I love incense, but during the last few years, when I burn incense inside the house, the smoke causes me to have sore throats, red eyes…and sneezing cats. I still enjoy incense, but in less “traditional” ways: I burn it outside — on the deck or in the garden; I place open boxes of incense into trunks, closets and cabinets where the sticks and cones scent the spaces for years; I wear incense powders and perfumes; and I burn incense-scented candles.
When it comes to perfumed candles, I mostly buy “French.” Diptyque makes up for its troubles with manufacture (off-center wicks, wax that does not burn evenly) by producing candles in a variety of interesting scents — and the last several Diptyque candles I’ve bought have been generously perfumed. Cire Trudon offers gorgeous scented candles (using perfume-quality fragrances) inside lovely green or red hand-blown glass jars (no phony — “sprayed-on” — colors for their glass containers!)
I thought Cire Trudon made the ultimate candles till I ordered some Astier de Villatte candles from Paris. If I were standing between a crate of Cire Trudon candles and a crate of Astier de Villatte candles and was told: “Choose one crate!” I’d probably pass out from rapid back-and-forth head movements: “Cire Trudon!” “NO! Astier de Villatte!” “Wait…!” "Cire Tru...de Villatte...." (thud)
Astier de Villatte was launched in 1996 and produces furniture and white ceramic tableware; it also has a beauty range (bath gel, hand cream, colognes) and a home fragrance line (20 scented candles named after cities and famous sights around the world). The candle fragrances were developed by Astier de Villatte designers and perfumer Françoise Caron who worked with a team at Takasago. The candles are made of biodegradable vegetable wax (a mix of soy, beeswax and plant extracts) and have cotton wicks.
The Delhi fragrance is described by Astier de Villatte as: A spicy plunge into the heart of the old town. Narrow back streets; buildings upon buildings; an over-heated atmosphere — a thousand heady flavours rise to your senses: betel, benzoin, musk and myrrh, flushes of smoked wood, vanilla emanations, herbal and eucalyptus beedies.1 The scent of the burning Delhi candle is mellow and romantic. Imagine the mingling aromas of benzoin-and-myrrh-scented cigarettes, wood smoke from far-away fires, roasting vanilla pods and Nag Champa. Heavenly.
The Delhi candle burns cleanly and evenly; the wax liquefies quickly. The Delhi candle’s throw is good even when unlit; when lit, it lightly scents the entire first floor of my house. Delhi’s aromas are not overpowering and its overall effect is of highest-quality Indian incense…without the smoke. I’m not someone who’s ever had a signature scent for my person or my house, but I love the Delhi candle fragrance so much I’ll need to order several more.
Astier de Villatte candles come in either bubbly, clear glass jars (50€/60+ hour burn time) or more expensive, white ceramic containers with lids (110€/100+ hour burn time). You may buy Astier de Villatte candles at the Paris boutique (173 rue Saint-Honoré) or check the company's international page for retailers near you; if what you want is not available in your country, you may order directly from Paris, using the company contacts on the Astier de Villatte website. Paris residents and perfume pilgrims: drop by the Astier de Villatte shop, try the colognes, and let me know how they smell; I’m so anxious to try them.
1. an Indian flavored cigarette made of tobacco wrapped in a tendu leaf (Diospyros melanoxylon).
Note: top image is Jujhar Singh Bundela Kneels in Submission to Shah Jahan, signed Bichitr, c. 1630, Chester Beatty Library [cropped]; center image is Ganesha via Wikimedia Commons.
Ooo there is a retailer fairly near me. You always make me want things, Kevin! But it is also hard for me to shell out $75 for a candle. Maybe once my giant pile gets used up a bit.
Tama: these are HARD to resist…proceed with caution! HA!
These candles sound nice. I’ll check them out. I grew up using all kinds of incense but if I use it at all anymore I use Japanese only.
Candles work much better for me as well when I want the smell of Indian incense.
Tim: candles seem “cleaner” somehow.
I love incense too, and these sound absolutely heavenly. I think I need to treat myself to one. Soon.
K-Scott: hope you have a place nearby to sniff them…lots to choose from.
Royal Apothia has been the only home fragrance candles that I would go all out for…this one I will have to pass on the whole tobacco smell would make me ill.
frangelicahsrh: I haven’t tried any R.A. candles; and Delhi is more “herbal” than “tobacco-y” really when it comes to the “cigarette/beedies”
Um oops Royal Apothic!
Sounds absolutely wonderful — I am a big fan of incense scents. (Burning incense in the house makes my cats sneeze too. Candles are a good alternative!) And I love that it burns evenly. Uneven burning is one of my candle pet peeves! Thanks for the review.
Jill: you’re welcome…I’m always shocked when a large candle burns evenly with only one wick!
Ah, thank you telling us about Astier. Love the imagery you chose, and speaking of which, their website imagery is really trippy, in a very nice way. I love candles in the summer.
Luccianna: I really like their ceramics too…hope to try the colognes someday….
So I almost order this after reading your review. Must resist for the time being.
Klytaemnestra: give yourself a day or two to ‘ponder the purchase’…and maybe find a shop to sniff it!
you are a wicked, wicked enabler Kevin! These sound amazing.
I too have developed issues with some home fragrances—if sneezing cats are bad enough, I start to feel like there’s not enough air in the room…lungs start to burn = bad news. So maybe candles are the answer for me too…..$75 is kinda steep for a candle though….I’m almost afraid to see if they’re any where in my area….like I need to fall in lurve with another spendy type item….
Daisy: my eyes squinting, hot palms rubbing together — sparks flying, steam coming out of ears and nostrils…I say: “I’ve GOT Daisy once more…HA ha HA HA HAHAHAHAAHAHA!”
DAISY: p.s.; don’t you wish we could do splits on candles too?
hmmmm…if only they had 4 wicks……lol
I KNEW IT! this uber-enabling is all part of your World Domination Plan!! Well, it can’t be part of YOUR plan, because it’s part of MY plan!
BWA-HAHAHAHAHHA!
Wow, I’m sold. Never heard of the line before, so I’ll have to be doing some investigating. I haven’t bought a candle to scent my space for years and years. This sounds perfect. What body powder do you use? I just bought some for the first time and am trying it out. I saw the post over at Perfume Smellin’ Things about it and I went for it.
Jared: the Tokusen by Shoyeido…you can also mix it (it comes in half ounce bags) with unscented talcum powder…
I’ll check these out. Turns out there’s a store 3 blocks from my house that sells them…. WoooHooo!
Plat: lucky you…only the tableware is available in Seattle….
Kevin, you have me pining for these. Are they sold in the UK, I wonder? But if I Google them and find they are, will I be able to resist…? And better than the fabulous Cire Trudons, really? Groan.
Oh, and I love the image at the top. What beautiful colours!
Nina: I”m sure they are sold in the UK…if you dare look at the retailers page at AdV. Love the top image as well…
I think that they are a little better that the Trudon candles because as much as I love sophisticated scents, I find that in the whole Trudon line, many are really too complex. With the Astier de Villatte candles, your emotional memory is stimulated intensely, especially if you have travelled quite a bit….
That is my opinion. If you go on their website then you will find a map of their distribution. They have distribution in the UK.
Your cats have the sense to stay away from candles? I stopped using candles when one of mine scorched her fur.
Aimiliona: my cats are trained from birth to accept and respect all scented products! HA!
just noticed astier de vilatte at john derian in nyc and dying to try, especially after reading this. (love comme des garcons incense candles too.) love love love cire trudon’s gorgeous packaging (minus the fact that the gold labels are stickers which don’t stay on all that well at the edges) – not in love with most of the scents though! revolution smells like barbecued meat, odeur de la lune reeks of body odor, they have several variations of dated cologne-y scents and a couple of off-putting ‘mints’ (i.e. cough drops). i admit, i die for mademoiselle de la valierre; i sort of like proletaire for the first half hour (then i get annoyed by how damp it smells); and just tried and loved ernesto. curious as to your favorites?
These candles are the best. I love them. I used to buy Dyptique a lot (my favorites are Feu de Bois and Figuier), then when I discovered Cire Trudon, I bought those (my favorites are Balmoral and Trianon). Now, with Astier de Villatte I have found my favorite candles. I love Edimbourg, Mantes-la-Jolie, Tivoli, Kobe…. I love them all. I work for a furniture company called Environment Furniture and we have decided to distribute them in our showroom in Los Angeles and probably Atlanta. Unfortunately we cannot sell them in our NY showroom because someone else sells them so we will be selling another great company called True Grace. They are based in the UK and have a couple of really great scents like Library and Sacristy.
The Astier de Villatte candles are hard to find so if you are like me, searching all over the place, check them out at our LA showroom mid October.
In the meantime, I am not surprised you are torn between Astier and Trudon…. Astier de Villatte helped Trudon develop their candle line!
A bientot!
Camilla
Kevin- your beautiful review actually caused me to buy Delhi unsniffed!!! But in my defense I found it in a small store for 52 bucks (instead of Barneys’ 75). I thought the closest place that sells these candles is Barneys, LA which is 2 hours away from where I live so I decided to be rational and make only a 1 hour trip to orange county to sniff the Cire trudons. Turned out the store had two AdVs- Jerusalem and Delhi. I was soo excited!! I ended up also getting Abd el kader which my husband fell in love with (I really liked Roi Soleil and Spiritus Sancti). I am curious- which are your favorite Cire trudons? [This is my first candle splurge so I am still trying to digest it- but hopefully it will be worth it..:)]
Lavanya: glad you had fun and found things you liked. This is my favorite Cire Trudon, a powerhouse fragrance (some of the others can be subdued): https://nstperfume.com/2008/12/23/cire-trudon-mademoiselle-de-la-valliere-candle-home-fragrance-review/