Christmas Gift Shopping part 1: Scented Candles

In the countdown to the most festive season of the year Perfume Shrine will pop shopping enabling posts to help you wade through the vast selection and steer you into the most interesting and worthwhile choices.

For part 1 I was enchanted to see that Diptyque perfumers have collaborated with the creative design duo Tse Tse to render a limited edition of 3 scented candles, each presented in either 70 gr (burn time of around 20 hours) retailing for 28 euros or 190g (burn time of 50-60 hours) retailing at 52 euros each. Personally, I'd be thrilled if a guest brought me as a housewarming gift a jar with Encens des Indes!
But here are the three scents in detail.

Écorce de Pin
The woody and Christmasy scent of snow covered pines mixes with hinoki wood, a Japanese variety of cypress used for furniture. The scent of the candle hints at camphoraceous and smoky notes, including galbanum, cedar and patchouli.

Encens des Indes
Purple like a bishop, this spicy and floral tinged candle mingles franckincense (powerful with citrus tones and pepper nuances softened by woody and balsamic notes) and myrrh, poised between incense and rosemary, a musky, smoky and slightly pungent scent. The gifts of the Magi. A lemony rose alongside spicy floral notes reminiscent of carnations complete the harmony.

Orange Chaya
This brightly hued candle envelopes the room in spices. Sweet without being thick, it evokes the warm roundness of an orange, then the freshness of cardamom, rising, an exotic tea mixture with notes of quince, ginger and cinnamon. We are projected into the flavors of winter.