Brand of the Day: Earl of East’s Delightful Collaborative Candles

If you’re like us, you’re missing the sights, sounds … and smells of the real world, for better or worse.

As a poultice, British fragrance purveyor Earl of East and Uncommon Creative Studio are bringing a trio of those scents home—and they’re donating all proceeds from the project to Hospitality Action in the UK.

The first fragrance: The Festival—“a floral haze of cut grass, burned skin and sun-warmed cider, with just the merest shimmer of distant portaloo. Top notes of burger van and singed candyfloss bloom above an earthy bed of unwashed hair and dew-damp sleeping bag. A resonant bouquet, tied with a ribbon of sweet cannabis smoke.” (Delightful descriptor aside, the candle features notes of cut grass, moss, hemp and smoked juniper.) Illustration: Lan Truong

Next up: The Local, which “evokes the classic British boozer. Top notes of spilt beer, hair pomade and chip fat jostle amongst a pungent base of varnished teak and sticky carpet. A waft of testosterone gives way to the ersatz-lemon of a urinal block, as the salted breath of pork scratchings is soused in cheap rosé and freckled with cigarette ash. A potent fragrance that lingers, like the melancholy ramblings of an old inebriate.” (Scent notes: golden hops, yeast, malt, burnt wood, leather.) Illustration: Thomas Hedger

And finally, there’s The Cinema, “a heady fusion of salt popcorn, foam banana and glistening hot dog, enveloped in a fug of recirculated air. A waft of cloistered contraband chicken meets the allium tang of adolescent boredom, laced with juicy notes of melting slushie syrup. An evocative blend, with just the faintest whisper of third base in the back row.” (Scent notes: brown sugar, maple, pecan, vanilla, orange, lemon.) Illustration: Victoria Sieczka

Each candle is hand-poured and burns for around 50 hours.

All in all, a well-designed collaboration for a most worthy cause … even if they ultimately remind us that, well, even in non-COVID times, we might be better off staying inside.

Images: Earl of East

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