These £20 Candles Make My Home Smell Like an Expensive Hotel Suite
I have a weakness for expensive candles. From Diptyque to Byredo and Bella Freud, you'll find them dotted everywhere around my home. I'm lucky that I have the opportunity to test these luxury candles for my job, but if it weren't for my profession, my bank account would audibly scream at the thought of me dropping over £60 on a candle—I could never justify it. This is why I'm always on the lookout for more affordable candles that create the same boujee atmosphere, without literally burning through all of my money.
However, it's hard to find affordable candles that don't smell cheap and actually smell when you light them. I have high expectations; I want a candle to fill my entire home with scent whilst looking chic wherever it's sitting. Many of the more affordable candles I've tried don't tick both boxes—until I discovered Beauty Pie candles.
Are Beauty Pie Candles Worth It?
I've been testing some of Beauty Pie's most-loved candles over the past couple of weeks, and they are truly amazing value for money at around the £20 mark. They're not the cheapest candles on the market, but the scent throw, generous size and luxury packaging make them very reasonably priced. You'll need to be a Beauty Pie member to access the member price with a monthly or annual subscription (otherwise, the candles are £34 for non-members) but, if you love luxury candles, the membership is totally worth it if you also want to try some of Beauty Pie's best products too.
The candles are large (240g), giving around 60 hours of burn time, and they really do throw scent into the room when burning. However, I find that some of the scents are noticeable even when unlit, which is another plus. There's a great range of scents to suit every taste, whether you prefer a clean-smelling fragrance or a lover of a chocolatey gourmand. Plus, the glass vessels are incredibly chic too. Amazingly, these candles are made in Grasse, France—the home of perfumery and where many luxury fragrance brands produce perfumes and home fragrances—where they are hand-crafted and made from six different types of high-grade mineral waxes, ensuring an even burn and great scent projection.
If you're wondering which Beauty Pie candle to try next (or first), scroll ahead for my honest review of each—I've ranked my favourites below.
The Best Beauty Pie Candles, Ranked by an Editor
1. Clean House
Price shown is members' price.
Smells like: Fresh laundry.
Notes: Lavender, freesia, white cotton accord, magnolia, musk.
This is like hotel housekeeping in a candle. Picture an expensive hotel suite with freshly laundered linen sheets, soft furnishings and a bouquet of fresh white flowers. The Clean House name is so apt because lighting this candle makes it feel like you've cleaned your home from top to bottom. It's a great candle to light when you don't want anything too overwhelming, but you want your space to feel fresh, airy and clean. The scent lingers long after you've blown out the flame too. I'm now on my second one and I'll never stop buying it.
2. Bahia De Miel
Price shown is members' price.
Smells like: A luxurious, dimly lit French hotel bar.
Notes: Pressed basil, liquorice milk, balsam fir, guaiac wood, wild honey, red juniper, vanilla, musk.
Both sweet, a little smokey and seductively smooth, this Beauty Pie candle is a close second to Clean House—but this one is like sitting in a sultry, moody bar that you might find in a boutique Parisian hotel. It's a really complex and classy scent that smells three times its price tag and is unlike anything else I've smelt. Fresh out of the box, it leans a little masculine with a smokey trail, but whilst lit it's balanced with subtly sweet honey and vanilla that has a creamy, intoxicating milkiness. Burn this on cosy nights when you require a moment of luxury.
3. Chocolat
Price shown is members' price.
Smells like: Warm, freshly baked pain au chocolat wafting from a café.
Notes: Hazelnut, chocolate, milk, sugar, cookie accord, vanilla, butter.
This is straight-up buttery pain au chocolat served with a frothy hot chocolate and a generous swirl of whipped cream on top: absolutely delicious. If you don't like gourmand scents, this might not be for you, but if you have a sweet tooth you'll love the addictive chocolate scent that's almost good enough to eat. It really fills the room with scent and burns very well. I particularly love the designer-esque vessel.
4. Fleurosa
Price shown is members' price.
Smells like: A Sunday flower market.
Notes: Freesia, osmanthus, orange blossom, clove, tuberose, iris, peony, ylang-ylang, Turkish rose, vetiver, tonka, cashmere woods, musk.
Fleurosa, as you can probably guess, is a very floral-orientated scent. Lighting this candle transports you to a flower market, surrounded by bundles of freshly cut blooms. It has a strong scent of tuberose which is very pretty and creamy, but it's not overly fussy—it's light and airy too, making it a great candle to light during the spring and summer months, or during the day when you want your home to smell inviting. I'd imagine someone with an impeccably designed all-white interior burning this.
5. Pomegrante & Baies
Price shown is members' price.
Smells like: Rose and pomegranate, sprinkled in spices.
Notes: Water flowers, baies rose, davana, artemisia, cinnamon, clove, pomegranate, cashmere woods, cedar, patchouli.
This is a really seductive scent, and the clear-red glass vessel radiates a warm glow when lit—so it looks the part too. Pomegranate & Baies Rose is a fruity floral given a warm, seductive twist with a sprinkle of spicy cinnamon and clove and cosy cashmere woods. You can smell this one even before opening the box, and the throw when lit is amazing. It's heady, sexy and smells a little like another popular designer pomegranate candle out there.
6. Hot Chocolate & Peppermint
Price shown is members' price.
Smells like: Candy canes dipped in hot chocolate.
Notes: Milk chocolate, peppermint, chocolate madeleine accord, vanilla, cocoa, butter, wood.
If you're looking for your next festive candle, call off the search. This delicious combination of chocolate and peppermint is the ultimate wintertime treat. Compared to the rich scent of Chocolat, this has a refreshing zing of peppermint which reminds me of After Eights. It's sweet but not overly sickly. In fact, many Beauty Pie reviewers say this is the best candle they've ever had.
7. Birthday
Price shown is members' price.
Smells like: Vanilla birthday cake frosting.
Notes: Bergamot, freesia, almond, transparent florals, black pepper, sugar, patchouli, vanilla, amber, chocolate.
Lighting this candle might have your neighbours wondering if you're baking a cake—it really fills your home with the scent of a fluffy birthday sponge cake with a generous layer of vanilla frosting. You'd be forgiven it's very sweet, but the scent is much more complex than that thanks to the addition of florals and patchouli. Needless to say, this makes a great gift for a birthday present. The box allows you to mark your recipient's birth month and date, which is a nice touch too.
Eleanor Vousden is the beauty editor for Who What Wear UK. She was previously deputy editor at Hairdressers Journal, health writer at Woman & Home and junior beauty editor at beauty website Powder. She has also contributed to Wallpaper and Elle Collections with written and styling work.Working as a beauty journalist since 2015 after graduating in fashion journalism at the London College of Fashion, she has been highly commended at the BSME Talent Awards for her work on Powder and also contributed to the title winning Website of the Year at the PPA Awards.Eleanor’s journalistic focus is to provide readers with honest and helpful beauty content. Through words, video and live broadcast, she has interviewed several celebrity makeup artists, hairstylists and top dermatologists throughout her career, as well as celebrities such as Sarah Jessica Parker and Scarlett Johansson. She has a particular interest in finding solutions for acne and eczema, which she has experienced firsthand. She has also amassed a large collection of fragrances and can never say no to a new candle.When she’s not writing or testing the latest beauty product or treatments, she’s on the seafront in her hometown of Brighton and Hove, where she lives with her partner and her miniature dachshund.
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