I've Replaced All of My Candles With This New Diffuser—Here's Why

I adore candles. From the room-filling scents and gorgeous jars to the way that lighting one signals a welcome shift into evening and the chance to wind down, I truly love everything about them. So it might seem out of sorts for me to be declaring that for the last couple of weeks, I've totally ignored my vast candle collection in favour of a new diffuser, but that's exactly what's happened. Enter Aromatherapy Associates The Atomiser (£120).

I'll be honest. I've never really gotten the fuss about diffusers. With reed diffusers, I always forget to flip the reeds over for a periodic fragrance boost, and I find that the oils tend to evaporate way faster than I would like, leaving an empty bottle of sticks just hanging around on my fireplace for months afterward. And while I've always liked the idea of an electric diffuser, the thought of faffing around with plugs and water tanks has never really appealed. But Aromatherapy Associates' offering is different. It's waterless, requires no heat and is fully portable once charged. It's beauty tech in its finest form, and it smells incredible.

So how does it work? You simply choose the Aromatherapy Associates essential oil blend to suit your mood—I'm a big fan of the Forest Therapy when I'm working and its classic Deep Relax at the end of a long day—attach it to the diffusion head inside the Atomiser and then switch it on. The thing that I love most about this is that the fragrance fills the room immediately. Trust me—there's no waiting around for it to heat up or get going; it's an instant hit of essential-oil goodness. Once it's on, you can set a timer from 30 minutes to three hours, switch on the halo light setting to add a soft glow to the room, or select boost mood for a quick hit of fragrance when time is tight. And, of course, once it's fully charged, you can transport it about the house with you without any unsightly wires.

I don't know whether I've been particularly stressed out recently, but I've really found comfort and calm in being able to have aromatherapy blends available at the click of a button, and switching on the Atomiser has become a real ritual for me when I'm starting to feel frazzled. Actually, it's become something of a go-to for all eventualities: a reviving blend to help me wake up in the mornings, a stress-soothing one while working to deadlines, and even the Breathe blend, which was brilliant when the whole family came down with colds last week. While I generally reserve my candles for evenings, the Atomiser means that I'm now experimenting with home fragrance whatever the time of day. And I'm very much into it.

Now, shop my favourite Aromatherapy Asssociates Atomiser blends: