A decent room aroma diffuser.

February 24, 2024 4:03 PM

I'm searching for a decent diffuser or spray that will lightly scent a room.

It's a fair size room with a peaked ceiling. I've tried the air wick thing and it works, but to me it smells chemically .I've not tried the melted wax candle thing and won't as open flames scare me. Are the taper things in liquid jar any good? Recommendations for a not too flowery scent appreciated. I do love bayberry.

posted by Czjewel to Home & Garden (4 answers total)

You probably want a reed diffuser, or maybe a couple of them throughout the space. They are kind of goofy expensive but the Pottery Barn ones do smell really nice in a home and have great longevity. The trick with reed diffusers is to use fewer reeds than you think because the more reeds you use at a time the faster it evaporates. In a big room spread them out instead of having a big punch of scent coming from one spot. Just pour some of the liquid into another vessel with a narrow neck and put a reed in that. PB has a bunch of holiday scents that you might like because of the bayberry thing, and also they have a pomegranate cedar one you might like. I prefer more aquatic scents and like the ocean jasmine one; a PB scented thing is good to put on a gift wishlist for people who don’t know you but feel obligated to get you a non-giftcard gift, so I like to go in and smell the available smells and pick my favorite of their current offerings every few years.

I’ve also had good luck with P & J Trading’s fragrance oils. They have a huge collection of scents so some of them are hit or miss and because they are fairly single note they aren’t really one-and-done, but you can get really specific with layering and dilute it exactly as much as you want and have a lot more control and choice over all. For a while I was combining a bunch of wet, green, floral, and warm earth smells to get a sort of early summer late spring concoction that I’d use in a little diffuser in the dead of winter to help me be less hopeless about the eternity of darkness. I should probably revisit that, this has been a hell of a long February.
posted by Mizu at 4:36 PM on February 24 [1 favorite]

I have a light that sits over a jar candle, and melts it with no flame. Here is one: http://tinyurl.com/bdfahmje
Also, there is a guy who handmakes great smelling candles at the Chelsea Luxe yarn website, they sell out fast, so you have to be fast. I hate chemically smells, but I found a room spray at this place called Birch in Pentwater Michigan that is really light and fresh. They sell candles too.
posted by chocolatetiara at 4:43 PM on February 24 [1 favorite]

You might also consider a Lampe Berger which involves an open flame, but only for two minutes, after which time you blow out the flame and the fragrance is diffused throughout the room until you cap it. There are a plethora of fragrances and the lamps themselves are varied enough that you should be able to find one that suits you and your decor.
posted by DrGail at 5:05 PM on February 24 [1 favorite]

I loathe every scent I’ve ever smelled from an air freshener, reed diffuser, steam diffuser, whatever. They’re all so heavy and sweet in my experience. Recently I found a spray called “cloud of protection” that actually smells good and covers odors, it is kind of miraculous to me that it exists. I recommend it for bathrooms and areas with catboxes and I think it would make a great general room spray.
posted by Lawn Beaver at 6:34 PM on February 24 [1 favorite]