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Winter ultimately revolves around one thing: being as cosy as possible.
And whether it’s a quiet night of hygge, entertaining your friends or relaxing in the bath after a hard day’s work, we believe every situation is improved by a well-chosen scented candle.
Today’s market for candles is huge, with luxury beauty brands jostling with independent, quirky specialists and mass-market behemoths to part you from your hard-earned cash.
It’s therefore easy to become overwhelmed by the haze of marketing spiel and outlandish claims around each product (we love candles, but ultimately… they are candles).
That’s why we wanted to find out which ones deliver on their hype and test as wide a range of candles as possible to find the best products on offer, with options to suit any budget.
We tested them all in a well-sized room, to gauge how well each candle diffused through the space over time, and we burned them for several hours to discover how their scents developed.
Although we couldn’t test each candle fully against its advertised burn time, none of the evidence of our testing suggested that they fell short of the 40-hour mark claimed by the majority of candles featured here.
Without further ado, here are our best scented candles for winter 2019 – we hope you find the perfect option for you.
£41, Strawberrynet Best for: A brilliant all-rounder
Key specs – Size: 200g; Size options: 2; Fragrance notes: Nutmeg, orange, fire, wood, spicy cider
We enjoyed the well-executed fresh pine needles of Crabtree & Evelyn’s Windsor Forest candle, but were more impressed by the Noël, which delivers everything you could wish for if you love a fresh, festive scent.
It’s layered and beguiling, with citrus and spicy nutmeg combining beautifully with the woody smokiness of an open fire to create a comforting, nostalgic aroma.
The simple white on black design means it looks great, too.
£55, Space NK Best for: The nostalgia of a winter fireplace
Key specs – Size: 185g; Size options: 2; Fragrance notes: Smooth, smoky woods with lapsang souchong tea
We were impressed with all of the Jo Loves range, but Log Fires just edged out the classic Christmas Trees candle as our pick of the bunch.
It lived up to its name by brilliantly, evoking a winter’s fireplace, with a deceptively sophisticated, deeply smoky scent that gradually spreads into every corner of the room as night draws in.
For those wanting to make a real statement, the Log Fires is available in a giant 2.2kg version, promising around 220 hours of burn and priced at £350.
£53, Net-A-Porter Best for: Perfect pine forest freshness
Key specs – Size: 190g; Size options: 2; Fragrance notes: Siberian pine, Canadian fir balsam, cedar
The Sapin Du Lumiere – Pine Tree of Light – forms part of an alluringly packaged trio of festive candles from Diptyque, which are accompanied by an elaborate folkloric backstory.
However, beyond the intricate design is a candle that delivers you to a winter forest perfectly. With notes of pine, fir and cedar trees, the scent is crystal clear and crisp, and filled the room with gentle warmth.
£9, L’Occitane Best for: A bargain for a brilliant cause
Key specs – Size: 100g; Size options: 1; Fragrance notes: Freesia, red berries, rose, jasmine, amber, rosewood
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The Solidarity Candle is the latest in an annual series of products released by L’Occitane in support of Unicef.
100 per cent of the profits from every sale go to the charity, with the laudable aim of combating avoidable blindness among children around the globe.
Its scent may not match the complexity of some of the pricier examples on this list, but is clean and floral, with a subtle warmth developing as it’s used.
Its price and the excellent cause make this limited-edition candle, which features a bright, bold design from Paris’s Castelbajac fashion house, an excellent gift idea.
£54, Space NK Best for: Complex, spicy sophistication
Key specs – Size: 240g; Size options: 1; Fragrance notes: Ginger zest, clove buds, cardamom, violet, incense, mate, warm latte, guaiac wood, birch tree
Streamlined and minimalist, Byredo’s striking jet black candles ooze class. Its limited-edition trios of smaller candles – La Selection Violette and La Selection Bois, both £85 – make for luxury gifts, but for us it was the Chai candle which stood out.
With an ambitious blend of spices that fully lives up to a name inspired by the Indian subcontinent, it delivers a complex and grown-up but ultimately comforting scent.
We found its warming fragrance ideally suited to chilly winter evenings and quite unlike anything else we tested.
£84.95, Harrods Best for: Sheer opulence
Key specs – Size: 290g; Size options: 1; Fragrance notes: Green notes, bergamot, orange abs, cardamom, aldehyde, rose, magnolia, orchid, pimento, bay, cinnamon, hedione, ambergris, musk, vetiver, labdanum, oudh
The Nawab of Oudh, one of Ormonde Jayne’s “Four Corners” series inspired by locations around the world, exudes the opulence you would expect from a product priced firmly in the luxury bracket.
Fortunately, it has a fragrance to match. A myriad of fruity and floral notes are complemented elegantly by hints of cardamom and cinnamon, crafting a sophisticated and superbly balanced scent, which adds warmth and class to a winter’s evening.
£48, Amara Best for: Warmth on chilly nights
Key specs – Size: 190g; Size options: 1; Fragrance notes: Frankincense, agarwood, cedarwood, tobacco flower, nutmeg, tonka bean, ginger musk
Starry Starry Nights from Bella Freud is presented playfully with its bold, handwritten design, but delivers a grown-up scent that manages to be both complex and reassuringly wintry.
Warming notes of nutmeg and ginger combine harmoniously with rich frankincense, creating an aroma which spreads comfortably through the room as a winter’s evening sets in.
£45, Cochine Best for: A burst of freshness
Key specs – Size: 230g; Size options: 2; Fragrance notes: Wild fig, tuberose, jasmine, bergamot, crisp vetiver, cedarwood
This candle from Cochine combines the sweetness of fig with rich, floral tuberose to excellent effect, with a freshness of fragrance that may make it seem an unlikely choice for winter.
However, we found that its balanced cedarwood warmth spread subtly through the room, making it a worthy inclusion, and a smaller, 65g version would make an excellent gift.
£28.80, Have A Mooch Best for: A spicy, comforting treat
Key specs – Size: 500ml; Size options: 3; Fragrance notes: Nutmeg, clove, cinnamon
SevenSeventeen’s candles tick plenty of boxes. All sales benefit mental health charities and they’re also well priced, starting at £16 – with a mammoth 500ml, three-wick jar setting you back £34.
Mostly importantly, though, they smell great. The Sparkle: Winter Spice candle offers up exactly what you’d hope for in the form of fiery nutmeg and comforting cinnamon, which combine for a fragrance that we found bold but not overpowering.
£30, Quince Living Best for: Nights of hygge watching Scandi noir
Key specs – Size: 200g; Size options: 2; Fragrance notes: Fir, pine forest
During the arduous process of reviewing these candles, we made a discovery – the Danish for “tree” is TRÆ, and this excellent effort from Skandinavisk fits its name perfectly.
Many winter candles set out to recreate the unmistakable scent of a pine forest, but few achieve it with such aplomb as the TRÆ, which transports you with the invigorating, crisp freshness. It just pipped the richly-spiced Jul as our favourite offering from the chic Nordic brand.
£37.25 (price correct at time of publishing), Amazon Best for: A smooth, versatile winter option
Key specs – Size: 200g; Size options: 1; Fragrance notes: Tobacco, rum, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, black pepper, cognac
We’re huge fans of the Atlas, with its eye-catching, stylish presentation – the candle’s creamy colour burning within a simple, scientific glass beaker provides a heartening glow in a gloomy room – and its smooth scent.
It delivers a velvety, creamy fragrance that washes over you in a wave of vanilla, developing with tantalising tinges of peppery spice, which we found made it a versatile choice for winter.
£47, John Lewis Best for: Parties
Key specs – Size: 200g; Size options: 4; Fragrance notes: Pomegranate, rasperry, plum, pepper, Casablanca lily, spicy woods
The presentation of this candle alone deserves to win awards, but its true value is far from superficial.
The spicy undertones transform a room without overpowering it, while the slow-melting wax creates a luxurious warm glow through the glass jar.
It’s a statement piece that will earn compliments from guests – especially if you splash out on the £300, 2.1kg luxury edition.
£59, Ex Nihilo Best for: Dazzling brightness during winter
Key specs – Size: 300g; Size options: 1; Fragrance notes: Bergamot, lychee, peach , jasmine, peony, orange blossom, transparent wood, moss, musk
Ex Nihilo’s Fleur Narcotique candle oozes allure and sophistication from its embossed white casing to its complex, rewarding scent.
You’re first hit with predominantly light, floral notes of orange blossom, lychee and peach, but we loved the way this perfumed freshness developed into something more woody and mysterious, ideal for winter.
£21.75 (price correct at time of publishing), Amazon Best for: Bold crowd-pleaser at a budget price
Key specs – Size: 623g; Size options: 1; Fragrance notes: Ginger, cassis, sugarplum, nutmeg, patchouli, amver, guaiacwood, sandalwood
Such is Yankee’s all-conquering global dominance that it certainly doesn’t need our endorsement to sell its candles in enormous quantities.
Although, as one might expect, it lacks the depth and complexity of the pricier candles on this list, we developed a real fondness for the Glittering Star.
It serves up a bright, cheerful and direct scent, with sweet sugarplum and cassis balanced with wood and spice – and, at under 20 quid for up to 150 hours of burn time, you could do much, much worse.
£23.99, Candles Direct Best for: Warmth and comfort at a competitive price
Key specs – Size: 210g; Size options: 1; Fragrance notes: Guaiac wood, birch tar, cedarwood
We were impressed by the Fireside Embers candle from Plum & Ashby, which quietly delivers premium quality at a very reasonable price.
It sets out to capture the scent of a roaring winter fire, and realises its aim effectively with all the woody smokiness you’d hope for – both nostalgic and comforting.
This article has been updated. It was originally published in December 2018.
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