Until recently, I'd never heard of evening scenting. Now, it's at the top of my priority list as I transition my home fully to fall, and pay particular attention to cozy corners and hosting family and friends.
Inspired by warm, rich, and comforting scents that plants naturally release at night, this clever trick focuses on bringing the outside in, when the colder weather naturally means we retreat indoors more and more.
Here, I spoke to home fragrance experts for their tips on why evening scenting is one of the most impactful ways to make the most of the best home fragrance options.
What is Evening Scenting?
To find out more about evening scenting, I spoke to Marissa Mosseri, co-founder of Set the Mood. She explains, 'Evening scenting is about enjoying the natural fragrances plants release as night falls, like jasmine, gardenia, or night-blooming honeysuckle. It's nature's way of signaling calm, perfect for winding down at home.'
As Marissa adds, this matters in fall and winter, as shorter days and cooler temperatures can make homes feel darker and quieter. 'Evening scenting adds warmth, coziness, and a relaxing, inviting vibe that helps people feel grounded and calm.'
Darryl Do, Senior Perfumer at Delbia Do Fragrances, agrees, and highlights that this is also important in terms of making your home appealing, warm, and welcoming when hosting for the holidays.
'Everyone wants to be a wonderful host,' he says. 'This goes from the food you serve to the ambiance of your home. Visually, flowers can make an impact, but scenting the air with candles or the best reed diffusers can only increase your impact to your guests.'
How to Try Evening Scenting
When it comes to evening scenting in fall and winter, 'The fragrances we choose reflect the season's mood, color, and temperature – evoking cozy rituals like wrapping up in a blanket, sipping mulled wine, or wandering through crisp forests filled with woodsmoke and evergreens,' says Sandra Barvaux, vice president of Fragrance at Aera.
'Evening scenting in fall and winter is about togetherness, unwinding, and letting go. In the absence of sunlight and warmth, fragrance becomes a powerful tool to evoke lightness, intimacy, and emotional warmth.'
Here's how to try it yourself, with quick ways to make a home smell nice:
1. Burn a Candle
Simple yet effortlessly effective, burning one of your best candles is one of the easiest ways to embrace fall scenting.
'There are many ways to bring evening scenting to life,' says Susan Ankersen, co-founder and perfumer at Susan James Fragrances. 'Being from Denmark, the land that consumes the most candles, I love to burn candles.
'Mixing grounding notes like vetiver and sandalwood, with rich florals like gardenia and jasmine are my favorites.'
For this, we recommend the Diptyque Vetyver Scented Candle, available at Bluemercury, or the Yankee Candle Midnight Jasmine Scented Candle, available at Amazon, if you're after a more affordable option.
2. Bring Plants Inside
Another tip Susan recommends is taking advantage of the best fragrant flowers.
'I love to bring plants inside,' she says. 'Today, I cut large branches of mountain ash with red berries – it looks gorgeous, brings nature and the season inside, and gives me joy.
'I have an outdoor jasmine that I bring inside in the winter, too, and it smells heavenly. As with all living plants inside, the leaves promote a healthier indoor air, which is especially good when we keep the windows closed in the colder months.'
For collecting your cuttings, we recommend using Gardening Scissors, available at Amazon, to avoid any plant cutting mistakes.
Learn how to make a wildflower bouquet with Rachel Bull, Head of Gardens here at Homes & Gardens:
3. Make a Simmer Pot
You can also, as LaRen Johnson, fragrance director at ScentMatch, suggests, try some simmer pot recipes for fall and winter.
'I love putting together a simmer pot for more natural fragrances,' she says. 'Here's the combination I put together for a warm and rich night in: Sandalwood oil, rosemary, and lemon peels.'
The HIQILI Sandalwood Essential Oil available at Amazon is a bestseller.
Alternatively, to make your home smell like fall, simmer pods and spices, like cardamom, clove, and cinnamon in a pot. 'I reuse the spices for several simmers,' adds Susan.
4. Burn Incense
While burning incense might be part of your regular scenting ritual, at this time of year, LaRen recommends burning incense that mirrors night-blooming florals.
'I recommend incense for warmer blends, like sandalwood or jasmine, to evoke the richness of dusk, and to provide a complete experience.'
For this, LaRen uses the HEM Precious Jasmine Incense Sticks, available in a box of 120 at Amazon.
5. Create Your Own Holiday Pomander Balls
Finally, says Sandra, 'My own DIY to scent my home, especially during the festive season, will be to create my holiday pomander balls.
'Using fresh oranges, outline a pattern using a toothpick on the orange – stripes, spirals and stars – and insert fresh cloves into the skin of the orange.
'Then, let it dry and harden for a couple of weeks. Tying a festive bow, I will hang it or place it in a bowl, and it diffuses a warm, spicy aroma into the room.'
For a quicker make, you can use your air fryer at 180-200° Fahrenheit for several hours, turning every 30 minutes. The best air fryers often have settings for dehydrating.
What to Shop
All prices were correct at the time of publication.
Using high-quality essential oils is crucial when putting together a simmer pot. This one is undiluted, with no fillers or additives.
This jasmine candle has a burn time of 40 hours, and a natural cotton wick to ensure a clean burn.
This ceramic vase is ideal for popping your fresh cuttings in, and is available in an assortment of colors and shapes.
These charcoal-free incense sticks are all-natural and made with sacred flowers and essential oils.
This incense holder catches ash as it falls, and can simply and quickly be cleaned with a dry cloth or brush.
This cozy, comforting candle is comprised of a coconut wax blend, if you've been looking out for seasonal non-toxic candles.
Meet the Experts
'I believe evening scenting is a sensory slowdown, the soft scent and golden flicker from a candle, the fragrance from jasmine or mint tea, the beautiful scent from natural blooms deepening into night as the day exhales, helping us quiet the mind for rest in a world that rarely slows,' says Susan, and we agree.
You can learn more about the night-scented plants to consider for your garden in our dedicated guide, and explore the benefits of burning rosemary indoors.
