I don’t remember when we fell in love with the not so easy scent of incense. Off course I know from our childhood the weird ceremony in our catholic church, where incense was used in a silver burner and walked around by the priest. Why? No idea, but it gave a cerebral mystique feel and as we are looking more and more for authentic moments and full-filing sensations, my quest for this scent began in Paris last month.

Rick Owens’ store there was filled with a sensual scent that took over our mind. We entered his place, his world and it felt familiar. Intimacy, devotion and silence on a moment we least expected it, just by some candles burning in a store. 
Scent as a travel in our mind, a happiness endorphin that worked for me.

So, back home, we started looking for that perfect scent, that perfect candle that would bring this same energy, feel and mystique.

First we found a candle from Cire Trudon at Your in Antwerp, the store from our friend Jorrit. Cire Trudon candles have been referred to as the “Rolls Royce” of candles. This old French manufacturer produces one of the world’s most prestigious candles of very high quality. We bought the ‘spiritus sancti‘ candle after an intense ‘sniffing session’ in the store.

Check: http://www.ciretrudon.com/les-bougies-parfumees-spiritus-sancti.php

We looked further. 
In Paris we bought the fabulous parfume Avignon by Comme des Garcons. It was love at first smell. Ivan wears it daily, and I ‘m seduced once in a while for a little pump.

When we found out there was a candle with the same fragrance, we were trilled. Think about it, Avignon, the memory of a medieval city in the South of France which surpassed Rome as the Catholic Church’s power center in the 14th century. The scent of gothic cathedrals and Papal palaces, of tapestries imbued with centuries of incense. Of cold marble steps, holy relics and dark confessions. This should be it..

Our verdict? The recognizable smells of frankincense and myrrh open the high mass of Avignon, evolving to an almost eye-smarting, gloriously smoky and resinous heart.

Series 3: Avignon – a spicy fragrance with Roman camomile, Labdanum, Frankincense, Vanilla, Patchouly and Palisander.

Next!

It’s all ready years I know about a store ‘Senteurs d’ailleurs‘in Brussels, so friday we decided to pay this store a visit, and check out that other ‘famous’ scented candle Diptyque. 
The candle models talk about for years as ‘their scent to beat home sickness and loneliness’.

Diptyque began producing candles in 1963, and it has cornered the candle market with its exotic wax concoctions and packaging.