With the Candlestick is an aromatic fragrance that launched in 2022 and was created by Laura Oberwetter. Smoky, spicy, metallic and hot. The Blood of Christ pours as wax spills down hot iron. With the Candlestick features top notes of cherry communion wine and cinnamon leaf; middle notes of labdanum, melted wax and burning church incense; and base notes of extinguished candle and hot musk. It is an eau de parfum, edp.
Fragrantica: I was not expecting to be so enthralled by this one! Cinnamon church pews, naturally, and a very savory incense (you know how some can be that way), and what’s interesting is that the cherry wine, which by the way is definitely strong enough to intoxicate, seems present only sometimes, as though being passed around the warm room.. but what really raises my heartbeat about this are the melted wax/extinguished candle notes- incredibly, unprecedentedly realistic, perfectly fitting, and so so beautiful to me. Aalso, this is a very different experience on paper (my review is based on the scent on my skin).
Fragrantica: The smell of Faust's study when the bellowing black poodle is covered by smoke, hallowed spirits carol warnings in the corridor, and the mist fades for Mephistopheles to step forward.
Fragrantica: This scent is intriguing! Like its sister from this house, Warm Bulb, it is a realistic fragrance. It’s complex, with the scent combinations unique- I have personally never smelled another fragrance like it. It’s warm, spicy, smoky, comforting. I wore this in the wild in high summer, where its powers seemed misplaced. Definitely a fall and winter fragrance for me.
Fragrantica: It's a church scent, alright, but it's definitively more blood-spewing-down-the-pews than it is bring-your-mother-and-wear-your-Sunday-finest. Someone else stated that this fragrance would be appropriate to wear to a murder mystery, and another described it as "bitchy and relentlessly religious." They were both right. With the Candlestick is the burning of carnal desires. It's the gothic musk of a musty, cobweb-filled church that's been passionately lit with blood-red candles dripping wax, while Gregorian chants echo throughout...and a clandestine S&M party rages in the basement with velvet blindfolds, leather whips and metal chains, and revelers bound in black latex. Think American Horror Story: Church. I still haven't a clue (pun intended) where or when l'd wear this scent. But I want it. Naughty, haughty, delicious, and slightly sacrilegious, With the Candlestick could be the vampiric scent of a 70s or 80s giallo horror film. Or, it could be the fragrance of The Crow's Brandon Lee, scaling gothic and rainy rooftops to the sounds of Nine Inch Nails' Dead Souls or The Cure's Burn. But perhaps it most reminds me of the climax of 1980's The Fog, as the damned townsfolk flee to a dark, remote church as they're beset upon by ghosts and the dread-inducing soundtrack score booms with the weight of a ram being pounded against a door. Like the vengeful ghosts in that film, there is something dangerous and foreboding about this scent. The oft-used term to describe obscure fragrances, "challenging," doesn't do this justice. With the Candlestick isn't challenging; it's unforgiving. It's...apocalyptic. There isn't a genie in this bottle - there's a wrathful God instead, with fire and brimstone on His (or Her) mind. The only downside is that, like an apocalypse itself, With the Candlestick burns bright and fast: its longevity is weak and it doesn't outlive the initial blast.
Fragrantica: My boyfriend wore it and on him it smelled amazing. From afar I could smell the cherry and wine. Not a maraschino cherry but a dark cherry. Up close I could smell the smokiness which wasn’t meaty at all. It was more campfire which I love. Perfect winter scent. Wish it smelled like this on me but I get the meaty experience :) it’s truly something one has to try out.
Fragrantica: The cherry note blends so beautifully with its other parts that it sets the whole scene. A snuffed-out candle with its lingering aroma of hot wax, communion during a Winters Sunday morning service, the metallic chill of a cathedrals marble floors, the smell of incense that will stay in your hair until your baptism, all served with a side of Catholic guilt. This is dark, bitchy, and relentlessly religious but in a way that I yearn to be draped in its holy elixir. With the Candlestick is so complex that not one domination could define its depth, as the smoke fades the journey continues deeper into a service that will last much longer than morning mass. My prayers have been answered for I found the church scent of my dreams; one that feels like it could be a nightmare yet with no desire to be freed from its dormancy. 100/10.
Fragrantica: I wear this whenever i feel contemplative and have a deep desire to smell divine. smelling this reminds me of attending church as a child. perfectly combines cherry w a deeply resinous smoky incense & an almost carnal background. My brother told me I smell like a snuffed out candle. I also once wore this to bed and when I was teetering between wakefulness and slumber I smelled it on my comforter and actually let out a sigh before falling back to sleep. Never thought a scent inspired by a child’s impression of communion would move me the way this has…the grave becomes the cradle…
Fragrantica: Smokey incense, boozy cinnamon cherry liqueur, smooth labdanum, and this thick waxy musky backbone. This is one of the easiest incense forward scents, the sweet boozy cherry wine really sweetens it up to give a great contrast between sweet cherry wine and the cooling incense. Then it dries down it has thick and waxy musk, like a thick sweater hug, and old oak wood. First from the house and blown away, can't wait to try the other two. Fall/Winter night to my nose, will be wearing this out during these colder nights. This stuff nukes the room upon first spray, then has strong projection for the first 3-4 hours of the 8-9 hour performance when I wore it. Easy on the trigger. I imagine this would be a compliment beast at a goth bar. 10/10
Fragrantica: With the Candlestick smells like my grandparents' church on christmas eve. It invokes images of your best red sweater you break out of your closet once a year, church pews lined with evergreen wreaths, and the cinnamon-tinged scent of potpourri wafting off of the old grannies sitting in them. Uou know those little white candles churches give out for each person to light when it's time to sing silent night at the end of the service? This smells like the tendrils of smoke from those freshly extinguished little candles curling into your nostrils mixed with melted Christmas candy.
Fragrantica: This is sin and sanctity in a bottle, a beautiful imagery of old wood pews and the smell of incense fills the mind here. It’s like taking refuge in the confessional booth and the smell of hot wax embracing you. It’s a strong scent and definitely has a powerful profile to it. I wouldn’t recommend it to just anyone as it’s very smoky and can be a bit nauseating to some, but this is what piety smells like.
