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The best refillable candles to invest in now, and burn forever
These low-waste creations make a welcome addition to the home fragrance market
When it comes to conjuring instant ambience, nothing beats a candle. Whether you prefer classic church pillars, modern coloured candlesticks or a mood-altering scented vessel, lighting a wick or two is the quickest way to alter the energy of your space.
However, the candle category is one marred by sustainability issues, from the use of non-renewable paraffin wax (which some major names still work with) to the fact many vessels are destined for the bin once you’ve burned the wick to the end.
Sustainable production is, of course, a tricky issue to dissect: it's fraught with complications and contradictions, so we’re naturally wary of any brand that casually calls itself ‘sustainable’. But the emergence of refillable candles is an industry innovation with obvious appeal to anyone wanting to send less to landfill – which is surely all of us.
Luxury brands are investing in refillable candles
Now, several luxury home fragrance brands are investing in ways to encourage consumers to reuse and refill their candles, which not only makes for less waste but means the brands can justify crafting glass containers beautiful enough to be considered coffee-table trophy pieces.
Renowned nose Lyn Harris is one of the names leading the way: she has been offering an in-store refill service for her weighty glass Perfumer H candles since launching the brand in 2015. Each one of her unique, intriguing blends – scents include Ash, Salt and Myrrh – comes in a heavy, hand-blown glass vessel, engraved in gold and filled in-house at the brand’s London lab.
For Harris, the decision to pivot to refills was an easy one. “I didn’t want to create more waste, and wanted people to have a piece for life,” she says. While global brands are met with serious challenges when pivoting to a refill format – skincare in particular is loaded with hygiene and preservation issues – Harris has actually only seen one major stumbling block: keeping up with demand. “The amount of customers coming back to us for refills in 2015 was between zero and 10 per cent. By 2018, it was 25 per cent. Now, it’s over 65 per cent,” she says.
Carrière Frères, sister brand to Trudon, has this month launched low-waste refills made from 100 per cent organic European rapeseed wax and packaged in an innovative compostable box. The first collection to receive the low-waste treatment is the brand’s sublime collaboration with the Museum of Natural History, with more reportedly in the pipeline.
According to creative director Julien Pruvost, the biggest challenge was “to find a material that is from a 100 per cent sustainable source. It has to be plastic free (even recycled plastic) from either recyclable or compostable fibres, made in Europe and able to be run through our production processes”. Finding something that worked took the brand over two years, but they’re now confident they offer one of the most planet-friendly refill services in the market.
It goes without saying that no sustainability move ticks every box, but when it comes to reducing the marks we leave on the planet, every small gesture adds up. Here, see the refillable candles the Harper's Bazaar team will be investing in and enjoying over and over again.
The best refillable candles, according to the Harper’s Bazaar editors
This year, Diptyque revealed Les Mondes de Diptyque, its first collection of refillable candles.
Each of the five new creations is sculpted from watercolour-hued glass to an oval silhouette, and comes complete with an engraved lid that doubles as a candle stand. True to the brand's globetrotting history, each one is designed to transport you to a far-flung destination. Temple des Mousses summons the spirit of a Japanese garden with earthy moss, bitter matcha and grounding woods. Impressively, the refills are priced at less than half the original cost.
- Scent profile: Woody
- Burn time: 60 hours
- Refills: £90
A particularly precious piece, Trudon's most premium Les Albâtres vessels are carved from alabaster stone, so the inclusions and veining on each one is completely unique. They come hand-finished with a golden crest embellishment and accompanying lid, and can be refilled infinitely.
An energetic blend of ginger, mint tea and earthy tobacco, Abd El Kader is one of the brand's most revered scents for good reason.
- Scent profile: Fruity, Floral
- Burn time: 45 hours
- Refills: £80
Carrière Frères' collaboration with the Parisian Museum of Natural History pays homage to the most intoxicating scents found in nature. The latest, geranium is inspired by the Versailles-Chèvreloup arboretum, in which over 100 species of geranium are grown. Juicy grapefruit lifts the floral heart, while patchouli grounds the aroma.
Invest in the beautiful gilt-edged vessel, then simply drop a refill into the jar once you've burned to the very end.
- Scent profile: Floral
- Burn time: 40 hours
- Refills: £40
French perfume house D'Orsay crafts its candle scents to represent specific moments. Made with night owls in mind, 02:45 is a woody incense blend that conjures still air around a snuffed-out fire. Airy smoke is sweetened with a hint of Moroccan rose: it's a scent destined for late, cosy evenings.
The fluted-glass vessel is clearly made to become a keepsake: keep it filled with the brand's naked wax refills, which are less than half the original price.
- Scent profile: Smoky, incense
- Burn time: 75 hours
- Refills: £45
Perfumer H's made-to-order candles are hand-blown from richly coloured glass and etched with the scent's name in gold.
Where things become really special, though, is in the fragrances: each one is blended by acclaimed nose Lyn Harris as an olfactory representation of the world's most beguiling aromas. Ink is a creamy and cool musky blend, with woody cedar and papyrus conjuring wet ink on crisp paper.
Once you've finished your candle, return it to the brand's Chiltern Street store (either in-person or via post) and it'll be topped back up by hand, for half the original cost.
- Scent profile: Musk, Woody
- Burn time: 35 hours
- Refills: £90
A Nordic favourite, B-Corp certified Skandinavisk creates fresh, comforting scents that'll calm a racing mind and make any house feel like a home. The brand's popular Hygge scent combines tea, apple and cinnamon to create a cosy yet uplifting scent. The refills come housed in FSC-certified paper and simply slip into the original vessel.
- Scent profile: Fruity, Spicy
- Burn time: 50 hours
- Refills: £25
Independent, carbon-neutral company True Grace pays homage to its humble beginnings with Portobello Oud. The brand began with a stall on the famous London market, where the aroma of vintage leather mingles with spicy ginger and coriander.
- Scent profile: Oud
- Burn time: 40 hours
- Refills: £24
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