No matter what time of year it is, there’s one thing that adds an extra special finishing touch to any space: candles. The right scent can transport you to somewhere else in the world or to another place in time, leaving you feeling warm and comforted from the inside out.
To help you get the most out of your candles, Shop TODAY consulted a few experts to about common mistakes people make and how to resolve them. Plus, our editors share the fragrances they can’t get enough of.
Editor-favorite candles | How to choose the right scent | Common candle mistakes | Meet the experts
Best candles, according to editors
Bath & Body Works Leaves 3-Wick Candle
Leaves is editorial assistant Sierra Hoeger’s favorite fall scent (and not just because she’s allergic to pumpkin). With notes of crisp red apple, golden nectar and warm clove spice, it’s become a staple that reminds her of fall time at home.
WoodWick Evening Bonfire Medium Hourglass Candle
Deputy editorial director Ali Deabler calls this one her favorite winter candle. The wooden wick gives off the crackling sound, so you’ll feel like you’re gathered around a bonfire (hence the name) without leaving the comfort of your own living room.
228 Grant Street Candle Co. Cedar + Vanilla
Senior SEO editor Jess Bender is all about supporting small businesses and has become a fan of candles from this brand over the last few years. Lately, she's been burning this cedar and vanilla blend that also has hints of caramel and a burn time of up to 60 hours, according to the brand.
Williams-Sonoma Winter Forest Candle
Commerce coordinator Alexa Arent says this candle is her favorite holiday scent. Made with a beeswax and vegetable oil blend, this candle combines all of the best fragrances from the great outdoors, including pine, cedarwood and thyme, alongside holiday classics like cinnamon and citrus.
Capri Blue Volcano Black Petite Jar
Bender declares herself a longtime fan of Capri Blue and said she keeps a small stockpile of this specific scent in her linen closet. Volcano is arguably the brand’s most iconic fragrance, with its mouthwatering blend of citrus and sugary notes.
Candier Barstool Quarterback Candle
Photo editor Vivian Le says that, despite the fact that she's not a football fan, this candle is one of her favorites. She calls out the scents of amber and sandalwood.
Yankee Candle Winter Night Stars
Bender calls out this candle as a favorite from Yankee Candle. It has notes of rose, amber and musk to transport you somewhere else (like the peacefully snowy wonderland pictures on the label).
Otherland Silk Pajamas
Bender calls this scent her favorite from the brand by far. Key fragrance notes include crystal ginger, bergamot zest and spiced yuzu.
Forvr Mood Left on Read Candle
This one is a favorite of editor Julie Ricevuto. "The scent is warming and a little spicy, but it still has a bit of tropical fruit fragrances in it to lighten it up. Highly recommend," she raves.
Apotheke Sea Salt Grapefruit Candle
Another favorite of Bender's, she says this citrus-y scent from Apotheke is "divine" and likes to burn it when it's colder and darker outside for a boost of energy.
NEST New York Holiday Classic Candle
Musacchio and Le are both fans of this bestselling fragrance from the brand. It’s made with a blend of pomegranate, mandarin orange, pine, cloves, cinnamon, vanilla and amber to invoke all of the cozy feels during the season. Le describes it as “divine” after lighting it for the first time.
Hotel Lobby Lodge Candle
Editorial director Adrianna Brach loves this brand’s candle because of their ability to give off scent even when they’re not lit. While one of her general favorites is the Miami scent because it reminds her of home; she says this pick is her fall and winter go-to. “It's cozy and warm... kind of like having a fireplace in a jar!” she raves.
Le Labo Petit Grain 21
Writer Emma Stessman was gifted this candle by a friend last year and loves it. It has notes of orange blossom and green undertones which she describes as "lovely."
Rituals Sweet Jasmine Scented Candle
"When I need an extra dose of enlightenment and relaxation, I burn the Rituals candle. This one has a luxury smell of sweet jasmine that is nose-catching," says SEO writer Jannely Espinal. She describes the aroma as an explosion of fruity notes and sandalwood, adding that the heavy-duty packaging helps you feel comfortable leaving your candle burning for hours.
Sidia The Lil BB's Mini Scented Candle Discovery Set
Production associate Audrey Ekman describes Sidia's candles as "so sophisticated and unique, never overly pungent or too aggressive in the way some scents can be." She says this discovery set is a good intro for anyone new to the brand since it contains some of their bestsellers. "My favorite from this trio is 'braless,' which is the perfect vibe for coming home at the end of a long day, changing into comfy clothes and unwinding."
Baobab Collection Bohomania Django Candle
As soon as you walk inside a home with a Baobab candle burning, you’ll feel like you're in a fairytale. This luxury candle is for the person that loves exclusivity and decor. The jar features an artistic design that will add a magical element to your space, while the material is made in sublimated glass and decorated with refined patterns.
"I channel my sophisticated persona every time I burn this candle at home. It is stylish and combines floral and musky elements for the perfect olfactory experience," raves Espinal.
How to choose holiday candles and scents
Use memories and feelings to choose the vibe for your home.
Taylor Perlis, a senior fragrance evaluator at Yankee Candle, suggests keeping one question in mind when selecting a scent: What’s the vibe you want to create for your home? (For herself, Perlis said she loves walking around the house while it smells like a bakery, so gourmand scents are top of mind.)
The holidays are a time for gathering with people you care about, but sometimes you can’t be together as much as you’d like. If you’re missing a person or a place during the season, Perlis suggested using those memories and feelings to help choose a fragrance that reminds you of them.
“What does your grandma burn at Christmas or friend burn ... around the holiday season that you can burn and think of them?” she said.
This is method Perlis uses herself when choosing the candles she wants to burn. For example, every time she smells balsam and cedar, she said that it takes her back to the first holiday season that her family was able to afford and buy a real Christmas tree.
“I remember going to the Christmas tree farm with my mom and my dad. My mom put hot cocoa in a thermos and bundled me up and put candy canes in my pockets,” she recounted fondly. “My parents live five hours away from me, so I can’t be with them all December ... but I can burn my balsam and cedar candle, and it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside and connected to my parents,” she said.
When gifting holiday candles, err on the side of neutral scents.
Aside from personal use, candles also make a great gift for friends new and old. (We’ve all been on the receiving end of more candles than we know what to do with by the end of the season.)
“If you’re giving a candle as a gift and you don’t know the person that well — maybe it’s a hostess gift — you want to choose something that doesn’t have a love/hate relationship with people,” Kathy LaVanier, spokesperson for the National Candle Association, told us.
When gifting candles, she recommends choosing neutral scents like balsam, fir and cranberry; if you’re looking for something sweet, baked cookies, vanilla or pear.
When candle-shopping for yourself, find scents that pair well.
When shopping for yourself, LaVanier said all bets are off — just pick what you love.
She has one small footnote attached, however: If you like to layer scents by burning several candles at once, she suggests paying attention to how they smell together when you’re picking them out. Choosing scents that pair well will create a pleasant experience in the space instead of lighting scents that clash.
Common candle mistakes, resolved by experts
Anthony Haslam , co-founder of Cali Vibes Candle Company, recommends burning candles until the melted wax hits the radius of the vessel it’s held in. “If you blow them out prior to it reaching the radius — it sounds silly, but candles actually have memory — from there, the candle will start to tunnel where it goes straight down instead of burning at a wick,” he says.
Perlis and LaVanier also recommend burning the candle until it’s completely melted all around to avoid tunneling and blowing them out after no more than four hours.
Perlis describes tunneling as “a little hole in the candle wax, and the wax gets stuck to the glass walls of the candle.” It occurs as a result of the candle not being left to burn long enough. But, she says this can be fixed by simply letting it burn all the way through the next time you light it. This will help it “course-correct” to create an even burn.
It might seem straightforward: Just take a match and light it. But there’s also a step you should be completing before you pick up the flame: trimming the wicks.
Each expert emphasizes the importance of trimming the wicks to a quarter of an inch before lighting your candle as a key care tip. “You’ll get a longer burn time and a cleaner-burning candle if you do that,” LaVanier says.
Haslam and Perlis add that trimming the wicks reduces soot and “mushrooming,” a colloquial term for when the tip of a wick resembles a mushroom and often starts to give off soot and black smoke when blown out.
Putting out a candle requires less nuance than lighting it, and each expert said you can do whatever comes naturally to you — whether that’s putting the lid on the vessel, using a candle snuffer or simply blowing it out.
When using your preferred method of putting out a candle, you'll want to keep safety top of mind. If you choose to blow them out, the experts suggested not leaving them near anything flammable.
If you want to use the lid, pay attention to its material. Metal lids are usually built to handle the heat of the candle, but plastic lids may not be able to withstand extended heat. For the latter, Haslam says you can place the lid on top for two to three seconds to extinguish the flames, but then remove it so it doesn’t become deformed or crack from the heat.
No matter which method you choose, Haslam says to use your best judgment.
All candles should be stored in a cool, dry place and remain covered, if possible. Both the fragrance and appearance can be affected by light exposure and extreme temperatures.
“There’s an old wives' tale that freezing candles makes them burn longer. … That’s not true,” LaVanier tells us, adding, “It just makes them possibly crack.”
Knowing when your candle is finished and how to throw it away can be tricky. Perlis says it’s time to retire the candle when there’s half an inch of wax left.
Her preferred method of clearing out the excess wax is by boiling water and pouring it in the vessel until the remaining wax floats to the top. Once it cools and hardens, you can easily poke it out and throw it away so you’re left with a clean, empty container. The Yankee Candle site has plenty of ideas for how to repurpose your empty jars, like these holiday character jars .
Now that we know everything you should do for the best candle burning experience, here are all the things experts say you shouldn’t do:
- Don’t burn it for a short amount of time (especially less than an hour). Not only will it create an uneven burn, but you might also forget to put out the flame before you leave if you're in a rush, potentially causing a fire, Haslam says.
- Don’t burn candles outside of your range of sight. To put it simply: “It is fire, and you want to make sure you can watch them and not burn a lot that you can’t see,” Perlis says.
- Don’t put a candle in a warmer that wasn’t made for. If the warmer is not made to withstand the higher temperatures from a candle, it can be a potential fire hazard.
- Don’t leave a lit candle near a draft or an open window with curtains. This goes hand in hand with not leaving it near flammable items.
- Don’t freeze your candles. A reminder to avoid the “old wives' tale” LaVanier mentions.
- Don’t try to put out a candle with water or expose them to water. LaVanier says that this is like trying to put out grease fire with water; it can cause a flared flame.
- Don’t use candle holders that are too tall without proper ventilation at the bottom. The lack of oxygen and air flow can cause a candle to burn poorly, LaVanier explains. If you’re putting a candle in a taller holder, she recommends making sure it has holes in the bottom to facilitate adequate air flow.
- Don’t put flammable items inside of or around your candle. Since candles are such a popular decor item, they are often placed in the center of extravagant displays. LaVanier warns against placing free-standing or pillar candles among other dry items like coffee beans or leaves. However, she said it’s generally okay to put these items around candles that are encased in glass containers because they provide a wall of protection from the flame.
Meet the experts
- Taylor Perlis is a senior fragrance evaluator for Yankee Candle. Some of her favorite scents from this year’s holiday collection include Pumpkin Banana Scone, Peppermint Pinwheels and Snowflake Kisses.
- Kathy LaVanier is vice president and spokesperson for the National Candle Association. She is also the founder of Ohio-based Renegade Candle Company. Some of her favorite holiday scents include mulled cider, pear, ginger and sugar cookie (with a dash of peppermint to make it extra festive).
- Anthony Haslamis the co-founder of Cali Vibes Candle Company. His favorites for this season are called Mistletoe and Surfside Santa.
