Best Candle Scents: A Complete Guide to the Best Smells

Candle-making will never be complete without the candle scents. Scented candles are proven to be more profitable than unscented ones because they use aromatherapy to their advantage. People think they hit two birds in one stone when they use scented candles at home — they get to inhale relaxing and soothing scents. At the same time, they light up their aesthetically pleasing candles. Scents on your candles can upgrade your candle-making game. Knowing which candle scents are the best to use in your candle-making projects can totally benefit you.

Candle ScentScent TypePriceProsCons
Barnhouse Blue Tropical Bliss Fragrance Oil SetFragrance oils$16.89 on AmazonWide variety of summer scents
Affordable price
Long-lasting scents for candles
Can be used in other projects
Burns when touched undiluted
Scent can be too strong for some people
P&J Gentlemen’s Premium Grade Fragrance OilsFragrance oils$16.95 on AmazonManly and earthy scents
Comes in six different scentsBeautiful gift box
Can be used in other projects
Affordable price
Scent can either be too strong or too weak to some people
Lagunamoon Fragrance Oils Gift SetFragrance oils$24.99 on Amazon16 different scents
Multi-purpose
Affordable price for the quantity of the scents
Long-lasting scents for candles
Many candle makers approve
Too expensive for the quality
Might not be strong enough for some people
Eternal Essence Oils Coconut Cream Fragrance OilFragrance oils$6.95/bottle on AmazonMade with DIY soy candles in mind
Smells sweet and delicious
Longer-lasting scent
Affordable price
Made from high-quality materials
Many other scents available with the same formulation
Only one scent featured in this article
Yankee Candle Home Fragrance Oil in Pink SandsFragrance oils$8.49/bottle on AmazonLonger-lasting scents
A little goes a long way
Can be used for soy candles perfectly
Strong scent for candles
Price is worth it for the quality
Can be expensive for some people
Kiehl’s Original Musk OilEssence oil$24.50 on other storesCan be applied directly to the skin
Longer-lasting
Formulated in 1921
Smells expensive
Many people recognize the scent
Produced by a reputed brand
Can be bought in Kiehl’s offline stores
Not available on Amazon
Can be expensive for its size
Le Labo Santal 33 Perfume OilEssence oil$152/bottle on other storesThe scent is already popular
Woody and floral scentsLonger-lasting scent
Can be applied to the skin
Very expensive
Not available on Amazon
Good Essential Holiday Desserts Essential Fragrance Oil SetFragrance oils$12.99/box of 10 fragrance oils on AmazonThemed scents for fall and Christmas
Perfect addition for scented candles as gifts for the holidays
Affordable price
Longer-lasting scents
Made in the USA
Some oils have spilled all over the boxes on some orders
Too weak for some people
Alpha Aromatics Beachwood Vetiver and Sea Spray DriftwoodFragrance oilNot availableLonger-lasting scent
Preferred by many candle makers
Relaxing scent
Helpful in many projects
Made in the USA
Currently unavailable on Amazon

Barnhouse Blue Tropical Bliss Fragrance Oil Set

This is one of the most popular candle scents that many candle makers use in their scented candle projects. Each scent is placed in an amber bottle, and a set consists of six different fragrance oils of 10ml each. As the name implies, this set of fragrance oils is known to capture the essence of summer and the scents associated with its warmth and joy effectively.

The scents included in this fragrance oil set include:

  • Mango and Tropical Passion Fruit
  • Honeydew Melon
  • Coconut Cream
  • Pear
  • Pineapple

These scents are enough to remind us that summers are the best season ever, and even though you are bundled up at home, lighting your scented candles infused with these fragrance oils can take you on a journey to the shores of Waikiki in Hawaii, having fun with your friends and loved ones.

These scents are long-lasting, rich, and complex. Aside from scented candles, people also use them on their soap-making projects and both hair and skincare formulations. You can also use it in making your own laundry scent boosters, carpet fresheners, scented bubbles for your kids, or even a few drops on your diffuser can do the trick.

This fragrance oil set is perfect for those who want a variety of scents that they can use for their various candle-making projects. This is especially perfect if you want to create summer-themed scents, even citrusy or fruity ones, such as pear and pineapple. These scents are enough to motivate you to get back to work or relax whenever you need a break.

These oils are long-lasting, which means they can be added to scented candles, and the scent will not fade immediately. Many people like using these scents, too, as they give you a lot of choices for a more affordable price point. Also, many people have remarked that they like using these scents on candle-making better than skincare products because the scents are strong enough.

You can get this set of six 10ml bottles for only $16.89 on Amazon. Women’s Wear Daily recommended this set of fragrance oils as one of the best candle scents for scented candle-making projects.

P&J Gentlemen’s Premium Grade Fragrance Oils

If you are looking for perfect scents for your husband, boyfriend, or your kids at home, this set of fragrance oils is perfect for scented candle projects that they will receive from you whenever you want to.

This premium fragrance oils set comes in six different scents:

  • Leather
  • Sweet tobacco
  • Teakwood
  • Bay rum
  • Cedar
  • Sandalwood

These scents are perfect if you want to create candles with earthy scents that last a long time. Many people use these scents in projects other than candle-making, such as soap-making, baths, body care, and hair care formulations, perfumes, unscented incense sticks or cones, homemade cleaning products such as carpet cleaners and fabric conditioners, and even in aroma diffusers to make your rooms smell much better than ever before.

With 30 years of experience in the industry, these premium-grade fragrance oils are highly concentrated, and the formulations are always enhanced by their master perfumer. In addition, their master perfumer is certified by one of the most profound perfumery bodies in the world, the IFRA. Thus, you can be sure that you are only getting the best from this particular selection.

You can get these six bottles of fragrance oils in a beautiful box, ready to be gifted to your loved ones, for only $16.95 on Amazon. However, some customers have experienced either too overpowering scents to no scent at all. This boils down to personal preference, as what can be overpowering to others might not have the same effect on you. Still, these are worth the price.

Lagunamoon Fragrance Oils Gift Set

For those who want a large selection of options for their scented candle projects that will last a long time, then this set of fragrance oils is perfect for you. These scents are natural and healthy, made from all-natural ingredients with no artificial scents. The owners pride themselves that their fragrance oils are 100% extracted through steam distillation. In addition, it is vegan-friendly, gluten-free, cruelty-free, paraben-free, and toxicity-free.

It is not tested on animals, and it has no strange odors apart from those advertised. You can use these scents on various projects aside from candle-making. These include home care products, aroma diffusers, soap making, perfume, body and hair care, and baths. These scents allow you to enjoy various scents without having to spend a ton of money, especially in candle-making projects.

It comes in a box of 16 different scents, including:

  • Fresh liner
  • Ylang ylang
  • Jasmine
  • Lily
  • Sandalwood
  • Peppermint
  • Honeysuckle
  • Parma violet
  • Black orchid
  • Rosemary
  • Sea breeze
  • Forrester
  • Ginger
  • Freesia
  • Cinnamon
  • Gardenia

These sixteen scents give you a wide variety of options to choose from. You can also use these to mix them together in your candle-making projects, allowing you to create unique scents that you can enjoy once you light your scented candles. Lastly, this particular set comes with a dropper for the diffuser, easy to use, and an easy-to-dispense Euro dropper cap.

This fragrance oil set is perfect for gift-giving, and the recipient will absolutely enjoy it. It is priced at $24.99 on Amazon as of this writing, and many candle makers have left positive reviews for it on Amazon. However, the scent might not be strong to some people, but it boils down to personal preferences at the end of the day.

Eternal Essence Oils Coconut Cream Fragrance Oil

This particular scent is perfect for those who want the smell of coconuts to last longer in their candles. With years of experience creating fragrance oils and essences that are perfect for those who want a strong yet not overpowering smell on their scented candles and other home improvement projects, Eternal Essence knows how to tickle the senses of its buyers.

This comes in Coconut Cream, and this has been made with the finest quality of products by a team of talented perfumers employed by the owners. This scent is perfect for your soy wax candles as it will also let your scented candle burn as flawlessly as possible. You can also use it for other projects such as soap making, perfumes, and other home improvement and cleaning products.

It comes in a 30ml amber glass bottle complete with a tamper-evident ring for freshness and safety and a Euro-style dropper for your projects. A dropper is also included for easy dispensing. It smells creamy, sweet, and delicious, with some nuances of cinnamon, sweet burnt sugar, and peaches on it. This is perfect for DIY soy candles, so in short, this is made for candle-making.

You can get this for $6.95 on Amazon as of this writing. Eternal Essence Oil has other variants, so you can check their other scents on Amazon to have a variety of high-quality fragrance oils for your scented candle projects. Eternal Essence Oil is known for creating longer-lasting oils that are perfect for candle-making projects. That is why their brand is loved by a lot of hobbyists.

Yankee Candle Home Fragrance Oil in Pink Sands

When people search for the best candle scents online, this brand always pops up on everyone’s list, and that comes for a reason. Using this in a diffuser can perfume a whole room in a matter of minutes, so it stands to reason that using it to scent your homemade soy candles would also provide sweet-smelling results.

Enjoy the scents of sweet flowers, spicy vanilla, and bright citrus. You will enjoy using this fragrance oil in your candle-making endeavor as well. It creates the appropriate atmosphere, and only a small amount is required to do your activity successfully.

Even though it is quite expensive, this fragrance oil is a high-quality product. It is rather simple to deal with, and as a result, many craftspeople favor it. A tropical beach will come to mind when you wear this scent, and it combines wonderfully with melted wax. In short, you get what you pay for, and even more.

This is ideal for soy candle-making projects, as the scent will last much longer than the others. It has fragrance notes of sweet florals, spicy vanilla, and bright citrus. It is also the most concentrated and purest in candle fragrances. A little goes a long way for this fragrance oil, so it will last you several batches before you run out of it.

This item is priced at $8.49/30ml bottle on Amazon, and it comes in so many different scents. The particular scent used here in this article is Pink Sands, and it is my personal favorite. Forgive me for being biased towards this one, as this really hits the notes well without any regrets or itchy noses at all.

These oils can be expensive, but since they are made from the highest quality of materials available on the market, we can forgive that part. This will last you a long time, so the price is very much worth it. Yankee has around 25 scents available, including this scent, so you can have a lot of choices while maintaining the quality of the scent for your candles.

Kiehl’s Original Musk Oil

This is a signature scent by the famous skincare and body care company. This essential oil is a go-to for many luxury candle makers who want a touch of understated sophistication in their candle scents without any pageant and glamour onto it. This is also one of the most expensive candle scents on this list, but the price is very much worth it.

It was believed that this essential oil was invented in 1921 and re-introduced by Kiehl’s to its customers in 1963. It is described by Kiehl as “soft and clean” and appeals to both men and women. The scent has warm and refreshing notes of bergamot nectar, orange blossom, lily, rose, ylang-ylang, tonka nut, neroli, musk, and white patchouli. This is enough to state that this essential oil has timeless sophistication without even trying hard to do so.

Reading the various scents in this essential oil is enough to tell you that it is expensive and luxurious. Out of all the fragrances in this list, this is the only one that you can apply directly to your skin. You can use this essential oil for your candle-making projects, with the scent of luxury reaching your nose and tickling your fancy for days.

It is currently unavailable on Amazon, but you can buy them in Kiehl’s shops and other online stores that sell them for higher prices. Many people love this scent as it reminds them of the old times, without telling them they smell like old people.

Le Labo Santal 33 Perfume Oil

This particular scent is well-known to those who have used their perfumes more than often. You know how this smells like — rich, awesome, and elegant without even trying for those familiar with this perfume. If you want this scent on your candle without pouring the perfume down your mixture, this perfume oil is perfect for you.

The scents in this perfume oil include cardamom, violet, ambrox crackle, iris, cedarwood, and Australian sandalwood, creating a mixture of woody and floral scents that are not itchy or irritating to the nose. Like Kiehl’s, you can also apply it directly onto your skin, but a little goes a long way since it is reported to last for days, even when taking a bath.

This is undeniably youthful and glamorous, but this is the most expensive candle scent on this list. It is not available on Amazon as of this writing, but I have checked other online stores, and they sell it for as expensive as $165 per bottle. Thus, using this should be only for very special candles for special occasions, such as giving them to your significant other or anything else.

Good Essential Holiday Desserts Essential Fragrance Oil Set

This fragrance oil set is perfect for the holiday season, as it captures the sweet and sugary scents of Christmas and the holidays. You can say that this is perfect if you are making soy candles as gifts to your loved ones. You can let them experience Christmas by lighting this candle whenever they want a mood booster any time of the year.

This fragrance oil set comes in a set of ten different scents, each inside a 5ml bottle. The scents included in this fragrance oil set include:

  • Peppermint
  • Apple cinnamon
  • Hot chocolate
  • Red cherry
  • Pumpkin pie
  • Candy cane
  • Gingerbread
  • Snickerdoodle
  • Cinnamon
  • Brown sugar

All the scents included are sugary and sweet, which is great for the Christmas stocking stuffing seasons. Your friends and family will appreciate your handmade candles even more with these long-lasting scents that will remind them of Christmas cheer in the middle of July. It is also noteworthy to mention that these are flexible and can be used for other crafts projects such as soap-making, incense sticks, cleaning products, and so much more.

As of this writing, this set sells for $12.99 on Amazon, and the particular seller where I checked this is already selling out, so if you really want this for your candles, you must go and order them now. The common problem for this fragrance oil set in candle-making is that it was deemed too weak by some candle makers, but again, it depends on how strong you expect it to be.

Alpha Aromatics Beachwood Vetiver and Sea Spray Driftwood

Alpha Aromatics is known for creating some of the best fragrance oils for candles. Many candle makers love to put on their scented candle projects. Out of their many different fragrance oils with a wide variety of scents, this particular scent is one of their best-sellers in terms of popularity among candle makers.

I can easily see why this particular scent is very popular. The scents in this particular fragrance oil include:

  • Coconut
  • Vetiver oil
  • Salty sea air
  • Eucalyptus
  • Jasmine
  • Sun-dried driftwood
  • Seaweed

These scents are known to induce the summer in you, whenever you want. You can light up a scented candle with this particular scent and let the fragrance take you out on the summer beaches of Hawaii, even though you are in the middle of Minnesota in December. This particular scent is also longer-lasting, which means that you will be able to enjoy it on your scented candles for a long time.

According to some people, the scent inspired feelings of calm and tranquility when they smelled it, which is a good thing because we only want our scented candles to bring back memories of happy thoughts and fun times with our friends and family each time we light them. Many people have enjoyed using their scented candles with this scent during their mindfulness meditation sessions or when they just want to clear their minds.

The only downside is that this is currently unavailable on Amazon. Still, you might find them in other craft shops or online sellers, though I cannot promise the prices are reasonable because they might be inflated for profit. You will never regret buying this one, though, or any of Alpha Aromatics’ scents because they are very much worth their hype and the price point.

Enjoy Creating Scented Candles For Your Loved Ones

I have not yet used all of them, though I have experience using some of them, such as the Yankee brands for my other scented candle projects. I am vouching towards this brand, along with the Lagunamoon fragrance oil pack. I really want to use Le Labo Santal 33 and Kiehl’s, but I might be buying them if there is a memorable milestone in my life. Kidding aside, all these fragrance oils and essential oils are very much popular among candle makers of any expertise level, and they are all long-lasting for such affordable prices. Use any of these scents for your scented candles and create long-lasting memories with your loved ones.

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