Candles & Home
Collecting candles: Cire Trudon, Kilian and Baobab
October 2026 · Join CT Journal
What separates a €300 candle from a €40 one, and how the great houses approach wax, wick and vessel.
What you are paying for
Premium candles spend more on fragrance load (the percentage of scent in the wax), on vegetable waxes with clean burns, and on vessels meant to be reused. Cire Trudon has made candles since 1643 and still pours in Normandy; the house’s coffrets pair its most-loved scents for gifting.
Kilian’s perfumed candles
Kilian pours its fragrance icons — Back to Black, Angels’ Share, Black Phantom — into wax with the same accord logic as the perfumes, so the candle smells like the bottle rather than a nod to it.
Baobab’s sculptural vessels
Baobab Collection treats the vessel as the object: hand-finished glassware often engraved or decorated, with scents composed to match. Max 24 Madagascar Vanilla is a reference point for warm, vanilla-heavy rooms.
Care basics
Trim the wick to 5 mm before each burn, let the melt pool reach the glass edge on first light, and cap burns at three hours to keep the wax even.