As I like to buy from ethical brands that use responsibly-sourced ingredients, this is really beneficial, especially when it introduces me to great companies like Heyland and Whittle.
This fab brand makes some of the best products I've ever tried, from reed diffusers to natural soap. However, there is one product they really excel at and that's candles.
All of H&W's candles are made using soy wax, which is hand-poured - they have also just released a new range of paraffin candles, which look absolutely amazing - this means each candle is made with care and burns really cleanly. They have two ranges of soy candles: Home and Classic, each of which includes a great variety of beautiful fragrances.
I've tried a fair few now and I have to admit that I'm hooked. Here are my top H&W candles so far:
Olive and Fig
This scent is really lovely and warming but still super fresh. It has peppery and green notes that add a more savoury tone to it, which is actually a nice alternative to typical candle scents. The fragrance still has a subtly sweet element due to the fig, so the fruitiness helps to balance out the savoury elements.
The website says that this is a Mediterranean-insired scent and I can really believe as it reminds me of holidays in Greece, sitting on a sun-soaked patio, which is perfect when you're stuck in chilly Leeds in winter. If you are't a fan of super sweet or floral fragrances, this could be a great alternative and is available in a few other products too.
Earl Grey
While I don't like drinking earl grey tea, I really appreciate it's scent, which is beautifully delicate and perfectly complemented by the citrus notes in this candle. Underneath the stronger fragrances is an almost floral base that smells just like freshly-poured tea and helps to warm the scent up.
Although the Earl Grey fragrance comes in a few other products, I so want it to be available as a body wash as it would be ideal for waking up in the mornings.
Lavender
It isn't a super sweet lavender like many candles you can get, instead, it has a really wonderfully smokiness to it that helps to balance out the sweeter notes. The fragrance is warm and reminds me of summer without giving me a headache that many other lavender candles have in the past.
While this is a pretty classic scent, H& have managed to make it modern and totally different.
Orange Spice
Nothing says winter and Christmas to me like spicy and warm fragrances, especially if they are undercut with sweet and citrusy orange like this one is. The name is fairly simple but the scent itself is fairly complex, including notes of clove, cinnamon, nutmeg and orange. If you're looking for a candle that is all about Christmas nostalgia, this is it.
I can never get enough of this fragrance throughout the year, but November and December are definitely the perfect months for it. The only way it could get better is if there was a matching foam bath as I would love to soak in a hot tub scented with this.
If you want to try some Heyland and Whittle candles yourself, you can currently get some money off your order by filling in a poll on soap, as well as enter their awesome Christmas competition that could see you win hundreds of pounds worth of goodies and a £200 M&S voucher.