Choosing a candle as a gift when you can't smell it first

A candle is one of the nicest things to give, and one of the hardest to choose online. You cannot smell it, and you are guessing at someone else's taste. Here is how we would go about it.

Read the notes, not the name

A scent's name tells you the mood. Its notes tell you what it actually smells like. Most candles list three:

• The top note is what you smell first, when you open the lid.
• The heart note comes through once the candle is lit and the wax warms.
• The base note is what lingers in the room after it has been burning for a while.

If you know someone loves the smell of a pine forest, look for fir, spruce or cedar in the notes. If their kitchen always smells of baking, look for something like vanilla or fruit. If they like things fresh and clean, look for salt, citrus or herbs.

Match the scent to the person

A few easy questions help:

• Do they open the windows at every chance? Fresh and woody: our Sea Salt & Cedar.
• Do they put the tree up early and keep it up late? Green and resinous: our Maine Balsam.
• Is their kitchen the heart of the house? Fruity and warm: our Wild Blueberry.

When you really are not sure

Give them the choice. A set of small candles in different scents lets them find their own favorite, and there is no wrong answer. Our gift set has one travel tin of each of our three scents and a six-pack of wax melts, so it covers a lot of ground.

Think about where it will go

A student in a small room or someone in an apartment will get more from an 8 oz jar than a huge one. A family with a big open living room will enjoy the 16 oz. Someone with a cat that walks along every shelf might like a reed diffuser better than a flame.

Send it straight to them

You can ship any order to someone else: just put their address in as the shipping address at checkout. Add a gift message on the product page and we will tuck it in the box. There is more about timings on our shipping page, and we will post our holiday order dates there in November.