Home Decorating Bedroom Decorating Lighting Candles Relieves My Insomnia—and Here Are 7 Under-$30 Scents I’m Eyeing Right Now Starting at just $13. By Grace Smith Grace Smith Grace Smith has been with Dotdash Meredith since 2022. She is currently a Commerce Writer covering home, style, wellness, beauty, and more for brands like Real Simple, Southern Living, and Better Homes & Gardens. Previously, her work has been published in Cosmopolitan, PEOPLE, Well+Good, The Quality Edit, and more, as well as the book review blog she founded 11+ years ago. Real Simple's Editorial Guidelines Published on March 8, 2023 09:00PM EST Share Tweet Pin Email We independently evaluate all recommended products and services. If you click on links we provide, we may receive compensation. Learn more. Photo: Real Simple / Tyler Roeland I’ve struggled with insomnia off and on my entire life, unable to calm my racing thoughts during periods of emotional turmoil or stress. Over the years, I’ve developed and accumulated methods and routines that help me “turn off” when it gets close to my bedtime. One of them? Lighting a candle. My habit started by channeling core tenets of classical conditioning: ideally, lighting a candle then taking a sleep aid medication would train my body to associate the action with a feeling of sleepiness. It turns out there are multiple other benefits, as the flickering, ambient light makes you feel more relaxed and a soothing scent can even lower blood pressure, making it even easier to snooze. With Sleep Awareness Week on the horizon, as the sun dips below the horizon, I’ve rounded up seven favorites. 7 Candles Under $30 to Improve Your Nighttime Routine: Threshold Lidded Glass Jar Ocean Air and Moss Candle, $13; target.com Sweet Fig Minimalist Candle, $28; brooklyncandlestudio.com Luxury Three-Piece Mini Candle Set, $13; publicgoods.com Nest Fragrances Bamboo Scented Candle, $18; ulta.com ScentLab Scent Kit, $30; scentlab.com Cuddle Me Cozy Gardenia Companion Candle, $25; companioncandles.com WoodWick Ellipse Tropical Sunrise Trilogy Scented Candle, $23 (was $31); amazon.com Target Threshold Lidded Glass Jar Ocean Air and Moss Candle Threshold candles from my Target are my go-to. Since I move around a lot (and generally live within a short distance of a Target), picking up Threshold candles immediately makes any space feel like home. I love all the scents and sizes, but especially appreciate the stylish dark amber glass jar and crackling wick. Oh, and a bonus—the wooden tops make perfect coasters for my bedside table. To buy: $13; target.com. Brooklyn Candle Studio Sweet Fig Minimalist Candle Brooklyn Candle Studio, based in—you guessed it, New York—specializes in minimalist candles with attractive scents. The candles have 100 percent soy wax for an eco-friendly clean burn, and they’re also vegan, cruelty-free, phthalate-free, and petroleum-free. Top notes include rosewood, middle is mediterranean fig, and the base notes are amber and patchouli. To buy: $28; brooklyncandlestudio.com. Public Goods Luxury Three-Piece Mini Candle Set Believe it or not, I first discovered the affordable magic of the Public Goods candle at the beginning of the pandemic, when Public Goods was the only retailer I could find still stocking toilet paper. To fill my cart minimum, I tossed in this candle, and quickly fell in love with the Cedar & Suede scent. For being such a low price, they’re incredibly high quality, and I appreciate the retailer’s sustainability. This three-pack of 3.5-ounce candles—including lavender and vanilla, black currant, and cedar and suede—is a helpful introduction to the line to discover your favorite. To buy: $13; publicgoods.com. Amazon Nest Fragrances Bamboo Scented Candle Nest Fragrances is a popular brand among gifters (and giftees!) thanks to its highly refined wax developed to optimize burn and fragrance diffusion. The scent includes white florals, sparkling citrus, and fresh green accords, giving a light and airy scent that lets the user unwind. To buy: $18; ulta.com. Scent Lab Scent Lab Scent Kit The Real Simple team recently discovered and adored the ScentLab system, which creates a personalized candle for you using AI. The quiz asks you about your scent preferences, sensitivity to smell, lifestyle, and more before matching you with a candle you’re sure to love. (Mine’s currently burning every night beside me!) If you’re unwilling to commit to one scent, you can try three votives for even less for a total of 50 hours of burn time and you get 15 percent off if you choose to buy the full-size. To buy: $30; scentlab.com. Companion Candles Cuddle Me Cozy Companion Candle If you’re a pet lover, you may love the mission behind Companion Candles, a clean and cruelty-free candle brand that donates $1 from each candle sold to help animals in need. This gardenia-scented candle “smells and feels like warm laundry,” which means it’s ideal for a nighttime routine that might involve resetting your room or putting up your own laundry before bed (the time of day in which I most often do it myself). To buy: $25; companioncandles.com. Amazon WoodWick Ellipse Tropical Sunrise Trilogy Scented Candle How about a sunrise around sunset? This three-layer scent is complex enough to delight your senses as each scent melts into the next, and we love the aesthetic appeal of the ultra-wide base. Act now while it’s 27 percent off on Amazon. To buy: $23 (was $31); amazon.com. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit More Must-Shop Products I Shop Amazon for a Living, and These Are the 10 Wardrobe Basics That I Wear All the Time These Reusable Dishcloths Are an Eco-Friendly Alternative to Paper Towels—and They’re Only $2 Apiece This Popular Blanket Brand Has an Ultra-Soft, Hooded Robe That We Want to Live in All Winter