Comments on: Help me make a forest in Manhattan.

Question: Help me make a forest in Manhattan.

oinopaponton — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 16:38:06 -0800

What are the best candles out there for making my home smell like a forest?

I just finished a Stonewall Kitchen Maine Woods candle, which I liked but am not quite ready to commit to for life. I'm curious what else is out there in the world of forest- or tree-scented candles. More New England smells would be great; I'm also curious as to whether there are any good candles out there that smell like Mediterranean trees/groves/woods (umbrella pine, olive, lemon, etc.). The more natural and less perfumey the better.

Price-wise, I'd like to stay under $25 a pop.

By: catlet

catlet — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 17:14:29 -0800

I am fond of the Voluspa line: $16 for the 2-wick tinned candle (50 burn hours, coconut wax) at Nordstrom, but I get mine at a small local garden shop. There are a few fragrances in that line that sound like they might be what you're looking for (Golden Cypress, Vervaine Olive Leaf, Elysian Garden), though the descriptions are so overblown that it's fun to look at all of them. (Note: all but the first are links to Nordstrom because the Voluspa site itself is kind of annoying.)

By: smangosbubbles

smangosbubbles — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 17:15:11 -0800

Yankee Candle's Christmas Wreath are lovely and pine-y. The one I linked to appears to be out of stock at the moment, and is a bit higher than your price range, but they do go on sale post-Christmas for about half that.

By: Marinara

Marinara — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 17:16:37 -0800

There's a candle I adore for this smell at Target for $15. I'm not sure of the brand but it's called Christmas Wreath and it's one of the crackly wick types. Comes in a huge jar, lasts forever, and smells fantastic.

By: rumposinc

rumposinc — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 17:38:24 -0800

Waxman Candles the handmade candles of Lawrence, KS and Chicago fame, have an extensive list of amazing fragrances. The link goes to their September/fall choices, and I can vouch for all of their woodsy fragrances as herby and woodsy and balsamy and non-perfumey. Their 'Autumn Leaves' is also nice. If you call and ask your question, they can also put together a shipment for you along your fragrance preferences, and they are veryvery good at this.

13 years ago, they 'did' the candles for my wedding--I told them I wanted the venue to smell romantic and soft without anyone being able to figure out that the candlelight was actually scented, and that I still wanted to be able to smell the June evening. They did the most perfect job--it was like a night garden smell that you could just barely catch on the breeze even though there were dozens and dozens of candles. It smelled green, with some kind of white flower. People still talk about it.

Also, they are CRAZY reasonable for 100% handmade. $12-15 for a dozen long-burning votives, and awesome prices on their super long burning tins, pillars, and jars. And I do really recommend taking a look at all of their fragrances on the site (which they build with essential oils) and then calling them to put together something for you. They're always really nice and passionate about what they do--I always call the Lawrence store directly. The quality has been the same for their stuff for the last 20 years I've purchased from them.

By: jbenben

jbenben — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 18:06:28 -0800

Came in to say Voluspa! Their line is HUGE and many scents match your criteria. Go smell them. Different stores will carry different parts of their line, it is that huge.

This online retailer is based in my neighborhood and carries most of the line, in-store and in-stock.

By: Ideefixe

Ideefixe — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 18:06:31 -0800

I like Thymes Frazier Fir over the others suggested--Yankee Candles are just too smelly for me.

By: heyho

heyho — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 18:32:51 -0800

The best-smelling candle I've ever owned (oh, how I miss it!) runs about $35. It smells exactly like the forest floor.

Forest Floor
notes: wet dirt mingled with rain soaked ferns, damp wood, stems and green leaves.
mossy overtones and heady damp garden soil

By: theora55

theora55 — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 19:12:38 -0800

I live in Maine. In addition to pine, bayberry smells like the woods. LLBean sells balsam pillows that smell like the woods for longer than a candle.

By: vitabellosi

vitabellosi — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 20:03:33 -0800

It wasn't a candle -- but I had incense made out of ground up balsam fir. Smelled just like a forest because it was made of forest!

This wasn't the brand I had -- but I did a search for "pine incense"

Here's something similar on amazon.

By: juliapangolin

juliapangolin — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 20:18:31 -0800

Juniper Ridge stuff is really nice.

By: Under the Sea

Under the Sea — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 20:30:03 -0800

A tad expensive but Sequioa by Comme De Garcons is amazingly like a fresh woody forest and is also very refined and unique scent, candle here, (perfume is also really good).

By: kingfishers catch fire

kingfishers catch fire — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 21:28:28 -0800

Last year I found these Iowa Pine candles at Target and they were freaking amazing. I should have stocked up before they left the shelves after Christmas.

By: thegreatfleecircus

thegreatfleecircus — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 22:53:05 -0800

This worked amazingly for the task some years ago. Their small candles are cheaper than the one I'm linking to.

By: likeso

likeso — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 01:23:59 -0800

heyho, the Forest Floor link is borked - and I really want to see where it leads!

By: windykites

windykites — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 01:50:35 -0800

Not a candle, but resin from trees like myrrh, pine etc. can be burned and smells lovely and forest-y.

By: jcrbuzz

jcrbuzz — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 04:28:43 -0800

I have always liked the tree-y smell of Paddywax's White Spruce Cassis and their Juniper Citrus is ok too.

I recently came across this online but haven't tried it. It seems more like incense - wood chips to burn that smell like a campfire.

By: oinopaponton

oinopaponton — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 04:52:48 -0800

Thanks so much for the suggestions so far! I should maybe clarify that, while the smell of pure pine is amazing, I want to avoid making my apartment smell like Christmas all the time, so something that also has earthy or woody notes would be optimal.

By: acm

acm — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 07:43:20 -0800

I don't know what conjurs "forest" for you, but I currently have a candle in the scent "campfire" that seems like a mix of pine, earth, and smoke, and I keep it at work to sniff when I need a woods fix. From a charity effort called Man Cans; they have a number of other great scents too (but more along the lines of "bacon" and "dirt" than traditional candle scents).