NEST’s Iconic Holiday Candle Is Now...A Perfume?

Everything is a perfume these days. Nail polish, cardamom lattes, cereal milk, gunpowder—if your nose can smell it, perfumers can bottle it. And the newest iteration of this phenomenon is NEST, the brand known for both our favorite candles and perfumes. But now, they’re mixing it all up. NEST’s newest launch for the season is Wonder Eau de Parfum, a fragrance inspired by the brand’s best-selling Holiday candle.Actually, NEST Holiday is the #1 luxury candle in America. If you haven’t burned it in your home, you’ve probably smelled it, either browsing the aisles of Nordstrom or on the coffee table of your chic friends. It’s actually my favorite candle of all time. I’ve burned it in my apartment every single year since I had a grown-up job and could afford to drop $52. It’s spicy and warm, with vanilla, amber, cinnamon, and clove notes. But to make it quintessentially holiday, there’s an addition of pine, as well as a citrusy tinge from mandarin orange and pomegranate. It smells like turning the lights on the Christmas tree for the first time, gathering with family for a game night and latkes, and snuggling up to watch The Holiday with a cup of hot cocoa. I freakin’ love it, and so does everyone else, apparently.But have I ever wanted to smell like my favorite candle? I don’t know! But Wonder isn’t a 1:1 copy of Holiday. NEST reimagined the scent we love in Holiday to create something you can wear. It’s a bright citrus scent, paired with festive spices and warm woods, that’s meant to come off softer and more skin-like than Holiday. But does it work?In usual beauty editor fashion, I paraded around the Cosmo office asking my coworkers what they thought about the fragrance. Does it hold up as a standalone scent, or is it a bottled version of a candle?The overall consensus was mixed. I think this fragrance is sexy, and I’d love to smell it on my lover, cuddled into each other on the sofa. On my skin, the citrus notes are extremely prevalent. There’s grapefruit and cranberry, which help this from smelling too heavy. But when I smell it on a blotter (aka the paper you spray perfume on at the store), I definitely get “candle.”The team, who test fragrances for a living, all agreed that it’s quite a strong scent, which is great if you love something that you can sniff from across the room. But if you’re a “clean girl” who opts for a skin scent usually, maybe stick with the candle instead of this perfume.“This gives me 'wear-at-home' perfume vibes,” says fashion and luxury commerce editor Sarah Maberry. “I could see myself spraying it on while I'm wearing PJs and cozied up on the couch; that way I can spritz it on my sofa and throw blanket.” She wasn’t a huge fan of the pine notes (FWIW, I don’t really get these when it’s sprayed on my skin), but she appreciates how the citrus lightens it all up.If you wanted a perfume to match all of your holiday dresses and red lips, NEST Wonder is definitely the best one I’ve found. It’s for a very specific purpose and type of person, but it’s definitely holiday. And I’m here for it! The fragrance is shoppable now on NEST’s website if you want to match your fragrance to your candle. I wasn’t sure I did, but now I’m sold.Shop Nest’s full Holiday collectionWhy trust Cosmopolitan? Beth Gillette is the beauty editor at Cosmopolitan with eight years of experience researching, writing, and editing skin, hair, makeup, nail, and fragrance stories.Beth Gillette is the beauty editor at Cosmopolitan, where she covers skincare, makeup, hair, nails, and more across digital and print. She can generally be found in bright eyeshadow furiously typing her latest feature or hemming and hawing about a new product you "have to try." Prior to Cosmopolitan, she wrote and edited beauty content as an Editor at The Everygirl for four years. Follow her on Instagram for makeup selfies and a new hair 'do every few months.