The Internet's Best-Kept Secret? 9 Amazon Home Scents That Smell So Much More Expensive Than They Are

Price: $22
Burn time: 50 hours

Dedicated Livingetc readers may already know that Voluspa's Baltic Amber is my favorite scent. Truly, I have evangelized this product non-stop. It's warm, sensual, and woodsy, with notes like amber resin, sandalwood, cedar, and vanilla orchid. It's a powerful, long-lasting scent that lingers well after you blow out the flame. Plus, it's nice to watch the light flicker in the stunning golden brown jar — a bit of functional home decor. If you need any additional convincing, how's this for an anecdote: When I asked my friend Taylor to send me a few of her favorite Amazon home scents, she immediately sent me a link to this exact candle. 2/2, baby.

Price: $21.92, Was: $25
Burn time: 45 hours

If you want your house to smell like the most delicious and musky men's cologne, Mahogany Teakwood is the candle for you. It's a late November evening captured and melted into a candle, with notes of black teakwood, dark oak, and frosted lavender. My roommates and I repurchased this exact candle multiple times for our New York apartment; it was one of our favorites (admittedly, we called it the "Hot Boy" candle). With that in mind, it's also the perfect unisex scent should your partner want something a little less flowery and a little more woodsy. Mahogany Teakwood splits the difference.

Price: $29.37, Was: $35
Burn time: 40 hours

My friend Makenzie is a huge scent guru; she owns upward of 15 different perfumes and is always burning a candle while she reads or relaxes. So of course I turned to her for some sage candle-buying advice. Although her favorite is this Paddywax tobacco vanilla (unfortunately sold out at the moment), she also enthusiastically recommended this Salted Blue Agave option from the same brand. "This scent is amazing," she tells me, "and once you finish it they give you instructions on turning the vessel into a margarita glass." It's an "eco-friendly win-win!"

Price: $28

If you've been inside an Anthropologie store you're likely familiar with the famous Volcano candle and its refreshing, flowery fragrance reminiscent of afternoons on Oahu. This room spray bottles up that same scent from the original creators, Capri Blue; it is certainly one of the most luxurious options you can find on Amazon (and for less than the price of an Anthropologie candle—although, there are sure to be some good discounts ahead of the Black Friday Anthropologie sale). Some customers had issues with the bottle and its spray mechanism, per reviews, but most if not all seemed pretty united on the delicious scent.

Price: $61

It's a bit more expensive than the others on this list, but you can't go wrong with an Aesop room spray (and it would make for an excellent hostess gift this holiday season). This fresh and woodsy scent features galbanum, grapefruit, and jasmine with a touch of cedar to offset the citrus. Reviewers are pleased, as evident by the 4.9/5-star average customer rating. "Aesop is a brand you can never go wrong with. I have all sorts of products from them over the years and I'm always happy with them," wrote one recent buyer. "This room spray makes the house smell like mist, moss, and forest. It is really nice. Total keeper!"

Price: $15.99, Was: $24.99

The reviews for the price on this "Pacific Driftwood" scented room spray, packaged in a shockingly stylish bottle, stopped me in my tracks; I've never tried this scent, but I'll let the customer feedback speak for itself; we're talking a 4.5/5-star rating across 144 reviews. The perfume takes its cues from the beauty of mornings in Southern California, with notes of eucalyptus, fig, and sandalwood. "Perfect for relaxing and winding down at the end of the day!" said one reviewer. "Here’s a plus…the scent lasts!!!! Add this to your home essentials! 10/10 definitely recommend."

Price: $32

I spent an evening at a scent workshop with P.F. Candle Co.'s founder last year, and let me tell you — not only was I incredibly impressed with her knowledge of smells and fragrance, but her process itself blew me away. As we sniffed, the teakwood/tobacco combo was a stand-out. It's woodsy, subtle, and as is the case with all of P.F.'s candles, crafted from 100% domestically-grown soy wax and paraben and phthalate-free fragrances. Definitely worth a try.

Price: $41.27, Was: $58.96

Below 60 is a new plug-in diffuser from none other than Hilary Duff — and let me tell you, I loved testing this out. I was gifted a starter pack around this time last year and dutifully tried all three of the included scents in my tiny New York bedroom. The fragrance throw was powerful; not in a bad way, just an apparent, "this is definitely working" way. I liked that you could also adjust the scent release for something more powerful or subdued. I enjoyed all three scents (and have been meaning to re-buy), but my favorite was the vanilla, which was mostly warm but punctuated with a touch of sweetness.

Price: $49.60, Was: $62

Nest is another well-known legacy brand in the scent space, so it's an easy fail-safe when scrolling Amazon. Luckily, my friend Makenzie (the scent guru, you will recall) also gave this option a rousing endorsement (albeit in candle form, but the smell is the same). She pulls this out when she wants something a bit fresher for the daytime or maybe the changing of the seasons — spring, specifically.