Kathy Hilton adores this candle's 'perfect fresh scent'

(Image credit: Stefanie Keenan via Getty Images for GLAAD)

published 26 January 2025

If there's one thing we know about Kathy Hilton, it's that she has a champagne taste. Though the socialite seems to live in a completely different realm, her candle taste straddles the line between luxury and accessibility. The Real Housewife of Beverly Hills swears by candles from the brand Volupsa.

She spoke about her best candle with The Strategist. Hilton explained: 'I fell in love with this company when they did the candy-cane scent. Everybody would walk into my house during December and love it. I ordered a dozen of them, and those were my gifts when I would go to people’s homes for holiday parties. Now I have the California Summer scent, and it’s the perfect fresh scent for summer. It’s my new favorite. I’m a candle lover. I don’t want another frame. Buy me a candle if you’re in doubt.'

The most interesting part of Hilton's home's signature scent to me is that it changes with the seasons. Rather than sticking to just one smell, she rotates through different candles based on the weather and temperature outside. If you hope to emulate her idea, focus on choosing candles that resonate with each time of year for you. A classic distribution would be a fresh scent for summer, a gourmand for the holidays, a warming scent for the winter, and florals for the spring, but you don't need to stick to this. As long as the fragrance feels personal, it's a great choice.

Kathy's Summer Favorite

California Summers Classic Candle

This ocean-fresh scent is aquatic and windy. It includes notes of California waves, sea salt, warm vanilla and teak wood.

Kathy's Holiday Pick

Crushed Candy Cane

This cozy gourmand fragrance is rich with crisp peppermint and the buttery scent of freshly baked cookies. The red and white striped design is perfect for adding a touch of luxury to your decor (even beyond the holidays).

Editor's Pick for Winter

Burning Woods Classic Candle

At this time of year, I love a smoky, woody fragrance, and this rich scent is one of the best I've smelled. It includes notes of smoky cedar, burning woods, embers, and Himalayan juniper.

Though Volupsa's wide variety of scents is what makes them the best home fragrances, the candles have an additional benefit: their look. Each Volupsa candle comes in a highly textured glass vessel that would improve the look of a console table or dresser. Even after the candle has been burned down, you can put these candles in the freezer to get the remaining wax out and use the container for storage. When styled with a variety of decorative objects, you can't go wrong with this look.

Scenting your home is one of the most powerful ways to transform the ambiance of each room. As Kathy Hilton shows us, rotating fragrances in beautiful containers through the seasons is an excellent way to keep it interesting.

Sophie is a London-based News Editor at Homes & Gardens, where she works on the Celebrity Style team. She is fascinated by the intersection of design and popular culture and is particularly excited when researching trends or interior history. Sophie is an avid pop culture fan. As an H&G editor, she has interviewed the likes of Martha Stewart, Hilary Duff, and the casts of Queer Eye and Selling Sunset. Before joining Future Publishing, Sophie worked as the Head of Content and Communications at Fig Linens and Home, a boutique luxury linens and furniture brand. She has also written features on exciting developments in the design world for Westport Magazine. Sophie has an MSc from the Oxford University Department of Anthropology and a BA in Creative Writing and Sociology from Sarah Lawrence College.