Winter warmer candle

When I was a kid growing up in Sydney, Christmas of course was in the middle of Summer which meant Mum would literally sweat buckets over turkey just to give us the "traditional" family roast Christmas turkey dinner. Being as hot as about 40+ degrees Celsius, you normally wouldn't decorate with candles in the middle of fire season, and every window in the house akimbo, there wasn't much need for ambient scents either. Not to mention, this was long before the candle boom of the eighties.

Here in the UK, the seasonal weather provides the perfect outside ambiance for that idealistic Christmas. So there is a natural calling to fill ones home with scents that conjure cwytchy settings and women, especially go all out for all things Christmasy to build the momentum of festivities, usually overdose their homes with sweet'n spicy sickly scents.

I have been thinking about a winter warmer candle for sometime, but the market is filled with these sweet sickly scents usually incorporating dessert style flavours of cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla and the sheer thought fills my head with dread and throbbing migraines! By the time you've filled every corner of your lounge with those sweet'n spicy candles and scoffed the half dozen mince pies, you've over-indulged and overloaded your senses to last you the rest of the year. Luckily it's only once a year!

I mentioned my thoughts on blending a winter warmer candle to a good friend of mine, Cathie, who is one of my best testers, and her reaction was clearly in my favour, "oh please, not cinnamon or nutmeg!" she protested, nose firmly to the gods.

Now seeing as I always like to bring the flavours of my routes into my home, I have been wanting to include Sandalwood. Unfortunately due to cost, I had to substitute the best Australian Sandalwood for a cheaper African version and with that, I have put my snobby nose aside even though it's not entirely my first choice, particularly noticeable in the early spicy top note, but still, the lingering base notes very much musky Sandalwood. Now it's within a sensible price range of my other candles, about £14.95,

I am really into the subtle sweetness of Sicilian Bergamot right now which forms the basis of the scent blended with some patouli, lime, palmarose and finally the dulset tones of Sandalwood gives the blend that exotic velvety spice, I know it, but can't put my finger on it, whisper.

No sickly sweet dessert style aromas within cwoffing distance!

Available shortly on my website, after I take some more photos.