Make Your Home Smell Like a Crackling, Cozy Fireplace

Whew—do you feel that? The scary ghosts of October are flying out of your open windows, and entering in their place: a gust of chilly air and fallen leaves. Spooky season is dead, and cozy season has risen from its wood-burning-fireplace-scented ashes. Hallelujah! While there is no "wrong" time to indulge in scented candles, incense, and the myriad other home scenting options available to us at this point in human history, there is certainly an "extra right" time, and that is autumn. And there are a few routes to take when choosing an autumn home scent.

This year I’d like to turn your attention away from the vanilla-and-pumpkin-spice road, and down the smokier path—the kind of scents that evoke burning fires, warmth, and your grandpa’s house. The kind of scents that make you think: maybe I’m on vacation at a log cabin right now? Let’s get into them, because we’ve waited all year, and we deserve it.

It’s the experience of coming in from the cold, in scent form!

This candle burns in my home from the first hints of autumn in October until the last gasps of winter in March. The candlemakers list its notes as, "Clary Sage, Haiti Vetiver, Virginia Cedar, Brasil Orange, Lavandin, Petitgrain, and Clove." As you might suspect, the candle is warm and inviting, with a hint of smokiness that reminds me of a grandfather’s cologne enhanced by a semi-recent trip to a cigar room. It smells like the feeling of thawing out after coming inside from chilly walk in the winter woods. An added bonus is Astier de Villatte’s handcrafted blown glass vessel–made in Tuscany, the brand’s vessels are generously sized and lend a feeling of extravagance and indulgence to your candle burning, like you’re some sort of candle king.

It’s a dark and complicated pencil scent!

Possibly the chicest candle brand in existence, Mad et Len packages deceptively simple scents in brutalist-looking iron vessels handmade by blacksmiths. Created in the Southern French Alps, their scents are earthy and grounding—definitely never cloying or overpowering—and they’re particularly at home in the cold weather months. This particular scent combines graphite, chalk, wood, and earth for a scent that’s familiar but also a bit curious. In both its lit and unlit states you’ll want to keep smelling it—huffing it, really. One of these days, you’ll take a big whiff and then a loud exhale, yelling "DAAAAAMN!"

"What’s wrong?!" a loved one will rush in and ask. "Oh nothing, ha, just smelling my pencil candle."

It’s a leaf, and it’s incense!

The scene is set. The tea is brewing. The blanket is on the couch. The wind is howling. The TV is tuned to something that showed up when you Googled "best autumn TV show or movie." The only thing left to do, of course, is to choose which leaf you want to light on fire. Hako’s remarkably beautiful incense set comes with five leaf-shaped pieces made of traditional Japanese washi paper. Each has its own unique scent to match your different autumnal moods: jasmine, wood, cedar, fir, and ginger. The set also comes with a non-flammable mat to set the leaves on once they’re lit. It would make a wonderful autumn hostess gift for someone else, or a wonderful autumn anytime gift for yourself.

It’s the perfect recreation of a wood cabin getaway!

If you know me, I’ve likely already recommended Keap’s "Wood Cabin" candle to you, or forcibly placed one inside of your home. The upstate New York brand’s signature candle is one of my all-time favorites, and it’s the reason why so many of my drinking glasses are repurposed Keap tumblers. With notes of cedar, palo santo, and wood-burning fireplace (plus a subtle, very pleasant hint of tobacco), it smells like you’ve woken up in a rental cabin in the woods and someone else has already started a fire in the fireplace. Now you’re ready for a day of hiking, snacking, and wine drinking, and so sorry to your employer, but you have really spotty internet access out here and won’t be reachable via email until you return!

It’s a very cute way to burn palo santo!

I go through a lot of palo santo all year, but particularly during the cold weather seasons. I have left burn marks on several tables because of this. Rather than suffer through my mistakes, I suggest you get this stunning little ceramic palo santo chimney burner. I don’t know of a cuter way to bring good vibes and good scents to your home, while preventing the slow decline of your furniture and—let’s face it—the possible immolation of your entire home. My bad. Be safe out there!

It’s a classic for a reason!

And while you’re at it, you can throw some of these bricks into your ceramic chimney burner, too. Incienso de Santa Fe’s scent sampler is a go-to for the wood-scented-incense-curious. The set contains 70 bricks of incense in the scents piñon, cedar, juniper, hickory, alder, mesquite, and fir balsam; enough to last you a whole cozy season, or even two. Piñon is known as the favorite here, but I love all of them (even mesquite, which I promise does not smell like BBQ). Burn enough, and you’ll be able to fool your friends into thinking you have a fireplace hidden somewhere in your apartment.

It’ll make you feel like a sexy witch!

I know I don’t have to sell you on Boy Smells. The beloved brand has been a favorite among the scent-obsessed for years, and this candle is the star of their newly released set, "The Fantôme Edit." The set is focused on grounding, earthy, woody scents–sort of the theme of this roundup, as you may have gleaned—and "Thé Fantôme" in particular is a blend of eucalyptus, burning wood, black tea, and papyrus. One reviewer said it made them "feel like a sexy witch," which I think is fairly on point.

It’s holy!

Smell House’s collection of candles are hand-poured in Vietnam, and come in scents you won’t find anywhere else, like Szechuan Sugar and Five Star. (They also come in full-sized versions, with a double wick, and "shorties," a smaller and less expensive version, which is helpful for when you want to try a candle out before buying.) Their "Holy Wood" scent combines a base of vanilla (okay, I put a little vanilla on the list for you) with the smokiness of palo santo and birch wood, and the warmth of amber. The notes work in concert to envelop you in comfort and familiarity; like the candle version of plan-free Sunday in November, when you just get to hang out at home and recharge.

It’s a bunch of different scents in one beautiful vessel!

I know there are some people out there who are concerned with the look of certain candles, and whether their vessels fit in with the established aesthetic of their homes. Because the aesthetic of my home is "a second-hand furniture attempt at Pee-Wee’s Playhouse," this is not a problem for me. But if it’s a problem for you, allow me to introduce you to Fill Mill. This company offers one sleek, pretty vessel, or "mill," and a bunch of different "fills," which are candle inserts in recyclable tins. The tins are held steady in the "mill" by an interior magnet, and their scents come under three different scent umbrellas: garden, mountain, and hearth. Here we’re going to focus on "mountain," which offers scents like "Forest Trail" and "Desert Pine." Bring the scent of an autumnal forest to your home, in a way that will not offend anyone’s delicate interior design sensibilities.

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Lean Into Spooky Season By Lighting a Bunch of Scary But Chic Candles