Christmas is just around the corner, and that means it’s time to start thinking about the festive aromas that will surround you for the next thirty-one days. Candles are synonymous with Christmas, whether that’s the tall countdown ones or the luxuriously fragranced variety, but choosing a scented centrepiece gets harder every year. The number of candles out there is phenomenal, and that means there are both hits and misses. That’s why I’ve done the legwork for you once again and hunted out some sure-fire winners. So, from Oxfordshire to Cornwall, it’s time to discover my annual Top Five Candles for Christmas.
The question of what inspires us, or what we find inspirational, is something that is intensely personal to each of us. What one person finds extraordinary another may find pedestrian. This also carries over to perfume. Finding the inspiration for a new fragrance, when nearly everything has already been done, is the continual challenge of every perfumer. We’ve had towns, we’ve had desserts, we’ve even had the scents of arousal, but these seem to be on a loop that return every few years. What is more unusual is being inspired by a building, but that’s exactly what we find in Côte Vermeille, the new release from Karen Timson.
“Everything is new to someone” is a phrase that, while probably applicable to most things, should definitely be the eternal mantra of the perfume industry. With so many fragrance releases each year, and new ones forever being created, it’s impossible to stay on top of them all. The great thing about perfumes though is that they sit there quietly waiting to be discovered, and this can often be quite a while after they originally launch. Finding a fragrance after the initial buzz has died down can actually make it feel a little like a personal discovery, and this is exactly how I felt when I came across Betel from Lush.
The combination of history and legend shows up time and again when we talk about the Celts - whether that’s Wales, Scotland, Ireland or Cornwall. The passionate storytelling that passes through generations creates timelines which, even if exaggerated, form the basis of cultural identity and fierce patriotism. Cornwall has its fair share of myths and legends, from King Arthur through to the Mermaid of Zennor, but the addition of its famous tin industry has provided the perfect scented pairing for the new release from Ataratma. So, by taking a pinch of saffron and combining it with a lost land, it’s time to discover the legendary Shakti Saffron.
