Literie Candles Review: The Cozy Cabin Candle That Made My Gift List
Literie sent me their 'I Have A Cabin Upstate' candle: the smoke + pine scent, clean-burn details, and why it's my cozy gift pick this year.
We are deep into candle season, and the one getting all the burn time in our house this year is a little different from the usual grocery store pick. It comes from a small New York brand that bottles specific places and memories as scents, and the one they sent me is, fittingly, a cabin in the fall.
Literie sent me their 'I Have A Cabin Upstate' candle, and the name alone had me. We do not get crunchy leaves or wood smoke down here in Florida, so if fall is going to happen in our living room, it has to come from a scented candle.
It has earned a spot on this year's gift lists, and Literie is a brand I think a lot of Trail & Kale readers will love. Here's the short story on who they are and what this candle is like to live with.
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Who is Literie?
Literie is a small, female-founded candle company started in New York City in 2021 by Erica Werber. The founding idea was to capture the essence of everyday NYC moments, like buying flowers from the bodega or a walk through Central Park, as nostalgic, giftable scents.
The brand has since grown into collaborations with shows like Emily in Paris and events like the US Open, but it has stayed proudly small. Every candle is poured in small batches by their team in Massachusetts, and each one comes in hand-illustrated packaging that makes it feel like a gift before you've even wrapped it.
The part I care most about is that these are clean-burning candles.
Literie uses a vegan soy and coconut wax blend with cotton wicks and high-quality fragrance oils. Everything is non-toxic, phthalate-free, sulfate-free, SLS-free, and cruelty-free, and the candles are pet-friendly, which matters if your candles share a home with a dog or cat (or both like in our case!). If you haven't met Kepler, yet, well...
What I Have A Cabin Upstate smells like
The scent notes on the I Have A Cabin Upstate candle are simple: smoke + pine.
Lighting it is the closest thing to a fire pit evening I can get without leaving our AC filled home.
There's sweet smoke up front and fresh pine behind it, and none of the sharp, chemical edge that cheap smoky candles tend to have.
The scent throw is a sweet spot too; strong enough to fill my office and drift down the hallway, without taking over the whole house.
TOP TIP: Keep the wick trimmed to a quarter inch and you get a clean, even burn with no soot on the jar.
Each 9 oz candle burns for up to 50 hours, so one of these will comfortably carry you through the cozy season.
Key details
- Price: $48 (9oz) at Literie
- Scent notes: smoke + pine (profile: smoky)
- Burn time: up to 50 hours (the 2.5 oz "Littles" burn up to 10 hours)
- Wax and wick: vegan soy + coconut wax blend, cotton wick
- Clean credentials: non-toxic, phthalate-free, sulfate-free, SLS-free, cruelty-free, pet-friendly
- Size: 9 oz, 3.5 in x 2.5 in x 2.5 in
- Made in: poured in small batches in Massachusetts, USA
Why it made my gift list
I refresh my gift guides every year around this time, and this candle checks every box I look for in a giftable product: it's under $50, it's beautiful straight out of the box, and it tells a story the moment someone reads the label.
Literie leans into gifting harder than any candle brand I've come across. Every order can include a free video message: a QR code ships with the gift, and when the recipient scans it, they watch a video you recorded for them.
Gifting tip: Literie's custom duo bundle takes $10 off any two candles, and there's a whole wall of themed collections (including one made for runners) if cabin nostalgia isn't your person's thing.
Expect to see this one appear in my best gifts for outdoorsy people guide when this year's refresh lands. It's just as natural a fit alongside the picks in my wellness gifts guide, because a good candle is about the easiest daily-calm gift there is.
My verdict
At $48, this is not a cheap candle, but it's priced in line with other premium small-batch brands, and the 50-hour burn time, clean ingredients, and gift-ready presentation back it up.
It has already worked its way into my slow evenings at home. That's about the highest compliment I can give a candle.
Shop the I Have A Cabin Upstate candle directly from Literie, or browse the full range of Literie scents to find the memory that fits your person best.
It's cozy season. Light the thing.
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