Better Homes And Gardens 18-ounce Candle French Lilac Flowers

The 8 Best Scented Candles of 2021

Fill your home with delightful scents

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Scented candles offer more than just pleasant aromas—they help set the mood and provide ambient lighting, and they can be used as decor accents in your home. Candles enhance any room, offering delightful scents and giving off a tranquil, luxurious vibe.

If you love candles as much as we do, scouring the internet for the greatest options might be worth your while—and we can show you what to look for. But if you'd rather skip the research and get straight to the cozy ambiance, we've got you covered.

Here, the best scented candles for your home.

Our Top Picks

The premium wax in this citrusy candle is formulated to melt evenly while infusing your space with an exhilarating scent.

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This eco-friendly candle contains soy wax, vegetable wax, cottonseed wax, and other renewable ingredients.

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This best-seller has a seriously scrumptious fragrance formulated to make your home feel comfy and inviting.

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With input from locals, each fragrance is modeled after the scent profile of its state, so it's great for anyone away from home.

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The coconut wax boasts a 90 percent cleaner burn than soy wax candles, which is ideal for the kitchen.

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This floral, musky candle will really help you relax if you're taking a bath or going through a soothing skincare routine.

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It's all the aromas of a crisp autumn day poured into a simple 7-ounce jar.

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Developed with master perfumers, the fragrance presents a calming blend of figs, green ivy, and summer dew.

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Grapefruit Candle

Nest is a top-selling scented candle brand with many loyal customers—you might even say it has a cult following. While there are a wide variety of fragrances to choose from, the Nest New York Grapefruit Candle stands out among the rest. The uplifting scent combines pink pomelo grapefruit with botanical nuances and notes of coriander blossom and lily of the valley. If you appreciate citrus scents, you'll love the refreshing aroma.

This candle comes in three sizes. The 22-ounce size provides up to 100 hours of burn time, the 8-ounce size burns for 50 to 60 hours, and the 2-ounce size burns for 20 hours. Like all Nest candles, it's poured with premium wax formulated to melt evenly while infusing your space with an exhilarating scent.

Mrs. Meyer's Candle

Mrs. Meyer's is extremely popular and for good reason: It sells a well-scented products made with natural ingredients. If you're looking for the perfect candle to place next to your sink or stove, Mrs. Meyer's Geranium Candle is a great option. This 7.2-ounce candle burns for about 35 hours and comes in a cute, reusable jelly-style jar. The geranium scent is subtle but fresh, and it won't overpower when you're eating dinner or having a glass of wine.

Diptyque Baies Candle-6.5 oz.

If you're willing to splurge on the perfect candle, you should definitely check out the Diptyque Baies Candle. This best-seller has a seriously scrumptious fragrance formulated to make your home feel comfy and inviting. The fruity scent is similar to Diptyque's L'Ombre Dans l'Eau perfume, which smells like fresh roses and blackcurrant.

This white candle comes in a clear glass jar with a simple label printed with French lettering. It's available in two sizes, 2.4 ounces and 6.5 ounces. The first time you light the Baies Candle, you're supposed to let it burn for at least two hours. When the entire top liquifies on the first burn, it'll melt more evenly each time you light it. Diptyque also recommends trimming the wick down to 0.25 inches before lighting it and recentering it every time you blow it out.

Homesick Candles

Scent and memory are closely connected, and Homesick Candles are created with this in mind. As the name suggests, Homesick Candles make a perfect gift for anyone living away far away from home.

These 13.75-ounce candles are hand-poured with soy wax and fragrance oils. There are 50 scents to choose from, as they correspond to the 50 U.S. states. With input from locals on how they experience the aromatic outdoors, each fragrance is modeled after the unique scent profile of its state. From peachy-floral Georgia and sandy-citrus Arizona to nutty-pine Oregon and honey-bourbon Kentucky, these candles hit all the right notes.

Voluspa Goji Tarocco Orange

When you burn a candle in your kitchen, it's best to opt for a scent that meshes well with the things you eat. In other words, go for something that smells delicious, like the Voluspa Glass Jar Candle in Goji and Tarocco Orange. This particular candle has a mouth-watering aroma of goji berries, fresh mango, and blood oranges. It's fruity, fresh, and totally addicting.

Also, Voluspa's proprietary coconut wax boasts a 90 percent cleaner burn than soy wax candles, which is ideal for the kitchen. This notably large candle contains 18 ounces of hand-poured wax for a burn time of 100 hours. It comes in a gorgeously embossed red glass jar with a floral tin lid. When the candle is gone, you can remove the remaining wax and use the jar to hold flowers, jewelry, pens, or even kitchen utensils.

Aphrodite Candle

Lighting a candle in the bathroom does more than mask unpleasant smells. It helps you create a relaxing ambiance and can be implemented into a self-care routine. If you're looking for something to keep in your bathroom, we suggest the Aphrodite Soy + Coconut Candle from The Black Home. Inspired by Aphrodite, the Greek goddess representing love, beauty, pleasure, and passion, it has a velvety tuberose scent with lilac undertones and notes of sandalwood and ylang-ylang.

The Black Home is a Black-owned home goods shop known for refined minimalism with pops of color and gold accents. This simple yet sophisticated candle comes in a black jar with a gold-embossed marbled label. Set it on your counter, or place it on a shelf to enhance the look and smell of your bathroom. With a high-quality coconut and soy wax blend, you can count on at least 60 hours of burn time.

Autumn scented candle

If you're decorating your home for fall, scented candles are a go-to. The Bath & Body Works Autumn Single Wick Candle is reminiscent of the best things about the fall season. It leads with the scent of juicy gala apples and fresh figs with undertones of eucalyptus—all the aromas of a crisp autumn day poured into a simple 7-ounce jar.

The Single Wick Candles from Bath & Body Works contain a blend of soy-based wax and highly concentrated essential oils. With a lead-free wick designed for continuous burn, the wax melts evenly and consistently until you blow it out. This candle will burn for up to 45 hours, filling your home with a delightful fragrance that's not at all overpowering.

Canopy Candle

If you appreciate the aromatherapy of scented candles, you'll love the Otherland Canopy Candle. Developed with master perfumers, the fragrance presents a calming blend of California figs, green ivy, and summertime dew. It's fresh and clean—and meant to remind you of a fluffy canopy bed.

The candle itself is hand-poured into premium glassware with a soy-coconut wax blend. While it's only 8 ounces and 3.25 inches tall, it has an impressive 55-hour burn time. With a mission to help homes be toxin-free zones, the scented candles from Otherland never contain any sulfates, parabens, or phthalates.

Final Verdict

High-quality wax allows for long, even burns.
For a subtle and refreshing scent, the Nest New York Grapefruit Candle (available at Sephora) is our go-to. Its bright, citrusy scent adds a refreshing boost to any room. If you're able to spend a bit more, the Diptyque Baies Candle (available at Nordstrom) is a great splurge option with an elegant scent that's reminiscent of roses and blackcurrant leaves.

Fragrance

Fragrances inside scented candles are either natural or synthetic. Natural fragrances are naturally derived and come from their environmental counterpart. Synthetic fragrances are man-made and often made to match, deepen or add complexity to natural fragrances. Many candle companies use both types in their candles.

Ingredients

Scented candles are typically made of either paraffin or soy wax, with paraffin wax being the most popular. This wax is cheaper than soy and is made from petroleum oil. However, this also means that it burns 'dirty,' releasing soot and other harmful byproducts when melted. Soy wax is paraffin wax's alternative and is quickly growing in popularity. It's made from soybeans, and burns longer and cleaner than paraffin wax.

Burn Time

Different candles burn for different amounts of time, depending on the size and type of wax in the candle. A candle with a shorter burn time is perfect for a guest bedroom or bathroom, or another space that isn't used as often. A candle with a long burn time is ideal for larger common spaces, like the living room or kitchen.

FAQ

How are scented candles made?

Scented candles are made by first melting the wax and adding in fragrance. Then, a wick is attached to the bottom of a prepared jar, and the wax is poured in. Finally, the wax is left to harden, and the wick is trimmed.
Where should you place scented candles?

Scented candles can work perfectly in any space. But a few guidelines: make sure the size of the candle is appropriate to the room size (i.e. don't burn a massive candle in your half-bath—the scent will be too overpowering), if you have pets or young kids, keep the candles out of reach for them and, for fire safety, place scented candles in your sightline.
How long do scented candles last?

Scented candles can last anywhere from 6 to 150 hours, depending on the type of wax, wick and its size. Soy candles last longer than paraffin ones, and larger candles last longer than smaller ones. Many candles include the estimated burn time on the jar.

Theresa Holland is a freelance writer specializing in home improvement, cleaning, and home hacks. Her writing has appeared in Elite Daily, The Financial Diet, Thought Catalog, Film Daily, and other online publications. Additional reporting was done by Rabekah Henderson, a freelance design and decor writer whose work has appeared on MyDomaine, Atomic Ranch, Cary Magazine and American Farmhouse Style.

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