7 Of The Strongest Smelling Candle Brands Around

When it comes to filling your space with rich aromas, searching for the strongest smelling candles is often what most people try to do. Interestingly, the strength of a candle’s fragrance can sometimes be more about the specific scents used rather than the brand itself. However, there are certain brands known for delivering power-packed fragrances consistently.

In this blog post, we’ll not only highlight those standout brands but also rate their candles and recommend a strong scent you must try from each.

So if you’ve ever wondered which candles can truly fill a room—or even your whole home—with luscious scent, you’re in the right place.

These Are The Strongest Smelling Candle Brands In Our Opinion

Votivo is a candle brand that I don’t see talked about nearly enough in any of the candle communities that I frequently visit. And I don’t understand how so many people have slept on them. Their candles have a nice slow burn for their size and throw scent incredibly well, even when unlit.

Note: You can find a review we did on a Votivo candle here.

If you are new to the brand and thinking of giving them a shot, their most popular scent is ‘Red Current’ and it is their most popular for a reason. It’s an excellent powerful fragrance that will demonstrate exactly how good this brand is. They are a little pricey, but if you are looking for candles with the strongest throw, you will not be finding them at Walmart.

Visually these candles are beautiful as well, showcasing a hand decorated accent on the jar alongside a consistent tan colored wax.

Strong Scent To Try: Red Currant 6.8 oz

Price: $$$

Strength Scale: 4.5/5

Candleberry is a small homegrown family candle company that has been perfecting their candles for decades now. In my opinion, one of the aspects that they excel the most in is how good their candles throw fragrance. They are strong.

Note: We reviewed Candleberry candles on the blog in the following post.

They are also incredibly affordable with their large jar candles (26 oz) being priced at $25.99 which is a dollar an ounce. You can rarely find prices like that these days in candles.

If you are craving even stronger scent throw that can fill an even larger room, they also have 160 oz ‘cookie jar’ candles for sale with 4 wicks that might be unmatched in terms of fragrance power.

They also have a candle of the month that rotates month to month which is 20% off the original price. That brings their large jar candles to $0.80 per ounce and there 160 oz candle to $127.99.

The only issues that we had with these candles is that the wick would sometimes mushroom and soot up a bit which means you need to ensure that you are always keeping the wick trimmed 1/6 an inch – 1/4 inch.

You can find more candle care tips in our candle safety guide and our tunneling candle fix guide.

Strong Scent To Try: Hot Maple Toddy Large Jar 26 oz

Price: $

Strength Scale: 4.5/5

Nest New York makes some of the best candles around. Period. We talk about them endlessly on the blog and for good reason. They are impressively strong in their fragrance throw, they are affordable (when compared to other luxury candles), they look stunning, they burn nearly perfect every time, and their fragrances are unique and complex.

Note: You can find a ranking of our favorite Nest candle scents in this blog post.

When it comes to fragrance throw specifically, my favorite sizes are their 3 wick candles and their larger luxury sized candles. Generally the bigger and more wicks a candle has, the more intense the fragrance often is.

Strong Scent To Try: Grapefruit 3 Wick Candle

Price: $$$

Strength Scale: 4.5/5

Woodwick candles have always been consistent and favorites here around the blog. The candle brand was acquired by Yankee Candle a few years back and luckily it seems the formula hasn’t been noticeably altered. They are still potent smelling candles that have a great burn to them.

Note: You can find our in-depth review on Woodwick candles in our blog post here.

When deciding on candles to include in this list, I was debating whether I should include Yankee Candle in this list as they do have some pretty fragrant candles to be found throughout their scent collection. But I didn’t want too many similar candle brands, and since these two are basically one now, I feel that the Woodwick candles are the better to include in a list like this.

If you’re new to Woodwick candles, the first thing you’ll notice is that they have unique wooden ‘cross wicks’ that crackle as they burn. It’s a nice little touch that adds a bit of ambiance to your space. The main reason that I included their candles, however, is because they are incredibly strong for the most part while also burning near perfectly on a consistent basis.

Strong Scent To Try: Fireside in the large 21 oz jar or Autumn Harvest Trilogy in its 21 oz size

Price: $$

Strength Scale: 4.5/5

Cire Trudon, or simple Trudon as they like to go by more recently, is the ultimate in luxury candle brands. Their recipe for making candles has been passed down generation to generation since 1643 when they started making candles. It’s safe to say that if any candle brand has perfected their craft over the years that it’s these guys.

While this recommendation is aimed more at those of you who don’t mind spending the extra money on expensive candles, I felt that I needed to mention them because as far as luxury candles go, they are some of the best.

Strong Scent To Try: Abd El Kader; it’s a heavy mint and herbaceous scent that is powerful, fresh and great for the kitchen. Preferably in the 28 oz size, although it costs a little over $300 :S

Price: $$$$

Strength Scale: 4.5/5

Lafco New York is another brand that I feel gets overlooked in the candle community and I don’t understand why. Their branding, packaging, jars, scents, burn quality, strength; it’s all on point. They are extremely consistent across the board and make some of the best candles around.

I’d recommend opting for their 30 oz 3 wick candles but really they are all great. We’ve recommended them time and time again and as a potent fragrance lover myself, I have to include them on a list like this.

Strong Scent To Try: Feu de Bois (Ski house) or Big Sky (Ranch house) both make for great winter scents

Price: $$$

Strength Scale: 4.5/5

Not all Diptyque candle scents are super strong but the ones that are, really are. And that’s why they made this list.

Note: We rank our favorite Diptyque candle scents in this blog post.

If you know anything about luxury candles I’m sure you’ve heard of Diptyque, they are one of the most popular luxury candle brands around and tend to be the gateway into luxury candles for a lot of people.

They’re pricey, but they are also one of the brands with the most consistent candles around. That is one of the reasons that I love them as much as I do.

Strong Scent To Try: Baies (berries) or 34 Boulevard Saint Germain Candle

Price: $$$$

Strength Scale: 4.5/5

If you feel that there is a strong candle brand that is missing from this list, don’t fret, I’m going to be adding additional candles to this list that fit as they come up in my memory. I feel there are some that I’m missing right now, they’re on the tip of my tongue, but I’ve had a heck of a time trying to rack my brain on the ones I think are overall strongest when comparing to other similar strength brands.

For now, I’d love to hear from you. Do you agree with our rankings? Or do you have a favorite brand that didn’t make our list?

Drop a comment below to join the discussion.

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