Scent of petrol station? PENCIL SHAVINGS BOOKSHELF ’85 DIESEL PSYCHOANALYSIS ASH TREEHOUSE MOON

YOURS FOR JUST £60!

After Gwyneth’s ‘orgasm’ candle, other bonkers smells if you’ve money to burn

JUST when you thought Gwyneth Paltrow’s world couldn’t get any barmier, the actress has created a candle … that ‘smells like her orgasm’.

With notes of grapefruit and berries, blended with gunpowder tea and Turkish rose, Gwynnie says the aroma is ‘sexy, surprising and wildly addictive’. Selling for £75 on her website Goop, the candle is a follow-up to another risqué scent, This Smells Like My Vagina, which sold out in two days when it launched in January.

Candle lovers, it seems, can’t get enough of bonkers fragrances. From ash to diesel, pencil shavings to treehouse, we test the strangest-smelling — and most ridiculously-named — designer candles ...

£50, anyahindmarch.com

WHAT IS IT: Created for the designer by expert ‘nose’ Marianne Martin, vice president of the British Society of Perfumers, this scent was launched alongside Chewing Gum and Lollipop candles.

It blends mandarin, pink pepper, rose, cedar, cypress and patchouli, with amber and cardamom in an attempt to evoke the aroma of ‘fresh notebooks and novelty erasers’. SMELLS LIKE: The bark of a wet tree. It reminds me of a hippy festival in a forest.

BURN TIME: 30 to 40 hours VERDICT: Why anyone would want their home to smell like sharpened pencils is beyond me, and this doesn’t even achieve that. 0/5 £40, no-22.com WHAT IS IT: From cult fragrance brand No 22, founded by Elle beauty director Sophie Beresiner, Bookshelf is a sophisticated scent, inspired by the ritual of curling up by the fire with a classic novel. It contains base notes of musk, with tar and leather, and is described as ‘warm, dusty, with...a very subtle sweetness.’ SMELLS LIKE: A dusty bookshelf; exactly what it says on the tin. There’s something comforting and nostalgic about the smell of old books. Fresher than I’d expected, I can also detect herbs, citrus and spices. BURN TIME: 55 to 60 hours VERDICT: Perfect for a cosy night in with a book, of course. 5/5

£60, osmology.co

WHAT IS IT: From New York perfumers D.S. & Durga, this candle promises to ‘take you out on the open road’. Inspired by a 1980s road trip, it has notes of suede, leather, vinyl and white violet, with hints of ‘leather seats, damp earth and diesel smoke’. Mmmm! SMELLS LIKE: A blend of new car and petrol. Sharp, smoky and earthy. The only place I’d burn this is in the garage. BURN TIME: 60 hours VERDICT: It’s too much like a diesel pump to be pleasant. 1/5

£45, bellafreud.com

WHAT IS IT: As quirky as her fashion line, Bella Freud’s candles all have esoteric names such as Lion and Night Music. Psychoanalysis (what else would you expect from the great granddaughter of Sigmund Freud?) combines heady neroli and lilac flowers with tobacco and cedarwood, and is one of the most popular in the range. SMELLS LIKE: A rebellious teenager’s bedroom: the perfume is so strong it’s like a musty Moroccan bazaar. After an hour, I find myself coughing and having to fling open the windows. BURN TIME: 40 hours VERDICT: A bit too too try-hard for me, but this would be a hit with teenage girls. 2/5

£35, farfetch.com

WHAT IS IT: By offbeat Los Angeles brand Boy Smells, which focuses on masculine scents. Described as a ‘modern, smoky scent’, it’s made of the essence of dry hay, firewood, smoke and charcoal, with notes of juniper berries.

SMELLS LIKE: That slightly sharp, addictive, smoky scent of a bonfire. The juniper makes it smell like pepper, pine cones and freshly-cut grass.

BURN TIME: 50 hours VERDICT: Reminds me of summer nights and crackling campfires. It’s much nicer than sniffing the embers of a fire. 4/5 £57, byredo.com WHAT IS IT: A favourite of celebrities Sienna Miller and Kate Bosworth, Swedish fragrance house Byredo is known for its whimsical, fairy tale-inspired scents. Treehouse contains essence of cedar, bamboo, sandalwood and hay, as well as myrrh. SMELLS LIKE: A sophisticated treehouse. It’s so woody, it smells like a man’s cologne, but with an unpleasant medicinal fragrance from the myrrh.

BURN TIME: 60 hours VERDICT: Disappointing. 1/5 £48, evermorelondon.com WHAT IS IT: This one, by Evermore, is inspired by ‘nocturnal roses’, which unfurl by moonlight — so, sadly, it doesn’t smell like the moon. It contains rose, saffron and cade (juniper). SMELLS LIKE: Fresh roses, with a spicy, smoky fragrance. Mercifully, there isn’t a hint of cheese. It smells delicious. BURN TIME: 60 hours VERDICT: Lovely, but should have been called plain old ‘rose’ instead. 4/5