Slow North

Essential oils, not fragrance oils

Slow North is one of the few makers in this shop whose candles are scented with essential oils rather than fragrance oils, and they say so plainly: 100% soy wax and pure essential oils, hand-poured in Austin, Texas. That single difference changes what you can expect, so it is worth understanding before you buy.

What that means in a room

Essential oils are distilled from plants, so the palette is limited to things that actually yield an oil: lavender, eucalyptus, citrus peel, mint, rosemary, cedar. There is no essential oil of fig, leather, vanilla cream or fresh linen — those notes exist only as fragrance oils. Essential oils are also more volatile, so the scent tends to read brighter and closer to the candle rather than filling a house. If you have been disappointed by a “natural” candle before, this is usually why: it is a difference in chemistry, not in quality.

Sizes and burn

• 17 fl oz three-wick — rated by the maker at 50+ hours.
• 8 oz signature — roughly 3.5 inches tall and 3.25 across, the everyday size.
• 6 oz travel tins and 2 oz minis — for trying a scent or taking it with you.

Their wicks are self-trimming: they curl over and burn their own tips back to a few millimetres, so you do less maintenance than with a standard wick. Slow North still ask for no more than four hours per burn.

Who makes them

Slow North was started in Austin by Michelle Simmons in 2015, and the range has grown beyond candles into essential oil blends, reed diffusers, linen sprays and incense.