Style & Decor Blog

The pineapple – already recognized as the universal symbol of welcome – just got even more welcoming.

Celebrity scent-master Harry Slatkin has just added this frothy pink concoction to his ever-growing collection of fragranced candles at Bath & Body Works, and I think it’s absolutely adorable. Even once the Island Nectar scent has burned away, you can totally re-use the ceramic pot as a so-sweet stash for pens and pencils.

Slatkin & Co. Island Nectar Figural Candle 

Price: $19.50, 5.5oz ($14.50, 3.5oz.)

Available at: Bath & Body Works

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There are pros and cons to working on the same floor as the Canadian Living magazine’s Test Kitchen. Although it means the Style At Home crew are often well-fed — they kindly let us indulge when sampling new recipes (Or maybe we’re their guinea pigs… Haven’t worked that out yet…) — it also means that the aromas of their latest concoctions inevitably waft through our office. Not necessarily a bad thing in itself, but sometimes you just don’t want to be engulfed in a cloud of garlic and onions at 8:30 in the morning.

Instead of kicking up a stink (sorry, couldn’t resist), I used the opportunity to test out a few home fragrance samples that just came by my desk. Dans Un Jardin is a Boucherville, Quebec-based company, originally founded in Paris in 1976, that specializes in the art of parfumerie for bath, body and home. A few hits of Dans Un Jardin’s “Buds & Leaves” home fragrance mist, and those cooking smells are replaced by the ambiance of an English garden: very clean, fresh notes of sun-ripening tomatoes, lemon zest, greenery and musk. Delightfully fresh, and surprisingly gentle — a number of my colleagues are extremely sensitive to smell, and they all commented on the subtlety of this spray. Love it!

7.5 oz Buds & Leaves home fragrance spray

Price: $6

To order online or find the closest retailer: Dans Un Jardin, Boucherville, Que., 450-449-2121

The holidays are a time to indulge all of the senses, and perhaps the keenest of our senses is that of smell. I had the pleasure of interviewing home fragrance designer Harry Slatkin of New York-based parfumerie powerhouse Slatkin & Co. for a feature that’s coming up in our February 2009 issue, and discovered this little gem that’s topping his “what’s hot” list for the new year — the Scentport. This beautiful little plug-in diffuser is designed to be looked at as well as sniffed, and in Slatkin’s deliciously fresh holiday-themed “Evergreen” scent, is a great way of decking your halls with festive fragrance. Highly recommended for those of us who opt for an artificial “arbre de Noel” and are denied that natural evergreen aroma!

Slatkin & Co.’s Scentport Starter Set in Evergreen

Price: $12.50

Available at: Bath & Body Works, 888-684-6412