Summer Scents for Your Home

Use these summer-inspired candles, room sprays and soaps to create a beach-house atmosphere that suits the sunny months

Creating your own summer sanctuary is easy. Tropical print or nautical striped throw cushions replace the heavy velvets and damasks on your sofa.

Patio dining means switching out your heavy stoneware and crystal for colourful shatterproof tableware. Seashells replace acorns in your favourite oversize glass bowl.

And never underestimate the power of home fragrance. Here are my faves this season.

Bath & Body Works’ Summer Boardwalk Candle, $19.50
This smells like the yummy carnival treats we all loved as kids – caramel-glazed popcorn, warm taffy-apples and a mix of salty and sweet that, be warned, will make you hanker for a visit to the PNE. It’s made of vegetable wax, has lead-free wicks and burns for up to 45 hours.

Malie Organics’ Mango Nectar Liquid Hand Soap, $25
Hawaii’s luxury spa and beauty brand (pronounced mah-lee-ay) has a lovely range of products, but keep this sweet, tropical scented hand soap by the sink all summer long. With awapuhi extract and organic aloe, the soap is very easy on dry hands.

At select spas and at www.malie.com.

Crabtree & Evelyn’s Home Fragrance Reed Diffuser, $35
A simple, energy-free way to scent your home, the reeds absorb the oil in the bottle, and then release it slowly, leaving behind a delicate scent. Be sure to flip the reeds over once in a while, as they wick and dry. Ideal in the restroom, but lovely anywhere. My fave is the Iris scent.

Bath & Body Works’ Crab Scentportable, $6.50
How crustacean-cute is this little guy? No flame, battery or plug-in needed. The built-in clip base is brilliant attached to your car’s visor to freshen your long drive home every day with its Caribbean Escape scent.

Malie Organics’ Plumeria Travel Candle, $18
You know those white, waxy, exotic-scented flowers you can’t get enough of when you visit Hawaii? That’s plumeria, the traditional flower of the Hawaiian Lei. With its relaxing fragrance, this little travel candle is ideal for throwing in your weekend getaway bag too, to take a little tropical summer anywhere you go. It has a cotton wick, 10-hour burn and comes in a cute tin.

At select spas and at www.malie.com.

Crabtree & Evelyn’s Scented Drawer Lining Papers, $23
These are lovely in your clothing drawers to lightly scent your lingerie, or even your favourite summer T-shirts. Several fragrances are available, but I love the lavender for its freshness, and guess what? Apparently it’s a good moth-repellent too.

Bath & Body Works’ Tiki Beach Room Spray, $5

This tiny can delivers an instant, powerful blast of island-ambience – a blend of toasted coconut, vanilla musk, berries and purple orchids. At about 400 hours of scent for only $5, it’s a steal of a deal, too.