There are 15 candles burning in my house right now.
This is not normally the case; for much of the year, it’s too hot to think lighting one open flame in your home sounds like a good idea, let alone multiple tiny fires. But one afternoon just before the holidays, my sister texted to say I needed to open the package that had arrived that day so I could make sure everything was OK. When I did, I was greeted by a pine-scented candle (in, I was happy to report back, an undamaged container). A few days later: a new package, from the same sister, with the same text message … and inside, a different Christmas-scented candle.
“I need to start burning these right now if I want to use them up by the end of the year,” I thought. So I lit one and went to put it down in the living room … but every time I found a spot where a candle would make a nice touch, some other candle was already sitting there.
Some of those candles are souvenirs from visits to particular shops or cities, while others are inside cool containers, which gave me two different possible excuses for not burning them down.
But eventually, I accepted that even my Jonathan Adler silver Muse candle needed to be lit and used soon. Over the seven years I’d owned it, the scent had faded and the ceramic bowl was aching to display something new instead of wax old enough to enroll in elementary school.
Next up were the two Standard Wax candles that had been poured into limited-edition white ceramic faux bois jars. One of them now holds my downstairs collection of ultra-fine-point Sharpie pens, pictured at right. (Not to be confused with my upstairs collection of ultra-fine-point Sharpie pens or my workplace collection of ultra-fine-point Sharpie pens.)
Ready … aim … fire(s)!
Once that pine-scented candle arrived from my sister, it (pardon the pun) lit a fire under me to start using up the other candles I had sitting around. It’s been cloudy and chilly in Phoenix for the past few weeks, too, which makes a flickering flame sound cozy. So after dinner on Christmas Eve, I came home, turned up the holiday music, turned down the lights, spiked some hot chocolate, lit about a dozen candles throughout the house and just vibed. (That was enough holiday merriment! I took the tree down Dec. 26.)
So now, I’m burning through the Missoni/Target collaboration candle that I’ve held onto since 2019 because I love the colors and the zigzag pattern on the cup so much. (I have a photo of the candle in my phone as a color reference for when I’m looking at possible items for the living room.) I’ve also been lighting the scented pillars I’ve had on a giant iron and concrete candlesticks for at least four years now, picked up at a store on Indian School Road that’s been churning out candles in 50-plus scents for decades. And a veritable slew of limited-edition, bonfire-scented Behjärtad candles I saw on deep clearance at Ikea and thought would be nice gifts for friends … but then forgot about for a year while they sat tucked away, practically invisible, on a high shelf. (The candles, that is, not my friends.)
That happens a lot: I’ll notice a uniquely scented candle, buy it because I think it could make a great present … and then stack it in my gift drawer and forget about it. (The inventory of that drawer is pretty equally split between candles and grooming and skincare products.) I just bought a couple of limited-edition Boy Smells candles on year-end clearance at Nordstrom; when they were delivered last week, I went to put them in the gift drawer and realized two older Boy Smells candles (in different scents) were already in there from previous sales.
There may be 15 candles burning in this house right now, but I just counted and there are 27 other candles not burning in this house right now.
Some light reading
Maybe seven of those candles have been lit at least once; the others are still in their original containers, waiting to be either gifted or called into service. I gave away two small Grace Jones candles by Boy Smells, for example, but kept the large one for myself and haven’t brought myself to light it yet. I’ve got candles from at least three separate manufacturers because their wares smell very much like actual orange blossoms, which is rarely replicated well … and yet I’ve lit none of them, because I don’t want to use them up.
Of the three, this one by Paddywax is probably my favorite because it was made in a bowl of handblown Mexican glass, which they encourage you to reuse to serve guacamole. (A recipe for the dish is on the back of the label.) For that reason, this will probably be the next victim to be lit. Then again, the Pasadena candle by Hazeltine has been around longer, so its scent is probably noticeably weaker. The orange blossom one by Nest, meanwhile, is so large, I’d always considered it destined to be an Impressive Gift to someone … but now that I’m thinking about its ever-decreasing scent life, that probably needs to happen fast.
Coming on strong
On the opposite end of the scent-power spectrum, the Concrete After Lightning candle I picked up more than three years ago from D.S. & Durga still has a superb “throw” — the fragrance is so potent, it’s usually the one I discern first as I walk from room to room while all of these candles are burning. Even at two to a room, those Behjärtad candles can’t keep up! After I burn through all this one, I’ll probably pick up another one, I like the scent so much.
The limited-edition Palo Santo, Burning Bush, Rose candle by Fredericks & Mae is also surprisingly potent for as long as I’ve held onto it. (Almost all of the candles from their collaboration with Calendar Goods are sold out; I found only the Tea, Night Time and Cedar Wood scent still available.) And the Grown Folks Business candle I picked up a few years ago from Forvr Mood is holding on strong too.
Famous last words
One of my goals for 2024 is to whittle down my possessions. I did it back in 2020 before I moved into this place, but in the three years that followed, I managed to overbuy everything from lotions, linens and liquors to lined notebooks and living room furniture. And, of course, candles.
The good news: Many of these items can be used up, over time. So the big challenge will be not buying new ones that catch my eye along the way. Dare I say, I look forward to the day I’ve depleted the gift drawer and can start refilling it from scratch.
In the meantime, if you receive a candle from me over the next year, please appreciate how hard it apparently was for me to part with it. You mean a lot!
Not enough to score that big Grace Jones candle, but a lot nonetheless.
SAMMITT 