Home-cleaning supplies typically don’t smell that nice. There are those who go absolutely nuts for the smell of bleach, but generally speaking, chemical surfactants masked by industrial fragrances and even the “all-natural” alternatives smell pretty…meh. At best they’re inoffensive, leaving your home with a general “clean-smelling” smell that signals to yourself and your guests that you’re not a slob. At worst, they give you a headache, or send you fleeing for a chemical-free haven like Julianne Moore in the movie Safe.
- A candle for basil lovers: La Droguerie Odor Removing Candle, $75 at Diptyque
- A basil-scented room spray: La Droguerie Odor Removing Spray, $80 at Diptyque
- An effective dish soap that smells like summer: Roma Heirloom Tomato Dish Soap, $30 at Flamingo Estate
- A bright and breezy surface cleaner: Cipres Mint Surface Cleaner and Dish Soap, $25 at Homecourt
- A luxe alternative to Windex: Glass and Mirror Cleaner, $16 at The Laundress
But things are changing in the world of cleaning supplies. People are starting to view scent as another design element in their home and looking for cleaning supplies that meet a higher olfactory standard. Now legacy brands and start-ups alike are infusing things like dish soap and surface cleaner with high-end fragrances and essential oils. This, of course, comes with a premium price tag. And while a $28 dollar surface spray seems absolutely bananas at first, it’s a bargain compared to $90+ luxury scented candles, which consumers are buying in droves. At the end of the day this new wave of cleaning products offers yet another way to get fine fragrances into your home.
I tested several of the haughtiest haute cleaning products to get a sense of two things: first, how well they cleaned, and second, how nice they smelled. I approached the latter metric with the full knowledge that scent preferences are subjective, and that what my colleagues and I prefer may not be what you like.
Below you’ll find the product lines that I believe deliver the best products when it comes to smell, and I also go into a little detail on how well they function as cleaners. As to whether or not they are worth the price tag, that is up to you, and more specifically, your nose.
Diptyque
French fragrance atelier Diptyque is best known for its scented candles that are popular among celebrities and tastemakers. The iconic cascade of letters featured on their label makes regular appearances on TV shows and magazine spreads—both the fictional Carrie Bradshaw and the real Sarah Jessica Parker love them. Their classic scents typically focus on a singular botanical inspiration, such as lavender leaf or linden tree. However their aromas are full and complex, and often bear an uncanny resemblance to the plant that inspires them.
The Droguerie line is Diptyque’s first foray into making products that are specifically designed for home cleaning. It includes a multi surface cleaner, dish soap, wood furniture polish, and an odor-removing candle and spray.
While I’m not exactly sure a scented room spray and candle can really remove odors from a space, these smell pretty remarkable. The scent is basil, but basil in its most bracingly fresh form. It’s sparky, green, but never overpowering. Both the candle and spray diffuse nicely into space without seeming too much like a cover up. Basil is smart here, especially for the kitchen, because it’s a scent that doesn’t clash with lingering food odors. When I first unboxed this candle in the office, several coworkers came over and demanded to know where it came from once they got a whiff.
Despite being a vinegar-based cleaner, this smells nothing like vinegar. Instead, each spray delivers a fresh hit of lavender, but one that’s far more complex than your standard lavender essential oil. There’s an earthy bitterness beneath it that brings in the dirt, stems and all, for a more rounded and interesting fragrance. As a cleaner, it’s far gentler than a bottle of Clorox or 409, but was the most effective surface cleaner out of the lineup I tested. Vinegar is a pretty tried and tested natural cleaning product, so no surprises there.
This orange-blossom-scented soap comes in a lovely bottle that looks great beside the sink, but I found it underwhelming. The scent was pleasant but faint, and the surfactant power was really lacking. It seemed more like a hand soap than a soap for washing dishes. In all honesty, I’m planning on keeping the bottle and filling it with Dawn when the soap runs out.
Flamingo Estate
According to their website, Flamingo Estate is a “pleasure-obsessed home of sun-worship, folk mythologies, and psychedelic remedies.” That’s one way to describe a home and lifestyle brand founded by an Australian marketing executive and based in a plant-covered LA mansion. It’s beloved by celebrities like Martha Stewart and Megan Markle, and their range of premium products includes scented candles, olive oil, fresh cut flowers, and an $80 jar of dried strawberries.
Their roma heirloom tomato scent is their most popular, and for good reason. It has all the intense, peppery and green notes of a fresh cut tomato vine, which makes it an intoxicating summery scent for the home. Of all the tomato fragrances trending at the moment, I’d say it’s one of the best.
This dish soap is thick and concentrated, working up a nice lather and packing that signature smell. It uses biodegradable surfactants, which worked pretty well degreasing grimy pots and pans. A little goes a long way too, so for how expensive it is, you do get a lot of use out of it.
Don’t get me wrong, this still smells amazing. My problem was that it was pretty oily, and didn’t do a great job removing spills and gunk from the counters. This spray is more for a quick wipe down of the counter or dinner table, but not the best for heavy-duty cleaning. Regardless, it smells nice!
Homecourt
Courteney Cox started her brand Homecourt from a desire to have homecare products inspired by scents used in perfume and candles. Compared to the other brands in this lineup, Homecourt has a greater variety of scent options available. The product line up includes Dish soap, surface cleaner, and room deodorizer alongside soap and hand lotion.
A mix of mint, eucalyptus, and black tea makes for an exceptionally fresh-smelling scent. At first it’s almost a little too minty, but the scent opens up into something bright, breezy and natural. Performance wise, both the surface spray and dish soap did fine. Would they win a competition against quick-acting industrial surfactants? No, but they do get the job done in the same way Mrs. Meyers or Seventh Generation do, which is good enough for me.
These scents are more of a departure from typical cleaning scents, and garnered mixed reactions from staff. Some liked them, while others thought they were a little too heavy on the rose. I think they make more sense as surface cleaners, as they have a nice way of adding a modest amount of fragrance to a room without aggressively filling the space. As dish soap, I think these are just too perfumey.
Cece is musky, woodsy scent that doesn’t smell bad, but something about all the warm, earthy notes felt way off for cleaning dishes or wiping down the counter. Basically, this made my kitchen smell like a very rich woman passed through on her way to a late night cocktail party. Who knows though! You may want that vibe, which is why I recommend getting one of Homecourts sample scent cards if you’re interested in purchasing anything from the line.
The Laundress
The Laundress has been around for 19 years, and their detergents and home care products have long enjoyed a devoted customer base. They took a hit to their reputation after a significant product recall in 2022, but according to the brand, they have overhauled their safety and manufacturing standards to avoid future recalls. Personally, I felt like no roundup of high-end home care products would be complete without them, since they’re kind of the blueprint.
This is one of the only ‘natural’ alternatives to Windex I’ve ever used that delivers a comparable streakless sparkle. It only comes in Laundress’s No° 247 scent, which has a subtle lavender top note grounded by musky and warm oakmoss. I’m pretty neutral on this scent (I don’t love oakmoss), but a lot of people do. Regardless, it’s a great glass cleaner, full stop.
This is a pretty standard issue “natural” surface cleaner that’s well-suited for a basic wipe down, but can’t really handle heavy duty messes like an oven cook top. While this also contains the No° 247 scent, it is pretty fleeting on the surface, so it won’t really do much to perfume your home in any way. If you’d prefer something on the subtler side that teeters on being unscented, you’d like this.
I found this to be the gentlest of all the dish soaps I tested. It had a thin texture, and its surfactant qualities seemed a bit understated when I added a squirt to water and started scrubbing. The fragrance is really subtle here, which may actually be a plus if you don’t want your dishes to smell like lavender and oakmoss. I’m in the minority here in being underwhelmed though, because this product regularly sells out.
