The 10 Best Tomato Candles You’ll Want to Light All Summer
Consider favorites from Loewe, Flamingo Estate, and more your latest garden bounty
Reported by Harper's Bazaar.
Forget florals. This summer, the most covetable home fragrance note isn't jasmine or neroli — it's the sharp, green, almost medicinal smell of a tomato vine. Earthy, herbaceous, and somehow deeply nostalgic, the tomato candle trend has quietly taken over the home fragrance market, and according to Harper's Bazaar, the options are genuinely worth your attention.
The most viral entry is Loewe's Tomato Leaves candle — you've almost certainly scrolled past it — which layers fir balsam, oakmoss, and blackcurrant to capture the scent of vines just before fruit sets. Flamingo Estate's Roma Heirloom Tomato candle goes more literal: crushed tomato leaves, tarragon, and black pepper essential oil, burning for up to 55 hours. If you're tomato-curious but woody-scent loyal, Maison Margiela Replica's From The Garden bridges the gap with patchouli grounding its tomato leaf and green mandarin combo — an ideal gateway candle for garden-fragrance skeptics.
The Ones Worth Moving Fast On
Some of these are already disappearing. Lafco's Tomato Season candle — a complex blend of bergamot tea, heirloom tomato, cucumber water, and white woods, poured into a hand-blown glass vessel that makes every single one unique — has already sold out at Bluemercury in its classic size. Jo Malone London's Green Tomato Vine, a Nordstrom exclusive, burns for up to 70 hours and reportedly smells exactly like a sun-warmed greenhouse. Meanwhile, Nette's Laide Tomate Mini is hand-poured in coconut-soy wax, burns up to 50 hours, and the vessel is dishwasher-safe once empty — small format, zero compromise.
For the person who wants something unexpected: a candle loaded with lavender, star anise, vetiver, and verbena alongside its tomato core reads more like a perfumer's provocation than a garden snapshot. And Diptyque's La Droguerie does double duty — basil, mint, and tomato leaves while also neutralizing odors, making it the rare candle that belongs in a bathroom without irony. Brooklyn-made Tomato Vine Limited Edition by Keap rounds things out with Amalfi Coast energy — soy wax, no phthalates, striped vessel — for anyone who wants their coffee table to smell like a dream vacation.
The tomato candle isn't a gimmick; it's what happens when home fragrance stops trying to smell expensive and starts trying to smell real — and that, right now, is exactly what we want.
Read the original at Harper's Bazaar.
