What is the best Diptyque candle? I have an answer for that.

A Diptyque candle is an investment. I like to think of it as what I do instead of drinking alcohol. I have rarely regretted the money I’ve spent on a Diptyque candle (argh thinking of you, Eucalyptus!!! you are the worst!), but nonetheless, you want to invest wisely. And yeah, I am very aware that when I think of “investing” I think of “getting the right Diptyque candle,” rather than, like, mutual funds. It bodes well.

So let’s get down to brass tacks: The best Diptyque candle is Feu de Bois. Don’t argue.

I’ll tell you what it definitely is not, and that is Baies — arguably (perhaps also factually, IDK) the brand’s most popular candle. If you went into a chi-chi shop in the early ’00s, I swear to God, every one of them was the Red Currant candle from the still-extant brand Votivo. I hated it then, and I hate it now, and it smells exactly like Baies.

Feu de Bois, on the other hand, smells like the best wood fire you could possibly imagine — one put together by a team of very ingenious mice, living in a very beautiful cabin in the mountains above Aspen. It smells like heaven, if your version of heaven is a mountain resort favorited by Beth Dutton.

Diptyque sells about 10000 different variations of Feu de Bois — small, classic, medium, etc etc — in different sizes and containers, and its poor copy writers have had to devise just as many different ways of describing what is essentially “ritzy wood fire.” Here are a few: “An open fire captured in a porcelain vessel.” “Logs, flames, fireplace.” (I mean, you can just hear them getting tired, am I right?) “In the flame, the scent of logs crackling and burning up.” Sure thing! They’re all true. It smells like the very heart of autumn, it smells like the video for “All Too Well (10 Minute Version)”. It smells like gray afternoons and rainy days, it smells like staying in, on the couch, and watching a movie. It smells like October and the better half of November. I can’t burn it between January and September, which is maybe not a great characteristic in a $75 candle, but for those other three months, it is perfect.

To summarize: the best Diptyque candle is Feu de Bois.

Now, obviously there are some runners-up. You’ll note that these rankings are slightly different from my list of the top 46 Diptyque candles — part of this is because my favorites change from day to day, but also this list has limited editions and seasonal picks, while the top-46 list is I think all the “classic” line.

Voilà, my list of the best Diptyque candle scents:

2. Sapin de Nuit: Ugh, it’s like Feu de Bois, but on Christmas Day. A version of this comes around every holiday season — my favorite will forever be Sapin de Nuit (“Moonlit Fir”), which has a beautiful illustrated holder. I grab it whenever I can off the Archives sale (it also pops up on Mercari, Poshmark, etc.) This year’s Sapin (with notes of pine, resin, and cedar) is here.

3. The Paris candle from the Le Grand Tour — this is a really annoying unboxing video that shows it, I do love that label! I’ve literally only found a link for it on the Hong Kong site. “the classic Paris candle is wandering in its verdigris attire, in and out of the antiquarians and bookshops. In its wake, the fragrances of waxed wood and old books, and the mineral notes of the Paris cobbles.” That’s ridiculous but I also think it’s true??

4. Villa Nouilles Liliac — another limited edition, only viewable on the HK site. I got this during the Archives sale as well. Very pretty and lilac-y, just as you would imagine.

5. Muguet!!! Who doesn’t love lilies of the valley? Smells like springtime — this comes out in late February and I love it so much.

6. Violette — this is very similar to Muguet, but violets rather than lilies of the valley. If you like violets, this is your best Diptyque candle scent.

7. Roses. If you like roses, this is your Diptyque candle. I like them enough. I think I had this the longest of any Diptyque candle I’ve ever owned, because I don’t use it that often, but when I do, it gives you exactly what you were looking for (roses).