Cire Trudon lights up Marylebone

Once upon a time, long, long ago, Beauty Bible stumbled dreamily into a shop in Paris’s Saint-Sulpice – and found we’d gone to candle heaven.  Since then we’ve been devotees of Cire Trudon:  an extraordinary, historic brand, which illuminated the court of Louis XIV, and still produces its vegetable-based candles in an artisan way.

     Today, they’re mostly scented. Catholic church-y Spiritus Sancti.  Moroccan mint tea Abd el Kader.  Dada, which is a compelling infusion of black tea and vetiver.  Or Trianon, with its white flowers, which always makes us feel a bit reincarnation-of-Marie-Antoinette-in-her-shepherdess-days.

      Eurostar’s loss is Marylebone’s gain, then, now that Cire Trudon has opened its first London store, on Chiltern Street – instantly making it a shopping-boulevard-to-watch.  (And BTW, André Balazs is converting the fire station opposite into his first London hotel, so it’s poised to become very hip indeed.)

     Can we suggest you give your senses a treat and set aside a half-hour to breathe your way through almost 20 intriguing Cire Trudon candles in this beautiful yet quirky space, which are showcased (as per usual) beneath glass domes in which you’re invited to bury your nose. 

     It’s a little bit of Paris perfection, come to Paddington…

Cire Trudon, 36 Chiltern Street, London W1U 7QL/020-7486 7590
www.ciretrudon.com