vessel has an optional lid for a chic, contemporary finish.
13. Takahashi Hiroko: IV Yon
By Japanese artist Takahashi Hiroko, famed for her monochrome geometrics, this candle has notes of salted caramel and myrrh. A great gift for the style-conscious host this winter.
14. Cocolux: Cedar & Pine
An Australian brand, Cocolux uses coconut wax in stylish copper and brass vessels to create an organic candle that gives a nod to the environment while showcasing slick design.
15. Jonathan Adler: Pop
In fragrances that include Absinthe, Bourbon, Sea Salt, Early Grey and Watercress, Jonathan Adler's Pop range is a vibrant mix - in coloured vessels that could be reused as vases or glasses.
16. Skandinavisk: Nordyls
A Scandinavian-inspired winter fragrance that's not just for Christmas. Nordyls (Norwegian for Northern Light) is an ideal fragrance for creating an informal, cosy atmosphere at home in a reusable glass vessel.
17. Lalique: Chilli
Inspired by Bolivia, spicy chilli notes are combined with smoky cedarwood and bergamot in this fragrance. It's a soft, zingy scent that will suit any home through winter and looking forward towards the warmer months ahead.
18. Diptyque: Epices et Delices
Take a trip down memory lane with this stunning candle by Diptyque. The luxurious blend of warm gingerbread and honey notes will fill your home with delicious spices throughout the festive season.
19. Fortnum & Mason: Christmas Orange Pomander Votive
An elegant blend of golden orange with notes of cinnamon, clove, nutmeg and frankincense. Hand-poured by Fortnum's artisan perfumiers, it's festive without being overpowering and would make a fabulous token for any host.
