Camphoraceous: Eucalyptus and tea tree are so much my favorite camphoraceous scents to that to include any additional would just be trying too hard. Eucalyptus oil is extracted from dried leaves and twigs of the Australian Blue-gum eucalyptus tree. And Tea Tree oil is much the same but from a Australian tree similar to a Cyprus. All that to say: these two smell like holiday trees. They’re both extremely well-used as interventionary medicines due to their anti-bacterial properties. These pair extremely well with the floral and herbal oils as they provide balance if something is just reading too sweet or flowery. These both work extremely well in a diffuser – especially when the winter dryness and congestion hit!
SPICY: Cinnamon, coriander, ginger, and cardamom are my favorite spicy oils especially in candles in Autumn – they’re very rich and can really fill a room so they’re not great for those of you living in studio apartments (although in these case, doing a 2/3 floral 1/3 spicy candle may just suit your space!). Cinnamon oil combines beautifully with grapefruit to make a great winter candle with a hint of uplifting, cheerful grapefruit to get you through the long dark days and a hint of cinnamon to help with acute bronchitis, colds, and sneezing. Take a deep winter breath without one of these burning and then try it again with the cinnamon scent wafting through the air: you’ll feel AND HEAR the difference!
WOODY: Woody scents such as juniper, cypress and pine are just a liiiiiittle too Christmassy for me – they smell great, they’re authentic, and they are scent-synonymous with Christmastime so burning them outside of November to January is a little silly. For those of you not into making Christmas candles (there’s a huge market in Christmas candles so don’t be deterred, I’m just not interested in discussing those scents as much), you may want to give Sandalwood a try. For lack of a better way to describe smells (it’s really challenging, you guys) I’m going to depend on a list of adjectives: smokey, woody, sweet, warm. For all of these reasons, I like to combine sandalwood with lavender because it offers a woodsy relaxing slightly floral smell that I can only describe as a lovely watercolor of light brown and light purple.
And finally Earthy: Earthy scents like patchouli and vetiver come with a kind of hippie connotation so unless you want to smell like a squat house, I’d use these only complimentary with more floral scents. Patchouli Oil in particular has long since been associated with marijuana smoke covering. It also however has a grounding and balancing effect and is said to create a romantic vibe, so this one (combined with rose oil maybe?) would be great for that Valentines Day candle you’ve been itching to make. Speaking of itching, patchouli oil does wonders for bug bites so before any camping trips, I soak cotton balls in patchouli oil, seal them into an airtight bag and bring them along to dab onto mosquito bites. They also help with that camp stank we tend to develop!