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I’m always crushing on something scented or other. My nose knows no limits. Candy Crush is where I showcase the beautifully scented things I’m crushing on right now so you can hopefully develop a crush too.

I’m a big fan of Atelier Cologne. They are a house with a distinct but varied style and they reall excel at crafting beautiful, long-lasting citrus fragrances that are simply a joy to wear. This is no surprise, after all, Atelier Cologne pioneered the ‘Cologne Absolue’ a highly-concentrated take on the classic Eau de Cologne that seeks to create more intense colognes with increased stamina.

Atelier Cologne is one of those brands that has got their retailing absolutely spot on. If you’ve never made it into their Covent Garden store (or any of their boutiques around the world) then you simply must go. All of their fragrances are presented so openly, with beautiful tableaus showcasing their olfactory inspirations.  What’s more, one can personalise fragrances there with customisable leather cases, which are presented in an eye-catching, rainbow fashion on the wall.

Anyway, I could go on about my love for Atelier Cologne and their boutiques until I have bored you all half to death, but I shall spare you today, because today we are going to talk about something else quite lovely from the brand: the deliciously zesty Orange Positano Scented Candle.

I’m always crushing on something scented or other. My nose knows no limits. Candy Crush is where I showcase the beautifully scented things I’m crushing on right now so you can hopefully develop a crush too.

A well-fragranced home is an important thing in my book. A scented candle can create a pleasing olfactory ambience for when friends are over for dinner, whilst a room spray can provide scented refreshment to stale air and cover up unpleasant pet or cooking odours. Then there’s the reed diffuser, now these are interesting. I’ve always looked at reed diffusers as the background noise of home fragrance – they provide a fragrant hum in the background, adding a more subtle ambience to a room. These three methods of home fragrance – the candles, room sprays and reed diffusers – can be used together, of course, to compliment and contrast, but it is the reed diffuser that makes for the perfect base layer in one’s home fragrance arsenal.

I am guilty of being both a home fragrance lover and a Miller Harris fanboy, so it was no surprise that when the brand launched their dedicated collection of home fragrances, I was most intrigued. The crown jewel of this collection, which features room sprays (one of which is an aquatic oriental called ‘Periwinkle’ that I must have) to compliment their existing series of candles, is the ceramic reed diffusers. Available in four fragrances (Cadimus – a tuberose, Narcoflor – a huge floral bouquet, Verditer – an ode to figs, and Mossket – an earthy chypre), these diffusers are as much an enviable decorative object as they are a vessel of beautiful fragrance. I was sent Narcoflor to try and it’s officially a Candy Crush!

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Instead of a Christmas gift guide this year, I’m switching out my regular Candy Crush posts for just as regular Christmas Crushes instead. In these posts over the coming weeks you’ll find some wonderfully scented gifts just in time for the holiday season, with products that I am crushing on. So get ready for some marvellous Christmas gift inspiration!

Gosh, I’ve been reviewing so many candles recently you might as well call me ‘The Candle Perfume Boy’ (hold for applause). OK, terrible puns aside, I very much enjoy a scented candle so it was imperative that I brought you a selection for one of my Christmas Crush gift guides – nay, not a selection, an extravaganza! So that’s exactly what this is, a round-up of some beautiful scented candles that make lovely Christmas gifts for those languishing on your ‘to buy’ list (hurry up folks, because you don’t have many shopping days left). Some are evocative of the festive season and some aren’t, but all smell fabulous, making perfect gifts for the house proud or those that simply love a scented candle like me!

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Instead of a Christmas gift guide this year, I’m switching out my regular Candy Crush posts for just as regular Christmas Crushes instead. In these posts over the coming weeks you’ll find some wonderfully scented gifts just in time for the holiday season, with products that I am crushing on. So get ready for some marvellous Christmas gift inspiration!

The theme at Penhaligon’s this season is ‘Christmas is in the Air’ and with this Christmassy concept they are mixing the two things that make their identity so unique: tradition and eccentricity. Their golden packaging is accented by beautiful red ribbons, with what appears to be a rather traditional, Victorian scene as the illustration. Look closer though, and the signature quirk of Penhaligon’s is revealed! Carriages driven by birds and flying clocks lead one to remember that the world of Penhaligon’s is a topsy turvy one, and that’s what makes it so wonderful to explore!

This Christmas, Penhaligon’s have curated a fine selection of gifts for any of those eccentric beauties in your life. There’s perfume aplenty, with gorgeous sets and mini-collections amongst their expansive collection of scent. There’s even a special home fragrance for this year, not to mention many other quirky things to love. So in this extravaganza of a Christmas Crush post I’m brining you a veritable feast of Penhaligon’s gifts to hopefully inspire your present-buying this holiday season. With any luck we’ll have ticked some people off your gift list by the end of the post no problem.

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My Latest Candy Crush

I’m always crushing on something scented or other. My nose knows no limits. Candy Crush is where I showcase the beautifully scented things I’m crushing on right now so you can hopefully develop a crush too.

I have struggled with my mental health.

It took a lot for me to type that sentence and I think it may take more to publish it. There’s a negative stigma around mental health and it can take a lot of guts to come out and admit that one has struggled. Mental health is a topic people don’t like to talk about much, which is a massive travesty because mental health is something that’s very important to talk about it.  So talk about it we shall and if you’re wondering what on Earth this all has to do with a Jo Malone Candle of all things, then bear with, Dear Reader, bear with…

I’ve always been an anxious person and for the longest time I just thought the level of nerves I felt was normal.  I mean everybody gets nervous before speaking publically or attending interviews, right?  But it wasn’t just those situations that made me feel nervous – sometimes it would be paying for something in a shop or talking to somebody I didn’t know.  At my worst it was any interaction with another human, even with people I knew. Luckily for me I was able to seek help and remove myself from the situations that exacerbated my anxiety. I now have mechanisms in place help to deal with anxiety and for the most part, I am a happy person. Because of this I am very lucky.

Maduraï by Cire Trudon
Maduraï by Cire Trudon

Cire Trudon is not a conventional house of home fragrance. They do not, like many brands, create candles that represent one smell, like rose or oud, or even combinations of such notes. No, Cire Trudon tell stories through wax, smoke and glass. They are a brand that allow you to fill your home with the scent of the cold stone walls from a Carmelite convent or fresh mint from the mountains of ancient tribes. Cire Trudon are not a typical brand and their many scented offerings are anything but ordinary, in fact they are rather extraordinary!

This Spring, Cire Trudon have twisted their narrative ever so slightly with their Les Belles Matières collection. Starting with three scented candles, which are housed in the most eye-catching of blue jars, Cire Trudon promise a “geographic odyssey” with this new collection, which takes one on a journey to three exotic destinations by way of iconic ingredients, covering not only a number of air miles but also three of the most familiar olfactory genres: florals, woods and fruits. The three scents are Tadine (New-Caledonia by way of sandalwood), Reggio (Calabria via citrus) and Maduraï, the focus of today’s review, which is all about “the splendour of Indian Jasmine”.

I’ve never been to India but you don’t have to do much convincing to get me on board with a white floral so the prospect of an jasmine sambac by the bucket load is an easy sell. Maduraï tells the tale of the flower’s many uses, whether they be in tea, as floral garlands or in perfumery. Maduraï is an ode to jasmine in its full glory and unexpectedly, it’s rather glorious.

Fancy Fragrance Gifts for Christmas
Fancy Fragrance Gifts for Christmas

As of today, there are just under two calendar weeks until Christmas day! If, like me, you have neglected your Christmas shopping entirely up to this point, or if you simply have a few tricky gifts left to buy, you will more than likely be scouring the blogs for some gift inspiration in the form of fragrance gift guides. These pieces can be pretty helpful in guiding us to some special presents for those special people in our lives, so this year I’m bringing you two gift guides; a luxury fragrance guide in my Escentual column and today, this very guide that you’re reading right now!

This year I wanted to do a little something different with my Christmas Gift Guide. Instead of picking out scents for him and for her, or for mums and dads, or even personality types, I just wanted to gather together a selection of beautiful things that smell great. So that’s exactly what this gift guide is – a collection of fragrant things that are just gorgeous and will make wonderful gifts for those people in your life that like smelly things. They range from fragrances to shower gels, shimmering powders and candles, and whilst they may vary in their style, they all share one thing in common: they are drop dead gorgeous in every way!

L'Eclaireuse by Fornasetti
L’Eclaireuse by Fornasetti

On my list of things I’ve always wanted to own, a Fornasetti candle is right up there. Or ‘was right up there’, I should say, because I now own two. Now, the reason I have lusted after one of these candles so desperately is down to the simple fact that they are just so darn beautiful and dare I say, a little bit kitsch too. Fornasetti candles are as much ‘objet d’art’ as they are vessels for home fragrance, meaning that they can make one’s home smell beautiful whilst drawing the eye to something decorative too. They do what many candles don’t, which is smell good whilst also creating a talking point, adding a touch of something unique to any room.

Piero Fornasetti was a Milanese artist who painted, made sculptures, designed interiors and engraved books, amongst many other things. He is arguably one of the most prolific artists of the 20th century, having created over 11,000 decorative products within his lifetime. Following Fornasetti’s death in the 1980s, the artist’s son, Barnaba has continued the brand, reviving and reinterpreting his father’s designs, placing them on a number of items, ranging from plates to umbrellas and of course, candles too.

Fornasetti’s signature design centres around the artist’s muse: opera singer, Lina Cavalieri. The classical features of her distinctively beautiful face have been reproduced in over 350 designs, showing her in range of guises, many of which have been abstract, whimsical and humorous, to say the least. Fornasetti candles boast numerous designs, many of which see Cavalieri’s form presented as a range of characters, or simply focusing on her features. The designs also verge on the wacky with candles printed with sardine and fountain pen designs. Yup, that’s right, Fornasetti certainly knows how to make the sublime out of the ridiculous!