Two of the five candles on this list share more of North Pole's actual scent notes than Yankee Candle's own newest version does. North Pole Greetings, the 2025 Polar Express edition, trades the original's peppermint and vanilla for arctic mint and snow powder. Line its notes up against the old list and not one name repeats. If you bought it hoping for the candle you remember, you brought home a new scent with a familiar name.
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Most people handle this by searching the name and buying whatever comes up. That rarely works. Yankee retires North Pole between seasons and brings it back under new titles like North Pole Hideaway. Dupes on marketplaces borrow the label too, and many push the peppermint so hard that the sweetness disappears. A name on a jar tells you very little about what is in it, so we sorted every candle here by its notes, including the two we pour by hand in our 100% beeswax candles made in New York City.
What North Pole actually smells like, from the top down
Yankee Candle builds North Pole in three layers. The top notes are eucalyptus and crisp ozone. The middle holds wintergreen, spearmint, and peppermint, and the base is vanilla and tonka bean.
A candle gives up those layers in order as the wax warms. Top notes come from the lightest oils, so they rise and reach your nose first. Base notes are heavier and slower, which is why they hang in the room after the flame is out.
A real match has to line up at each layer. We ranked the layers below from the one everyone notices to the one nobody checks, because the last one is where most dupes fall apart.
1. The mint, which is what everyone searches for
Ask someone to describe North Pole and the first word is peppermint. That makes sense. Three mints sit in the middle of the blend, and together they read as a candy cane.
Mint is also the easiest note to copy. Nearly every winter candle has some. A jar of plain peppermint will remind you of North Pole for a second and then drift off somewhere else, which tells you the mint was never doing the whole job.
2. The cold air, which you feel before you can name it
Think about the first breath when you step out the door on a January morning. The air stings the inside of your nose and your eyes water a little. Eucalyptus and ozone put that feeling into North Pole, and they push the mint toward winter weather.
Many dupes skip this layer. Without it, the candle smells sweet and flat, closer to a tin of mints than a snowy porch. The cold top is what makes the scent feel like the season.
That cold first breath is the opening of our Sunday Reset beeswax candle. It starts on peppermint and eucalyptus, the same pair that gives North Pole its bite. Then it settles into something warmer, which brings us to the layer that decides the whole match.
3. The sweet base, which nobody checks and most dupes miss
Vanilla and tonka bean sit at the bottom of North Pole and do the quiet work. Tonka bean is a seed that smells warm and a little like almond, close to vanilla but deeper. Together they wrap the mint in something soft and creamy.
Take that base away and the same mint starts to smell like mouthwash. That is why so many people say they dislike mint candles. Most of what they have smelled is mint with nothing under it.
So the match you want has cold mint on top and a sweet base holding it down. Once you look for that structure, the list of real options gets short fast. There is one more thing to check before we name them.
What the scent sits in changes how it reaches you
Fragrance is only part of what you smell. The wax carries the oil, and the wick sets how hot and how wide the melt pool gets. A slow, even pool lets the light top notes come off steadily, so the cold mint lasts through the burn.
Beeswax has the highest melting point of any candle wax. A harder wax melts more slowly, so the candle burns longer and releases its scent at an even pace. Our 12 oz size burns 80+ hours on two wooden wicks, and the 5 oz burns 40 hours on one.
The fragrance is phthalate-free. Phthalates are chemicals some fragrance makers add to help a scent cling, and we leave them out. There are no chemical dyes either, so the jar shows the natural color of the wax instead of a holiday green.
With the scent structure and the burn both in hand, the field sorts itself quickly.
The 5 best candles that smell like Yankee Candle North Pole
We ranked these by how much of North Pole's structure each one rebuilds, cold top through sweet base, and by what you are burning underneath it. That puts the two beeswax candles first, with Sunday Reset as our pick.
1. Sunday Reset: the closest match to North Pole's cold-to-sweet arc
Notes: Peppermint, Clove, Cedar, Patchouli, Vanilla, Eucalyptus
Standout feature: It shares peppermint, eucalyptus, and vanilla with North Pole by name. That covers the cold top and the sweet base, the two layers most dupes fail to pair.
The first breath is cold, with peppermint and eucalyptus sharp and clean. As the pool widens, clove comes in dark and sweet, and cedar adds a dry, fresh-cut wood smell. Vanilla and patchouli sit at the bottom, so the room ends up warm and low, the same way North Pole softens as it burns.
Best for: the living room where the tree goes, and anyone who remembers North Pole as the smell of the whole house in December.
Wax: 100% beeswax | Wick: wooden, two on the 12 oz | Fragrance: phthalate-free | Burn time: 40 hours (5 oz), 80+ hours (12 oz) | Dyes: none
Price: $65 for the 12 oz, the size for a living room you light most evenings through the holidays.
“Theres nothing I hate more than a candle that can't fill the room and baby this is NOT that. This candle permeates every corner of the room.”
Verified buyer, on another scent from the same beeswax line
That is what two wooden wicks in the 12 oz jar are for. Two flames build a wider melt pool, so more of the scented wax is warm at once and the scent reaches the corners of a bigger room.
2. Slice of Life: the mint-forward match for the kitchen
Notes: Spearmint, Eucalyptus, Tomato Leaf, Anise, Mint
Standout feature: It carries North Pole's spearmint and eucalyptus plus a second mint, so the cool middle and the cold top both land.
Picture tearing fresh mint over a glass at the kitchen counter. That cold green smell jumps straight up. Slice of Life holds that moment, with tomato leaf adding a just-snapped stem underneath and anise giving a faint licorice sweetness that keeps the mint from turning sharp.
Best for: the kitchen in winter, and the reader whose favorite part of North Pole was always the cool top.
Wax: 100% beeswax | Wick: wooden, two on the 12 oz | Fragrance: phthalate-free | Burn time: 40 hours (5 oz), 80+ hours (12 oz) | Dyes: none
Price: $32 for the 5 oz, sized for a kitchen you light while you cook or bake.
3. Yankee Candle Jack Frost: the sharper peppermint
Jack Frost is Yankee's other cool-mint candle, and fans of North Pole often hold the two side by side. It leans harder on straight peppermint, with less of the vanilla sweetness that made North Pole feel like a candy shop.
Who reaches for it: shoppers who want peppermint up front. If that is you, Sunday Reset opens just as cold and keeps its vanilla underneath, so the room still warms as it burns.
4. Lavin Joy Co. North Pole: the evergreen take
Lavin Joy Co. is a smaller maker that hand pours in a coconut wax blend. Its North Pole pairs creamy peppermint with crisp evergreen and an earthy touch of moss, so it reads more like a tree lot than a candy cane.
Who reaches for it: people drawn to the green, outdoor side of winter. Slice of Life covers that green edge with tomato leaf, poured in 100% beeswax on a wooden wick.
5. Yankee Candle North Pole Greetings: the snow edition
This is the 2025 Polar Express release. Its notes run from sparkling snowflakes and chilled bergamot at the top to snow powder, white musk, and soft amber at the base. It smells of fresh snow, and the peppermint and vanilla of the original are gone from its list.
Who reaches for it: collectors of the Polar Express line. If the old North Pole is the smell you want back, Sunday Reset keeps the peppermint and vanilla this edition dropped.
Side by side: how each one rebuilds North Pole
| Candle | Mint layer | Base layer | Leans toward |
|---|---|---|---|
| MBur Sunday Reset | Peppermint, with eucalyptus on top | Vanilla and patchouli, warmed by clove and cedar | The original's cold-to-sweet arc |
| MBur Slice of Life | Spearmint and mint, with eucalyptus on top | Tomato leaf and anise | Fresh, green mint |
| Yankee Candle Jack Frost | Sharp peppermint | Lighter vanilla sweetness | Straight peppermint |
| Lavin Joy Co. North Pole | Creamy peppermint | Evergreen and moss | A winter tree lot |
| Yankee Candle North Pole Greetings | Arctic mint | Snow powder, white musk, soft amber | Fresh snow |
The doubts that come up once the list is short
But I want the exact North Pole smell
Yankee itself keeps changing the formula and the name, so the exact jar you remember may not be on any shelf this year. What you can get back is the structure. Sunday Reset shares the peppermint, the eucalyptus, and the vanilla, and its clove and cedar give the middle a little more warmth.
Light it in the same spot where you used to burn North Pole. The room where the memory lives is where the match will feel closest.
But mint candles always smell like toothpaste to me
That reaction almost always comes from mint with no base under it. Sunday Reset has vanilla and patchouli at the bottom, and the beeswax pool releases those heavier notes as the burn goes on.
Give it a full first burn, until the melted wax reaches the edge of the jar. That gives the warm base time to come through and round off the mint.
But will a mint scent carry in a big, open living room?
That comes down to size. The 12 oz has two wooden wicks, and two flames melt a wider pool, so more scent is released at once. One verified buyer put it plainly:
“I love this candle. I burn it everyday and my whole place smells AMAZING.”
Verified buyer
For an open plan, put the 12 oz in the main room. A smaller space, like a kitchen or a home office, does well with the 5 oz.
How to place and burn it so the cold notes last
Set the candle where people pass, like a side table near the front door or the tree. The light top notes spread through a room first, so a spot people walk past greets them with the cold opening. Keep it away from vents and open windows, since a draft bends the flame and makes the wax melt unevenly.
On the first burn, keep it lit until the melted wax reaches the edge of the jar. A candle put out early tends to tunnel down the middle from then on, and the scent drops with it.
Trim the wooden wick before each burn and brush off any charred tip. A short, clean wick keeps the flame steady, and a steady flame gives you that soft crackle. Burn for a few hours at a time, and let the candle cool fully before you light it again.
Questions readers ask about North Pole dupes
What does Yankee Candle North Pole actually smell like?
It opens on eucalyptus and crisp ozone, moves into wintergreen, spearmint, and peppermint, and settles on vanilla and tonka bean. If you want that cold-to-sweet arc in beeswax, Sunday Reset follows it most closely.
Is North Pole Greetings the same candle as the old North Pole?
They are different candles. North Pole Greetings is built around snow powder, white musk, and soft amber, with no peppermint or vanilla on its list. For the original's mint and vanilla, reach for our peppermint and vanilla Sunday Reset candle.
Which candle smells like North Pole but less sweet?
Slice of Life keeps the spearmint and eucalyptus and swaps the creamy base for green tomato leaf and a little anise. The Slice of Life beeswax candle fits a kitchen especially well.
How long does a beeswax candle like this burn?
Our 5 oz burns 40 hours on one wooden wick, and our 12 oz burns 80+ hours on two. You can pick either size on the page for Sunday Reset in 100% beeswax.
Our pick: Sunday Reset in the 12 oz size
North Pole works because cold mint sits on top of a soft, sweet base, and most dupes keep the mint and lose the rest. The best candles that smell like Yankee Candle North Pole rebuild both layers, and Sunday Reset does it with three of the original's notes on a 100% beeswax base.
Our pick is Sunday Reset in the 12 oz size for the living room. It makes the house smell like December the moment someone walks in, and its peppermint, eucalyptus, and vanilla line up with North Pole by name. The two wooden wicks fill a bigger room, and the 80+ hour burn carries it from the first cold weekend through the holidays.
“They smell up a WHOLE room during the burn & even a while after blowing them out. I won't buy other candles anymore, they're just that good”
Verified buyer
One reason to order now: this is a cold-weather scent, and the sooner it arrives, the more of the season it fills.
Bring home Sunday Reset in the 12 oz size, because it brings back the North Pole smell you remember, cold mint over soft vanilla, in the room where everyone gathers.
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