Dressing up your home is not just about furniture and lighting. Scent also plays a big role — like the perfect cologne or eau de toilette to complement a great outfit.
An increasing number of companies are realizing this trend and have concocted a wide variety of fabulous home fragrances, ranging from floral to fruity scents, to invigorate your living environment.
The oldest and most famous home fragrances are by Lampe Berger Paris (en.lampe berger.ca). Created by pharmacist Maurice Berger in 1898 to purify the air in hospitals, these high-end oil-burning lamps are as beautiful as they are effective. Housed in lamps that look more like fancy perfume bottles or shapely pieces of sculpture, aromatherapy oils come in a myriad of exotic scents to deodorize your home.
While some home fragrances are more expensive than their cheaper drug-store counterparts, many do have natural ingredients, including botanical extracts and essential oils, that enable the scent to linger longer.
Carole Teitelbaum, executive vice-president of Bath and Body Works, says there is a growing interest in home fragrances because they're an affordable luxury that changes the atmosphere of any home, much like background music.
"Dinner parties have become very popular and having a (fragrant) home has become very important for a lot of people." She says the key is to not overpower a room with the scent, and gauge the amount used by the size of the space.
"Two quick sprays add an extra burst of fragrance — perfect just before guests start to arrive — that can last for up to four hours," says Teitelbaum.
Used not only to refresh the air and neutralize odours, sprays can also revitalize scented drawer liners or shoes, or you can lightly spritz used dryer sheets for additional use. Here are just a few examples:
- Tropical Rhythm Ambiance Room Spray from Fruits & Passion It comes in six other scents, including Bali bliss and tulip.
Price: $18 for 75 mL fruits-passion.com
- Room sprays from Bath and Body Works in tropical fragrances include island colada, pink sangria and sparkling mojito.
Price: $6.50 for 24 mL bathandbodyworks.com
- Body, Room and Linen Spritz from The Body Shop The variety of scents include pomegranate and raspberry, green tea and lemon, aloe and soft linen, mandarin and tangelo, vanilla and lime blossom, and sandalwood and ginger.
- Price: $10 for 100 mL thebodyshop.ca
- Rosewater Room Spray by Crabtree & Evelyn Other scents include lily of the valley and lavender.
Price: $16 for 100 mL crabtree-evelyn.com
- THANN's paraben-free home scent collection. Scents include oriental essence, Mediterranean floral, aromatic wood, sea foam, sunflower, and rose flower.
Price: $55 for 250 mL thann.ca
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