While it may shock some of you, I don't really do fall decor. Not in the pumpkin, plaid, all orange everything way anyways. I do like to bring in some heavier fabrics and cozier materials. And closer to Halloween and Thanksgiving I do add the smallest of gourds to my mantle. For me, fall is more in the way your home feels, a shift into a warmer, more welcoming home, and such a key part of that is in the scent.
Fall candles are my way of switching up my home with the season. And some of the best candles come under the fall scent category. Warm, spicy, sweet, crisp, fresh there are lots of gorgeous scents to choose from depending on how you want your home to feel.
I justify my candle obsession by the fact that I like to shift scents throughout this season. I start with the very crisp, fresher scents, one that conjures up fall walks, fallen leaves, a crisp, clean air smell. Then as the season really ramps up I change into the warmer, spicier, baked good type candles.
Here I have rounded up my favorites. Some have been in my life for years, I just have to open the lid and it's fall, others are new additions to my collection. I am also drawn in by aesthetics, so all of these candles double as beautiful fall decor too.
The best fall candles I am loving this year
Zero sweet pumpkiness going on here, but this is the first candle I light when the weather starts to turn. It's warm and slightly spicy but mostly just very earthy and smokey but in a lovely cozy way not an overwhelming one. This works after Thanksgiving too.
This is my favorite pumpkin-scented candle. It's not too sweet, more spicy, but it's buttery so it really does smell like baking. Plus, this looks lovely and doubles up as fall table decor.
Appley, cinnamony, fresh and fruity but still warm and subtly sweet. It's the perfect candle to light in your kitchen if you are having guests over and want to create the perfect inviting fall vibes in an instant.
Vanilla is always a fall scent in my opinion, but this one is extra warm and spicy too. It's the most complex vanilla candle I have smelled to date. There's a freshness and woodsy tone in there too.
This is a fruity fall candle, apples, and berries kind of scent. There's a vanilla and smokey undertone here too that gives it depth as well as freshness.
This is a pear-based candle, which is different from apple. It's a bit less... bakey and far fresher. This is another one of my early fall candles because it's so crisp. It's rare to find a fall candle that has zero cinnamon or spicy notes, but this one is all fruit.
Admittedly, this is part of my collection because it looks adorable. Luckily, the scent is delicious too. It's very woody, as the exterior would suggest. It's a leaves smell, as classic as fall scents come.
I discovered Maison Margiela through their perfumes, they are so gorgeous and layered and really do invoke very nostalgic feeling. This is the scent I wear in the fall so it makes sense I should burn it in my home too.
The most sophisticated pumpkin candle out there. It's far more spicy and intriguing than most and there's barely an ounce of sweetness here. It also casts out a lovely warm orange glow.
FAQs
How can you make your home smell like fall?
Candles are the simplest way to make your home small like fall. The best ones will give off a scent even when not late, but you boost the scent with diffusers. Baking will of course feel your home with all the scents the candles try to replicate or get a pot of hot wine or cider simmering on the stove.
What are classic fall scents?
Pumpkin is of course the main fall scent, and there are both sweet and spicey versions depending on your tastes. If you like crisper, fruiter smells, apples, pears, and fall berries like plums and blackberries as also very fall-esque. Likewise, more woody smokey scents offer something more sophisticated.
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