10 Best scented candles for winter

We love candles and wanted to give our picks for the best winter candles for 2020. We love nothing more than burning them during our winter months. Shorter days and longer nights mean more time to enjoy the flicker and soft heat of lit candles. As Fall comes to a close and cold weather comes to stay, we spend more time indoors trying to create enjoyable spaces. There’s a lot of different scents that can capture winter and it depends on the person. Us, personally, enjoy woodsy smells of pine forests, or sweet smells from Holiday treats. Many of these scents can work well past the holiday season and into the new year. 

Holiday or Seasonal

This depends on the person, but for some people, winter means the holiday season, while for others it means December 21st to March 20th. We’ve just started November here and the months already feel like the winter season. So with that in mind, many of these scents work for the time from November to March, with a special focus on Christmas. For the record, we started to decorate for the holidays as soon as October ended. We’re pretty fast and loose with the idea of winter. So, some of these candles work for holidays and some of them work for seasons. We tried to find something for everyone!

How we picked

This collection is called the Longer Nights collection because Winter has the longest nights of the year. They might be long and dark, but these candles will get you through them!

We picked these scents on the idea of the perfect scents for reading a book or watching TV during dark hours in the evening. The sky is dark, snowflakes fall from the sky, and you wind down for the dark night ahead. A candle burns in the background. Is it the perfect match for the mood? 

Answering that gives us the answer to the top 10 candles scents for winter.

Best Winter Candle Scents

1. Yuletide Cheer

Yuletide Cheer is number one because it captures so many common winter elements. It is a red candle that smells similar to a slow-cooked fruit cider. The notes include mulled spiced wine and apple cider. It’s a warm scent that builds off and sweet and savory in a complex yet calming way. This candle is based on the classic yuletide drink named Wassail. It is steeped in tradition in many regions. Most famously, it was an old Christian tradition to drink wassail cider during Christmas time to ensure a good apple harvest for the next year’s collection. In South England, Wassailers will drink this yuletide cheer every January 17th, and sing for their next harvest.

Old Apple tree, old apple tree;

We’ve come to wassail thee;

To bear and to bow apples enow;

Hats full, caps full, three bushel bags full;

Barn floors full and a little heap under the stairs.

2. Cypress and Bayberry

Cypress and Bayberry is a match made in wintery heaven. Bayberry is incredibly fragrant, but only when pressed into juices. They grow on evergreen bushes making them capable of surviving into the winter months. Their grapelike interior is peppery and it holds its own unique smell. 

Cypress is also a coniferous evergreen and comes in varieties from all over the world. Cypress is a smoky and smooth version of pine and makes for a good winter alternative to standard holiday scents.

With other notes of eucalyptus, mint, and moss, it is more spalike than any of the alternatives. In the wintertime, we’ll take relaxing spa time all season long.

3. Chocolate Fudge

Chocolate Fudge is our number 3 pick for top winter scents, but could easily be number one depending on how hungry we are. It smells exactly like brownies out of the oven. Winter is the perfect time of year for foodies as well all cozy up into the kitchen. We think of winter as a great time to host parties or have guests and family. This wintery match made in heaven can get you the chocolate homey vibe without having to set the oven to 350.

Even bears know that winter is a time for eating calories to last through the colder months. Then laying down for a quiet hibernation. The ultimate in comfort food for long winter nights are, of course, anything with hot chocolate fudge.

4. Frosted Juniper

Frosted Juniper is a groundcover juniper, but I like to imagine it differently. Ice frosted juniper berries and trees that smell like crisp pine on a cold morning. Verdant and evergreen, juniper provides a layer of greenery when most trees are empty and leafless. It’s a woodsy scent that provides a vibrant turpentine note. Enjoy the smells of walking through a winter wonderland with this lovely evergreen themed winter candle.

5. Peppermint Mocha

Peppermint mocha is a pure winter mood. If you like going to get winter flavored coffees, this candle is perfect for you. This winter scent is less about the coffee and more about the coffeehouse in winter. A fair split between mocha and peppermint, there is also some sweetness. Cold days and warm visits to coffee shops are one of the best joys of the chilly months. This candle is number 5 on our list but will be number one for coffee lovers. It’s also perfect for writers and readers at home who want to recreate the vibe of working in a coffee shop.

6. Mistletoe

In our search for the best winter candles, we came up with mistletoe as a fantastic option. Mistletoe is a Christmas icon for love and merriment. The scent is a mixture of Siberian Fir tree and red currant. If you tried to capture the smell of the wintery north, we think it would be something just like this. A great mixture of pine, spice, fruit, and fresh, this candle is extremely refreshing. It’s like a soft reminder about what the holidays are all about. Enjoy the feeling of the season with fruit and evergreens. 

7. Blue Spruce

Blue spruce is a more complex pine scent that is popular among our winter candles. Blue spruce is a mixture of spruce, cypress, cedar, and moss. Like a gorgeous evergreen forest in a candle, this is a mixture of tree scents, almost like a christmas tree far. It also has a slight flavor of cinnamon adding a little pep into the spruce. The candle is crafted with natural essential oils of pine to provide the complete picture for a blue spruce scent.

8. Christmas Hearth

Christmas Hearth is named after the centrally located winter holiday, but we think it’s a pretty great winter scent. It’s a spicy fireside take on yuletide celebrations. Candles are like a beacon that spread warmth and light just like a hearth holding a Christmas time fire. That’s the mood that this scented candle sets. 

9. Fraser Fir

Fraser fir is the classic Christmas tree scent. It brings a sense of far north. Light snow on white-capped evergreens and dancing northern lights are the backdrops of Fraser fir. It is a Christmas tree scent, but it is also a winter scent. No matter what your winter solstice celebration looks like, it still smells like the jolliest time of the year.

So many worldly winter celebrations are based around the majesty of this northern fir. Take a slice of those essential oils and you have yourself a fantastic winter candle.

10. Gingerbread House

Gingerbread house is number 10 because it is a fantastic winter scent, but might not be for everyone. It is a foodie based smell that is slightly sweet but is offset by the classic gingerbread flavor. If you love gingerbread, you’ll love this candle. If you love sweets but not gingerbread, we suggest chocolate fudge. If you don’t care for any foodie scents, you’ve got plenty of wintery pine scents to pick from. Gingerbread house was made to smell the Hansel and Gretel fairy tale. Deliciously enticing!

Why Den Candle Co Candles

This top 10 list is all Den Candle Co candles. Sorry other brands, but this is OUR top 10 list. We think you should check out our candles though. They’re all homemade, handmade, and hand-poured. We use the cleanest materials we can get our hands-on. That means clean scents, clean wax, and incredible scent. We test all of our products to make sure it burns correctly and you won’t get weird pooling or large flames. Give our candles a try and we promise you’ll love our wintery scents!