2011 Holiday Gift Guide

Best No-Brainer Gift: Nest Holiday Candle
The quintessential holiday fragrance with a blend of mandarine orange, cinnamon, pine and eucalyptus. The Nest Holiday candle is a staple on our gift list. This fragrance best encapsulates the holidays. It's not overly tree or fruity and it's not sweet or gourmand. It's fresh, festive and brings back memories from years gone by. Be sure to buy more than one! If you buy one as a gift, you won't want to give it up. The 3-wick size is gorgeous and can be re-used as a flower vase when the candle is done.
Classic, 8 oz, 50 hours $32
Votive, 2.3 oz, 15 hours $14
Mini votive 6-pack, 2-3 hours each $32
Diffuser, 5.9 oz, approx 4 months, $34



Best Hostess Gift: Voluspa 2-wick Metallo Candles
The 2-wick metallo candles by Voluspa are our #1 best-selling hostess gift. Customers go crazy over these beautiful tins. Voluspa candles offer clean burning coconut wax and 100% cotton wick. At just $16 each for approx 50 hours of burn time, these adorable tins can't be beat. Our favorite fragrance? The new Coeur de Cassis fragrance in the Maison D'or Collection.



Best Mission Impossible Gift: Lampe Berger Lamp
Looking for something for the person that has everything? The lamp only needs to be lit for 2 minutes, then provides luxurious fragrance while removing odors (think kitchen and pets) without any soot or smoke. Starting at just $43, there is a lamp for every decor and price range.



Best Stocking Stuffer: Antica Petite Diffusers
The petite diffusers by Antica make great stocking stuffers! At just 100ml each, they are also great for air travel to make any stale hotel room smell like home. Our favorite fragrance for the winter months? Sandalwood Amber with rich notes of sandalwood, soft amber, musk and vanilla bean.



Best Office Gift: Nest 6-Votive Gift Set
The new Nest 6-votive gift set is an instant charmer! We fell in love at first site. Featuring the six best-selling Nest Fragrances (Bamboo, Wasabi Pear, Moroccan Amber, Orange Blossom, Moss & Mint and Grapefruit), this attractive gift set is perfect for your co-worker or Mom. Well priced at $40.



Best Luxury Gift: Hervé Gambs Candle
It isn't often we're floored by a candle line, but Herve Gambs had us at first sniff. Every fragrance is divine and unique. Our favorite? Noir de Cassis with delicious notes of blackcurrant seeds infused with vanilla and amber santal.



Most Charming Gift: Simpatico Hobnail Candles
These oversized, vintage, hobnail candles will charm any gift recipient. Filled with 100% vegetable wax, these candles last approximately 100 hours and can be easily washed out with soap and water and reused as a flower vase, makeup holder or pen/pencil holder. If you have a tea lover, the #2 Tea fragrance is warming and relaxing with notes of camellia leaf, and oils of bergamot, orange, and myrrh.



Best Gift to Impress: Lafco Candles
Weighing in at well over a pound, these extra large candles are sure to impress. Each candle is poured in a 4” x 4” hand-blown glass vessel that will become a keepsake for generations to come. Each vessel is unique and offers a mesmerizing glow when it’s burning. Our favorite this time of year? Foyer (Amber Vanilla) with notes of black vanilla and warm amber and patchouli.



Best Tool: Wick Snuffer/Tweezer
The only way we extinguish candles at home is with a candle tweezer/snuffer. Simple pinch the wick dipper to extinguish the flame with out any smoke or soot. At just $3.75, they make a great stocking stuffer for any candle-lover.



Most Thoughtful Gift: Bayberry Tapers
"A bayberry candle, burned to the socket, puts luck in the home, food in the larder, and gold in the pocket." Our favorite holiday gift is true bayberry tapers. It's an old New England tradition to burn bayberry tapers to the nub on Christmas Eve or New Years Eve for health and prosperity in the year to come. Everyone loves this thoughtful, scent free gift.

How to Use a Lampe Berger Lamp

Lampe Berger is a fantastic product for removing odors (cooking, cigar/cigarette, pet, musty house, paint fumes....) while scenting the air and killing airborne bacteria. Lampe Berger was created over 100 years ago by a French pharmacist to remove odors and purify the air in hospitals. It has evolved over the years into a residential product with many different lamp styles and fragrances. Some lamps become collectors items and are worth thousands of dollars.

Lampe Berger fragrance oils can be blended to create your own special recipe. I'll add a separate blog post later for Lampe Berger fragrance combinations. If you have a recipe you'd like to share, please post a comment below.

To Use a Lampe Berger, follow these easy steps:

1. Place your Lampe Berger lamp on a stable surface.
2. Fill lamp approximately 3/4 full with fragrance oil of your choice. We recommend using Neutral to soften any fragrance you find too strong.
3. Insert the Lampe Berger wick into the lamp completely. When using for the first time, let the wick soak for 20 minutes before using.
4. Light the wick. After 2 minutes blow out the flame.
5. Put the vented cover back on the Lampe Berger. Your Lampe Berger is now working to remove odors, purify and fragrance the air. While the lamp is working, there is no smoke or flame, just a little heat coming off the top of the lamp.
6. Once your Lampe Berger has removed odors (after about 10-15 minutes) and added enough fragrance for you (usually about 20 minutes), carefully remove the vented cover and place the solid cap back on the Lampe Berger. The quicker you put the solid cap on your Lampe Berger, the longer your fragrance oil will last.

That's it! If you have any questions or comments, please post a comment below. We'd love to hear from you.

Back to School

My kids recently returned to school, so no surprise, the whole house is sick. I returned home from work today and instead of lighting a candle to relax and unwind, I decided to use our Lampe Berger lamp to kill the germs in the air. I wish I had the Eucalyptus scent, as I think that would be a perfect fragrance to clear our lungs. Instead I have the new Absinth fragrance at home. It's a great scent with star anise, rosemary, absinth, freesia, Virginia cedar, Tonka bean and white musk. To me it smells unisex, herby and neutral in scent. I feel better knowing it's cleaning the air. I usually use my Lampe Berger lamp to remove our cooking odors, but it definitely gets a lot of use in our house when we are sick. I'll be sure to have the Eucalyptus scent on hand next time!