Another kind of thunk

It’s April. Now, if it would just get warm and dryer.

I’m taking a page out of Portia’s book and applying it to candles, as I’ve finished a number in the last couple of months.

I came late to the love of candles – probably starting around five years ago. I bought things before that but the ‘a ha’ moment was more recent.

Anyway, I now love scented candles and generally have a rotation of two or three going. I am very pleased to have actually finished a few though, as I have had more of a tendency to buy candles than perfume recently. I’ve generally bought less expensive ones or the smallest size from a more expensive brand.

As I noted, I’ve thunked four, which have ranged from love to meh. So, here goes.

The first one I thunked was Dayleford’s Vine Tomato. Daylesford is a fancy farm shop cum luxury brand. The shop is located in the Cotswolds which isn’t near me so I’ve never been. But a couple of years ago I got a bee in my bonnet about a tomato candle. I can’t now recall why. But, I found this one and bought the smallest version. It comes in one of those covered jars (see pic) which can be useful for storing things. I can’t find notes for this but I get tomato fruit and leaf, and a bit of loam. It quickly became the favourite kitchen-after-cooking candles because it was quite strong, the throw was very good, and it’s sharpness cancelled almost any strong cooking odour. I’m not buying anything at the moment, until after the tooth and taxes are paid for. But, once I’m back in the game this is on the list for replacement.

Second to thunk was a Diptyque Thé candle. I had the regular size in this (vs the small) and purchased it because I wanted a black tea fragranced candle and this got good reviews. This is black tea, cumin, coriander and pepper. I like the Diptyque brand and love the Feu de Bois and the LE Biscuit (two Xmases ago) candles. At various times I’ve owned the fig, jasmine, saffron and rose candles and they’ve all been very good. I consider the Thé a true candle fail. At no point, from first lighting to end-of has this smelled to me like black tea. To the extent that I wrote a complaining mail to Diptyque CS (they said I was wrong, that of course it smelled of black tea). For me, it was a light, fruity, soapy fragrance, with basically no tea. It wasn’t spicy either. Lighting this made me grumpy but I still did it on the basis of finishing it up, which I finally did (I think it took three years). So, I will once again be on the lookout for a ‘true’ black tea candle.

Third to go was a very petite l’Artisan Parfumeur Parfum de Feuilles candle. I bought this quite a while ago and then it somehow got lost in various moves. When I moved back into my house two years ago after having work done it resurfaced. This is now discontinued which is really too bad. It’s a very good green leaf/garden early morning smell with good throw for such a small size. If it still existed it would be on the buy it again list. L’Artisan appears to do good candles. The only other I’ve had was a Traversee du Bosphore in the same small size, which was a gift ages ago and smelled so good it was finished fairly quickly. This was the Turkish delight fragrance that Duchaufour did. Apparently, it’s still available as a candle but with a slightly different name.

Finally, the most recent to be finished was from a niche Edinburgh (Scotland)-based brand called Druid. I discovered Druid somehow – probably a magazine article – and bought a couple of things several years ago. They were very nice so my son gifted me with Cathedral basically because of the name. Notes include ginger, bergamot and cedarwood. This, sadly, was something of a fail. It just didn’t smell good to me – and smelled sort of generic candle store candle. I can’t put my finger on what didn’t work, but it didn’t. I have another Druid that is leather and cardamon which is very good.

As to next purchase once I’m back in the game beyond maybe the small Tomato Vine? I have a serious hankering for the Trudon Spiritus Sancti incense candle which I smelled during the London trip last month. But it’s one that only comes in a ‘regular’ size and Trudon (I think they rebranded from Cire Trudon) stuff beyond the smallest size is an investment as far as I’m concerned. I adore my small Abd el Kadr candle – I wish the Spiritus Sancti came in the same size.

So, that’s that – four candles thunked. I think the lesson I’ve learned from this is that it is best if I buy candles in store where I can smell them, especially if I have a hankering for a very specific fragrance (eg, black tea).

Pics: Pexels and mine