home fragrance buyers guide

The things to think about when buying home fragrance.

Home Fragrance Buyers Guide

In a somewhat overcrowded market we distill the choices and key considerations you may wish to make when choosing the right home fragrance for you or your loved ones.

Buying Luxury Home Fragrance

Choosing the right luxury home fragrance for your home is something that requires thought and consideration to pick a scent that represents you and your home. The right home fragrance has the power to evoke memories, set the scene or create a warm and inviting ambience in your home. Read our informative guide to help you make the right choice.

Which Home Fragrance should you choose?

Scented Candles: Scented candles create a warm glow in your home and warm the senses with a diverse range of scents. Aside from the beautiful aromas they create, scented candles also offer warmth and light to create a cosy atmosphere. Made from the finest blends of natural and traditional-based ingredients, luxury scented candles leave a fresh fragrance to resonate in your home.

Room Diffusers: Room diffusers are a collection of reed sticks which sit in a fragranced oil and alcohol solution. Whether you like your fragrances light and fresh or intense and warming, and your base notes floral, fruity or woody, room diffusers provide long lasting fragrance for the home. The aroma emitted from a room diffuser usually lasts longer than a candle or standard air freshener and they are considered safer to use than candles are they do not have a flame. (Please note there are 'Dangerous Liquids Importation Restrictions' when sending to Europe & Internationally)

How to Use Home Fragrance in your Home

Scented Candles: After burning your candle, it is advised that your trim the wick to approximately half a centimetre in height. This will control the flame when you choose to burn the candle again and also avoid sooting. To maximise the length of time your candle will burn for, always allow the entire top surface to transform into liquid wax before you extinguish the flame. This will prevent something called “tunnelling” which causes wasted wax to collect on the sides of the candle.

Instead of blowing out your scented candle, we would always advise that you snuff it out to prevent the wick from smouldering and producing a smoky scent.

Although you may want to save your scented candle for a special occasion, try not to leave your candle unused for a long period time. Over time, a candle may lose pungency of fragrance as the scent begins to sweat out of the wax. Store your scented candles at room temperature and clean any dust or dirt which may have collected on top of your candle with an unscented wipe to preserve a fresh fragrance.

Room Diffusers: How many reed sticks you choose to use at any given time is down to personal preference and how much scent you want to fill your home. If you wish to create a heavy scent, ideal for a smaller room such as a bathroom, we would recommend using around four to five reed sticks. If you want to create a lighter aroma and fill a bigger room with a subtle fragrance, remove sticks accordingly until you reach the right scent level for you.

Warmer rooms such as bedrooms and living rooms will tend to diffuse quicker, so if you want to release a scent quickly, place your diffuser on top of or near to a covered radiator and refresh the scent by turning the reeds.

It’s time to replace your reed sticks when they become saturated with dust and lose their smell. Always replace your reed sticks when using a new refresher oil too as the old ones will become clogged up from the previous oil which was used.

Luxury Home Fragrance: Scents Explained

With so many scents available, it can be difficult to differentiate scents and the key notes within them. Luxury home fragrance can be broken down into a number of fragrance families, these include:

Citrus: Exactly what you would expect from zesty fruits, key notes in this fragrance are the distinct aromas of lemon, lime, orange and grapefruit. Renowned for its freshness, this fragrance gives your home an energising lift.

Fruity: A sweeter counterpart to the fruit family, key notes of this fragrance include pear, peach, mango and cherry. Rich, sweet and juicy fragrances form the base of this popular scent.

Floral: This fragrance can be split into heavier floral scents such as rose and lavender or lighter scents such as gardenia, lily and jasmine. Often referred to as a more feminine scent.

Woody: Key notes of this fragrance consist of cedar, sandalwood fig, moss and patchouli. This is a musky and masculine scent with earthy undertones.

Fresh: Great for spring/summer, fresh fragrances emulate the scents associated with freshly washed and laundered linen.

Green: For an aromatic and dewy fragrance, the green collection has a distinctive nature-inspired scent. Ingredients include green tea, wheat grass, fig leaf, sage and bamboo.

Sweet: For the foodies, the sweet collection holds a number of mouth-watering fragrances such as vanilla and frangipani.

Spiced: An intense scent, ideal for autumn/winter, the spice family is a collection of warm and rich fragrances with key notes of resin, saffron, nutmeg, ginger and cinnamon.

Still not sure what luxury home fragrance will suit you and your home? Woods Fine Linens has a longstanding passion for luxury linens and fresh fragrances dating back to 1733, and their experienced staff will be more than willing to help you come to an informed decision. Call 01423 530111 to discuss your requirements in detail, or visit their shop in Harrogate, North Yorkshire.