That’s right, Diptyque is adding 5 new and rather unusual candles to its core collection, officially launching next Thursday, 16th April. It’s not often Diptyque launches a new addition to its collection, so I could hardly contain my excitement when I heard the news. Naturally, when the opportunity to test the candles arose, I jumped on it and recruited four other Ideal Home editors to test the new scents out in each of our homes.
Diptyque makes some of the best scented candles, loved both for their beautiful and long-lasting fragrance and for the stylish, aesthetically pleasing candle jars, which people tend to keep and reuse in various ways. And I’m sure that will become even more of a standard practice as the jars are getting a redesign for the first time since the brand’s very beginnings in the 1960s as part of this launch.
And that’s not all! This is one of the biggest Diptyque launches in the history of the company, as not only are there 5 new candles, a redesign of the candle jar, but all of the core collection candles will be refillable.
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As of next week, Diptyque will be one of the best places to shop for refillable candles. This will affect the pricing of the candles a little – currently, the classic candles sell for £58 a pop. Going forward, the new design will retail for £63, and a refill will cost £50.
But with all that out of the way, let’s talk about the five new candle scents and what the Ideal Home editors and I thought of them.
1. Shiso
I’ve tested and completely finished the Shiso candle myself, getting 50 hours of burn time from the standard-sized 190-gram candle. In case you’re not familiar with shiso, also known as beefsteak plant, it’s a leaf from the mint family originally grown in China and India. When searching about it online, someone stated that it ‘tastes like summer’ – and I’d say it smells like it, too. At least the Diptyque Shiso candle certainly does.
In some ways, it reminds me of tomato leaf candles such as the Osmology by Aery tomato leaf candle, available at John Lewis, as it, too, has a green scent with some sweetness to it. In the Shiso candle’s case, this might be attributed to the added note of almond.
Despite the candle’s lighter, more delicate scent, it really filled my entire studio flat with a gorgeous fragrance that I frankly couldn’t get enough of.
2. Cafe (Coffee)
If you want your home to smell like a high-end cafe then the Cafe candle from Diptyque is for you. Tested by Rebecca Knight, Ideal Home’s Digital Editor, the Cafe candle blends notes of coffee (of course) and light wood and its fragrance is more subtle compared to the very intense Roasted Coffee candle from Wick Guru, available at Not On The High Street, which I’ve tried myself before.
‘The Cafe candle smells identical to a good cup of coffee before it’s lit,’ Rebecca says. ‘I was worried about it being overwhelming to burn at home, but I was pleasantly surprised by the much more subtle gourmand fragrance it gave off. For the first few hours, it acted like a scent reset in my home, cancelling out other smells. But once the scent built up, my living room smelled like the poshest coffee shop you’ve ever been to. By hour four, the smell had reached out into my hallway and started to fill my whole flat with a subtle earthy scent.’
She adds, ‘This is a sophisticated, cosy scent for those who want something warm and comforting, but not sweet. I’m not sold enough on the scent to replace my favourite Baies or Figuier, but I think it’s the perfect hosting candle for setting the scene for a coffee and cake hangout.’
3. Ortie (Nettle)
Who better to test out the Diptyque nettle candle, in French called Ortie, than our Garden Editor, Sophie King?! I thought it was very on brand – and luckily, Sophie loved it. Nettle is another very unusual ingredient rarely used in home fragrance. The only alternative that I’ve found is St. Eval’s Bergamot and Nettle candle, available at Amazon, which is more citrusy and fresh compared to the herbal and almost floral Diptyque Ortie candle.
‘Straight out of the box, the scent is incredibly moreish – fresh, herbal and clean, almost as if linen had a green twist,’ Sophie describes. ‘Only around 40 minutes in, the room was filled with a light fragrance – but it became a lot stronger after an hour of burning, and reached its strongest around three hours in. While burning, the candle’s fragrance is slightly mellower – still very herbal, but with notes that can almost be described as floral. The scent kept most of its initial profile, though, and it remained in the air for a good while after blowing the candle out.’
4. Sesame Noir (Black Sesame)
Ideal Home’s Editor in Chief, Heather Young is a self-professed ‘Diptyque girl’ when it comes to her home fragrance and scented candles of choice. So I, of course, had to get her involved in our testing. And the Sesame Noir candle, translated as black sesame, is the perfect example of how subjective smell can be. Even though I really like the Black Sesame candle from Loewe, available at John Lewis, I personally wasn’t the biggest fan when I smelled Diptyque’s Sesame Noir straight out of the box. But it was to Heather’s liking straight away – so it was clear she should be the one to try it out at home.
‘I absolutely love Diptyque candles, but I often find even my favourite scents get overwhelming (I have quite a high sensitivity to smell) so I don’t have them burning that long,’ Heather explains. ‘However, Sesame Noir is much more subtle, and I’ve had this candle burning for at least 10 hours straight without it getting too overpowering. It gives a gentle scent that’s quite warm and comforting – it’s one I’d recommend!’
5. Rhubarbe (Rhubarb)
I’d say that rhubarb is not as unusual of an ingredient in home fragrance as the other scents on this list. And for that reason, I believe the Diptyque Rhubarbe candle’s going to be the bestseller from this range. Given the crowd-pleasing fragrance of rhubarb – fruity, a little sweet with a hint of sourness – I was surprised to find there are not many other rhubarb-scented candles. There’s the Jo Malone White Lilac and Rhubarb charity candle, but it’s more of a lilac candle than it is a rhubarb one. All the more reason why I think this candle will do really well, as it did with our Editorial Assistant, Maddie Balcombe.
‘I am usually drawn to scents that feel fresh, light and uplifting, but I sometimes find that there’s a fine line between this and scents that are overwhelmingly sweet. I think Rhubarbe nailed the balance between the two,’ Maddie says. ‘The fragrance is sweet, but it has a tart edge (like you’d expect from a rhubarb), and I think that this helps it feel crisp rather than cloying, which is what I like in a candle.’
She continues, ‘I had it lit in my home office while working there. You can definitely smell it in the room, even when it’s unlit. While burning, the scent subtly filled the room – I could definitely notice it while I was working, but it wasn’t so strong that it became overpowering, which I liked.’
Our top current Diptyque picks
The new launch is still a week away. But if you’d like to take advantage of a slightly lower price point before the redesign drops, these are some of our favourite Diptyque candles.
Diptyque
Baies Classic Candle
Baies, which translates as ‘berries’, is the candle synonymous with the Diptyque brand. The fragrance mixes blackcurrants with rose and it’s a lovely crowd-pleaser.
Diptyque
Figuier Classic Candle
Figuier is my favourite Diptyque candle. The fragrance is a little sweet and green at the same time, smelling of the fig tree rather than just the sweet fig fruit.
Diptyque
Ambre Classic Candle
Ambre is one of our Editor in Chief, Heather’s favourite Diptyque candles. It’s perfect for all year round but it’s certainly on the warmer side with notes of patchouli, tonka bean and spices.
Thursday the 16th April couldn’t come soon enough! Which one of the new candles are you adding to your wish list?
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