If you’re traveling out of town and staying with a friend or family this season, it’s circumspect to take a thank you gift for your host (and to clean up after yourself)… but you likely already knew that. Here are some upscale candles that pair well with fresh flowers or homemade desserts as gifts of gratitude.
The Charleston Candle Company – South Carolina Goodness
The Charleston Candle Company crafts luxurious home fragrances that are infused with charm. Inspired by the unique blend of architectural heritage and flourishing horticulture of Charleston’s Lowcountry, their candles are sustainably handcrafted. This family-owned company is operated by husband and wife team Chaz and Kristen Schwiers; in the summer of 2016, Kristen began making candles for fun out of their small apartment kitchen, much to the benefit of their devotees. If you’re in the area, they also offer candle making classes at their flagship store.
Their classic 9 oz. soy candles feature as many as 18 signature Lowcountry-inspired scents and are reasonably priced at $26. They also sell sell many other items for home and garden: seeds, a pineapple-shaped door-knocker, kitchen scents, linen sprays, a distinctive plant mister, an the Haint Blue Citronella Candle to deflect mosquitoes from your outdoor reveries this summer ($32, 12 oz matte glass or 9 oz tin). Scent Notes are: Top – Lemon Peel, Eucalyptus, Orange Peel, Citron / Middle: Camphor, Lemongrass, Red Currant, Peach, Tangerine, Persimmon / Base: Powder, Bamboo, Clove.
According to the Charleston Candle Company website: “Haint is a Gullah term for evil spirits or ghosts, and it was believed that the Haint blue color warded off these not-so-welcome visitors. The belief is that the color would mimic the blue sky and haints would pass by the home. Painting porch ceilings Haint blue has become a long-honored tradition in Charleston and the Lowcountry.”
Brooklyn’s Own Tribe & Oak – All Natural Home Luxury With Purpose
Tribe & Oak Home aims to bring accessible luxury to every home, with well-made products that are vegan, eco-friendly, and cruelty- free. Based in Brooklyn, they offer an array of incredible candles, including the exquisite Sea Salt and Orchid, which is a soft and elegant floral fragrance infused with sea salt. It imparts a beachy vibe and is crafted with natural essential oils, including orange oil. Reminiscent of strolling a waterfront with a bouquet of freshly cut flowers, the combination of sea salt and green florals truly captures summer.
Scent Profile: Top – Sea Salt, Ozone; Middle: Jasmine, Lily of the Vally, Green Leaves; Base: Wood, Tonka Bean. Tribe & Oak is eco-friendly and sustainable, and use a non-toxic luxury coconut-soy wax for a clean burn; they also use phthalate-free, premium essential oils to achieve their distinctive fragrance blends. Finally, they use FSC-certified, sustainably sourced wooden wicks that have a 65+ hour burn time. You can’t get better than that! Bonus: their glass jars can add a new accessory to your home bar or keep items organized in your home. All of their candles are hand-crafted and hand-poured in small batches in Brooklyn, NY.
On the opposite coast in California, Halcyon Coast‘s Lemonella Fragrance Candle offers clean, non-toxic candles. Their candles are a heady blend of coconut and soy wax with natural fragrance, inspired by Cali’s combination of star power, agricultural fields, and breathtaking landscapes. Each of their products is crafted with care. Lemonella perfectly evokes California’s lemon groves and warm sunshine, so treat someone to this uplifting, citrusy, thoroughly sensory experience that may be the next best thing to being in the Hollywood Hills. On the Halcyon Coast website, you’ll find clean room sprays, candles, fragrance hangers for drawers, closets or cars, and gift cards.
Bon Voyage, summer travelers!
