I used to find scented candles the most pointless things in the world. If there was anything I did consider more pointless, it was expensive scented candles. And I just could not understand why someone would burn them in spring or summer!?! Winter, maybe, if you really had to, but in May? Seriously, people?

Well, I’m sure you can see where this is going. After I fell for perfume something like 5 years ago (I used to be suspicious of perfume, too), I slowly developed a candle habit as a side effect. And here I am, in the middle of May, burning them. If there’s anything left from my former righteous attitudes, it’s that I find a good spring-summer candle a rarity. Most of my ultimate favourites – Byredo Bibliotheque, Diptyque Feu de Bois – clearly suit autumn-winter better. So I’ve been on a mission to find some lighter ones.

1. Byredo Carrousel. The spring in Brussels has been cold this year, so Carrousel’s punchiness has been very welcome. If you have tried Byredo’s Pulp fragrance, you pretty much know how this smells: very, very fruity, pretty sweet and quite strong. It has rhubarb and guava and fig, but to me it smells like a dessert made of an unidentified excotic fruit. Fruity and gourmand are usually not my things, but I like this one in all formats I’ve tried – fragrance, candle, shower gel. Not only because it’s so well made, but also because it’s a happy, sunny, sincere fragrance, a wonderful antidote to the damp greyness. I also enjoy that the scent is in such a contrast with Byredo’s austere style: like finding a piece of pink candy in a Chanel jewellery box. Byredo candles are very good quality, have good throw and look beautiful. If you can afford them, try them out.

2. Zara Green Herbs. One of the reasons I used to think that expensive candles are pointless was of course that I could not afford them. Now that I can, I sometimes go to the other exreme and only seriously consider high-end candles. This is of course stupid, as there are many good ones at other price points. Yes, the luxury ones tend to last longer, but if the price difference is 5-fold… After reading good things about Zara’s Gardenia candle, I went ahead and bought their Green Herbs. The thing to know about Green Herbs is that it’s not really about herbs. It is in fact mostly a lily of the valley scent, although greener than most. It doesn’t rival Byredo or Cire Trudon for complexity, but it’s a nice-smelling, decent candle that avoids the biggest pitfalls of cheaper brands: ugly packaging and a too strong, overly synthetic scent. Zara’s new summer collection looked/smelled promising as well.

3. Cire Trudon Josephine. This is the most luxurious one of the three and initially the one I liked the least. Cire Trudon candles are pretty much as high-end as you can get both in terms of price and sophistication. Many people find them too much on both counts: 70 euros for something that makes your house smell like an old cloister? I can see why some may have doubts. I like their compositions exactly because they are a bit strange (floorboards of Versailles, Spanish sailboats…), I haven’t encountered any other brands doing anything quite like it. That’s why I was disappointed with Josephine – I found it boring and weak, two things I dislike in almost everything, but especially in expensive candles.

But having burned it for some time now I have discovered that while it takes time for Josephine to diffuse the scent, ultimately it will fill the room nicely. And while the scent is not groundbreaking, it is refined, it’s just a genre I don’t care that much about – a powdery floral. The notes quote roses, jasmine, iris and camellias, but it’s a blur, not a bouquet of distinct notes. The candle is supposed to evoke a garden, but to me it smells like a boudoir – the flowers here remind me more of Iris Poudre than actual growing plants. Even the gorgeous powder blue packaging hints in that direction. I will always prefer the sunny meadow of Balmoral, but if your perfume tastes are different, this is worth seeking out.

And finally, the candle that I most wanted to buy this spring is Jo Malone’s limited edition White Lilac & Rhubarb, but it’s of course nowhere to be had.