I started this morning with a stroll through a bluebell forest, continued to a Japanese peony orchard, and got lost in an Italian garden before falling asleep in a cypress grove somewhere in Greece. I never left my room. I only changed home fragrances. Perfumes uplift our mood, satisfy wanderlust and inspire daydreams, and selecting the right scents for the interior achieves the same effect.
Floris’s Hyacinth & Bluebell Room Fragrance is inspired by its iconic Bluebell fragrance, with a stronger emphasis on green, earthy notes. It lingers gently and makes the space feel brighter and fresher. If I close my eyes, I can envision the vivid blue of wild hyacinths and the rustle of trees in their springtime verdancy.
Room sprays can be simply released in the air or sprayed on a potpourri mixture for a softer effect. Jo Malone’s Peony and Suede Scent Surround Diffuser is another nuanced way to scent the room, since the reeds allow one to control the strength of the scent. For the most dramatic effect, all 10 reeds are inserted into a bottle of fragrance reminiscent of peonies in full bloom. For a delicate hint of pink petals and glossy leaves, 2-3 reeds are enough. Stronger fragrances from Jo Malone’s collection such as Pomegranate Noir or Myrrh and Tonka can be modulated by adding or subtracting reeds.
Candles are the classical home fragrance, and Acqua di Parma’s are so richly scented that they perfume the room even unlit. For the best scented experience, it’s recommended to trim the wick regularly and to burn a candle for no more than 2 hours at a time, but Profumi dell’Orto needs only half an hour to fill the room with the aromas of peppery basil and crushed tomato leaves. The fragrance evokes a sunny Italian garden and feels effervescent and bright.
Another uplifting candle is Diptyque’s Baies, a mélange of roses and blackcurrant leaves. It’s an excellent morning candle for its rejuvenating and bracing fragrance, but in the evening, the softness of Cyprès, also from Diptyque, is more appropriate. The candle turns the room into a cypress grove redolent of the resinous needles and sun warmed bark. It’s a mellow, velvety scent that comforts and encourages sweet dreams.
More home scent ideas
Ormonde Jayne Frangipani candle
Diptyque Tubéreuse Diffuser Capsule
Byredo Peyote Poem candle
Aesop Cthera Aromatique Room Spray
Giorgio Armani Privé Pivoine Suzhou candle
Le Labo Verveine 32 candle
Esteban Neroli diffuser (scented bouquet triptyque)
Cire Trudon Giambattista Valli Rose Poivrée candle
Ortigia Sicilia Amber Nera diffuser
L’Artisan Parfumeur Sous la Glycine candle
What are your favorite candle or room sprays?
Photography by Bois de Jasmin
39 Comments
Alexander Greene: For me it’s always the maquis and fig (burnt together) from Diptyque April 10, 2023 at 9:36am
Victoria: I love that one too. April 11, 2023 at 4:42am
Daniela: While on holiday in Italy, I discovered Acqua dell Elba. Their room diffusers are great. My favourite is Isola di Montecristo. 🙂 April 10, 2023 at 9:42am
Victoria: Sounds wonderful. April 11, 2023 at 4:42am
Trudy: Thank you for this post. Home fragrances are a passion of mine whether a candle, diffuser, room spray or a bouquet of flowers such as stock or hyacinths . The Diptyque Bais candle is an old favorite. I’ve never tried Cypres but it sounds beautiful. Most recently I’ve been burning PF Candles Sandalwood Rose which is just gorgeous. Especially once it has been burning for a couple of hours in the late afternoon/evening. Also by PF Candles is their Los Angeles candle which I’ve been enjoying for a couple of years now as well as their new Jasmine Saltwater. Another beauty is Jo Malone Orange Blossom which is also an old favorite. It is very light and I think best for a small space. When I put it on the coffee table while visiting with a friend it just opens up and fills that space which the most delicious fragrance. Thank you for the list of suggestions and I’ll be checking in to read comments as other suggestions come in. April 10, 2023 at 10:44am
Victoria: What an inspiring comment with lots of great ideas. Thank you for sharing. April 11, 2023 at 4:42am
AndreaR: I enjoy scented candles during the fall and winter.
Favorites are Diptyque’s The(tea) and Aubepine (hawthorne) and Ortigia’s Zagara. April 10, 2023 at 10:55am
Victoria: I also like Zagara. April 11, 2023 at 4:43am
hera: I love home fragrances too. They transport me to dreamy places and memories. My favourites are Kurkdjian Anoush candle, this smells like rose jam my grand mother used to make.
I have a spray from Guerlain, Meteorites which I enjoy a lot. Recently I discovered a brand Cardea AuSet and their Calm mood mist is excellent.
My latest obsession is with the Serge Lutens home sprays, I got Mesk El Lail which smells like night jasmines of Morocco. Can’t wait to read everyone’s favourites. April 10, 2023 at 11:09am
Victoria: Oh, that sounds lovely. April 11, 2023 at 4:43am
Jessica: I love this post. Thank you! I have a few favorites… Esteban Teck & Tonka incense sticks… Papier d’Armenie burning paper (the original scent, the anniversary scent, the rose scent!)… Santa Maria Novella potpourri… various candles from a small local candle-maker named The Lucky Honeybee, esp her Christmas Hearth scent in winter and her Violet scent in spring. April 10, 2023 at 11:09am
Victoria: Papier d’Armenie burning paper is one of my favorites too. I enjoyed the rose-scented ones a lot. April 11, 2023 at 4:43am
rickyrebarco: There’s always a scented candle burning in my home. I love Cire Trudon candles, Abd El-Khadr is my favorite and the jars can be re-purposed in so many ways. I’m currently enjoying Cire Trudon’s fragrances based on tea ceremonies. The Terre candle is my pick of the set. April 10, 2023 at 12:36pm
Victoria: One of my favorites too. April 11, 2023 at 4:44am
Marianne: Hi Ricky, I’ve got a set of lovely, heavy, deep green drinks glasses through Cire Trudon candles.
Marianne April 12, 2023 at 7:16am
Mel: The La-Curie candle, from an artisanal perfumer in Tucson, is my all-time favorite – although a runner-up would be her incense cones. All of her fragrances – she makes one a year – are inspired by scents of the Sonoran desert – spicy creosote, desert monsoons, parched leather, lost canyons… April 10, 2023 at 1:44pm
Victoria: Sounds so nice. April 11, 2023 at 4:44am
N: I take have a high-low approach to home fragrance. High-end, a.k.a. high-priced, home fragrance is nice, but it is a fleeting pleasure. Sometimes when I’ve burned high end candles I feel like my money is going up in smoke with the flame. Here in the USA I particularly like Nest candles and diffusers. I’ve had ones from Diptyque and Jo Malone that I’ve liked. (On a side note Jo Malone Peony & Blush Suede is one of my favorite personal fragrances to wear in May and June.) But, I don’t believe home fragrance has to be expensive to be enjoyable. I also like affordable candles and one example is from a company called Kringle Candle, whose candles burn cleanly and I can burn them for hours without treating them with preciousness. April 10, 2023 at 1:54pm
Victoria: That’s a good approach! April 11, 2023 at 4:44am
Dawn: The Luten sprays are not available in the US yet. So sad. April 10, 2023 at 2:57pm
Victoria: Oh, that’s too bad. April 11, 2023 at 4:44am
Jordan River: Is your money going up in smoke?
Are your Cire Trudon dollars disappearing into the ether?
Leave your candles in a sun lit spot and enjoy wafts from the heated wax rather than lighting them. These wafts have a way of surprising you throughout the day.
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My favourites, from Cire Trudon, are of course discontinued!
Nazareth wafted a whisper of frankincense and billows of cinnamon, orange, and clove from a ruby red holder.
Mérida was a collaboration with Trudon and Arquiste. Guava so overdosed that it became too expensive to produce a second batch.
I say window sills, with a row of your chosen candles, or maybe a pedestal near your armchair?
Jessica above has reminded me of Esteban which used to be too complicated to buy Down Under (Australia and NZ) as they had a French site, a Canadian site and a US site with strict shipping zones. That was early this century. I am off to explore their current delivery abilities to NZ.
Ha, Esteban’s Green Tea incense – vanished from the stock lists.
I will just have to widen my range starting with these comments and this post. April 10, 2023 at 4:24pm
Victoria: I also received lots of interesting ideas from these comments. April 11, 2023 at 4:45am
Marsi: I love Mariage Frères incense. April 10, 2023 at 4:59pm
Victoria: I often give it as gifts and everyone seems to enjoy it. April 11, 2023 at 4:45am
Nancy Chan: I don’t use scented candles or room sprays. Maybe the occasional spray of my favourite perfumes before bedtime.
Can I count fabric softener as a sort of home scent? My favourite home scent right now is my freshly washed clothes. I decided on a new scent of fabric softener, Lenor outdoorable in summer breeze. A sweet floral scent to evoke happy summer days. April 11, 2023 at 2:51am
Victoria: I like that scent, although in Europe fabric softeners don’t have as strong scents as they do in the US. Or perhaps that’s just the brand we buy. April 11, 2023 at 4:46am
Nancy Chan: Here in the UK, we have so much choice of scent and strength of fabric softeners. Lenor has also introduced scent booster beads which increases the longevity of the scent. April 11, 2023 at 5:14am
Klaas: I love fabric softeners as well! There’s one I’ve been using for years and its Lenor’s Spring Breeze….at least that’s what it’s called in Holland. The epitomy of cleanliness for me!
Robijn (the brand with the white teddy bear, I’m sure it’s called differently abroad) had a limited edition once (limited edition, go figure!!) which smelled like eucalyptus. I really liked that one.
Speaking of eucaplytus, the Diptyque Eucalyptus candle is amazing. I also love Bois Ciré, Vetiver, Cypres and the new Rosemary one.
Spanish indie perfumer Bravanariz does amazing room sprays. All inspired on the four seasons at the Spanish countryside. Very natural smelling, a vacation in a bottle…… April 11, 2023 at 6:00am
Marianne: Klaas, you’ve inspired me to investigate Diptyique again! Last year I bought their Violetta, such a pretty name, quite a strong scent, but it didn’t suit me. I interpreted it as strongly scented violet sweets, rather than the purity of violet flowers with their green base note.
To continue the violet theme, years ago I found a bottle of Acqua Di Parma violet perfume, really beautiful and true to a bouquet of violets. I’ve never found another. April 12, 2023 at 7:29am
Klaas: I never knew Aqua di Parma had a violet fragrance! Interesting……. April 12, 2023 at 4:25pm
Caitlenn: Klaas is spot on – every Bravanariz inside scent delivers a vacation in a bottle! Gener and Maig are the ones I love most.
Antica Farmacista’s Orange Blossom, Lilac & Jasmine is floral springtime in a bottle and their White Spruce is pure evergreen forest enlivened with a refined twist of citrus that is quite wonderful.
Cocqui Cocqui Yucatan’s Fleur de Naranjo is a gentler, very long lasting and uplifting scent, we always use in the reading and meditation rooms. April 12, 2023 at 3:50pm
Klaas: I’m so glad you know and like Bravanariz! It’s a very small house and his work is very much ‘off the beaten track’.
I prefer his room sprays to his regular perfumes, though I love Mugs!! April 12, 2023 at 4:23pm
Klaas: Muga that is…… annoying auto correct! April 12, 2023 at 4:24pm
Caitlenn: Silly tech engineers… why are so many so certain they can build AI… when they can’t even get 100% autocorrect accuracy?!?
Thx re Muga. Will sample with next Perfume Lounge order and give it a try! April 14, 2023 at 8:53am
Marianne: Oh, I appreciate your comment re Antica Farmacista and will look for these scents here in Australia. Thank you Caitlenne April 12, 2023 at 9:05pm
Marianne: Hello Victoria, it feels lovely to reconnect with you and the Bois de Jasmin community, especially through this thread …
Ah home fragrance, irresistible to me! And where to start … with the best I’ve experienced, Cire Trudon. I’ve loved Madeleine, Josephine, others; the only one I couldn’t appreciate was Spiritus Sanctis (pardon spelling if it’s wrong), my taste interpreted it as forbidding and severe. I’ve tried Dipthyque over time but prefer sumptuous Trudon. I’ve also recently tried and enjoy Lola James Harper Rue St Honore, fresh and pretty in a quite rich, well composed way.
I’ve got a little stockpile at the moment due to sales (the Australian brand Lumira to try), and a wonderful opportunity via an internet marketplace that enabled me to buy Roja Dove for a fraction of the cost, now waiting to reveal itself a little later. Lastly the Australian company Myrtle and Moss puts out a beautiful Christmas scented candle every year. Essential oils that remind me of forests of pine and a modest cost.
Thank you for creating such a beautiful site to enjoy,
Marianne April 12, 2023 at 7:10am
0peraFan: I’m a little late chiming in, but I really like Ormonde Jayne’s Casablanca Lily candle…. April 19, 2023 at 2:37pm
JulienFromDijon: Hi Vica 🙂
Rather than using candles and room sprays, I prefer the neutrality of my room. It’s either nothing, or fine fragrance testing. (I’m not making an argument, I’m just telling my irrational apprehension.)
Candles remain a transient pleasure, when I try them in the shops of niche fragrances.
Two notable exceptions were :
– The gardenia for the room spray machine of Frédéric Malle. (I was happy to find refill botle on the second-hand market). (Maybe it’s “Un gardénia la nuit”). It’s a leafy green tuberose. It has the mushroom facet, it almost has the banana peel facette of ylang-ylang, and it almost has the velvety green facette of violet leaves.
– The fresh jasmine candle from L’artisan parfumeur, named after one season. I have a weak spot for anything spring-like, like lentisc water, galbanum, and expensive floral notes. (I love Chamade and the like).
DIGRESSIONS :
– I bought some of L’artisan parfumeur former room sprays at sales price, and it was interesting to see how a core accord was re-used in fine fragrance. (“Bois d’orient” contained the oakwood (?cedarwood?) and nutmeg accord of “Mon numéro 10” ; the two figs products were interesting to compare, as well as the two mimosa ones ; the fake rose was also very convincing)
– I would rather experiment with essential oils, one drop that you put on a heated gizmo, to keep exploring natural extracts.
– And I get tempted by the design of the candle pot themselves :
I got some of the former Diptyque’s ones, and the red Goutal ones.
Maybe I’ll buy one of the Caron, the one with the scales pattern. Fragonard had pretty ones with victorian portrait, for last holiday season (they’re cheap, but I did not see them IRL). And maybe on day I’ll get one of the former Hermès ones, the 3 wicks version of the geometrical ones in white porcelain “biscuit”, and a colored glaze inside.
– I regret that the IUNX shops closed. After a decade, I would have better appreciated their candles and body product. (One body lotion, and one product for scented bath).
If you have a recipe to convert few milliliter of fine fragrance into a small candle, I’d be eager to ear. Your trick to change fragrance into body lotion, thanks to a neutral scented body lotion, was very interesting.
Wishing you the best 🙂 April 20, 2023 at 4:19am