My Favourite Summer Scents for the Home

What are your favourite smells in the world? I have probably too many to count, but in the summer it’s the smell of fresh lilacs or jasmine or garden roses filling the evening air, freshly cut grass in the park, orange blossom macarons from Laduree (preferably eaten in beneath a shady tree in the Tuileries in Paris), punnets of fresh strawberries from the market, freshly brewed iced coffee on Saturday mornings, and garden mint and basil picked straight from my balcony and added to just about everything.

My obsession with fragrance definitely extends to my home, and I place just as much emphasis on making sure our house always smells beautiful and welcoming as I do on the scents I wear everyday.

Ideally the summer months call for more time spent outside in the sunshine rather than hibernating indoors, but there’s still something magical about lighting a beautifully-scented candle, even in the warmer months: during those summer thunderstorms (which seem to be a daily occurrence around these parts of late…), throwing open all the windows and curling up with a good book or an old-favourite movie, or as a background to impromptu taco + mojito nights with friends. And for all the times in between, a few spritzes of a room spray when you get home each evening is a lovely tradition that says ‘welcome home’.

I always like changing fragrances to match the seasons, and like my perfumes, the home scents I’m drawn to in the summer months are zesty citrus notes, clean white florals, and fresh green notes. These are a few of my all-time favourite scents that you’ll always find in our home during the summer months*:

Candles

One of my hacks is to never burn candles when they’re brand new. Instead, I’ll leave them all over the house and they fill the air with their perfume without needing to be lit. Only once they’ve stopped throwing their scent in this way will I actually start to burn them. This way they’ll go further as you get to enjoy the scent for longer, and because the wax has time to harden a little, they don’t tend to burn down as quickly as when they’re brand new. Win / win!

Diptyque Choisya (orange blossom) // Anyone who knows me knows I’m obsessed with anything orange blossom scented or flavoured, so it’s unsurprising that this is probably my all-time favourite candle. It’s fresh, subtle, and just smells exactly like summer to me. We had these burning on the tables at our wedding (along with Tubereuse and Baies) and so now I think happy thoughts whenever I smell it.

Jo Malone Basil & Neroli // I don’t normally like to burn the exact candle version of the perfumes I wear (on the basis I don’t want to smell the same as my living room), but this is one of the few exceptions. It smells exactly like fresh basil, but in the best possible way – green, fresh and just sweet enough. If like me you’re happiest in a garden or love a leafy smell, then the Tomato Leaf candle is another favourite (it sounds a bit strange but it works, and is so perfect to burn during a dinner party).

Diptyque Jasmin // I love a white floral, and I always make a point of buying either this or Gardenia each summer. This year I’ve started growing jasmine on my balcony (the sight of it trailing up the railings and bursting into perfumed bloom is filling me with joy on a daily basis), and this smells exactly like the smell of jasmine drifting through the evening air.

Malin + Goetz Mojito // Even though I drink alcohol approximately twice per year, I love a mojito (or really just anything laden with fresh lime and mint) and this smells *exactly* like that. In other words, summer in a jar. I’ve been buying one of these candles every summer since I first discovered the brand in New York years ago (my favourite hotel stocks their amenities in the bathroom), and I just love it so much. I wish they’d also bring this out in a body wash because I honestly just want to bathe in this smell. Diptyque Menthe Vert (another favourite) is less zingy but similarly smells like fresh mint straight from the garden.

Sprays + Diffusers 

Diptyque Fleur D’Oranger // Funny story: when we got married, we weren’t allowed to put flowers inside the King’s College Chapel, so I bought a bottle of this room spray to make it smell amazing when all our guests arrived. Except I completely forgot to ask anyone to do it until a few minutes before the wedding, when my sister rushed down the aisle misting this into the air. Because all the guests were already seated, it looked less like it was being done for their benefit and more like she was spraying this just for me and my big entrance. Hopefully it smelled amazing, even if I accidentally looked like an enormous diva in the process! In my everyday life, the first thing I do when I get up is open all the windows (I like to let some fresh air in, no matter what the temperature outside is like) and spray this around the house. Which probably does make me sound like a diva, now I come to think of it…

Jo Malone Lime, Basil & Mandarin // This is one of the very first Jo Malone scents, and still one of the best in my opinion. Personally I prefer it as a home or body scent over a perfume, but I love it for the home. I keep this one by the front door and it’s such a nice gesture to spray just before someone comes over.

Anthropologie Reed Diffusers // I don’t use an electric diffuser anymore (because of Coco), but I still like to keep an oil diffuser in the bathroom and another in the hallway for a subtle hint of scent whenever you walk into that room. I’ve been using these three scents from Anthropologie the past year and because you’re not burning or spraying any ingredients into the air, they’re as good as the more expensive versions I was using before.

What are your favourite candles or scents for your home? I’d love to try all your favourites!

Love, Briony xx

*Full disclosure: I know this is an expensive list, but I will say that like perfume, I have unfortunately expensive taste when it comes to fragrance. I have tried so many cheaper candles in an effort to find budget-friendly alternatives to my more luxurious favourites, but to be honest you generally get what you pay for with ingredients. Personally, I found the cheaper alternatives burned down too quickly and all either gave me a headache, made my husband sneeze incessantly, or aggravated mine and Coco’s asthma (pets are so sensitive to the chemicals in our home, so I’m careful to never use aerosols and don’t diffuse, spray or burn anything too synthetic that will irritate her little lungs).