These are the strongest, best-smelling candles I’ve ever burned in my home

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I don’t have the strongest sense of smell, so I’ve always been a little insecure about the scent of my home. That feeling has only increased after moving in with my boyfriend and adopting a puppy last year. I want our home to smell good, inviting and relaxing — but never overpowering. I have diffusers and constantly try new candles, but I’ve found that none are as strong or as good smelling as LAFCO New York candles.

Perfumer Jon Bresler founded LAFCO New York, and the brand celebrated its 30th anniversary last year. Maybe you’ve seen its gorgeous handblown glass jars or smelled it in stores like Bloomingdale’s and Blue Mercury.

Bloomingdale's

Retreat Sanctuary Signature Candle

It smells like a high-end spa.

$75 at Bloomingdale's

Each scent is better than the next, but my favorite for year-round burning has to be Retreat. Retreat is a fresh, essential oil-based scent with notes of matcha green tea, mint, ginger, clary sage and palo santo. It’s everything you might smell in a high-end spa to make you feel relaxed, hence why it’s called “retreat.”

Additionally, you can feel good about burning it down all the way. LAFCO’s renewable soy wax has a 100% cotton wick, so its candles burn cleanly. Also, its biggest 15.5-ounce candle has a 90-hour burn time, while the 6.5-ounce size has a 50-hour burn time. So you can burn them for a while, too.

I love Retreat so much that I even purchased the scent for my plug-in Pura diffuser. You could consider Retreat my home’s signature scent. It fills my whole apartment, and I can even smell it in the hallway as I walk up to my front door. Luckily, the neighbors don’t seem to mind. I’m confident you can find your signature scent with LAFCO, too.