© GVS
If there’s one thing I love to indulge myself in, it’s candles. Okay, that’s not true; I love indulging myself in many more things but if I have to choose, I’d go for luxurious candles any time. Candle-burning isn’t for everyone; I know that there are a lot of people who liken burning candles at home to burning money but hey, we have our vices and what we love treating ourselves to, and for me, that would be candles.
There’s just something about a burning candle that’s relaxing and therapeutic. There’s also something about burning a LUXE candle that’s even better (don’t ask me why, I can’t explain burning a Dyptique vs burning a Glade candle). I’ve burned many, many candles in the past for goodness-knows-how-many years and I’ve come across some that are simply lovely. Heck, I’ve even made my own soy candles! I can’t afford Dyptique candles by the dozen, but there are a number of beautiful candles that aren’t as expensive but are just as splurge-worthy. If you’re a candle lover too, perhaps you’ll recognise some if not all of these brands?
Glasshouse
I don’t know anyone who loves candles who doesn’t adore the ones from Glasshouse. They have a wide variety of fragrances and good quality food-grade wax and cotton wicks that burn evenly. They’re famous for their apocathary jar packaging and they’re reusable too. They also have a luxe range, La Maison Glasshouse (their No 4 Les Baies Sauvages reminds me of Dyptique’s Baies). Another great thing about Glasshouse is their awesome customer service. They pride themselves in great candles and if you’re not happy with yours, do let them know and they’ll be more than happy to send you a replacement.
My favourite scents: Amalfi Coast, Bora Bora, Manhattan Little Black Dress
Circa Home
For some reason, Circa Home always reminds me of Glasshouse candles. They’re slightly cheaper than Glasshouse but they’re just as good. Their fragrances are delicious, particularly the Christmas scents. I love the jars and they’re also reusesable (in fact, they’re easier to clean than Glasshouse’s jars). Circa Home uses soy wax and lead-free cotton wicks in their candles. So far, none of their candles have pitted on me; they burn very evenly and very well.
My favourite scents: Oceanique, Pear & Lime.
Palm Beach Collection
Palm Beach candles’ packaging is quite similar to Glasshouse’s apocathary jars. Their range of fragrances are not that wide but the fragrances that they do have are still just as lovely. There’s a slightly more luxurious feel to their fragrances compared to the rest (with the exception of Dyptique). Each candle even comes with a small box of matches. Palm Beach Collection’s candles use soy wax and high-quality cotton wicks. I’ve not experienced any pitting with their candles.
My favourite scents: Daisy, the limited edition Sea Stars by Mr Jason Grant
Bath and Body Works
It’s very hard for me to talk about my love of candles without mentioning the candles from Bath and Body Works. In fact, I’m not such a fan of their body care products (with the exception of their incredibly handy and cute PocketBac hand sanitisers) but when it comes to their candles, I’m a lost cause. Whenever I get to go to a Bath and Body Works store, the first section I always hit is where they stock the candles. The only problem I have with their candles is that they have such a wide variety of scents, which makes it very difficult for me to choose! 😛 I adore their 3-wick candles; they burn very well and evenly and the fragrance throwback is amazing.
My favourite scents: Too many to mention! Okay, a few super favourites: Flannel, Eucalyptus Mint, Limoncello and many, many more.
Woodwick
If you love the sound of crackling woodfire but don’t have a fireplace, try Woodwick candles instead. They use wood wicks that crackle when they burn. I particularly love burning them in the colder months just so they sound like a fireplace. They have a wide variety of scents and packaging, and they’re highly worth checking out. I’ve experienced a bit of pitting with their candles but they’re not a deal breaker because I could easily scrap the outer unburned wax with a toothpick and “drop” them back to the burning liquid wax.
My favourite scents: Clean Rain, Sea Salt & Cotton, Fresh & Clean, Ocean Escape
The Aromatherapy Company
I’m burning one of their candles as I’m writing this blog post. Their candles are often on sale at David Jones and they’re high quality candles too. I particularly like their Therapy Kitchen Natural Chef’s Candle (lemongrass, lime and bergamot), which is perfect for getting rid of cooking smells (especially if you have an open plan kitchen and living area and you fry fish. Ugh the lingering smell!).
My favourite scents: Therapy Kitchen Natural Chef’s Candle, Wild Rose & Vetiver, Lavender, Manuka and Wild Chamomile
Dyptique
I can’t talk about fancypants candles and not mention Dyptique. Dyptique uses a high-quality vegetable wax and the selling point of their candles is not so much the wax but the fragrances and their percentage levels in each candle. When we make soy candles, there’s only so much of fragrance/essential oils one can mix with the wax before the high burning point removes the fragrance altogether. The unique thing about Dyptique is that burning one candle alone is enough to fill the entire living room and kitchen with the fragrance, which makes me wonder the amount of fragrance in each candle. Not many candles are able to do that. I’ve tried 3 candles from Dyptique thus far; one in Roses and two in Baies (the ones in the 300g black jars). These are so expensive that I’d only buy them once a year and burn them in special occasions or days when I’m feeling particularly pooey.
My favourite scents: Roses and Baies
I tend to buy most of my candles in major departmental stores like MYER and David Jones. However, there are limited edition candles or other brands of candles that I’m not able to access in these stores so the next best place to get my candles fix would be from Candelabra. They stock a wide variety of brands of luxury candles, some of which I can’t even find in stores. My next candles to try would be from Lumira and Voluspa. I almost hope I don’t like any of them; they sure are pricey! 😛
Mmm…candles! Don’t get me started, love ’em! Like you said, candles are the best things to get prevent food smells from permeating your entire home! Have to admit, as much as I adore Glasshouse Candles and the rest you’ve mentioned (I haven’t had the b***s to shell out for a Diptyque candle yet!), I’m always trying to find candles on the cheap with the same kinda scent-throw, so you know what this post needs? Your recommendations for cheapie candles that are (nearly!) as good! 😀
To be honest, I haven’t experienced many good cheapie candles. A lot of them look like they’re going to be as good but they often aren’t. Having said that, last Christmas I bought a large candle from Target and it was good. Really good. So good in fact, that even before it was halfway through, I went out to buy 2 more of the same one. The cork candles I shared on Instagram recently, I haven’t actually burned those yet, so I can’t tell you if the quality is the same. But I’ll let you know once I do.
The problem with cheapie candles are often that they don’t burn evenly, even if they have a decent scent throwback. When they don’t burn evenly, you end up wasting a lot of wax. Candles that come with paraffin wax don’t burn as evenly as soy wax, and they’re hard to scrape off the sides to fall back to the melted wax (something that can be easily done with good quality soy wax candles, hence far less wastage). There are a few Glade candles I’ve tried which have beautiful, beautiful scents but I struggled scraping wax from the side to the burning fire because there was so much pitting. In the end, a lot of wax was wasted. This is why I don’t recommend paraffin wax candles at all. Plus the fact that they’re not good for the skin nor environment.
Keep a lookout for candles in the candle section at David Jones stores. They frequently have good sales on candles, especially the ones they’re going to discontinue. I’ve picked up a lot of really good, high quality luxe candles for less than $15 or less than $20 (these are big candles, mind you, not tiny votive ones), when they’re on sale.
Ah fair enough, sigh, I tend to agree with you about the candle wastage. Pity its the expensive ones that are so good! Having said that, I really don’t mind shelling out for the BBW candles! 🙂 Also found an interesting candle shop for Soy candles: http://www.darlingmockingbird.com.au/, just ordered from them, will let you know how they go!
Oooh thanks for the link. I await your verdict!
BBW candles, especially the 3-wick ones, are bloody fantastic. Zero pitting, zero wastage. LOVE.
Agreed! And that scent throw! Granted our apartment’s pretty tiny but just one of those candles scents the whole house and lasts several hrs to boot!
Glasshouse Mimosa and Wild Apple is my personal favorite 🙂
Glasshouse candles are AWESOME! <3
I don’t know if they have Better Homes + Gardens in Australia, but they’re middle-low end here in terms of price. Still, they’re not bad at all for what I pay. Packed with scent, and they last a long time! My only issue with them is usually that sometimes they burn down in the centre, but not at the outer part of the jar. But then, I usually buy them for the scent, so I’ve taken to just using a candle warmer and not worrying about the wick. Then, I can just re-add scented oils to the melted wax whenever the old scent runs out (usually in a few months with almost daily use). For only about $5-7US, not bad at all!
But I hear you on cheap candles. I had a HUGE box, like a mini-fridge box, of cheap white pillar candles given to me after a huge wedding… but… beware! I didn’t think to put them in bowls while lit! Some of them burned evenly, no big deal! And some… I couldn’t figure out what the sound was… did I leave the sink on? Did Lovecraft figure out how to mess with the tap for fresh water? He figured out the toaster oven… and he can open the fridge for his own food… maybe…? A few minutes later, I realised- one of the candles had melted straight down in a line on only one side, COVERING my furniture and floor with melted wax! Aaaaaauuugh! Lesson learned: jarred, or in something with a rim just in case!
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Oh my goodness, that was awful! I’m wary of pillar candles and very seldom buy them. I only have one at the moment and thankfully, it’s jarred. I’m afraid it would melt!
Ooooh there’s such a thing called a candle warmer? How is it that after using so many candles over the years, I have no idea there was such a thing?? Okay I’m so going to Google them now. It sure would beat having to scrape the sides with toothpicks just to save on wax! Thanks for the suggestion. 🙂
Tine, what’s the deal with BBW? Does their online store deliver to Aus? How do you buy from them?
To be honest, I’m not too big a fan of their body care products. They’re not much different from Victoria’s Secret’s body washes and lotions. The candles, however, now those are good. They have great scent throwback. Unfortunately, you cannot buy from their online store as they don’t deliver internationally. However, there’s an online store called Bath Body and Home (http://bathbodyandhome.com.au/) that sells a small fraction of the entire BBW collection. I’ve purchased a few times from the store; their prices are quite reasonable (of course, they won’t ever be as cheap as BBW US’ deals). It’s either that or get them from the BBW store at Sydney Airport!
Many thanks – I’ve just ordered 2 of the 3 wick candles from Bath Body & Home – Marshmallow Fireside & Lilac blossom. Can’t wait to smell them!
I haven’t smelled the Marshmallow Fireside (could only get what the unofficial Australian distributor could get 😛 ) but I’ve smelled the Lilac Blossom. Mmmm yum! 😀