Scented candles

It's getting dark outside, and the lamp alone is no longer enough to make the living room a place where you'd willingly sit. You light a candle, and five minutes later the air temperature feels two degrees warmer. It smells of orange blossom, cedar, a 19th-century Lisbon apothecary – and the evening has a different quality than it did a minute before.

A good scented candle isn't just decoration. It's the quickest way to give a room a different atmosphere – and it costs less than a bottle of wine.

Two Traditional Houses

Castelbel from Porto has been making soaps and candles since 1917. Their scented candles usually appear under the premium label Portus Cale – with perfumes that the house composes itself, instead of buying them in. The fragrances range from fig and orange blossom to cedar and Portuguese herbs. The candles burn slowly, evenly, and the perfume notes linger in the room even after the candle is extinguished.

Tiroler Reine complements this with smaller beeswax-based candles, made in the Ziller Valley. More subtle in scent, warmer in tone, with a slightly different philosophy: not oriental complexity, but alpine simplicity.

The Shapes

• Large scented candles in glass (200–500 g) — for 40–80 hours of burn time.
• Small travel candles (60–90 g) — for the guest toilet, bedroom, workplace.
• Votive candles & tealights — neutral scent, for background ambiance.
• Limited Edition candles — seasonal scents for autumn and Christmas time.

The greatest secret of candle care: The first lighting determines its entire life. Burn a new scented candle for at least two hours until the top layer of wax is completely liquid – otherwise the wick will tunnel into the wax, and the outer two-thirds of the candle will never burn. This is the most important tip for scented candles of all – and it replaces all others.

See also: Room Fragrance & Diffusers, Lanterns & Table Fires.