We don't actually have that many Christmas traditions at Lippie Mansions, now I come to think of it (stuffing your face, drinking booze for breakfast and watching too much telly are pretty much universal, aren't they? AREN'T THEY?) and we don't really go in for Christmas decorations that much - we have a couple of muji Christmas trees, but that's about as far as it goes - but one thing we do go in for is Christmas candles, and we go in big.
For my money - and even for yours, for that matter - the Annick Goutal Noel candle is one of the best. It smells of orange, pine and balsamic resins and is the nearest thing to spending your Christmas Eve in the forest you'll ever get in the comfort of your own home. It burns cleanly, and will scent out the whole house in just a few hours.
Christmas isn't Christmas until we've lit the Annick Goutal Noel in our house ...
The Fine Print: PR Sample
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I love candles, it's no surprise to anyone reading this blog, really, I mention them a lot. For a variety of reasons, we're not having a lot of Christmas decorations this year, but one thing I couldn't countenance was not making the new flat at least smell of Christmas. Here are my pick of the best festive fragranced candles to make your house smell wonderful over the holidays:
Jo Malone Roasted Chestnut
Woodsy, slightly smokey, and with just a tiny hint of sweetness, this evokes evenings by a real fire. The scent is wonderful, but I do find that Jo Malone candles produce quite a lot of soot compared to others, also, this is a large, single wicked candle, which means that if you don't take care of your candles properly, it could be prone to runnelling. Worth it for the scent and excellent burning time though, I've had this on the go for the best part of two months now, and still have over a third left.
Annick Goutal Noel
Fizzy with the scent of citrus and pine, this is a wonderful evocation of a crisp wintry walk in the countryside. Meant to evoke a Christmas tree decorated with dried fruits in the European fashion, this is a beautifully uplifting fresh scent, and manages - wonderfully - to avoid smelling of pine toilet cleaner. It reminds me a little of sherbet lemons when you first sniff the jar, I love it.
Elemis Starlight Spa
The most "traditional" Christmas candle on this list, this is bursting with oranges, cloves, cinnamon and vanilla, it smells of pomanders, mulled wine and ... well ... Christmas. If it were any more edible, you could call it mince pie flavour and no one would argue with you. I adore the silver jar too, which flickers in the candlelight as the wax inside burns down, to a very lovely effect.
Diptyque Epinette and Perdigone
Epinette, in its green glass holder is a "spruce" scent. Less crisp with citrus than the similar-sounding "Noel" above, this has hints of bosky tree bark underneath the intoxicating pine-needle fragrance, making it a little darker, more reminscent of a pine forest at dusk than a crisp wintery day. Still wonderful though.
Perdigone is a spiced plum affair, hinted at in its red glass holder. Less redolent of clove and cinnamon than the "Starlight Spa" candle, it smells how I imagine old-fashioned sugar plums would. It's slightly sweet and fruity (but not offensively so) and more "perfume-y" than the other four, but it makes a very good compliment to the others, rounding out their various quite sharp scents, and forming a good counterpoint to the smokiness of the Jo Malone too. Yes, I do burn them all at the same time, it's quite addictive!
My only regret about the Diptyque candles is that I went for the mini sizes, and I'm scared I'll burn them all up before Christmas itself ...
What's the scent of Christmas for you guys?
The Fine Print: A mixture of PR samples, and purchases. There will be repurchases of most of them for next year though, you betcha.
This post originated at: http://getlippie.com All rights reserved.
