Now more than ever, we know the importance of taking a moment for yourself. As we spend more time indoors, it is important to surround yourself with an uplifting ambience. Fragrances can help create little corners in your home that are enlivening, peaceful and evoke a form of escapism, yet keep your moods calm, cosy and stress-free, which is why I wanted to share with you my five best-scented candles for your home. Not only can they awaken your subconscious, bringing you calmness and warmth, but they can also whisk you away to a happy place.
Travels and fond memories inspire all my scented candles, through fragrance, I can share this with you too. By reflection, recollection and imagination, fragrances can unlock the doors in our mind, taking us to places we haven’t been to for a long time or places we so dream to go.
Because of this, scents are deeply personal, not just for the person experiencing the fragrance, but also for those around them. It creates an invisible knot between you and the person with whom you share the moment with. Its why candles are used on special occasions, ceremonies, and even romantic evenings, as well as evenings for self-reflection and self-care.
With the pandemic weighing heavy on us, we must invite all the senses we’ve been given to help us manage the stress and mental strain we’re experiencing. Using the power and magic of scent, let Ahloki fragrances take you on a journey without leaving your home.
So, here is a list of the best escapism candles for home Ahloki has to share with you, hoping you’ll find the one which unlocks the door to a fond moment for you. Let me take you on a journey across the globe…
Ahloki’s Five Best Scented Candles To Escape
FANDANGO
One of our candles from our Libérer collection. Fandango, as the name defines, is an evoking Spanish dance for couples. Whisk yourself away to a courtyard, surrounded by wild ocotillo, loquat and satsuma tangerine trees, pink bougainvillaea’s lazily falling on to little lime and neroli shrubs tucked behind windmill palms, swaying to the tunes of the guitar. And in the centre of the courtyard, where dance takes motion, stands an aged Mesquite tree and an entrapped lady in red sevillana.
The scent of tangerine, orange blossom and esperanza escape the summer shade, bringing in a warm evening breeze. The yellow-hued bastion walls fill the courtyard with an ethereal freshness of cool undertones of sweet basil, laurel and Italian cypress. A soulful expression of movement of pure passion comes to life. Tapping her heel gently to the fandango beat, her eyelids fall, trapping her in the soulful seduction of the music. As the guitar starts to resonate, her hands close on to the castanets, and suddenly she is lifted, pulsating to the beat of the music. A scarlet swirl wraps her legs as she picks up the rhythm, intoxicated by the Azahar atmosphere of Seville.
Shy bergamot hides within the chords, entrapped by the soulful ambience of the clasping echoes of the castanets, moved by the exuberant courtship of fandango dancers that join her. A tinge of merry cerveza emanates from the mood. As you light this candle, you’ll feel yourself step onto the courtyard, the scent inviting you in, oranges blending with rich woody tones as you move, all the while knowing, as the heat of the dance and Seville land on your shoulders. Only you can dance and unravel the secrets of the Fandango, as your pulse matches the strums from the strings.
JAZZ IN BOURBON
Inspired by profound love and created in seductive blends of both masculine and feminine aromas, Jazz In Bourbon will have you hearing whispers of the blues, as you let the spirit of this candle take over.
Waking up in the French quarter, intoxicated and intrigued, in elation trailing the spirit of jazz influence. Bourbon Street induces a magical southern medley of a fougère of cedar leaf, armoise with lime and pink pepper. As you walk through the French courtyards, wild herbs cook in the southern sun: thyme, sage and mint paired with the sultry flavours of Mardi Gras fruits dipped in spice, apple and plum, drowned in cardamom and clove. Resting in the jazz bar, an accord of vetiver, guaiac wood. Tobacco and citrus suffuse the wooden tables. As the music begins, enigmatic masculinity of base note of deep amber and aldehyde steel permeates the stage.
You’ll find yourself dimming the lights down as your home transforms into a jazz bar right from the streets of New Orleans. You’ll feel free, calm and balanced, as Jazz in Bourbon takes over, intensifying your atmosphere with deep South.
MURAN OF SAMBURU
Another fabulous candle from the Désirer collection, a fragrance that will transport you somewhere entirely different. Inspired by memories of life in Africa, Muran of Samburu is exotic and full of mystery, this scent incorporates the rich memories of nature, wildlife and the wilderness. Samburu’s wilderness evokes a harmony of notes that brings together the very essence of life in the African wild, releasing scents that explore the sounds of nature. On horseback in the African heat, expose top notes of raw citrus leaves, wild rose on spicy wood and sharpness of pink pepper. As we begin to canter, heart notes of smoked cardamom release silage from the
Murran Masai’s Shuka. Animalistic notes of a dark oudh wrap the Moran Maasai warrior, exotic frankincense intoxicates the journey. We slow down to a trot, and raw incense subsides to a tribal creaminess of base notes of labdanum balm on leather. As you light this candle, you’ll feel yourself pushing away the large leaves to tranquillity. The weight of the world you knew will melt away as the honey, nutmeg and leather blend allow you to unfold, becoming the explorer at heart. You are free in the scents of Moran of Samburu, and if you immerse yourself enough, you’ll hear the hooves of horses ready to transport you away from your home.
SAMSARA
A regal and silky scent the Samsara is. Whilst it may be born alongside the others in the Désirer collection, it stands out as something you’ve never known before. With wisteria blossom and creamy saffron coconut, you’ll feel taken away from the sofa to an ancient rustic hamlet in the Indian desert, where I met a silk merchant who told me a tale of how these fragrances crossed paths on the ancient Silk Road.
Selling gold thread dipped in rich orange clove oil and embroidered with patterns of legendary Rajputanas over heavy velvet drapes. Leaving behind a delicate fragrance of Japanese ikebana frangipani, traded for warm cinnamon and cardamom. Jaisalmer-jewelled Moguls shared rich, creamy oils with the English, who gifted rolls of cotton cloth patterned with wisteria. Chattris dimly lit in the far distance, like a silk brocade laced over the Haveli, scintillating with gold ornate and intricate design, as if the Rajputana opulence were coming to life. I sipped my creamy tea and imagined the travellers and traders walking down this path. A pulsating melody filled the atmosphere, as a local busker plucked his Morchang that echoed complex rhythmic patterns of sound.
The Banjari women danced the ghoomar in sync with the music, spanning their lenghas, which were embroidered with rich zari patterns, vibrant colours, adorned with beads and sequins that elegantly twinkled on an ocean of sand. An old merchant continued his tale of the Silk Road. He induced a timeless feeling as though the past were present with me.
SAVANNA
When you light up savanna, you’ll feel a scent imbued with a melody of petrichor. You’ll hear the whistling thorns blow in fragrances of wildflowers travelling from the depth of the rolling hills of Laikipia’s savannah land. As each raindrop hits the ground, the dry earth dissolves into a celebration, bursting forth with fresh, gramineous scents, transforming the atmosphere with a dazzling intensity of pure natural and green notes.
My eyes searched the vast landscape for wildlife through the shimmering curtain of rain. As the rolling stretched out on the distant horizon towards the horn of Africa, I dissolved in the wilderness, and for a moment, we all became one.
A rainfall after a drought brings in hope and joy. The way water runs over everything, taking things which were once dry and breathing life into them once more. This candle will do just that for you, waking up your peace within, freeing you. You’ll find yourself escaping to an undiscovered field off an abandoned path. Your fingers will be brushing over dewy bushes as you make your way into the heart of the grass as you’ll feel a part of the wilderness like never before, moulding with it as though you were always supposed to. This dazzling scent will have you grinning from ear to ear, spinning around in a circle as the heavy shower comes down more. But all you know is you hope the rain never stops.
Whether we burn a candle to recall a memorable trip or whether to travel to a far-off country; to awaken our imagination, or simply escape. All of these scented candles will inspire, and wake, a part of you lost in all of the stress and unsureness we are experiencing. At Ahloki, it’s important to us, to pour a fond moment into every one of our jars, and even more vital that you find that moment when you light the wick.
