Lighting one of your favourite winter candles can be the perfect way to stay cosy on cold winter nights, especially if you choose one of this season’s most popular scents.
From luxury brands including Diptyque and Trudon, there’s a candle (or two) for everyone on our shortlist, with popular aromas like uplifting vanilla and sandalwood, spicy cinnamon and orange, or fire-like incense and spiced woods to choose from.
These are the best winter candles to bring maximum joy at this time of year, as recommended by the CF experts.
The top pick of our fashion editor, Soho Home's Bianco Bergamot & Mandarin Zest is pure winter escapism. Designed to evoke a morning overlooking the Mediterranean sea from Soho House's Little Beach House Barcelona, the blend of fresh citrus with jasmine and neroli is instantly uplifting, and the casing means the light shine through, giving your room a warming glow.
From a brand actually named after our partnership director Grace, that's not the only reason we love this candle. Warm and smoky with notes of leather, cardamom and whisky, it's stopped from being too intense due to the inclusion of lighter aromas of mandarin, jasmine and lily.
This candle is like lighting an open wood fire in burner form, just as its name, which means wood fire, would suggest. Our favourite part: the underlying warmth of lapsang tea to bring a sense of cosiness. In fact, the iconic scent embodies the reasons why you'll find so many Diptyque candles in the lobbies of the finest luxury hotels – it's beautifully crafted and hard to forget.
There's a reason Jo Malone London candles are the perfect gift during the festive period and beyond – the brand always manages to capture just the right emotions with its signature scents. This year's limited edition candle might be one of the best – perfectly the replicating the smell of freshly-baked spiced biscuits.
Whether you've been caught in the rain (or snow) or endured a stressful day at work, ESPA's 100 per cent soy wax winter candle is a delightful treat to come home to. The sweet, spicy aroma of orange, clove, cinnamon and ginger is comforting and reenergising in equal measure, and the supersized three-wick option means you don't have to save it for special occasions.
The magic of a Trudon Christmas candle – aside from the brand's heritage that is seeing it celebrate its 380th birthday this year – is how accurately they capture your favourite holiday aromas. We'd recommendation lighting this candle when you put up your Christmas tree as the first experience of the pine and fir top notes, before the hints of murrh and incense kick in, will really get you in the festive spirit.
All Neom candles are developed to not only smell great but to have a noticeably positive impact on your mood – which can be just what you need when the weather is cold and dark. This three-wick candle is especially popular as it makes you feel instantly relaxed, with an aroma of embers and smoky firewood cut through by frankincense and nutmeg for a cosy, but not too intense scent, perfect for any home.
If you love to host friends and family at this time of year (or need a gift for someone who is), look no further than Cowshed's Winter Candle. Simple but chic in design, this soy wax candle brings an inviting warmth to any home and is perfect for anyone wanting something lighter than traditional wintry scents, due to the essential oil blend of rose, neroli and ylang-ylang.
Like walking in from a cold winter's night to the warmth and energy of a classic jazz bar, this candle crackles with energy and spice. There's a playfulness to the cosy club atmosphere it brings to any room, with the smokiness of tobacco and the sweetness of rum brought to life with a spark of pink pepper, sage and the creamy warmth of vanilla. You'll want to revisit it again and again.
Loewe caused quite the interiors stir when it launched its collection of candles, due to the covetable quirkiness of each one of it's colourful terracotta pots. If you are hosting this Christmas, make this Incense burner the scent that greets all your guests when they enter your home – it will have them feeling cosy and festive in an instant. </p> <p>
The winter cold is notorious for making you feel sleepy and unproductive – what's nicer than staying tucked up under your duvet in the morning after all. Yet, life can be busier than ever at this time of the year, so this candle is the get-up-and-go you need. In fact, it's probably one of this year's most unexpected but addictive blends, with notes of raspberry and cotton candy popping out from the bouquet of jasmine sambac, blue cyclamen and saffron flower.
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Lead image credit: Soho Home
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