Images via weheartit.comand Indian Incense
Scented candles, incense, essential oils.
Anything that makes my home smell gorgeous, in other words!
When I get home at the end of the day and am ready to relax, I light candles. Some people pour a glass of wine, or drop some icecubes and squeeze a lime into a g&t - me, I want sandalwood incense purring through the air, or lavender and ylang ylang oil burning. It's a meditative act, I think. It grounds me.
I think candles and incense make a lovely souvenir from a place you've visited too. This was the incense section of a market in Brussels I went to (home of the puppets!) and I eagerly filled a bag of delicious sticks to take home:
When we go to visit Tom's parents in Wales, there is a new age shop in the village near them which sells great incense, and we usually stock up there. There's always incense in our Christmas stockings too :)
On my most recent trip back to Australia, I noticed my mother burning candles that had the most divine scent. I asked her what they were and they were from Dusk, in the Tibet scent - which is lychee and black tea. It smells heavenly. When Tom and I went to Melbourne for a few days on our way back to London, I descended upon the Dusk in Melbourne Central and stocked up! I found the little melts that you put on top of oil burners the easiest way to transport a lot of them back to the UK. I ration them carefully, and the drawer I keep them in has the most beautiful smell every time I open it. It makes me think of home now :)
My favourite incense by far is Nag Champa, which you can get very easily over here, for about £1 a box. It smells especially lovely if you have a pot of coffee brewing or a cake in the oven! I especially love to burn it while I'm doing yoga.
My favourite oils to burn are lavender, orange, rosemary, ylang ylang and rose. Sometimes I combine them, sometimes I burn them on their own. There's also nothing like burning some tea tree or eucalpytus oil in the kitchen or bathroom to disinfect or get rid of an undesirable smell!
Do you like incense, candles and oils too? What are you favourite brands/scents? Which scents do you find are most relaxing?
Isn't it incredible what certain smells can remind you of?
ReplyDeleteI love vanilla-scented candles. They're such a little luxury.
I'm also terrified of them - when I was about 16, I accidentally knocked a burning candle onto the floor. Wax went all over the cream carpet. Red wax. I was not popular that day, let me tell you!
Oh dear!! I'm always afraid of them catching something else alight than the wax going everywhere!
ReplyDeleteVanilla candles are gorgeous, I agree. I also like rose scented ones.