Candle recs: campfires and lavender

My friend Millie DM’d me the other night asking for candle recs. This is my favorite kind of ask and I went to town with my answers, and then realized the next day duh, I have a blog where I could post this.

Disclaimer: if you are able to sniff first in person, I always recommend that. Find a bougie store near you and make sure you like it. Never buy blind! 

If you love Diptyque Feu de Bois and Boy Smells Hinoki Fantome, try:

• LAFCO Feu de Bois – The other big FDB in the game. If you can’t sniff in person, maybe try the $20 4 oz tin. This feels like a pretty safe bet but it does skew a bit more toward leather and vanilla than the Diptyque FDB. (It was originally called Ski House or something so that explains the vibe.)
• Candlewood Firewood – This is the only one on this list that I recommend buying blind. If you like Diptyque FDB and camping, I guarantee you’ll like this. It smells exactly like a campfire and it’s very reasonably priced. Heads up, this has a wood wick – some people love those and some people find the sound annoying. 
• P.F. Candle Co Piñon – This smells amazing, but the throw is not strong so don’t expect it to fill a room. More of a desk or bedside table candle, close enough to you to create a little mood. (Note: Millie had already tried this one but said the reed diffuser version is great!)
• Maison Margiela By the Fireplace: Go to Sephora and smell first – it has some vanilla stuff going on in there, almost like a burnt marshmallow. I have both the perfume and the candle and actually prefer the perfume used as a room scent/fabric spray.
• Jo Malone Glowing Embers – If you’re looking to treat yourself, this is expensive as hell but smells great. Cozy, warm, intimate. I can only vouch for the scent, not the throw because I don’t own it, but I’ve owned other Jo Malone candles before and the throw was very strong. 
• DO NOT be tempted by D.S. & Durga Portable Fireplace. It’s just straight-up ash. Not cozy, very cold and dead. Smells more like the ground after you set off a bunch of fireworks than a crackling fireplace.
• Not strictly a smoky smell, but if you like smoky smells, I recommend you check out Byredo Peyote Poem. It smells like a sexy 50-year-old artist dude who wears weird jewelry, in a good way. 
• I’d also recommend buying Redwood + Co Base Camp room spray. Another one I feel confident that you’d like enough to spend $16 on blind – everyone I know likes this scent, but the candle throw isn’t as strong or lasting as the room spray. It smells like Lake Tahoe in the summer, or a beautiful sunny house in the redwood forest.

If you love Voluspa French Cade Lavender, try:

• Diptyque Feuille de Lavande – The gold standard. Expensive but almost always worth it with this brand. Pretty straightforward lavender, not too floral but a bit green, nothing too sweet or artificial added. The scent fills and lingers in the room for a long time after burning.
• Nest Lavender and Cedar Leaf – Nearly everyone pairs lavender with other scents, sometimes sweet and sometimes herbaceous, sometimes to the point of medicinal. This one has rosemary and sage in there too. Herbaceous and relaxing.
• LAFCO Chamomile Lavender – Another nice blend, very calming, spa-like. Has some bergamot in the mix if you have strong feelings about bergamot one way or the other. (If you do, you’ve come to the right place.)
• P.F. Candle Co Ojai Lavender – I include this because if I don’t, you will run into it and be interested. I don’t think it’s worth it, sadly. Extremely soft scent and weak throw.
• The next two I haven’t personally smelled but I’ve heard a lot about and they’re worth checking out if you can:    
• Wild Brooklyn Lavender by D.S. & Durga – People LOVE this brand. I like their style/ideas but have yet to find one that works for me. This one is worth a sniff to find out. It sounds weird (the description mentions packs of wild dogs and asphalt?) but I like weird.
• Maison Louis Marie Antidris Lavender – Also haven’t smelled this but heard good things. It’s more earthy/woody – it has fennel and eucalyptus, which might not be your jam. Sephora carries this brand so you should be able to give it a test sniff.

If you like both campfire and lavender candles, there’s a good chance you’d like:

• Frederic Malle Cafe Society – this is my very favorite candle so I’m a bit biased, but I do think the vibes match up here. Cafe Society is amber, patchouli, and lavender and it’s warm, not smoky, but still a cozy, inviting scent that is worth a sniff if you find yourself anywhere that carries it. It’s also $105 so no big rush.

This was pretty off the cuff but I thought it would be fun to share and maybe make this a semi-regular feature in the future? Let me know in the comments if you have other candle suggestions for these two scent profiles or if you’ve had different experiences with any on the list! I could talk about this shit all day.