Home Sweet Home Fragrances

Last month we moved places within Singapore, and a new home always means new smells – the one more pleasant than the other. Great: the exotically sweet frangipane plants in the new garden. Not so great: continuous fried garlic fumes from the masterchef aspiring neighbor, and somewhat odd smelling closets. Luckily there are products called Home Fragrances, from scented candles to sachets and diffusers. Although this isn’t a beauty topic by definition, I didn’t want to keep my finds on home fragrances in Singapore to myself and therefore justify this topic as, well, beauty for your home.

So I’m a known fool for smells and fragrances. Not just perfumes, the industry I worked in for several years, but any distinctive, interesting smell. Especially when it's related to people, the pleasant smelling ones, obviously, and places - again, agreeable smells only and definitely not the smell of durians in Chinatown or the sewers of Jakarta. I must confess that I regularly though discreetly stick my nose in a lovely smelling neck while waiting for a traffic light. And my heart always jumps when I set foot on Changi Airport again, because I absolutely love the fresh, peachy smell of this place – most likely caused by a very good home errrr… airport fragrance. I would love to have that job, “Airport Fragrance Manager”. Anyway.

I don’t quite like the smell of one of the bathrooms in our new place and while I’m at it, the semi open walk-in closet could use a subtle fragrance as well. So off I went, on the hunt for some home fragrances. Of course there are Yankee Candle and Bath & Body Works in Singapore, but for me personally, their scents are way too artificial; the pungent synthetic notes of Bath & Body works’ aromas even give me headaches. A thorough round of research taught me that Tangs on Orchard Road is the place to be for home fragrances.

A selection of brands and products available at Tangs: B1 at Orchard Road 

is Home Fragrance Heaven!

To start with, Tang's has Diptyque scented candles in the niche fragrance corner on the 1st floor. I absolutely adore Diptyque, but their pricey products do hurt your wallet and my inner-Dutchie refuses to pay 100 SGD or more for a candle. Luckily in B1, alongside the pots, pans and chinaware, Tangs has lots of other home fragrance brands, that are (mostly) less expensive and at least as good, if not better. The blissful brands available are mostly luxurious, boutique style brands that are brought in from all over the world: Singaporean brand To Be Calm (of which I tried the “Singapore Journey” scented candle before), Australian borne Glasshouse Fragrances, Irish-owned Max Benjamin, obviously Italian Culti Milano, essentially English Royal Doulton Home Fragrances and another Ozzy brand named iKOU.

Most brands have both candles and diffusers, and some even stock sachets, scented cards and body products, like hand wash, body lotion, bath salts, essential oils etc. I got 3 different types of products from 3 different brands and put them to the test at home:

1. GLASSHOUSE FRAGRANCES: "Kyoto" Fragrance Diffuser

This is by far my favorite pick, and I already had trouble in store deciding on what fragrance to choose, as I actually wanted all of them. The names of the fragrances alone had me carried away on luxurious trips to dreamy places such as Bora Bora (Cilantro & Orange Zest), Oahu (Ilima Milk & Honey), Monte Carlo (Fig & Guava), Rio de Janeiro (Passion Fruit & Lime) and Beverly Hills (Pink Lemonade), just to name a few out of the large selection.

I chose Kyoto (Camelia & Lotus), as it really did remind me of what Japan smells like; softly sweet and sensually mysterious. Like a calm Zen temple surrounded by tantalizing Cherry Blossoms and Lotus flowers, something like that. The 250ml diffuser comes with about 12 wooden reeds, but using 5 proved to be enough to diffuse a very generous trail of fragrance throughout my bathroom, where I now try to spend as much time as possible. Can't wait to try out more of their products. And to book a trip to Oahu or The Hamptons.

Glasshouse Fragrances - “Kyoto” Triple Strength Fragrance Diffuser, 250ml
Price: 75 SGD
Available at Tangs, but also at Robinsons and other stores (find them here)

2. MAX BENJAMIN: “French Linen Water” Scented Card

Like fragrance diffusers, I like how carefree a sachet or scented card is. You just place it somewhere and don't have to think about it anymore, which is not the case when you burn a scented candle, that requires to be kept an eye on. Problem with most sachet type of product however is that the fragrance weakens so quickly, at least from my own experience. Fortunately this is not the case with Max Benjamin's Scented Cards, soft rubber plaques about the size of a (large) business card.

Max Benjamin has quite some appealing scents available, like Lemongrass & Ginger and Mimosa & Sweet Amber. I chose the clean and soft floral French Linen Water, that reminds me of a lavish bubble bath in a French mansion in the Provence, enveloping myself in fluffy, freshly washed towels afterwards. Indulgent, to say the least. So far, my walk-in closet has been smelling like the boudoir of a French countryside chateau for over a month now with the same two scented cards - magnifique!

Max Benjamin - “French Linen Water” Scented Card, for bag, wardrobe, drawers or car
Price: 13 SGD
Available at Tangs, Robinsons and Takashimaya

3. TO BE CALM: “Travelers Journey” Scented Candle

As said before, scented candles are more high maintenance than diffusers or scented cards and sachets - you do not want to leave a burning candle unattended. Singaporean brand To Be Calm does offer fragrance diffusers as well, but I couldn't resist to pick one of the cute candles that just look so nice on display in one of our bathrooms, especially the medium and mini sized candles.

Travelers Journey, with White Tea and Ginger, is a soothing as well as a reviving scent, fresh and clean with a subtle spiciness. Reminds me of...a much needed spa treatment in a 5-star resort, after a long and scorching hot day at an exotic South East Asian destination. I imagine a soothing and cooling body wrap, a fresh breeze rustling through the palm leafs outside and a last glimpse of glistering sun through the dark wooden shutters. Ahhh to be calm...

To Be Calm - “Travelers Journey” White Tea & Ginger Luxurious Scented Candle, Medium Size
Price: 37 SGD
Available at a.o. Tangs, at Pasarbella, through Sephora’s Webshop and even through Redmart.