You've heard it plenty of times: smell is a key factor in determining people's experiences of a given environment, which is why every interior design aficionado who wants a truly standout home shouldn't underestimate the power of this sense to either make it or break it. However, things can get more complicated when it comes to understanding the importance of bedroom fragrances.
While it is common knowledge that experimenting with the best home fragrance options can help you amplify the style, character, and storytelling of your interiors, as well as make them a cozier, more atmospheric setting for your social gatherings, the uses and benefits of fragrances for sleep in your décor are still unknown to many. "Having pure essential oils scent your bedroom can calm mental chatter, stress, and anxiety, promoting a more restful sleep," clinical aromatherapy expert Jennifer Pressimone, CEO and educator at JennScents, tells me. "Scents can help you fall asleep better, stay asleep longer, or even help you fall back asleep quicker when you wake up unexpectedly."
Fragrances like lavender, patchouli, and sweet orange are all-around bedroom enhancers, while more specific ones, like frankincense and eucalyptus, are known to "improve night breathing and quiet snoring". Insomnia sufferers could find relief from "cypress and pink grapefruit blended with lavender and chamomile", or lungs-supporting notes such as pine and ravintsara. By making scent-scaping part of your nighttime routine, "you will not only help your room smell good," says Pressimone, "but you will also be supporting your mind and body", all from the comfort of your bed.
Whether you are after the best candles to place on your bedside table or keen to find the best essential oil diffusers to set the mood before winding down, our edit of the best bedroom fragrances has got something for all — and couples organic fragrances with inventive designs that will blend seamlessly in your home décor.
1. Blueme Focus Eucalyptus & Lime Medium Ceramic Candle
Let's kick off this roundup of the best fragrances for sleep with one of my most serendipitous, and satisfying, scenting finds and recent additions to my home. Not only does this Blueme come in a spectacularly designed ceramic vessel, but it also encapsulates some of the best notes for repose — including the calming lime, cyclamen, rose, and jasmine — and essential oils (eucalyptus) in one buy. Ideal to soothe anxiety and fatigue, and available in three different sizes, it will beautifully complement your bedroom while helping you recharge at night, infusing your surroundings with fresh, exotic undertones.
Price: $65.00
Obtained from bergamot orange's peel, bergamot essential oil can reduce stress and anxiety, lower heart rate and blood pressure, and improve your overall mood and focus thanks to circadian rhythm-regulating action.
Price: $135.00
Price: $65.00
2. Jo Malone Pomegranate Noir Home Candle and Wood Sage & Sea Salt Diffuser
If you are big into scent-layering, or the practice of integrating multiple fragrances and perfume products in the same place in a nuanced olfactory journey, then I would highly recommend you to try my current Jo Malone Pomegranate Noir scented candle and Wood Sage & Sea Salt combo, and it has been proving revolutionary. I currently keep the former right next to my bed, with the latter positioned on a shelf positioned at the foot of it. Once lit up, the candle's permeating, fruity pomegranate tones instantly absorb you in a mindful dimension, the delicate presence of the diffuser and its forest-like notes keep the bedroom fresh throughout the night (and, believe it or not, it seems to be helping me breathe better!)
Price: $36.00
Price: $112.00
3. Le Labo Palo Santo Home Fragrance Range
When I started suffering from insomnia three years ago, burning Palo Santo sticks became a life-saving remedy. Still, as much as I enjoyed their scent and calm-inducing effect, their ashes would often end up all over the floor, and the smoke released by them often felt a bit too much to take, particularly at night. Thanks to NYC-based perfume house Le Labo, this is not something I need to worry about any longer. An ode to the healing powers of Palo Santo's woody aroma, the brand's eponymous home fragrance revisits it through gentle touches of cedarwood, incense, and patchouli for a reinvigorating sleep experience. At once sophisticated and timeless, Le Labo's brutalist packaging will let New York edge into your home while elevating your beauty sleep.
Price: $84.00
Price: $133.00
4. Kinfill Flowershop Spray, Tangerine Candle, and Blue Rain Reed Diffuser
Natural scents, especially fragrant blossoms ones, are hands-down some of the best bedroom fragrances thanks to their relaxation-inducing properties. Luckily for you, Rotterdam-based home care brand Kinfill's scenting offering is packed with them. Its Flowershop room spray, combining crushed petals, fresh stems, and crisp greens, lets a whole range of flowers release their hypnotizing scent into your room, without ever feeling overpowering or synthetic, and I couldn't be happier to have found it. Despite not having them tested together yet, I would be interested in placing their Tangerine scented candle, adding a citrusy touch to the game, and coastal cliffs-inspired Blue Rain reed diffuser in different corners of my room to see how the combined action of their respective notes can both relax and uplift my mood.
Price: $62.00 (was $73.00)
Price: $45.00
5. Diptyque Baies (Berries) Culbuto Oscillating Diffuser
In her recent Diptyque the Culbuto review, Livingetc's Interiors Editor Emma Breislin talked about how the "continuous and un-powered" berries scent of this captivating new diffuser model made its presence barely noticeable, adding that, though she often caught "a waft of fragrance" as she walked by it, the strength of the item lies in its releasing the scent "slowly and gently". Looking in retrospect, "I should have used it in my bedroom," she says, adding that her naturally fragrant, relaxing essence would be caught best within a smaller space, where this would become more concentrated. And if Diptyque's best-selling Baies fragrance isn't enough to put you to bed, then its oscillating movement will offer you a visual lullaby, and a touch of playfulness, too.
Price: $285.00
Price: $74.00
Price: $215.00
6. Earl of East Iced Matcha Soy Wax Café Candle
"If you ask me, there's no better space to let this scent waft through than your bedroom," Livingetc's News Writer Amiya Baratan tells me when prompted to share one of her favorite fragrances for sleep. "Neither overpowering nor underwhelming, I find it best lit at sunset, when I typically need a moment of calm to wind down from the day, and it is just me, my latest read, and the lush scent of an iced matcha to keep me company." Powered by Earl of East, this whimsical piece is part of the brand's recent Café Candle collection. For Amiya, getting one was a no-brainer: "I have always loved the taste and scent of matcha, and watching this earthy fragrance burn in its beautiful ceramic mug is simply iconic," she says. Perfect for gifting or as a treat to yourself, "it has just the right amount of whimsy. Plus, when cleaned properly, the mug is reusable for homemade matcha to sip and reminisce."
Price: $53.00
Price: $37.00
7. AromaTech The Hotel Aroma & Essential Oil
AromaTech scent diffuser stan and Livingetc's Style Editor Julia Demer tested a dozen of the essential oils designed to revolutionize your understanding of scent-scaping, but The Hotel one stuck with her for its transportative feeling. "Lavender reliably helps me unwind, but I find the scent on its own to be a little strong for my taste," she tells me. "The citrus, herbal, and floral notes in this Hotel fragrance help counteract and compliment the aroma in a really beautiful way." Bringing some of the best bedroom fragrances into your home in one easy gesture, it won't just send you to sleep, but it will also make your room "smell like five stars".
Price: $44.25
Price: $148.50 (was $198.00)
What Types of Fragrances Aren't Suitable for Bedroom Scenting?
Although they may smell nice, "synthetic fragrances can also trigger headaches, breathing difficulty, and other physiological effects on hormones, adrenals, and thyroid function," explains Pressimone. This makes "incorporating pure essential oils a better option for supporting mind and body", she adds, as these are extracted directly from nature. People with allergies or severe health conditions such as epilepsy and asthma should exercise extra caution when selecting their bedroom scents, points out the clinical aromatherapy expert, as any of their ingredients could provoke unsolicited reactions. The same is expected of women breastfeeding, "who should avoid mints and sage"; individuals taking blood thinners, who are advised to "limit cinnamon and wintergreen exposure", both of which are known for their blood-thinning properties.
What Are Some Alternatives to — and the Best Combinations of — Traditional Bedroom Fragrance Products?
With many products available on the market, landing on the best bedroom fragrances solutions can get tricky, but that isn't the case for Pressimone. "Ultrasonic diffusers are great, especially ones with a timer," she says of her ultimate go-to, though reed diffusers and room and linen sprays all fall among her favorites. As for suitable, unconventional alternatives to the best fragrances for sleep, smelling salts, "a non-electric diffuser option", makes a just-as-valid idea.
Ever found yourself wondering, does lavender help you sleep? If that's the case and you're a fan of the quintessentially Aix-en-Provence plant, then know that either placing sachets of dried lavender in strategic corners of your bedroom or under your pillow could become a way around unlocking the best fragrances for sleep in your own creative and 100% organic way!
