Christmas is many things. It’s a light-festooned Norwegian fir in a cosy cottage. A roaring fire. It’s clementines and spices and oranges. These evocative festive scents have all been distilled into candles that will instantly transform your home into a winter wonderland. From vanilla spice to clove buds, pine to myrrh, here is our edit of this season’s most covetable fragranced Christmas candles.
Christmas Candles
D.S & Durga
The contemporary perfumer’s latest limited edition release celebrates Chanukah and the childhood stories of the Maccabees fighting to reclaim the holy temple of Jerusalem. The blend is designed to capture the smell of holy oil, a floral, verdant combination of citron, olive, incense and cedar of Lebanon.
Burn time: 60 hours (200g)
£70
Creed
This new offering from French perfume house Creed encapsulates the warmth of the festive season with its heady scent. Inspired by Olivier Creed’s expeditions in the Far East, the rich fragrance combines notes of sweet styrax, aromatic tonka bean and earthy benzoin leaves – perfect for cosy winter nights at home.
Burn time: 48 hours (220g)
£100
Acqua di Parma
This holiday season, the iconic Italian house has teamed up with designer Emilio Pucci to wrap their festive candle — a warm mix of pine oil, birch, guaiac wood and raspberry —in distinctive new designs, with a portion of profits going to support the “Riscriviamo il Futuro-Rewrite the Future” campaign by Save the Children.
Burn time: 50 hours (200g)
£72
Bella Freud
Beneath the chic navy and gold-embossed ceramic pot adorned with Freud’s signature typography, this festive limited-edition candle will fill your home with all the spirit and spice of patchouli, grounding clary sage and warming notes of pink pepper.
Burn time: 90 hours (400g)
£95
Cire Trudon
Handmade in beeswax, the Fir candle is imbued with the familiar scent of a Christmas tree, weaving together notes of fresh pine and cedar with aromatic myrrh and incense balanced out by sweet cinnamon.
Burn time: 120 hours (800g)
£250
Diptyque
Part of the Parisian brand’s limited edition 2021 festive season collection, this mountain pine-scented candle is blended with Guaiac wood and moss to create an aromatic, refreshing scent. The deep green and real gold-speckled glass holder makes it a perfect addition to any mantle.
Burn time: 50 hours (70g)
£33
Alex’s Beauty Glossary
Goutal
This ornate limited edition candle is designed to conjure dreams of a magical winter forest. The rich, dense smell of pine is contrasted with the sharp, effervescent notes of orange rind to create a complex yet soothing blend.
Burn time: 74 hours (300g)
£65
Roja Parfums
Capturing the warmth of a log fire, the festive scent of pine and the crispness of winter air, Roja’s new Christmas candle offers a nostalgic combination of gingerbread and toffee with delicate pine, with a heady base of leather and vetiver to mimic a roaring fireplace.
Burn time: 60 hours (300g)
£95
Maison Francis Kurkdjian
Decorated with a joyful, nostalgic festive scene, this seasonal green glass holds a woody scent, rich with balsam fir and amber, that has earned it the accolade of being one of the most popular Christmas candles around.
Burn time: 40 hours (180g)
£65
Skandinavisk
This ambiance-setter perfectly encapsulates the Boreal forests that cover half of Scandinavia (skog is Swedish/Norwegian for ‘forest’), with notes of pine needles and fir cones, birch sap and woodland lily of the valley.
Burn time: 50 hours (200g)
£35
Neom
The limited-edition candle is a soothing blend of mandarin, cinnamon and tonka bean, plus 10 other essential oils, all intended to help you relax and unwind during the joyful yet often stressful season. To further aid this effort, Neom have teamed up with the Mental Health Foundation to create a wellbeing toolkit, available via a scannable QR code that comes with the candle.
