The 9 Best Spring Candles to Make Your Home Smell Like Bright Citrus, Clean Linens, and Fresh Florals
Spring cleaning is just burning one of these, right?
I’m so over winter. I want to open my windows, throw on a light jacket, ditch my ultra-rich moisturizers, and smell flowers and juicy fruits. And one of the first ways I will be inaugurating spring is by swapping out all the heavy fall scents in my apartment in favor of spring candles. My apartment needs a breezy, soft scent wafting through it right now—not a pumpkin spice latte.
But what constitutes a candle as appropriate for spring exactly? For me, it’s all about a fresh breeze, florals, and light scents. I’m not saying you have to rid your home of all woodsy scents immediately (if that were the case with fragrance, my damn-near entire catalog of perfumes would get the boot). Instead, I’m opting for fresh iterations that use woods and gourmands as a grounding mechanism, not a cozy enveloping one.
Need some ideas? I rounded up the best spring candles I’ll be littering around my home this season. Don’t mind me if I slip into some linen the second I light ‘em.
Inspired by lavender bushes in Provence, this airy candle has a gentle throw to softly scent your space.
Key notes: Lavender, lemon verbena
You know the fancy jug of water filled with fruit and herbs in the spa waiting room that you performatively drink to hydrate before a massage? That’s exactly what this smells like.
Key notes: Pink grapefruit, eucalyptus, spa water accord
NEST launched a whole wellness line to promote calmer, better sleep, including this chamomile-scented candle. It’s like spring cleaning your mind.
Key notes: Chamomile, driftwood, sandalwood, vanilla bean
Gourmand scents can be cloying in warmer weather, but this lemon-infused one smells like an Easter cake. In fact, it was inspired by the Principessa Cake from Sant Ambroeus in NYC.
Key notes: Heliotrope Flower, jasmine petals, lemon peel, toasted cinnamon, amber, warm incense
Vanilla is a fragrance note that works all year ‘round, and this Capri Blue scent proves it. It’s subdued and creamy, rather than a sickly sweet cakey candle.
Key notes: Cedarwood, tonka, vanilla
An uplifting scent is exactly what your home needs in the changing seasons (especially if the switch to spring weather is taking a bit longer than you anticipated). This one from Bath and Body Works is bright and tangy.
Key notes: Citrus, agave, jasmine musk
April showers bring May flowers, right? This dewy scent is like a soaked tropical vacation.
Key notes: Raindrops, lemon peel, bitter orange, coconut water, white woods, jasmine
Woody scents still belong in spring and summer, so long as they’re not overly strong, IMO. This sandalwood-based scent from Salt & Stone is a go-to fragrance of mine all year long, and it makes an equally rich-smelling candle too.
Key notes: Australian sandalwood, amber, orris, ambrox, cedar, violet leaves, vetiver, crystal
Not only is this the most gorgeous candle to leave out this spring, it smells like walking in a blooming garden: green, powdery, and damp.
Key notes: Citrus Fruit, gardenia, cedarwood
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Beth Gillette is the beauty editor at Cosmopolitan with more than seven years of experience researching, writing, and editing fragrance stories.
Beth Gillette is the beauty editor at Cosmopolitan, where she covers skincare, makeup, hair, nails, and more across digital and print. She can generally be found in bright eyeshadow furiously typing her latest feature or hemming and hawing about a new product you "have to try." Prior to Cosmopolitan, she wrote and edited beauty content as an Editor at The Everygirl for four years. Follow her on Instagram for makeup selfies and a new hair 'do every few months.
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