Tomato Candles: The New Summer-Home It Scent

During the fall, there's nothing better than a spicy, woody candle. During the winter? Perhaps a festive, pine-scented option. With warm weather (more or less) here, you may be inclined to buy a floral-scented candle (groundbreaking!) to light up your life. However, we're inviting you to think out of the box with another scent straight from the garden: Tomatoes.

The savory fruit may not be thought of as a conventional fragrance star, but a new wave of candles featuring tomato's warm, fresh notes has us turning over a new leaf and majorly embracing vegetal scents for spring. And don't worry, it won't fill your house with the scent of homemade marinara (though that's enticing too). Instead, this crop of candles takes their scent notes from the vine of the tomato: A nearly one-of-a-kind smell that balances green, grassy notes with hints of sweetness and spice. It's a smell that evokes summer like nothing else simply because it's so hard to find the rest of the year. Unless, of course, you buy one of these candles that captures the beguiling scent year-round. From Boy Smells' sweet take to Loewe's high-fashion interpretation of the humble fruit, scope out some of the juicy, vine-ripened candles we're burning on repeat. Just like nothing compares to a homegrown tomato, these scents are in a class of their own.

A funny story about this candle: During a trip to Los Angeles, I was waiting for an Uber and decided to burn some time at a cute boutique in Silver Lake. As I browsed the shop, I absentmindedly picked up a mini votive candle of Boy Smells' Gardener (this was in the Before Times), and what happened next shook me to my damn core. As the minutes counted down until my driver arrived, I realized I couldn't possibly leave the store without this very candle — I'd never smelled anything like it, and I loved that the scent itself would always remind me of sunny L.A. (which also, coincidentally, is Boy Smells' hometown). With a minute to spare before my Uber left, I paid for it and sprinted to my car. The rest, they say, is history.

If you want a candle that looks as good as it smells, this is the one for you. Each votive is made from handmade, glazed terracotta and with a 100% vegetable wax base. Loewe's in-house perfumer Nuria Cruelles (who worked with creative director Jonathan Anderson on the home fragrance line) loves this particular scent for "whenever she feels full of energy," as it perfectly captures the transformation of blooming vines into fruitful harvest.

For the ultimate green thumb, you won't do better than a rustic tomato candle housed in biodegradable, seed-infused packaging that you can plant to grow — you guessed it — actual Brandywine tomatoes! In addition to notes of fresh tomato leaf, you can also enjoy hints of clover, fresh herbs, and leafy greens in this extra-special soy wax blend.

From the purveyors of the beloved 4/20-friendly cannabis candle is Malin + Goetz's light, bright tomato candle. Inspired by the founders' passion for gardening at their Hudson Valley home, this candle juxtaposes notes of tomato with a garden party of herbs including basil and mint leaves for a truly invigorating olfactory experience.

This verdant candle takes inspiration from lush backyard gardens, and features middle notes of ripe tomato alongside base and top notes of basil, Satsuma orange, pineapple, and lemon zest.

While many candles on this list are new to the scene, this heritage French candle brand dates back to the 1800s – aka they were way (way, way) ahead of the trend. The Carrière brothers — the brand's namesake — also share the same lineage as Cire Trudon, notably known as the oldest French candle manufacturer and former wax supplier to the royal family. As such, you can expect nothing short of the highest quality with these bougies. Each one is handmade in Carri``ère Frères' workshop in Normandy and features a base of 100% organic European vegetable wax for a clean, even burn.

NYC-based Nette is proving that sustainability and luxury go hand in hand with its array of clean-burning candles. Founder Carol Han Pyle's dream was to create a candle that you wouldn't toss after its last burn. Her solution: house her creations in handcrafted glass and ceramic votives that would be too beautiful to not repurpose. Our pick for this spring is Laide Tomate, a citrus-y blend of ripe tomato vines, cucumbers, mimosa, violet leaf, orange flower, and ylang-ylang.