The $16 Candle That Smells Exactly Like Diptyque Baies

It’s uncanny—and it's on sale.

I’ve been aware of Diptyque — which for years, I assumed was pronounced ‘Dipty-cue’ instead of ‘Dip-teek’ — for as long as I can remember. Like many other millennial women, the French luxury fragrance brand looms large in my mind thanks to The Coveteur, where the beautiful, well-appointed bathrooms of the it girls they interviewed typically held at least one empty Diptyque canister repurposed to hold beauty brushes or bedroom trinkets. But even before that, I remember spotting the recognizable white labels hidden in the background of the photos Teen Vogue published of nepo baby bedroom decor, like some high-end game of I Spy. Their seeming omnipresence in the homes of wealthy women, gave me the sense that they were something to aspire to, the universal symbol of bougie, classic women everywhere.

Diptyque’s most famous scent is without question Baies, a sweet, cloying scent so thick it gets caught in one’s nose hairs. It’s dark and vegetal, redolent of juniper with a sharp, almost acrid top note of, what else? Berries. According to the brand, it smells like blackcurrants and fresh roses, but to me it just smells like money. A single 190g candle costs $100 Canadian. When I worked at a fashion magazine, I received a mini Baies candle (75g) as a gift from a brand (specifically, Michael Kors) and when I burned it, my apartment basically transformed into the set of a rom-com where the main character works a normal job but lives in a suspiciously upscale apartment. (Like Carrie Bradshaw burning Baies on her bedside table in season 4 of Sex and the City.) From then on I was hooked, developing something of an expensive candle habit — after all, what’s a $100 candle when you’re living the DINK lifestyle in a very cheap apartment? Now, in my single income, post-inflation existence, the idea of spending $100 on a candle is ludicrous — though evidence of my former habit remains.

So imagine my surprise when I received a candle, kindly gifted from a PR agency, that smelled IDENTICAL to Baies. At first I couldn’t quite place the smell, I only sensed that it was very familiar. Then after some light searching of my mental Rolodex I was able to identify its sweet, honeyed scent for exactly what it is—Baies. For a few weeks, every time I lit the candle, I was transported back to the vestiges of my former existence, like some storybook princess flouncing around inside a deliciously-scented castle.

The candle in question is ‘Chili, Miel & fleur d’orange’ by Dans Un Jardin, a small Canadian brand that manufactures their soy candles in Boucherville, Quebec. According to the brand, the candle’s top notes are wild honey, beeswax, lychee, bergamot, with middle notes of orange blossom, ginger, rose, cayenne pepper and base notes of amber, vanilla, and musk. I have absolutely no idea how this combination coalesces into a formula that creates an exact replica of Baies, but I promise you it absolutely does. It truly boggles the mind that a Quebecois company that sells giant bottles of hand soap refills has managed to unwittingly create the perfect dupe of a French luxury candle. Honestly, whoever came up with this candle is a sick genius.

I’m not the only one who thinks it smells like  Baies either. After posting a quick Instagram story about the scent similarities, journalist Maggie Wrobel reached out letting me know she had made the purchase, and once it arrived, was able to confirm that the smell resembled Baies to a T. Wrobel’s conversion inspired one of her friends to buy one, thereby triggering a word-of-mouth purchase chain not unlike the one that inspired the legendary Amazon coat New York mag story from 2018.

I am not getting paid for this — I kinda feel like I should be though…gotta figure out this affiliate link business— but I feel duty-bound to let you know that Dan un Jardin is currently having a massive sale and their single wick candles, including ‘Chili, Miel & fleur d’orange’, have dropped from their usual price of $16.95 down to $10.17. The triple-wicked big boys are only $16.77, usually $27.95. It’s a far cry from Baies exorbitant $100 price tag. Even if they weren’t on sale, these candles would still be a steal. So go forth — I urge you! — to try out these Diptyque dupes and report back. The sale is almost enough to inspire me to try some of their other scents. Is it possible ‘Forêt Nordique’ smells exactly like Feu de Bois? Who can say :)