Candle of the day?

[socalwoman]

Can anyone recommend a candle that smells of pine trees?

I can! Annick Goutal Noel. I can't praise the scent of these candles enough.

I load up on these in the fall and use them as holiday gifts. Then I get to gleefully burn what isn't gifted.

[rogalal]

Seaofghosts, I remember sniffing the Annick Goutal Christmas candle this year, too, and thinking it smelled quite nice. It's a pity that they put it out at the exact time I'm not shopping for myself... Jo Malone does a nice pine candle at Christmas time, also. And the Diptyque pine candle I reviewed before was fine, too, but it just felt weird burning it out-of-season.

Also, once you've gotten completely obsessed with Baies, try the Diptyque L'Ombre Dan L'Eau soap or lotion (whatever you're into). Or just spring for the perfume if it's something you'd wear. It's quite nice, like Baies but with a big leafy green note on top and citrus hidden underneath.

And give Pomander a chance. It's one of Diptyque's most popular. When sniffed next to super-strong ones like their tuberose, it can come off as weak, but it's popular for a reason...

As a side note, I'm in the process of setting up the San Francisco Basenotes Meet-Up on May 7th. We'll all be meeting at the Diptyque boutique and I'm sure I'll think of you!

[seaofghosts]

Thank you so much. I will look into those ones, especially the Annick Goutal I love that true pine smell all year round so hopefully they don't get released only at Christmas. Also finding a place that ships to Australia, that is the other problem. But fingers crossed!

Rogalal - I was thinking of getting L'Ombre Dan L'Eau because the smell of Baies is just incredible! I just wasn't sure whether it smelled the same. Thanks As for Pomander, I've only burned it twice; it's nice but I can hardly smell it unless it's right next to me which is a shame because orange and cinnamon (and clove) are smells that I adore. I'll keep burning it, maybe it'll become stronger. Winter is also approaching so it'll be beautiful smelling Pomander while rugged up in blankets, drinking a steaming cup of tea.

Aww you are so lucky! I hope you all have a lovely time plus you get to smell of their gorgeous scents. SF is one of my favourite places in the world too (Edit: I just noticed you're from Berkeley! That's where I lived on and off for a year and I love and miss it a lot. It was the first place that felt like home to me. You're very lucky to live there!). I wish we had a Diptyque store in Australia. I can only order my Diptyque candles from one store since they're the only ones that ship to Australia. It means the stock is limited but oh well. I keep wanting to try the Cypress candle (do you know what that's like?) but I have to put in a big order to make the shipping cost worthwhile.

[rogalal]

Will Aedes de Venustas ship to Australia? If their web store isn't set up for it, I'd suggest just calling them at the store. They're very customer-oriented. They have an amazing selection of top-notch candles (and don't forget to ask for your 7 free perfume samples when you buy a candle!). They've got the L'Artisan candles (the only other line I've find to be as consistently good as Diptyque) and even the new Frederic Malle candles. If you're into smoky woody incense candles (along the line of Feu de Bois), you can't go wrong with the Alexo Rudolph line. Oh, and By Kilian and Cire Troudon, too!

There's a member here named Sorcery Of Scent (he has a blog, too) who I think lives in Australia and works at a store that sells better perfumes. If anyone would know where in Australia to find the good stuff, it would probably be him.

[BooRad859]

Slatkin ~ Green Tea & White Pear

[rogalal]

This evening, I've been finishing off the last bits of my By Kilian Straight To Heaven - Patchouli de Java.



This one is nice. It has a lot of depth to it. It's theoretically mostly a rum scent, but the rum is paired with a smoky woody smell that's a mix of rosewood (that antique wood smell) and frankincense. That incense, along with a big slug of ambroxan, gives the whole thing a creamy, thick woody texture that borders on animalic. I'm not really sure how the patchouli in the name fits in - this doesn't smell like patchouli at all. If anything, it's a very grass-and-dirt kind of patchouli that's probably contributing to the overall boozy woody feel.

I'm not sure I'd buy another one of these. It's not that it's bad, but it just doesn't quite suit me personally. The simultaneous layering of boozy and woody and creamy with that touch of fecundity asks a lot of its owner. It wants to be studied and paid attention to, preferably on a crisp autumn night. And while I certainly appreciate that, it's not really coming together into something I enjoy that much, especially for the price.

[rogalal]

Finally, the new Vetyver arrived at the Diptyque boutique! So that's my candle this evening...



I feel kind of lame admitting it, but I've been really looking forward to this candle since they announced around last Christmas. I'm a huge vetiver fan and, up until now, the only vetiver candle I've found was by Malin + Goetz, which was nice but a bit simple. So I really wanted to know what Diptyque would do with the note. So I had to bring one home and burn it first thing!

So what does it smell like? It's kind of hard to describe. There's definitely vetiver, of course, but it's more like leather than vetiver. If you can, imagine an old leather motorcycle jacket owned by a man who wore vetiver cologne every day, so the vetiver smell is sort of aged into the leather. Set that leather jacket next to a big pile of potting soil in a room with a fireplace burning. Then, in the next room, serve up a plate of cinnamon french toast with maple syrup, so that sweet aroma subtly wafts around the dirty earthy leathery smells. Then throw in a lavender sachet.

I know this sounds weird, and it kind of is, truth be told, but it's really interesting.

From a really geeky perspective, a lot of this seems to be done with quinoline, an aromachemical that simultaneously smells leathery and like potting soil. Other than that, I think it's mostly a mix of vetiver and lavender, which mesh together quite well thans to them both having a very bracing quality. Then, throw in just a drop of that immortelle note made famous by Dior's Eau Noire (think curried maple syrup) to give it a subtle sweetness and cut the smoky sharpness and heavy dirtiness.

Oh, and as a side note, I knew I had to buy the Vetyver candle, but Diptyque's other new release, a linden blossom candle (sorry, I've forgotten the official French name) was AMAZING. You know that feeling where you're walking somewhere and, without thinking about it, you pass a bunch of fragrant flower wafting their scent in the breeze and you think "wow - something smells terrific. I love spring!" This is that same heartwarming feeling of ambient flowers on a breeze captured in a candle and it's the new top of my must-buy list...

[rogalal]

Today, I've been burning another Diptyque, their big push for spring, 34 Boulevard Saint Germain.



This one's a bit of an odd duck. I honestly doubt I would have purchased one, but they gave us free little votives of this at the Basenotes San Francisco meet-up a few weeks ago, so I can't resist getting to know it.

I didn't care much for the perfume version of 34. The scent is supposed to recreate the smell of a Diptyque boutique itself, so it's got an awful lot going on, not all of which is complementary. It should have been a terrible mess, but they got around it by focusing on the fruitier aspects in the perfume, while the woods and spices swirled around in the background. In contrast, the smell of the candle brings out a lavender note, which is paired almost evenly with a cherry-meets-cassis red fruit note. Don't get me wrong - there's a ton of other things going on in the background, not the least of which is a green but slightly funky tomato leaf note, with an undertone that borders on tropical. There's also a sort of "soot" smell to the whole mix (there's something either brilliant or insane about making a burning candle smell even more like a burning candle...).

All in all, I think 34 works better as a candle than a perfume, and I appreciate that Diptyque is trying something different, but absolutely no one out there does candles built on single notes with as much depth and artistry as they do. And I like them best when they do those. Points for trying, and I'm still a fan, but I'll stick to their other candles...

[alfarom]

Heeley Cardinal Scented Candle

[mr. reasonable]

Cuir Pleine Fleur by Heeley again today - my office smells great. I actually am looking forward to getting home and digging out the bottle and getting it back into circulation.

[scent]

___

[scent]

I've been burning the Odeur De Lune candle by Cire Trudon since April.
When I first smelt it over a year ago I was disgusted. It smelt of dust, herbs and mildew. But every time I passed by the Cire Trudon candles, I had to sniff it one more time; until it grew from disgust to intrigue and then finally to love. Now all I smell is a unique blend of metallic incense and some transparent florals. It reminds me of the stark incense in Avignon and the metallic violets of Stephen Jones.
Apparently, this IS actually the smell of the Moon according to data collected by Nasa! My mom walked in to my room and I told her, "Smell that?" She asked what it was and I said, "The actual smell of the Moon."....
"Well it doesn't smell good..." LOL

[Al Gae]

That's awesome, Scent.

To add to the conversation, I recently purchased the Gourmand Wood candle from LuckyScent. It's affordable, compared to most of the candles they sell. Having a hard time wrapping my head around the price of luxury candles. But also starting to enjoy scent so much more than I used to. I have very little to compare it to, candle-wise. Much better than anything I've gotten in a store before, but also the first time I spent more than, say $10 on a candle.

The Gourmand Wood is heavily sandalwood, nutty and tasty, only mildly sweet. I'm sure there's other notes, but I can't pick it apart like I do with fragrance... I find the scent to be subtle when burned, but rather noticeable even when the candle isn't lit. I often smell it when just walking by. And it's really grown on me. I can see myself replacing it when it's gone, and will probably try one of their other "house candles".

I've totally never replaced a candle before. See what y'all are doing to me?

[BooRad859]

Slatkin ~ Juicy Nectarine

[Praetorian]

Tonight I am burning Malin+Goetz ~ Vetiver

[mimilu]

Porto West Indies Patchouli

[hednic]

Frederic Malle Bois D'Orage scented candle given to me by an employee as a gift.

[BooRad859]

Slatkin ~ Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin. Very nice and good throw.

[Harvest Moon]

Astier de Villante - Rue St Honore - smells of old floor boards, wax, libraries. The best candle I have ever had. Sadly, hard to get hold of in the UK.

[laph]

Roger & Gallet Gigembre here. Unfortunately I think I've kept it too long and there isn't much fragrance left.


edit: Ok, about an hour in and it's starting to smell lovely now - yay!

[Harvest Moon]

Have just this minute lit Cypres from Diptyque, very refreshing for the daytime.

[Kevin Guyer]

The Parfums de Nicolaï Maharadjah bougie. This is my second PdN candle and it is quite a wonder, great throw, burns evenly. It smells exactly like their eponymously named fragrance. A bold lavender and cinnamon accord.

[alfarom]

Mathias Paris Narguile Candle



A fragrance inspired by the markets of Morocco where exotic spices meld with pipe tobacco.

[BooRad859]

Slatkin ~ Spiced Apple Toddy

[BooRad859]

Slatkin ~ Hot Chocolate

[mr. reasonable]

I have been burning this year's two Diptyque Christmas Candles at work, just alternating between the 'red' and the 'green' versions.

The green Pine one is great, but I prefer the warmer, more oriental / spiced red one. It is similar to one last year's offerings, maybe a little smoother, but definitely the one I will be buying as a gift for people this year. Diptyque are good, huh - you can get the small ones as well as normal size, too. Nice.

PS

Have been burning the 'mini' Traversee de Bosphore from L'Artisan's 3 x Pack ( L'Ambre, The et Pain d'Epices & TdB). Very gentle fragrant rosey leather vibe, remarkably true to the perfume.

The et Pain d'Epices is beautiful, spicy and tactile - and all from just a little shot sized candle. Packs a punch.

[candlesoffmain]

I love your description of the fragrance. I actually like this candle. Totally agree that it's super subtle, though. I wish it were 4x as fragrant. I love the container.

[alfarom]

Noclai's Vetiver De Java

[alfarom]

Noclai's Dansons La Capucine

[kumquat]

Bob's Flower Shop, Trapp's Candles these have great throw and are only about $25