Heavenly Scents....and Lofty Cents

I've discovered a new love. Well really it's an old love that I've rekindled. Scented candles. Not the bargain basement dollar store variety that smell more of musty envelopes than spiced apples, I'm talking about the quality, gloriously scented, fancy tinned candles. The expensive ones.

Voluspa makes some really amazing candles. I don't think they can be referred to merely as candles. They're art. The tins come in such amazing colours and designs, it hard to tell if you're buying it for the scent or the tin.

I bought two, a large 3-wick Goji and Torocco Orange, and a slightly smaller 2-wick White Currant Quince. Both smell amazing.

Within half an hour of lighting one, my entire living room smelled delightfully of citrus. I was on my couch watching tv and I kept inhaling as deeply as I could. If it weren't for the flame I probably would have stuck my nose right in the heart of the thing. I love walking into a house that smells great.

I paid $30 for the large one and $25 for the small. Expensive for a candle but these are so highly scented that I don't mind paying the price. They really do fill the whole room with fragrance, and so far it seems that they have a fairly long burn time. I've noticed that the wax along the edge of the 2-wick candle doesn't seem to get enough heat to melt so I've got a couple of ridges that I'm not happy about.

My guiltiest pleasure so far though has to be the two Jonathan Adler candles I bought impulsively while killing time before my hair appointment. I found them at the cutest little store in Gastown, Orling & Wu. They have an eccentric sort of bohemian collection of home accents. I mentioned to the sales girl that it smelled really great in the store, fresh and warm, and she pointed me to this little red candle. I pick up the box and do you know what it was scented with? Tomato Plants. Tomato plants!! If you've ever grown tomatoes you know that smell, it's fresh, green and sun-warmed. It was so true to life. I knew I had to buy it, despite the gulp inducing $48 price tag.

There was also a devine grapefruit candle. I had good intentions of giving this one to a friend for Christmas. She used to sell Party Lite candles so I knew she'd appreciate it. But being a student my friend was short of cash this Christmas so we decided not to exchange gifts. Hooray!!

I've since been living in beautifully scented splendor and I can't wait to see if I've got enough money this paycheque to buy a few more. Fingers crossed!