As Holly Willoughby launches her own candle, here's how they became the ultimate home status symbol
On Thursday TV presenter Holly Willoughby announced the launch of a candle, under her new wellness brand Wylde Moon. Named '(borrowed from) The Wild', the £40 candle will be launched alongside a reed diffuser on October 20. For anyone not aware of the significance of this date, it is the next full moon.
Over the past year, candles have become the ultimate home status symbol. ‘The evolution of home environments has resulted in consumers viewing the home as a place to care for physical and mental wellbeing,’ notes Mintel in its 2021 Wellness Trends To Watch report, and it makes sense. Spending more time at home than ever before over various lockdowns, sales and searches for best candles soared. Earlier this year the beauty retailer Cult Beauty reported candles as their most-searched for wellness products, with 110,000 searches per month. According to the research group Kantar, sales of candles and oil diffusers jumped by 29 percent last October.
“As a category, ‘Wellbeing’ is increasingly enmeshed within ‘Beauty’ and in turn, ‘Wellness’ has come to encompass the twin pillars of mental and physical health with the pandemic prompting a deeper awareness of the need to care for both: ‘health signalling’ is the new ‘humble brag’,” comments Alexia Inge, founder of Cult Beauty. “If there’s one positive to emerge from the pandemic it will be this re-prioritising of wellness – elevating it to something more than just a hobby for the affluent.”
Although sales for candles have steadily risen over the past decade, they used to be the easy go-to gift for birthdays, Christmas or housewarmings. But as we’ve seen, the candle is now more about a little slice of self-indulgence for the home: lighting one is the quickest shortcut to creating a cosy retreat in the home. They’re back in fashion on dining tables, too: earlier this week John Lewis reported that candle stick holders were up 13 percent and candlesticks up 34 percent in sales compared to this time last year.
While it’s not uncommon for fine fragrance brands to have accompanying candles, there has been a boom in newly launched sustainable candle brands born in lockdown, too. Here are some of our favourite humblebrag candles to have in your home.
Best new candles
North £55 by Evermore
A sustainable candle brand, Evermore candles are hand-poured in the UK using a natural rapeseed wax for a clean, long-lasting burn. With warming, wintery notes of black pepper, cinnamon, oud and leather, this candle has a burn time of 60 hours.
Orange Bitters Home Candle £55 by Jo Malone
Nothing says Christmas more than a Jo Malone candle. The brand's special edition candles every year always sell out. This new scent, Orange Bitters, is a cocktail of bitter orange and sandalwood. With a star-etched lid, it would make a lovely gift.
Slow Burn £45 by Boy Smells
One of my favourite candle brands, Boy Smells originated in California and has a collection full of interesting scent combinations. Set in a matte gradient glass tumbler and created blend of coconut and beeswax, expect notes of black pepper, incense and amber.
