Spring scents

Hello! Yes it’s been three and a half months since I last updated this blog, but I’ve emerged bleary-eyed from my hibernation cave singing Susannah McCorkle’s “Waters of March” and I’m ready to talk spring scents.

BUT FIRST we have some old business to attend to: in my fall candle post, I sang the praises of Skandinavisk’s KOTO candle. This is my all-time favorite cozy candle, the one I automatically re-buy, but when I re-bought it this winter, it smelled different. I wrote the company and asked if maybe I’d received a weird pour or mislabeled batch but no: they’ve changed the formulation. They now only sell the “New Generation” of KOTO, and their explanation is “For this new collection, Skandinavisk tightened their house rules on fragrance creation to prevent the requirement of any environmental warning symbols on the finished product. In some cases, KOTO included, this has meant that the fragrance itself has a slightly different scent profile as before. For KOTO, the scent is less sharp, a little softer, but it should still do a similar job as the original after lighting.” Join me in pushing the “oh shit what bad environmental thing was in the original scent” thought to the back of your mind and mourning this lost friend. The new scent is fine! It’s fine. I wouldn’t buy it again but it’s fine. I just didn’t want anyone to have bought this based on my glowing review and think THIS was the hot guy I was raving about. He’s nice! He’s very nice. I’m sure your mom will love him.

So! It’s spring, and you want to smell like the new season, minus all the animal rutting, but indoors. Which traditionally means flowers, but I don’t really do florals for spring the same way I don’t do pumpkin for fall, so let’s get that out of the way. I like my spring scents fresh and clean. (I’m saving my tomato scents for the summer version of this post.) I also included more room sprays on this list because I learned a trick recently from my friend Rosalie where you spray a scent over your lamps while they’re on and it lasts longer? Lightbulb magic! It works! Can you believe we’ve been inside for a year!!!

Laundress No. 247 Home Spray: I don’t really care about The Laundress’ actual laundry products; I like my grocery store Persil Fresh just fine and don’t feel the need to get John Mayer involved. But I love their $10 No. 247 scent and I own it in the surface cleaner, all-purpose cleaning concentrate, and home spray. I actually buy the home spray three at a time and stash it in bathrooms and bedrooms. It’s just a very gentle, fresh, clean scent. It skews a little bit “baby” but in a totally inoffensive way. I would totally bathe in it if they made a body wash. I spray it on our ancient sofa before movie night and over our bed before we get into it, just to pretend like we’re way more genteel than we are (we are people who regularly find popcorn in our coat pockets).

Hearth & Hand With Magnolia room spray in Rattan: I am not personally into Chip and Joanna Gaines or any of their design choices but I will admit that some of their candles smell pretty nice for Target prices. This is a good bathroom spray. It’s a clean, light, lemony wood scent but a bit bitter, like the way a cocktail smells. They also did a handwash earlier this year called “Love” that came in a giant glass bottle and smelled AMAZING, but it sold out. Goddammit, Joanna! Quit shiplapping the universe and get this back on shelves.

Everspring: Speaking of Target, I really like this line. I buy their foaming hand soaps all year round (our faves are Mandarin & Ginger and the unscented, uncharacteristically). Their seasonal scents are nice too, but don’t bother buying them in candle form — they have zero throw. I had a hard time smelling it even if lit right next to me, but their hand washes are very nice and nicely priced too.

Redwood & Co Persephone: I am such a fan of all of Redwood & Co’s candles with gin involved. This new scent is like a light and lovely spring sister to Christmas Cheer, their candle that smelled exactly like a holiday party. This one has both pomegranate and gin so it smells light red and sparkly. You also read certain scents as colors, right?

Beauty Pie Reves d’Eze: This could be categorized as a summer candle but I feel like it hits harder for spring. You know that first day you notice that everything is finally but suddenly green and when you see it, it feels like you’d been holding your breath without realizing it? This candle smells like that. It smells green and fresh and very herbal. I get a lot more basil than mint. It has a strong throw even when unlit.

CB I Hate Perfume Wild Pansy: This is what spring actually smells like to me. It smells like wet grass, cold dirt, and the first flowers starting to poke through. It’s a very tender scent, and only sweet at the very end. It smells like playing outside as a kid in March and you’re wearing your winter coat but no mittens so your hands are frozen but smell like fresh, sweet soil when you come inside. I can’t wear anything floral but I love this — it’s very gentle and mossy. I’ve owned my bottle of this water perfume for over 10 years and it hasn’t gone off!

If you want to get fancy and need a non-groundbreaking fruity floral for spring, Diptyque Baies is not Queen Basic for nothing. It’s very bridal-shower-at-a-rich-lady’s-house, and while that scenario is my own personal hell, I definitely don’t object to my bathroom smelling like it. Consider the room spray instead of the candle.

Molton Brown Delicious Rhubarb and Rose Bath & Shower Gel: Wild Pansy perfume aside, this is as floral as I get. It’s more zesty than sweet. It smells like bathing in a nice rosé minus all the Scott-and-Zelda headache. They make it in a candle too but I prefer the shower gel — I think the candle would be too sneezy for me.

HerberryCandles Cilantro: You either love cilantro or hate it and I absolutely love it, but it’s very hard to find a true cilantro scent. I finally found a candle that nails it: just cilantro, all by itself, not having to share the spotlight with pineapple or some other assigned dance partner. I put this on our kitchen shelf and every time I walk by, my brain turns into a cartoon animal smelling a pie cooling on a windowsill.

Beauty Pie Clean House: I’ve reviewed this candle before. It’s a mainstay at my house year-round, but it’s especially nice in the spring. They recently upgraded the size and made the glass prettier, a fate I would have preferred for my old friend KOTO.

RIP/honorable mention: the very best “fresh cut grass” candle I’ve ever found was Votivo Deep Clover but they discontinued it. You can sometimes find the candle or room spray on eBay for ~$20 if you want to join me in being obsessive about it. (I bought one last week.)