Boujies London Candles

I bloody love candles. One of the greatest joys of moving into my own flat was being free to turn my living space into a cross between a shrine and a Party of Five seduction episode, so being asked if I'd like to review an English brand of luxury candles was a cause for extremely loud squawking.

Boujies started selling their scented candles in Spitalfields market (another Kat joy) in 2009. Each candle is hand-poured in England and made from a home blend of soy wax, coconut oil and beeswax. The joys of soy unlike, oooh, the million dinner candles I have from supermarkets, is that it burns without turning everything into soot, and Boujies put a lot of effort into perfuming their candles so you won't end up with the sort of cloying home-invading waft that makes you run for the nearest window.

They've got four ranges, all of which burn for between 35 and 40 hours: Maison Vive (£12) has scents like Lime & Basil in brightly-coloured containers, while Maison Blanc's (£48) three summery scents come in porcelain. Maison Noir (£36) houses its dark, rich scents in stainless steel, and if you've gone insane and want to spend 90 smackers on a candle, the Maison d'Or Gold Pomander is gold-plated.

Being a tea lover, I picked Earl Grey, from the Maison Noir collection. It's nestled in a very pretty stainless steel 'objet' container, as well as a 100% recycled box that looked nothing so much like a bamboo hat box - a lovely treat to open.

The candle smelled lovely before burning, but after it was lit and settled in, it lost those lovely subtle bergamot notes and went on to smell fairly strongly of Man scent rather than a delicate cuppa. However, bearing in mind that £36 is a fairly eye-watering amount to spend on a candle, it's fairly unlikely that you'd buy one without trying it first.

The presentation is gorgeous and this would be a nice, English present for someone, particularly with Mother's Day on the horizon. I'll be popping along to Spitalfields later to try one of the £12 Maison Vive scents. Tangerine and Mint sounds like it could be amazing.