The 14 Best Christmas Candles to Gift or Keep All for Yourself This Holiday Season
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Whether it’s wafts of freshly-cut firs, delicious aromas of candied ginger, or sweet vanilla and cinnamon floating through your home, the best Christmas candles are a fast track to getting in the festive spirit. While they play second fiddle to seasonal emblems like your tree or menorah, we’re hard-pressed to think of a home accessory that delivers merriment as quickly as an intoxicating holiday fragrance.
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Each year, top fragrance brands reveal their holiday collections with much fanfare, either re-releasing all-stars from previous winters or debuting new concoctions that play into women’s perfume and cologne trends. Take this year’s smattering of sweetly-scented holiday candles, which aligns with the recent spike in the popularity of gourmand fragrances (the term has over 163 million views on TikTok). Of course, there’s always classic holiday candle fragrances with arboreal notes of pine, cedarwood, and birch, as well as citrusy and spicy options to choose from.
Beyond a range of spirited scents, holiday luxury candles come in all shapes in sizes, from petite votive sets to gargantuan centerpiece-worthy vessels, and of course, the prices vary accordingly. This means you have options aplenty when shopping for yourself or purchasing a Christmas candle as a gift for your wife, BFF, or in-laws (candle gifts are a winning option for the trickiest ones on your gifting list).
But here’s the thing: Holiday candles come and go quickly, with the majority of the options only available in the weeks leading up to December 25th. Once these limited-edition fragrances sell out, they’re typically gone for good. Ahead, the best Christmas candles, from citrusy and sweet to warm and woodsy, to shop while you can.
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Nest Holiday Candle
Amazon Top-Quality Store Badge on Google: 4.5/5 stars
$46
Nest candles are known for their strong throw — this 8 ounce option is potent enough to fill your living room with notes of clove, cinnamon, and pine in mere minutes. When this seasonal candle launches each November, it quickly climbs Amazon’s bestseller lists with thousands of testers (7,000, to be exact) raving about the sophisticated scent. WWD Shop editors love to package it up with cookies or cocktail napkins as a hostess gift for the holidays.
Price upon publish date of this article: $46
Diptyque Set of 3 Holiday Candles
Nordstrom Top-Quality Store Badge on Google: 4.8/5 stars
Neiman Marcus Top-Quality Store Badge on Google: 4.5/5 stars
$150
$150
Year after year, Diptyque holiday candles woo us with their unexpected scents that go beyond basic pine and cinnamon. For 2023, the luxury candle brand released a limited-edition collection inspired by flickering flames. The trio includes fragrances ranging from a powdery musk to patchouli and vanilla, plus a more traditional cedar candle. Apart from the gilded packaging, you’ll love that these votives are as enticing on their own as they are lit together.
Price upon publish date of this article: $150
Voluspa Noble Fir Garland Candle
Revolve Top-Quality Store Badge on Google: 4.8/5 stars
Nordstrom Top-Quality Store Badge on Google: 4.8/5 stars
$26
$26
Decking the halls on a budget? Voluspa’s Noble Fir Garland Candle wafts notes of juniper, cedarwood, cardamom, and amber for an expensive effect, despite the under-$30 price tag. The woody fragrance is delivered in a decorative, garland-covered glass jar with a 40-hour burn time, providing plenty of merriment this month.
Price upon publish date of this article: $26
Homecourt Balsam Fireplace Candle
$65
Courteney Cox’s home line, Homecourt, has a knack for creating TikTok-famous products — searches for the brand’s candles have over 50 million views on the app. What’s to love? Beyond the stunning ceramic vessels, these candles feature meticulously crafted scent profiles. Balsam Fireplace (which sold out quickly last year) is back for 2023 in all of its spicy, cozy glory, featuring notes of juniper, salted amber, cardamom, and papyrus.
Price upon publish date of this article: $65
Maison Francis Kurkdjian Jasmin d'Hiver Candle
Saks Fifth Avenue Top-Quality Store Badge on Google: 4/5 stars
Nordstrom Top-Quality Store Badge on Google: 4.8/5 stars
$105
$105
Opt for something unconventional with Maison Francis Kurkdjian’s limited-edition holiday candle. Rather than traditional Christmas candle scents, this option fronts jasmine with a touch of mango. Trust us, these notes come together for a festive, floral effect. Packaged in porcelain, Jasmin d’Hiver is a luxury choice that serves as well as a gift for women as it does a present for men.
Price upon publish date of this article: $105
Molton Brown Marvellous Mandarin & Spice Candle
Amazon Top-Quality Store Badge on Google: 4.5/5 stars
$50
If a hot toddy is your sip of choice this time of year, your senses will drink up every bit of Molton Brown’s Marvellous Mandarin & Spice Candle. Citrus, cinnamon, and ginger create a delicious scent wherever you light it — we suggest the kitchen. What’s more, this holiday candle is packaged in 100 percent recycled materials.
Price upon publish date of this article: $50
Byredo Choco Mascarpone Candle
Neiman Marcus Top-Quality Store Badge on Google: 4.5/5 stars
$94
You don’t have to bake a bûche de noël to get a taste of the dessert’s flavors. Simply light up Byredo’s Choco Mascarpone Candle, which features notes of brown sugar and bitter chocolate in a sophisticated, not saccharine scent. Coffee, jasmine, and patchouli balance out the sweetness for a deliciously rich fragrance.
Price upon publish date of this article: $94
Thymes Frasier Fir Candle
Amazon Top-Quality Store Badge on Google: 4.5/5 stars
Nordstrom Top-Quality Store Badge on Google: 4.8/5 stars
$38
$38
Few candles achieve the actual smell of a Christmas tree, but Thymes’ holiday candle is as close as it gets to a freshly-cut fir. With forest-inspired pine and cedarwood notes, it’s so realistic that we recommend lighting it by a faux tree to fib the real thing.
Price upon publish date of this article: $38
Trudon Gabriel Candle
Bergdorf Goodman Top-Quality Store Badge on Google: 4.7/5 stars
$750
‘Tis the season to celebrate big, and in our books, that means splurging on Trudon’s giant Gabriel Candle. With five wicks and over 200 hours of burn time, you’ll enjoy this candle’s notes of candied chestnuts, wood, and birch for months on end. Formerly a limited-edition scent, this fragrance is so popular that it’s available year-round — trust that you can light this beyond the 25th.
Price upon publish date of this article: $750
Cowshed Winter Room Candle
Saks Fifth Avenue Top-Quality Store Badge on Google: 4/5 stars
$58
Sensitive noses can still their holiday fragrance fix with Cowshed’s Winter Room Candle. Created with natural soy wax and essential oils, this festive candle has a heady mix of ylang-ylang, neroli, cinnamon, and clove. Light it by the bath on a night in, or share it with a loved one as a cozy gift.
Price upon publish date of this article: $58
Boy Smells Holiday Votive Candle Trio
Nordstrom Top-Quality Store Badge on Google: 4.8/5 stars
Revolve Top-Quality Store Badge on Google: 4.8/5 stars
$68
$68
You’ll be hard-pressed to pick a favorite with this Boy Smells holiday candle trio. The included scents range from citrusy to spicy and warm, with Broken Rosary earning high marks from our WWD Shop editors. The metallic packaging will dress up any December tablescape.
Price upon publish date of this article: $68
Jo Malone Ginger Biscuit Candle
Sephora Top-Quality Store Badge on Google: 4.8/5 stars
Nordstrom Top-Quality Store Badge on Google: 4.8/5 stars
$82
$82
Pro tip: Holiday candles are shoo-in gifts for moms. But no matter if you’re buying for her or for yourself, you can’t go wrong with Jo Malone’s new Ginger Biscuit Candle. Featuring roasted hazelnut, tonka bean, and of course, gingerbread, this luxury fragrance will trail into every corner of your home when you light it.
Price upon publish date of this article: $82
Ralph Lauren Holiday Candle
Nordstrom Top-Quality Store Badge on Google: 4.8/5 stars
$60
Consider yourself lucky to get your hands on this Ralph Lauren Candle — it’s already fully sold out on the brand’s site. A berry-forward choice, it features red currant and juniper notes that come together for a bitter, slightly sweet effect you’ll love to light in the den.
Price upon publish date of this article: $60
Carrière Frères Siberian Pine and Candied Ginger Candle
Add some spice to the season with Carrière Frères’ holiday candle. The simple scent profile features notes of pine and candied ginger — a duo that smells refreshing and sweet in a non-cloying way. The brand’s sustainable packaging includes recycled paper and vegetable inks, too.
Price upon publish date of this article: $85
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Meet the Author
Claire Sullivan is the Senior Beauty and Lifestyle Commerce Editor for Footwear News and WWD, where she writes and edits beauty, fashion and lifestyle stories. She has over six years of experience as a writer and editor for national media outlets including Martha Stewart Living, Martha Stewart Weddings, InStyle, and Byrdie. She keeps her finger on the pulse of all things related to beauty, including fragrance trends and top candles for the holiday season.
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