Candle perfume starts long before a jar is poured. For a floral scent, it often starts with flowers like jasmine, rose and orange blossom. This year, the fragrance company Symrise signed a deal to buy a French maker of exactly those ingredients. It is a good moment to ask what is really in a floral candle, and how to choose one you will enjoy.

Where Candle Perfume Gets Its Floral Heart

Symrise agreed to buy Floral Concept, a company founded in 2002 in the Grasse region of France, a famous perfume area. Floral Concept makes natural ingredients from jasmine, rose, orange blossom, ambrette and blackcurrant. Symrise plans to join it with its own naturals business there. Symrise announced the deal, and it still had closing conditions to meet.

What is a heart note?

A heart note is the main smell, once the first sniff settles. In a floral scent, the heart is usually the flower itself. Jasmine, rose and orange blossom are all popular hearts, and you can find them across our Floral range.

Fragrance In Candles: Natural Extract Or Lab Made?

Perfumers use both. A natural extract comes from the plant. A lab made ingredient copies the smell of it. Many scents mix the two in one blend.

A name like Jasmine tells you the smell, not the source. We cannot tell you which flowers are in a jar from the name alone, so we do not guess. Go by your nose instead. These questions help you describe what you like:

• Is it rich and creamy, like jasmine or orange blossom?
• Is it soft and rosy?
• Is it green and leafy, like cut stems?
• Is it sweet, with fruit or vanilla added?

How To Choose Floral Candle Scents For Spring

Spring is when florals feel easy. The scent is light, and it sits well with open windows and flowers on the table. Think of a garden you love and start there. Florals can feel heavy in a shut room, so leave a door open a little. The Garden Beauty range and the Spring scents page are good places to look. If you cannot decide, a wax melt lets you try a floral for a few hours first.

Quick answers

What does a floral candle smell like?

It smells like the flower on the label, softened by other notes. Jasmine reads rich and creamy, rose reads softer, and orange blossom reads bright and sweet.

Are candle fragrances made from real flowers?

Some use natural flower extracts, some use lab made ingredients, and many use both. A jar name cannot tell you which, so go by how the scent smells to you.

If you love the smell of a garden, the Floral range is a kind place to start. Smell what suits you, not what sounds grand. The fragrance quiz is a quick way to find the family that fits.

Related reading

• Perfume Fragrance Oils For Candles: Why Blends Smell As One: how a blend becomes one smell.
• Perfumed Candles Online: How To Pick A Floral By Notes: reading the notes on a label.
• Jasmine Candle: Why Spring Gardens Bring Back Memories: why jasmine feels so familiar.