When Niko Dafkos first set up his own scented candle making business, nervous customers would worry that his sense of smell wasn’t good enough or they weren’t sure what they liked. It is rapidly advancing eight years, including the scented candle craze that the UK caught during confinement, and is constantly amazed at what its customers know.
The change he has seen in visitors to his Earl of East stores in London “has been amazing to witness,” he said. “[Previously] those who did not work with fragrance in a professional setting felt that they could not engage in a conversation about smell. It’s similar to the democratization of the kitchen and the kitchen is about a decade old. “
Scented candles are now big business. Figures from Kantar data analysts show that between March 2021 and 2022, UK consumers spent £ 418 million on scented candles. John Lewis reported that sales have increased by 5% each year since 2020, when they increased by 12%, with a recent particular interest in the cheaper ranges, including own-brand candles.
Jo Malone, the perfumer whose name has become synonymous with fragrance, said the main change I had seen over the years in the industry was that good quality scented candles had become very popular. more affordable. “When scented candles first appeared they were a high-end luxury. Now it’s amazing – you go to the supermarkets or anywhere and you can find a scented candle from £ 5,” he said.
Malone, who has partnered with Zara on a 15-pound candle range, said that although budget candles did not use the most expensive essential oils, many cheaper ranges were based on the same skill and experience as the its most expensive counterparts. “When I work for Zara, I don’t change the way I work … If you went blind [cheaper scented candles] I don’t think you can tell the difference between most of them. “
Sign up for First Edition, our free daily newsletter, every weekday morning at 7:00 BST
He has also seen that tastes move away from traditional British preferences for citrus or floral notes to deeper, woody fragrances that are more popular in the Middle East: for example, oud, cedar wood or leather. And among younger customers, attention to the environment has increased the demand for nature-inspired green scents, he said.
The wide range of odors available reflects the scale of demand, which overfed during the pandemic. “People looked at its four walls and thought, ‘This is my house, my classroom, my gym, how can I change that?’ The power of smell is that it is the gatekeeper of memories, it takes you to a place where you remember. Scented candles transform this space into something different, ”Malone said.
Gwyneth Paltrow caused a stir when her company Goop produced a £ 75 candle called This Smells Like My Vagina. Composition: Goop and Netflix
Academic experts in smell said that the pandemic had put a renewed focus on the sense of smell due to Covid’s anosmia and airborne transmission, combined with the influence on modern culture of ideas of medieval medicine and Victorian around the healing properties of fresh or fragrant air: for example, burning rosemary to prevent plague or receiving sea air.
Cecilia Bembibre, a researcher specializing in the heritage of scents at UCL, said that scented candles also reminded people of the places they loved but could not access. Traditionally, the fragrance of the home has tried to introduce the outside, for example, potpourri of dried flowers in the eighteenth century, to evoke exotic places or remind us of comforting memories, exemplified in the popularity of scented candles in the library. “We’re trying to create our own imaginary journey, we’re redefining our home invisibly,” he said.
Smell is known to be strongly associated with memory, which explains the popularity of scented candles as destinations on the British coast, favorite foods or the office or gym during confinement. “Smell has a very powerful ability to evoke our memories or our connections with other people and places, whether family or a holiday we have fond memories of, especially places from our childhood,” said William Tullett. associate professor of sensory history at Anglia Ruskin University.
Lizzie Ostrom, a perfume expert, said the popularity of scented candles sparked a wider interest in homemade fragrance. Demand has also grown for other delivery methods, such as incense (Pinterest data shows an 80% increase over the last month for incense burner searches) or cane diffusers. Similarly, multisensory experiences are becoming increasingly popular, even in theaters and museums, while hotels and bars will pay for odor escape consultants.
She said: “Instead of smelling a nice smell in the background, we now know that it’s doing pretty deep things in our brains that are just as important. Somehow, smell has had a public relations job. accelerated by Covid, so you don’t have to say, ‘It’s interesting that we have to think about it.’
Some of the weirdest scented candles
The office
Happy Eau d’Office Thursday time on a high table candle. Photo: Eau D’Office
If you’ve been in the mood for a “warm 96-page print on the printer” and “afternoon correction in the cafeteria” during confinement, you’re not alone: these are two of the most popular aromas produced by Office water. Other delicious scents to encourage you to return to the office after the pandemic include “room 12F.1 after a six-hour workshop” and “leftovers from breakfast in the 1st edition suite.” .
Vagina
Before the pandemic, Gwyneth Paltrow caused a stir when her welfare company Goop produced a £ 75 candle called This Smells Like My Vagina. It is described as a “fun, beautiful, sexy, and wonderfully unexpected scent” and perhaps seeks to capture the female anatomy with some generosity through a blend of geranium, citrus bergamot, cedar, damask rose, and amber seeds.
British coast
If you’re looking forward to summers in Great Yarmouth, you can now fill your living room with “sun lotion essence,” the fragrance of fish, and the fresh smell of sea air. The candles are made by the Parkdean resorts, which run holiday parks across the UK, and include Scarborough, which includes spinach concentrate and ice cream elixir, and a candle made of “earthy aromas of local sand”, which evokes Clacton-on-Sea. .
Strange food
Whatever food you can think of, there is a scented candle to it. The Stinky Candle Co. lives up to its name by producing scented candles of pizza, curry and cucumbers. For fans of the most serious candles, tomato-based aromas are surprisingly popular right now – luxury fashion retailer Net-a-Porter says these are among its best sellers.