If you want an amber clove candle that still smells like Thanksgiving after the turkey comes out of the oven, check the wax before the scent name. The two candles at the top of this list are poured in 100% beeswax with wooden wicks. That pairing holds a warm spice in the room through a long dinner and the dishes after it.
What customers say on Google
View on Google
Our top pick is People Watching, because its clove and nutmeg settle over vanilla and smell like a pie cooling on the counter. For the amber half, Retail Therapy works best near the front door, so guests walk from amber into clove as they move through the house. Both are pure beeswax candles we hand pour in New York City, and the right size for each depends on the room you are setting.
How these five are ranked, and what that means for your rooms
One reason sets the order: how long and how evenly each candle holds a warm spice at a full table. Wax and wick decide that before the scent does, which is why the two beeswax candles lead.
The three after them are well-known amber and clove candles from other houses. Each entry tells you what draws people to it, and which MBur scent and size covers that same ground in your home.
1. People Watching, the clove that smells like the pie on the counter
Every Thanksgiving there is a stretch around four o'clock when the pie sits by the window to cool. Anyone who walks through the kitchen slows down for a second. The room smells of warm crust and spice, and nobody has to say out loud that it is a holiday.
Our People Watching beeswax candle keeps that hour going on the dining table all afternoon. Lemon and orange zest open it, sharp and bright. Then the baking spices come forward, with clove dark and sweet over a thick vanilla base.
Scent notes: Lemon, Orange, Vanilla, Cinnamon, Clove, Nutmeg, Allspice, Ginger
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
Standout feature: the vanilla under the clove. In perfume, amber is a blend built mostly from warm resins and vanilla. A clove that rests on vanilla already carries the soft, rounded warmth people look for in an amber clove candle.
Here is why that matters at dinner. Clove on its own can read sharp, close to a dentist's office. The vanilla base rounds the edges, so the spice sits easily beside roast turkey and buttered rolls.
Who it is best for: the host whose dining room opens into the kitchen, or anyone who sets the table early and lights a candle before the first guest knocks.
Size and price: the 12 oz People Watching ($65). Its two wooden wicks melt the wide jar edge to edge, and its 80+ hours carry you from Thanksgiving through the long weekend of leftovers. If the candle is going in a small breakfast nook, the 5 oz size with one wooden wick and 40 hours fits that room.
I love this candle. I burn it everyday and my whole place smells AMAZING.
Verified buyer
That reach is what a holiday candle needs. A candle on the dining table has to carry to the hallway and the couch, because that is where people stand with a drink before dinner.
2. Retail Therapy, the amber that greets people at the door
The front door opens again and again on Thanksgiving. Each time, cold air rushes in with someone's coat and a dish wrapped in foil. The first thing they notice is how the house smells.
Our Retail Therapy beeswax candle is the one for that spot. Ripe peach and dark berries open it. Underneath, amber and tonka bean stay warm long after the fruit fades, so the entry smells like a house that has been waiting for company.
Scent notes: Red Currant, Black Currant, Jasmine, Peach, Black Tea, Amber, Anise, Tonka Bean
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
Standout feature: amber with tonka bean beneath it. Tonka bean smells close to vanilla with a trace of almond. It deepens the amber and helps it hang in the air near the door, where people pause to take off their shoes.
Who it is best for: the entryway, the guest bath, or the small room where the coats pile up on the bed.
Size and price: the 5 oz Retail Therapy ($32), with one wooden wick and 40 hours. An entryway or guest bath is a small space, and one wick fills it easily. For a living room where everyone gathers after dinner, the 12 oz size with two wicks is the better fit for that room.
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
Put the two MBur candles together and you have the full accord spread across your home. Amber at the door, clove at the table, with the two scents meeting in the hall.
3. Rathbornes 1488 Cedar, Cloves & Amber, the heritage house
Rathbornes is a Dublin candle maker with a long history, and the 1488 in its name points to that heritage. Its Cedar, Cloves & Amber candle leans woody, with cedar running under the spice. The house pours in a beeswax blend.
Who reaches for it: readers who like a drier, woodier clove and an old-world label on the shelf.
Why it sits third: a blend mixes beeswax with other waxes, while MBur pours a single ingredient. With one wax in the jar, the whole melt pool moves at the pace of beeswax, which has the highest melting point of any candle wax.
Where it leads you at MBur: if cedar under clove is what you love, the FAQ below names the MBur scent built on clove and cedar.
4. NoHo Candle Co. Clove Amber, both words on one label
NoHo Candle Co. hand pours in Los Angeles. Its Clove Amber puts clove and cinnamon on top of an amber and cedarwood base, and the house works in coconut soy wax. It draws the shopper who wants both words of her search printed on the jar.
Who reaches for it: someone who wants a single candle that names amber and clove on the label.
Why it sits fourth: coconut and soy both melt at lower temperatures than beeswax. The pool spreads faster and spends its scent sooner. For a candle that has to last from the first knock to the last plate, the slower melt of beeswax is the one you want.
Where it leads you at MBur: the same clove over amber direction comes from People Watching on the table and Retail Therapy near the door.
5. Capri Blue Pumpkin Clove, the pumpkin-forward jar
Capri Blue is sold widely at Anthropologie and is known for its decorative jars. Its Pumpkin Clove puts pumpkin first and clove second, with a festive seasonal profile.
Who reaches for it: someone who wants the room to say pumpkin before anything else.
Why it sits fifth: for an amber clove search, pumpkin steers this one in its own direction. The warmth comes from the gourd more than from amber.
Where it leads you at MBur: if the baked side of pumpkin pie is what you love, People Watching covers it with clove and nutmeg over vanilla, the spices that make the pie smell like pie.
The five side by side
| Candle | Scent direction | House style |
|---|---|---|
| 1. MBur People Watching | Citrus zest over clove and baking spice, vanilla base | 100% beeswax, wooden wick, hand poured in New York City |
| 2. MBur Retail Therapy | Peach and dark berries over amber and tonka bean | 100% beeswax, wooden wick, hand poured in New York City |
| 3. Rathbornes 1488 Cedar, Cloves & Amber | Cedar under clove and amber | Dublin heritage house, beeswax blend |
| 4. NoHo Candle Co. Clove Amber | Clove and cinnamon over amber and cedarwood | Hand poured in Los Angeles, coconut soy wax |
| 5. Capri Blue Pumpkin Clove | Pumpkin first, clove second | Decorative jar, sold widely at Anthropologie |
The table shows the pattern. The scent tells you where a candle is headed, and the wax tells you how long it will stay with you on the day.
Why the wax decides how your home smells at hour three
Scent leaves a candle through the melt pool, the layer of liquid wax around the wick. The fragrance oil sits in that pool and rises off it as it warms. How fast the pool forms, and how hot it runs, sets how steadily the scent reaches the room.
Beeswax has the highest melting point of any candle wax. It takes more heat to melt, so the pool grows slowly and the candle burns longer. That is why the 12 oz MBur size runs 80+ hours and the 5 oz runs 40. One verified buyer of Retail Therapy said it plainly: “Candle burned slowly and was exactly the amount of hours the company said it would burn.”
Most mass-market candles are paraffin. Refineries turn crude oil into fuel, and the heavy, waxy residue left over is cleaned up and sold to candle makers. Paraffin is petroleum waste, and it can leave a dark ring of soot on the inside of the jar by the end of a long night.
The wick matters just as much at a holiday table. A wooden wick is a thin, flat strip of wood that burns with a wide flame and a soft crackle, like a small fire in the next room. On the 12 oz size, two wicks melt the wax from both sides, so the pool reaches the glass evenly.
Beeswax also burns with a light close to natural sunlight, warm and gold. That glow flatters a table set at dusk. MBur pairs it with phthalate-free fragrance and no chemical dyes, so the jar holds only what you came for.
Setting the room: where each candle goes and when to light it
Give each candle its first full burn a day or two before Thanksgiving. Let it burn until the melt pool reaches the edge of the jar, which takes a couple of hours. This sets an even surface for every burn after, so the candle works its best on the day itself.
Place People Watching at the end of the table or on the sideboard. Keep it off the center line so the flame sits away from platters being passed. A candle at the end of the table also reaches the hall faster, where guests gather before dinner.
Set Retail Therapy on a shelf a few steps inside the entry. Right beside the door, every opening sends a draft across the flame. A few steps in, the flame stays steady and the amber still meets people as they arrive.
Light People Watching when the turkey goes onto the carving board. The kitchen smell peaks then, and as it fades over dinner, the clove takes over the room. Trim each wooden wick to about 1/8 inch before lighting, and burn for no more than four hours at a stretch. If dinner runs long, blow it out and relight it for dessert.
But what about my house? The three questions hosts still ask
But I wanted amber and clove in one jar.
Amber is a blend that bends to whatever sits beside it, so two rooms give you more control than one jar would. With Retail Therapy near the door and People Watching on the table, guests walk from amber into clove. You also get to decide which scent leads in each room.
But my whole first floor is one open room.
Then choose one candle and go big. The 12 oz People Watching with two wooden wicks belongs in the middle of that space, where its melt pool can reach the full width of the jar. One scent in an open plan reads as the smell of the house, and the clove carries from the stove to the couch.
But the kitchen will smell like turkey all day anyway.
That is the case for clove. Warm spice sits naturally beside a roast, the way it does in a pie or a glaze. Light the candle as the bird comes out, and the clove and vanilla take over as the cooking smell fades.
Questions hosts ask before Thanksgiving
What does an amber clove candle actually smell like?
Amber is warm and resinous with a honeyed sweetness, and clove adds a dark, sharp spice on top. If you want to know the amber side on its own, Retail Therapy's amber and tonka bean base shows you how deep and soft it gets once the fruit fades.
Will a clove candle compete with the food?
Clove that sits on vanilla reads rounded, so it blends with roast and baked dishes instead of cutting across them. That is how People Watching is built, with clove and nutmeg resting on a thick vanilla base. Place it at the end of the table and light it once the turkey is out.
Do you make a candle with clove and cedar for a quieter, woodier room?
Yes. Our Sunday Reset beeswax candle carries Peppermint, Clove, Cedar, Patchouli, Vanilla, Eucalyptus. It opens cold and clean, then settles into clove and dry cedar. It suits a guest bedroom where someone is staying the weekend.
How many hours will a beeswax candle last over the holiday weekend?
The 5 oz size burns 40 hours on one wooden wick, and the 12 oz size burns 80+ hours on two. Burned for three or four hours a day, the 12 oz carries you well past Thanksgiving weekend. Every scent comes in both sizes in our beeswax candle collection.
Our pick for Thanksgiving
The best amber clove candles for Thanksgiving start with the wax, because beeswax melts slowly and keeps a warm spice in the room through the whole meal. Put clove on the table and amber by the door, and your home smells like the holiday from the first knock to the last plate.
Our pick is the 12 oz People Watching for the dining room. It smells like the pie cooling by the window, the scent that tells everyone they are home for the holiday. Its two wooden wicks keep clove and nutmeg over vanilla moving through the room for 80+ hours.
One verified buyer put it this way: “They smell up a WHOLE room during the burn & even a while after blowing them out.”
Order it this week, because the first full burn a day or two before Thanksgiving sets an even melt pool for every burn that follows.
Related reading
