The Japanese have a word for it: shinrin-yoku. Forest bathing. Not hiking. Not exercising. Just being in the forest and breathing it in.
The idea is simple. You walk slowly through trees. You breathe deeply. The phytoncides - natural compounds that trees release into the air - lower your cortisol, reduce blood pressure, and boost your immune system. It's not woo-woo; there are decades of research behind it. Japan's Forest Agency started promoting it as public health practice in the 1980s.
But most of us don't live in a forest. We live in apartments, houses, and condos where the closest trees are across the street. So how do you bring that feeling indoors?
With the right scents.
What the Forest Actually Smells Like
When you break down the scent of a forest, it's not a single note. It's a combination of things happening simultaneously:
Hinoki cypress - The most prized tree in Japanese forestry. Its wood has a rich, lemony, slightly sweet scent with a clean bite. It's why Japanese bathhouses (onsen) smell the way they do. Hinoki releases phytoncides more actively than almost any other tree species.
Cedar - Drier and sharper than hinoki. American red cedar smells like pencil shavings and linen closets. Japanese cedar (sugi) is slightly greener. Both have that unmistakable "I'm touching something wooden" quality.
Pine and fir - The resinous, green notes. These are the ones that hit you first when you step into a coniferous forest. Sharp, bright, and immediate.
Cypress - Similar to cedar but smoother, with a slightly sweet, balsamic quality. It bridges the gap between the sharpness of pine and the warmth of sandalwood.
Moss and earth - The forest floor. Damp, rich, alive. These are the base notes that ground everything above them.
A good forest bathing fragrance captures some combination of these notes, layered in a way that feels dimensional rather than flat.
Hinoki: The Heart of Forest Bathing
If you could only pick one scent note to represent shinrin-yoku, it would be hinoki.
Hinoki (Chamaecyparis obtusa) is a slow-growing Japanese cypress that's been central to Japanese architecture and culture for centuries. Temples, shrines, and traditional baths are built from it - not just because it's durable, but because the wood itself releases a fragrance that's calming, clean, and deeply grounding.
In home fragrance, hinoki shows up in some genuinely excellent products.
Studio Stockhome Hinoki ($38) is our top recommendation for a pure hinoki candle experience. The scent opens with hinoki and yuzu (a Japanese citrus), moves through cypress and green tea, and settles into cedarwood and vetiver. It's meditative, serene, and captures the essence of a Japanese forest bath better than any candle we've tested. The soy-coconut-beeswax blend gives it a rich, even burn.
Dilo Hinoki Sesame ($32 for 8.5oz, $20 for 4.5oz) takes hinoki in a more unexpected direction. Bergamot and lemon peel open into sea salt, incense smoke, and sesame seeds over a base of hinoki, red cedar, and musk. It's less literal than Studio Stockhome's version and more atmospheric - like a forest temple with incense burning. If you want something truly unique, Dilo's Elsewhere collection doesn't disappoint.
Cedar: The Warm Foundation
Cedar is the backbone of most woody candle scents, and it shows up in forest-inspired products across every brand we carry.
Studio Stockhome Cedar ($38) is straightforward and excellent. Cedar leaf and bergamot on top, cedarwood and cypress in the middle, sandalwood and musk at the base. It's the candle equivalent of standing inside a cedar grove - warm, grounding, and immediately comforting.
Dilo No. 08 Burning Cedar ($12) goes darker. Black currant and smoldering ash lead into incense, tobacco leaf, and clove, settling on red cedar, wood smoke, and amber. This isn't a gentle forest walk - it's a campfire in the woods, and it's fantastic. The price point makes it an easy impulse buy, and the throw is strong.
Broken Top Sitka Woodland ($26) bridges cedar with the broader forest. Gin and spruce on top, cedar and red currant in the middle, balsam at the base. Named after the Sitka spruce forests of the Pacific Northwest, it smells like an Oregon forest cabin. Broken Top also makes this scent as a bar soap, beard oil, and solid cologne, so you can literally surround yourself with the forest.
Pine, Fir, and Balsam
These are the green, resinous notes that make a forest smell alive. They're the ones that hit you first on a trail.
Dilo No. 11 Balsam + Clove ($12) is the best pure "forest" candle we carry for under $15. Eucalyptus and clove with pine, cypress, and silver birch over fir balsam, patchouli, and leather. It smells like a snowy evergreen forest. Strong throw, great for living rooms and bedrooms during the cooler months.
Broken Top Sitka Woodland (mentioned above) leans heavily into spruce and balsam, making it another excellent option for resinous forest scents.
Candlefy Big Sur ($25) captures a different kind of forest - the coastal redwood variety. Sea salt and eucalyptus with redwood and sage over driftwood and musk. If your idea of forest bathing involves the California coast, Big Sur brings those two worlds together.
Incense: The Traditional Route
If you want the most direct path to a forest bathing scent experience, incense gets you there fast.
Shoyeido has been making incense in Kyoto for over 300 years using only natural ingredients - sandalwood, herbs, roots, and resins. No synthetics. Their Emerald (Jewel Series) is green, woodsy, and clarifying, with the kind of clean, natural scent that actually approximates what you'd breathe during shinrin-yoku in a Japanese forest.
Their Overtones collection also features individual notes like Palo Santo and Frankincense that pair well with woody candles for a layered forest atmosphere.
Incense fills a room faster than a candle and the scent is more immediate. If you burn a stick of Shoyeido Emerald while a hinoki or cedar candle is warming up, you get a layered effect that's remarkably close to an actual forest experience.
Building a Forest Room
Want to go all in? Here's how to create a forest bathing atmosphere at home without leaving your couch.
Start with a base candle. Studio Stockhome Cedar or Hinoki for something refined, or Dilo Balsam + Clove for something more rustic.
Add a room spray for immediate impact. Broken Top Sitka Woodland Room & Linen Spray ($16) can transform a space in seconds.
Layer in incense for depth. A stick of Shoyeido Emerald or any of the green, woody Jewel Series scents.
Keep the lights low, open a window if you can, and breathe. It's not a substitute for an actual forest, but it's closer than you'd expect.
Why Forest Scents Work Year-Round
A lot of people associate woody, green scents with fall and winter. But the whole point of forest bathing is that forests are alive in every season. The scents shift - more resinous in winter, greener in spring, warmer in summer - but the calming quality is constant.
A hinoki candle works in August. A cedar candle works in March. These aren't seasonal scents; they're foundational ones.
Browse our full collection of woody and forest-inspired candles and incense online, or come into Santa Cruz Scent on Soquel Ave and let us help you find the forest scent that fits your space. We're always happy to let you smell everything before you decide.