From Otherland's new Garden Party collection, Verdant Verve: "Past the old stone walls bathed in ivy and moss lies a childhood fantasy seen with fresh eyes: our take on a secret garden. Get ready to hop the gate and fall headfirst into the dreamy, diaphanous soirée within." With neroli blossom, oakmoss and thyme, $36 for 277g. (And, the Spring Awakening collection Kevin wrote about in 2019 is back in stock.)
I used to never burn candles during summertime in Seattle. My house was always wide open from May through September and the air from nearby Lake Washington and my garden smelled fresh and good. Over the last several years (and no doubt due to what The Guardian is now committed to calling ‘the climate crisis’), my home is often closed up for weeks at a time because of heat or dangerous smoke and particulate matter in the air from long-burning forest fires…or both. These days I need to use candles all year to keep the stale air at bay inside my home.
Otherland, one of the crop of new candle makers who don’t believe you need to spend over $100 to get a high-quality candle, has released its new spring/summer collection…
There’s nothing like a winter’s night (or dim afternoon) with flickering candles burning inside dark rooms. Add a rainstorm, pot of strong Assam tea or Mexican hot chocolate, a gingerbread cake right out of the oven, stacks of thick European design, gardening and fashion magazines, some seed catalogs, and cookbooks to read…and I’m set for hours of light-hearted enjoyment (before the denouement: a nap).
I’d like to introduce you to some candles I’ve discovered over the last several months; all of them have great, intense aromas.
Diptyque Noisetier: hazelnut, clove, cedar, patchouli, vetiver
Noisetier invites a walk on the shady land, fertile and dry. A spicy, woody fragrance warmed by a smoky touch. — Diptyque
Like many recent men’s perfumes, this candle mixes standard fragrance notes with some gourmand nuts — this time the nutty element is hazelnut…
Scented candles are expensive. I don’t want to think about the $$$s I’ve spent on them. Here at Now Smell This, I often write about candles that are on the high-end of the candle spectrum (average price: $100). This summer I was introduced to a new line of candles that smell and look (hefty well-designed containers and packaging) more extravagant than their $36 price — Otherland.
The Core Collection provided my first sniffs of Otherland candles and two scents stood out for me: Rattan and Kindling…