the best spring transition scents

Seeking out brightness with every sniff

A few good things I’ve smelled recently:

Nature Walk Smells

My daughter and I went on a herb walk here in LA to learn about medicinal herbs and plants growing in our hills. Most surprising (olfactively speaking) was the Black Walnut tree, still in bud form. A couple years ago we did a Black Walnut scent with LA Times Plants that was much more, well, the only way to put it is tree forward. This budding tree smelled so fresh, bright, terpenic, citrusy - it was cool to get a different view of the same material. We also explored several types of sage, which led to Poppy trimming up the white sage in our front yard to make pastes for “any cuts you have”. Sacrificing a molcajete to Poppy’s front yard potions is one of the best parent moves I’ve made.

Laundry Detergent

Back on on my scented detergent game. Tried out the Sweet Orange and Amber & Lime scent from Zum. The “lab” series - which I can best understand to be a testing ground for potential new scents - is rad program, and as a fan of the detergents I was eager to try out the new flavors (lol). The Amber & Lime was not for me, on first sniff. It’s quite Amber forward - powdery and sharp. However, it significantly mellows out in the wash - the amber imparts a clean texture, and the lime is bright and zesty.

Cherry and fruit scents

Cherries are having a moment - food in general in home fragrance and decor. I’ve been burning our Smoked Cherry candle every morning and IMO it’s a great spring transition candle, but hear me out for integrating any fruit forward home fragrance to smooth the transition to spring - it’s not all lavender and florals over here. The fruit brings brightness, juiciness, promises of summer peaches, cherry season, tomatoes on the vine. Smoked Cherry in particular is layered with a heavy base - think cedar, smoke, musk, clove - but finding any sandalwood or patchouli heavy diffuser or candle to layer your fruit-forward scent with will do. The trick is in the heavy + bright for transition. (honorable mention to our Fig & Sandalwood scent, an exclusive I blended for Urban Outfitters about a century ago, and was brought back as a surprise archive scent last week).

Take a Hike Peanuts Candle

I made the mistake of leaving this candle burning overnight a couple weekends ago. The shame that ripped through my body!! That would be a really, really bad look for me. It’s not the typical woodsy scent I burn - this one is much more resin and balsam forward, and beyond that, it reads “holiday” to me so I wouldn’t think to light it at this time of year. (but I really want to re-use the jar). Honestly, the scent was absolutely heavenly, full bodied and balsamic. To re-create this experience without committing a candle felony like me, you can use a hurricane to amplify the scent - and then make sure you cap the candle after you blow it out for extra security.