Best luxury candle

[Alifemoreordinary123]

I’ve been buying a ‘treat’ candle a couple of times a year from a local producer. They’re soy wax and a blend of essential oils. My husband likes them so they’re usually a treat for him. I’ve just gone to buy a couple of Christmas and they’re working out at £35 each!

It’s made me pause and I wanted to know whether there I anything else out there at a more reasonable price? I like something fairly strong smelling and a Christmas vibe would be great. What do you use and does it cost as much?

Diptyque if no budget. True Grace candles also have a good throw.

Watching this with interest as looking for a soy candle recommendation. Have been buying st eval ones for years but just looked and they are not pure soy so now confused

If you're looking for a Neom one (and yes, Cosy Nights is gorgeous) take a look on Vinted. I got a large three wick candle (RRP £55) for £20. A lot of people sell on unwanted gifts.

I live in East London and would recommend Earl of East - the candles have strong, unusual scents, and they are a small business. They also burn well and last decently long.

Meadow farm tis the season candle, small business her candles are so lovely.

meadowfarmlifestyle.co.uk/shop/candles/tis-the-season/

I know it’s a more sustainable option, but I can’t bear the smell of soy wax burning. I used to like St Eval, but the scents just smell cheap nowadays, probably because they use cheap fake smells. I actually rate the M&S candles for everyday use and I used to love the vanilla scented ones from Ikea before we moved away from being close to a physical store. I the one from Botanical Candle Co. Smell lovely I’ve yet to try one though. I’d also love to try the Jo Malone ones.

What is it that makes a candle have a nice strong scent - is it the quality of the oil? The wax? The amount of scent?

As a candle maker my response is ‘all
of the above’ plus some other things like the wick size and type and the size/material of the container.
Fragrance amount isn’t a case of more is better. There is a perfect balance to be found. Sometimes less has better ‘fragrance throw’.
Fragrances and wicks work better with certain waxes which also have their own fragrance load tolerance.
Essential oils tend to underperform wildly in terms of throw. Also and critically some essential
oils become toxic to humans and animals when burned which is why you rarely see them in candles. Natural is not better here! Better to have specially made fragrance oils properly tested.
Also wax. The candle makers nemesis. Best fragrance throw unfortunately comes from very cheap paraffin wax. Some of the big names mentioned here will use paraffin. I refuse to and I also refuse to use soy as it’s an ecological disaster I use coconut and beeswax for sustainability reasons but the throw is lesser than cheap old paraffin and three times the price and more effort.
Some of the cheap ones will use crap cheap wax and fragrance with a standard wick so you will get poor throw and tunnelling and a lot of black smoke. Some are frankly unsafe.
I’ve been making them for years and still haven’t found the perfect blend of wax/wick/fragrance nor the balance between sustainability, safety, fragrance throw and cost.

Anyone can make a candle. Very few can make a candle that looks and smells great, that’s is safe and for the right cost and which doesn’t have unpleasant effects on the environment.

Sorry that was in response to @Fraudornot

And you’re definitely not that female seller 😂

Oh lord I didn’t realise this was a bit of a zombie thread resurrected by an advert. 🤦

I’m disappointed in my last few St Eval buys after having being buying them for years.

Jo malone my guilty pleasure. You will never look back

White Company Winter fragrance candles. I sometimes economise and buy the tea lights instead of a large candle. Can make them last for ages if you just use one or two a night.

I really like the Beauty Pie clean home candle. I think it's about £20 but lasts a while as you don't need it burning for very long to get a good scent

Was just coming to say that I love the Lidl Luxury ones - spiced vanilla and patchouli smells amazing. Also had a lovely Aldi lime basil and mandarin one - under £4 and have smelled better than much more expensive ones

Floral street for me

Amazing post.

I’ve dabbled with essential oils for decades now - love them - which is why I rate the This Works brand (but will never afford the full whack price of £25). From what you’ve said - how can this brand achieve such a good scent throw both when burning and not burning? I’ve tried and tried to create my own candles but the scent is an utter flop (only ever use essential oils) and I can’t ever get it to burn down properly so I stick to making my own room sprays and using burners and drops of oil to fragrance.

Valentte do lovely candles , diffusers and room sprays at very reasonable prices . I bought Neom for years but the prices seemed to go up and up . I’m not sure if Valentte do Christmas scents but they seem to listen to their customers so it’s worth asking .

Hi, I love Scotts Lifestyle, they are strong, long-lasting, clean burning, and reasonably priced for a handmade product. Try them!

For mid range costs I like True Grace and The White Company.

Another one for VALENTTE. I have tried many many brands including jo Malone and found only some give off a good smell.
All Valenttes candles and diffusers give a great scent all through the house, they also have great sales and offers.
Love the gift boxes they are great as presents.