Best reed diffusers: 10 approved scents for fall
Searching for a new scent for fall and winter? We're way ahead of you with our guide to the best reed diffusers to buy right now. Yes, we've already tried and tested a bunch of warm, spicy and woody fragrances so that you can buy online with peace of mind. And they come from some of the forerunners in home fragrance including Nest New York and Neom.
A reed diffuser is a brilliant way to scent your home, with little to no effort required from you to do so. Simply pop the reeds into the oil and place the diffuser in the middle of a room. Add more reeds for a stronger fragrance, and flip them for a boost if you've got guests coming over or if you feel you can't smell it anymore. Otherwise, they're much safer to use around pets and kids than a scented candle. Plus, they emit fragrance all day long to ensure your rooms smell lovely day in and day out.
Our reed diffuser tester, Annie, has taken her time to use each of the diffusers listed below in her apartment. Afterward, if you're struggling to choose, then some of these fragrances come in candle form as well as room sprays and wax melts, too. See all the best home fragrances in our buyer's guide.
The best reed diffusers to buy for your home in 2022
1. The White Company Fireside
The best fall diffuser
Size: 5fl.oz
Scent: Woody
Refillable? No
+ Great for fall
+ Fills a room
+ For living rooms
- Not for smaller spaces
- Only for cold weather
We're obsessed with this fall fragrance from The White Company. So much so that it makes a recurring appearance in our living room every year. Its scent imitates a roaring fireplace, and it can fill a room, no matter how large. This will forever be our favorite reed diffuser for fall. You can also recycle its glass vessel after use.
2. Rituals The Ritual of Sakura Fragrance Sticks
The best year-round
Size: 1.6oz/7.7oz
Scent: Oriental
Refill available? Yes
+ Year-round fragrance
+ Luxury pick
+ For entryways
+ Unique fragrance
- Vessel not recyclable
We're obsessed with this Rituals reed diffuser and its strong oriental notes of rice milk and cherry blossom. There's no need to flip reeds regularly as it will stretch its aroma from one side of your room to the other, while the smallest size lasted us way longer than the recommended five weeks. The fragrance sits inside a luxurious white ribbed vessel.
3. NEST NY Charcoal Woods Reed Diffuser
The best luxury diffuser
Size: 5.9fl.oz
Scent: Woody
Refill available? No
+ Bottle stopper
+ Luxury vessel
+ Recyclable vessel
+ Eco packaging
- Heavy fragrance
This woody and smokey fragrance offers a pleasantly mysterious scent and fills the air with exotic notes of labdanum, patchouli, cedarwood, charred birchwood, and a hint of black truffle. We can vouch for the fact that it masks unpleasant odors and has a spicy, almost cologne-like aroma. It's also cruelty-free and alcohol-free.
4. Miller Harris Tabac Room Reed Diffuser
The best warm diffuser
Size: 5.07fl.oz
Scent: Warm
Refillable? No
+ Bottle stopper
+ For home office
+ Eco packaging
+ Recyclable vessel
- No refill
This exciting and luxurious fragrance brings a serious scent to your home. It has a bottle stopper for when you want to switch to something different and it sits in a subtle green glass vessel that's recyclable. In fact, the brand's ethos is sustainability. It's warm and is perfect for serious spaces such as an office.
5. Noble Isle Rhubarb Rhubarb! Reed Diffuser
The best floral diffuser
Size: 3.38oz
Scent: Sweet
Refill available? No
+ Cruelty-free and vegan
+ Great for a entrway
+ For spring & summer
- No refill
- Vessel not recyclable
If you love a sweet fragrance then this long-lasting diffuser boasts a gorgeous floral yet slightly sweet aroma, fuelled by rhubarb, sour juniper berry, and fresh muddled rosemary. It's housed in an elegant black glass vessel with black silk reeds which require infrequent flipping.
6. Archipelago Botanicals Mango Tangerine Diffuser
The best fruity diffuser
Size: 7.85oz
Scent: Fruity
Refill available? Yes
+ Powerful
+ Great for bedrooms
+ Uplifting for summer
- Not recyclable
- Not for winter/fall
Long-lasting, sweet, and refreshing without being overwhelming, this diffuser is scented with mango, tangerine, passion fruit, and pomegranate. Its aroma manages to reach each corner of a room and its attractive bottle lends itself to the fragrance.
7. Nest NY Himalayan Salt & Rosewater
The best fresh reed diffuser
Size: 5.9oz
Scent: Floral/Fresh
Refill available? No
+ Bottle stopper
+ For summer & spring
+ Recyclable packaging
+ Luxury vessel
- No refill
Impressively scented to be floral and fresh, this blend of rosewater, geranium and salted Amber is perfect for enjoying in a hallway or a bedroom. We have this fragrance as a candle and we're obsessed, while its striped frosted glass bottle screams luxury. It's also cruelty-free and alcohol-free.
8. NEOM Organics Real Luxury Reed Diffuser
The best for bedrooms
Size: 3.38oz
Scent: Floral
Refill available: Yes
+ 100% natural
+ Year-round fragrance
+ Therapeutic
- Subtle in large spaces
- Vessel not recyclable
Subtle so as not to overpower a room, this diffuser is scented with lavender and balanced with jasmine and rosewood, to ensure that it works anywhere in your home. Flip its reeds frequently in a larger room, and place it somewhere your guests can see its classic yet luxury look vessel.
9. Neom Organics Happiness Reed Diffuser
The best citrus diffuser
Size: 3.38oz
Scent: Citrus
Refill available? Yes
+ 100% natural
+ Year-round fragrance
+ Therapeutic
- Subtle in large spaces
- Vessel not recyclable
This citrus-based fragrance offers a welcoming and uplifting boost that's scented with neroli, mimosa, and lemon essential oils. The perfect balance of refreshing and not too powerful, it works best in smaller spaces and it's perfect for kitchens and bathrooms.
Read our best candles guide for our top favorite buys for scenting and adding ambience
Real Homes review process
The majority of these reed diffusers have been tested by our home fragrance expert and Deputy Ecommerce Editor, Annie Collyer. Annie has had hands-on experience with nine out of 10 of these reed diffusers in this list, in order to form her opinion and compare these fragrances. Otherwise, in the case that one of these reed diffusers isn't available in the UK, we solicited help from some of our US colleagues.
See our dedicated page for more information on how we test products at Real Homes. Meet our reed diffuser testers below:
Annie Collyer
Deputy Ecommerce Editor
Our Deputy Ecommerce Editor, Annie Collyer, is forever testing a new reed diffuser in her two-bedroom apartment in London, which she shares with her husband-to-be, her dog, and her house rabbit. While testing these reed diffusers, Annie makes sure to move them around her home before finding a space in which they are most suitable for sitting. Annie usually tests reed diffusers until they are fully empty, otherwise, she will make her decision after a few weeks of use. Her favorite has to be Rituals' The Ritual of Sakura reed diffuser.
Jaclyn Turner
Sleep Editor
Jaclyn Turner is our Sleep Editor at Real Homes. She tested the Archipelago Botanicals Fragrance Diffuser for us, in her medium to large size bedroom. She buys these reed diffusers time and time again. Not only because they are long-lasting, but because she loves fruity smells and the Mango Tangerine fragrance in particular is sweet and refreshing and never overwhelming. Not to mention the high-end bottle that looks great on display in her room, too.
What is the best reed diffuser?
There's no one size fits all when it comes to the best reed diffuser, simply because everyone in the world has different scent preferences. There's also the added factor of the time of the year as some fragrances are deemed more suitable for use in colder weather, and other scents are more fitting for spring and summer.
Our top pick for right now, and for fall in general, has to be The White Company's Fireside Diffuser. It's impressively powerful yet never over the top, and perfect for scenting living rooms or bedrooms. It mimics the smell of a roaring fireplace, minus the effort required from you. Bear in mind that this fragrance is only sold at certain times of the year.
If you are searching for a great all-rounder, then the Rituals The Ritual of Sakura Reed Diffuser is our top option. It's powerful and oriental to wow your senses.
For spring and summer, we would suggest opting for a floral, fruity, or sweet fragrance such as Noble Isle's Rhubarb Rhubarb! Reed Diffuser or Archipelago Botanicals' Mango Tangerine Fragrance Diffuser.
How to use a reed diffuser
Reed diffusers are easy and best of all: safe to use to scent your home. All you need to do is take your reed diffuser out of its packaging, remove its cork or unscrew its lid, or in some cases, you might have to pour the liquid into the vessel. Add half of the reeds to the fragrance oil and place it in the center of your room. Add reeds as necessary, depending on how strong you would like the scent to be. The more reeds you add, the faster the fragrance oil will use up, and the stronger the scent will be.
You'll want to flip your reeds every now and then, for a fragrance boost. Time-wise this completely depends on the reed diffuser – some need their reeds flipped every few days, others only once a week.
5 things to think about when choosing a reed diffuser
1. Is it refillable?
With candles, once they’re gone, they’re gone. Not so with reed diffusers, which can be topped up with new fragrance oil when it's run out. Just make sure that when you buy a diffuser refill you discard your old reeds, as they’ll be saturated with all the scent they’ve soaked up from the first round of oil and won’t soak up any more.
2. Think about scents you normally like
So now you know why to buy a diffuser, which one should you buy? If you don’t know what you like, choosing a fragrance can be the hardest part of shopping for a scent diffuser, but looking for individual scent families is a good place to start. Florals are fairly self-explanatory, and while some of them might get a bad rap for being overdone or cloying, our floral picks are all combined with fruity and fresh notes to keep things modern. For a more unexpected home fragrance, consider something from the woody or spicy families, or on the other end of the spectrum, a fresher, 'greener' scent.
3. Check its size and lifespan
We've listed the size of each reed diffuser above. The larger the diffuser, the longer it will last. And don't forget that the more reeds in the fragrance, the quicker it will empty. Plus, the more often you flip the reeds the quicker the fragrance will need to be refilled or replaced, too. It's worth bearing this in mind when looking at the price of a reed diffuser – when will you next need to pay to refill or replace it?
4. Consider the look of its vessel
Make a point to buy a reed diffuser that will fit in with your home decor, because it will have to be placed in the centre of a room. Also be sure to consider if this vessel is recyclable after use and if not then you might want to ensure refills are available so that you needn't throw away the vessel after use.
5. Does it come in more than reed diffuser form?
If you like your home to smell the same, from one room to the other, then be sure to check whether the reed diffuser you have picked comes in other forms. Think candles, wax melts, room sprays...
Are reed diffusers safe for pets?
Love a reed diffuser, but heard about the potentially toxic effects on your pet? It's not just scaremongering: animals have a much stronger sense of smell than us and can be overwhelmed by strong scents. Diffusers can be particularly bad for dogs if they contain certain oils. Moreover, if they are exposed to strong perfume over long periods of time, it can make them ill by damaging their livers. Here are some solutions:
1. Limit the use of your reed diffuser to parts of the house your pet doesn't spend much time in, for example, your home office or bathroom.
2. If you do want to keep using a reed diffuser in the main room, keep the space well ventilated and allow your pet access to the outdoors. Consider putting the diffuser away for the night.
3. Some natural fragrances are safe for pets, notably the oils of rose, jasmine, and lavender (we mean only to inhale, of course, never to ingest). Look out for natural and organic reed diffusers that use these calm florals, and avoid anything citrus or pine fragranced.
As far as safety is concerned otherwise, reed diffusers are a better bet than candles that mustn’t be left burning unattended. Also, they don’t ‘tunnel’, which is the frustrating phenomenon where candles burn in a hole down the center, leaving loads of unused wax along the sides.
How to preserve a reed diffuser for later
If you've bought a reed diffuser to be used at a certain time of the year, for example, The White Company's Fireside Diffuser for fall, then there's a way that you can preserve the fragrance for next year, if you haven't used it all in the time it's most fitting for.
We often do this with our reed diffusers to save them for the next use, and so that we can switch up the scent of our home every few months. All you need is some saran wrap (preferably recyclable to be kinder to the environment) and also a sealable sandwich bag.
It's worth us noting that this only works with reed diffusers that have collars. Here's what to do to preserve your reed diffusers:
1. Remove your reeds, run them under water and dry them with a paper towel. Place them in a sealable sandwich bag and pop them somewhere safe. You might want to label this bag with the fragrance name if you are doing this with several reed diffusers.
2. Cut off a generous amount of cling film to cover the hole of the reed diffuser that the reeds usually sit inside.
3. Screw off the reed diffuser's collar and cover the hole with saran wrap.
4. Screw back on the collar and make sure that the cling film is held on.
5. Store with the reeds, ready for use next year.
Where to buy a reed diffuser?
Should you still be searching for a reed diffuser, whether for your own home or to gift to someone special, you can click through below and browse more buys online from our favorite retailers.
Otherwise, if you're into DIY, then see our guide on how to make a reed diffuser to create your very own concoction with essential oils.
