5 Things That Will Instantly Take a 90s Kid Back to Childhood

There are some things you don't realise you've forgotten until you see, hear — or smell — them again.

A cassette tape. The sound of dial-up internet. A Saturday morning in front of the TV. That tiny virtual pet you were somehow responsible for keeping alive.

And suddenly, you're not an adult with emails to answer and a washing basket that never seems to empty.

You're nine again.

That's the feeling behind Familiar Glow. Our nostalgic candles and wax melts are inspired by the little things that take us straight back to growing up in the 80s and 90s.

So, how many of these take you back?

1. Trying to Keep Your Tamagotchi Alive

The responsibility!

You'd fed it. Played with it. Cleaned up after it. Checked it approximately 400 times that day.

Then you'd go to school and come home to absolute devastation.

For a tiny pixelated creature attached to a keyring, we were far too emotionally invested.

It's exactly this kind of memory that inspired our nostalgic Iconic Wax Melts, filled with shapes that take you straight back to childhood.

2. Making Someone a Mixtape

Before Spotify playlists could be made in seconds, there was the mixtape.

And making a good one was practically an art form.

You had to choose the songs. Get them in the right order. Write the track list by hand. And if you were recording from the radio, somehow press STOP before the DJ started talking over the end.

If someone made you a mixtape, they'd put effort into it.

Some things deserve bringing back.

The mixtape. Reimagined in wax.

Our Mixtape Wax Melt Collections contain four oversized nostalgic wax melts — two cassette tapes and two retro boomboxes — in two fragrances.

3. Friday Night Trips to the Video Shop

Forget scrolling through streaming services for half an hour while everyone says, "I don't mind, what do YOU want to watch?"

Friday night meant a trip to the video shop.

You'd wander along rows of VHS boxes choosing the film, probably pick up some sweets on the way home and then have to remember to rewind the tape before taking it back.

There was something exciting about actually choosing the film for the night.

No recommendations based on an algorithm. No endless scrolling.

Just a wall full of VHS tapes and one very important decision.

It's a memory that's also found its way into our newest Familiar Glow creations, because cassette tapes and VHS were simply too nostalgic to leave in the past.

4. Saturday Morning TV

Saturday mornings just hit differently in the 90s.

Pyjamas. Cereal. Cartoons.

You couldn't pause what you were watching. You couldn't catch it later. And if somebody made you leave the house halfway through your favourite programme?

That was it.

You'd missed it.

And let's not forget the televisions themselves — enormous boxes that took up half the room and occasionally needed a strategic whack to get the picture working properly.

Somehow, that was completely normal.

5. The Smells You Didn't Know You'd Remember

Not every childhood memory is something you can see.

Sometimes it's a smell.

Freshly cut grass on the first proper day of summer.

Coffee on a Sunday morning.

Someone's aftershave lingering in the hallway.

Buttery popcorn on movie night.

Flowers from the corner shop.

Your nanna baking something in the kitchen.

At the time, they weren't particularly significant. They were simply the smells around us.

They smelled like home.

And then years later, you encounter one again and suddenly you're somewhere you haven't thought about for decades.

That's the part of nostalgia we're most fascinated by at Familiar Glow.

Our fragrances aren't simply given names because they smell nice. They're built around the moments, people and places we remember.

Schools Out For Summer takes us back with the unmistakable smell of freshly cut grass.

Mum's Sunday Morning Coffee brings back that familiar smell of coffee filling the house.

Movie Night Memories is buttery popcorn, brown sugar and vanilla.

And every one has a story behind it.