The goth candle

The newest addition to my spring candle roster (do we need a 2023 roster update? we probably do) looks like October but smells like May. Burke & Hare Co’s Cemetery Gates is a fresh blend of sweet grass, hay, and earth wrapped in a label that looks straight out of Sabrina (the Sally Draper one, not Melissa Joan Hart). Burke & Hare has their whole aesthetic nailed down tight (starting with that name!) and while it’s not my personal aesthetic, I have to respect the attention to detail.

I guess there are probably people out there who buy a candle just because the vessel looks good on their coffee table and to these people I say [VAMPIRE BACK OF THROAT HISS] and also Live a little, Amanda!!! Did we as a society learn nothing from Sk8er Boi?! You have to accept the things you love in all their unexpected complexities! Open your heart to the goth candle!

To be fair, I get it: I honestly never would’ve looked twice at this brand based on their marketing or packaging, but my sweet goth friend Joanna recommended this scent, and said she loves it so much she also wears its perfume oil. I get very excited when a candle company also offers their scents in perfume and room/linen spray because I approach scents I love the same way I approach songs I love: consuming it wholly, unhinged jaw, listening to it on repeat and immersing myself in its world until I can no longer feel any emotions. It’s normal and it’s fun! They also have a candle called 1994 if you’re nostalgic for the days of Jordan Catalano and CK One. As someone who had this poster hanging in her dorm room, initially as a joke but then it stayed up all year: too soon. But I do have my eye on Memento Mori.

Aesthetics aside, this candle hits all its notes. When I lived in London, I’d sometimes go on walks through Abney Park Cemetery in Stoke Newington, reading the tombstones. This smells exactly like those quiet, green, peaceful strolls. It also smells like skipping school on a warm day and lying in the tall grass daydreaming with your best friend like your life is being scored by John Cougar Mellencamp. We all contain multitudes and it’s time your candles reflected that.

The burn was even and the throw was great. I bought the 9 oz size to burn on my desk and my office smelled amazing. I went back for the 16 oz one, along with the linen mist because why shouldn’t my towels smell like my current obsession? It’s 2023 and you have to squeeze the joy from this world whenever you find it.

This scent actually reminds me a lot of an old one that no longer exists, Blue Q Boss Lady. Remember in the early 00s when Blue Q had lots of scented product lines with names like Dirty Girl, Total Bitch, and Wash Away Your Sins? The company seems to have done a complete hard pivot to quirky socks, and since most of the names have not aged well (Miso Pretty, Virgin/Slut) it’s probably for the best, but a few of them smelled so good I still have eBay notifications for them. (RIP Vinnie’s Chamomile and Olive Oil Cramp Relieving Bubble Bath that came with a CD!)

I bought Boss Lady back in the day because it smelled like the springs of my Oklahoma childhood: running around outside in grass slowly turning from brown to green, bright dandelions, cold earth, warm sun. Cemetery Gates has the same vibe. It’s calm and clean and very zen, great to burn while you work or write or read. If you like The Wood and Wick Petrichor candle or the Candlewood Firewood candle, I feel strongly that you’d like this one too. Different scents, same family.

Goths, jocks, nerds, Thunderbirds, Pink Ladies, boss ladies, and beige moms alike: don’t sleep on this candle!