Full Court Fragrance: Women's Basketball Candle Drop Nobody Asked For (But Everyone Needed)
We matched 14 WNBA teams to a scent from the Black Archive.
14 Teams. 14 Candles. Zero Indiana Fever.
The WNBA has been having its absolute moment. New teams, new fans, new drama.
So we did what any reasonable candle company would do: we matched every WNBA franchise (minus the Fever) to a candle from our Black Archive collection. We considered city vibes, team energy, mascot mythology, and one undisclosed spreadsheet that took us two hours and a lot of Archive night to finish.
The results are below. If your team got the "corruption and patchouli" candle, we're sorry. Kind of.
Atlanta Dream
Atlanta, Georgia
Dreamy? Obviously. But Atlanta doesn't do subtle. The Dream plays with desire, fire, and a certain dark glamour that feels less like a fairytale and more like a very good story you can't put down.
Archive No. II
LOVE
Love as force, not feeling. Sharp and obsessive, with a base that clings rather than fades. Atlanta Dream energy in wax form is magnetic, theatrical, and absolutely not here to be forgotten.
Shop Archive No. II →Chicago Sky
Chicago, Illinois
Chicago's sky is famously vast with all that open lakefront air, the sense that anything could happen on any given night. The Sky franchise carries that same expansive, clear-eyed energy.
Archive No. XII
SKY
This one practically named itself. Expansive. Breathable. It opens like an open horizon and only grows taller from there. The Sky candle for the Sky team. We're not overthinking it and neither should you.
Shop Archive No. XII →Connecticut Sun
Uncasville, Connecticut
The Sun is consistently excellent, warm, and radiant; the kind of franchise that has been shining long before everyone else started paying attention. Connecticut's energy is bright, composed, and built to last.
Archive No. XIV
SUMMER
Radiance at its height. Bright citrus opens the room, jasmine steadies it, and white musk makes sure it stays long after everyone else has gone to bed. Like the Sun: reliable, luminous, quietly formidable.
Shop Archive No. XIV →Dallas Wings
Arlington, Texas
Wings are fleeting things such as aerodynamic, transient, built for movement. Dallas is a franchise in motion, always catching air, always chasing. There's a breezy, restless quality here that feels like it belongs on a coastline.
Archive No. VII
DAY
Cool and mineral, with a brightness that arrives and moves on. The Archive describes it as "transience as truth rather than tragedy." Perfectly restless. Perfectly on-brand for the Wings.
Shop Archive No. VII →Golden State Valkyries
San Francisco, California
The WNBA's newest warrior class. The Valkyries are mythology made real, a team forged for battle, for rebellion, for claiming what's theirs. There is nothing soft about this founding energy.
Archive No. V
TIME
"Creation born from defiance rather than divinity." Dark, earthy, unapologetic. This candle doesn't ask permission and neither do the Valkyries. Ink and patchouli for the team that arrived with something to prove.
Shop Archive No. V →Las Vegas Aces
Las Vegas, Nevada
Vegas is the city of indulgence, of staying too long and feeling no regrets about it. The Aces are the WNBA's most decorated recent dynasty lush, unhurried, confident that they have all the time in the world.
Archive No. IX
ETERNITY
Tropical, indulgent, and in absolutely no rush. Vanilla and amber linger like a championship banner that isn't coming down. Duration as indulgence. The Aces as a candle.
Shop Archive No. IX →Los Angeles Sparks
Los Angeles, California
LA is the city of wellness, of slow mornings and green juice and jasmine-lined hills. The Sparks are a franchise with deep roots, a peaceful determination, and the kind of energy that doesn't need to yell to command a room.
Archive No. X
SLEEP
Soft, unhurried, unguarded. Jasmine and marshmallow for the team that taught everyone else how to do this. Surrender as essential, not optional. Very LA. Very Sparks.
Shop Archive No. X →Minnesota Lynx
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minnesota: land of ten thousand lakes, boreal forests, and one of the most storied dynasties in WNBA history. The Lynx are grounded, ancient, rooted in something older than the sport itself.
Archive No. I
EARTH
The foundational entry. The original. Elemental and enduring with crisp pine and cold mint anchored in warm tonka. The Archive says all other entries are derivative. The Lynx fans feel this deeply.
Shop Archive No. I →New York Liberty
New York City, New York
Liberty. As in the statue. As in the torch. As in emergence of feeling of a franchise that finally, after years of being overlooked, stepped into the light and let everyone see exactly who they are.
Archive No. XI
LIGHT
"Illumination as revelation rather than comfort." This candle doesn't announce itself, it simply allows what was hidden to be seen. Soft, radiant, and warm at the base. The Liberty's whole 2024 arc in fragrance form.
Shop Archive No. XI →Phoenix Mercury
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix: where the desert heat presses in at nightfall and the air smells like spice and warm cedar. The Mercury franchise is storied, intense, and carries that old-world weight that comes from being one of the original eight.
Archive No. IV
DARK
Warm spice and dry cedar, the scent of desert evenings after a long, hot season. Rich and complex, with a base that refuses to thin out. Legacy carved into wood. This is the Mercury candle, full stop.
Shop Archive No. IV →Portland Fire
Portland, Oregon
A brand new franchise with a name that leaves absolutely nothing to the imagination. The Fire came out swinging, bold and unsubtle and sweet with ambition. Portland deserves a candle that matches that audacity.
Archive No. VI
FIRE
Come on. It's literally called Fire. Dark cherry and pink sugar, sweet-edged with danger. "Devotion as hunger, fire as communion." The Archive wrote this about Portland. The Archive just doesn't know it yet.
Shop Archive No. VI →Seattle Storm
Seattle, Washington
Seattle means rain not as a complaint, but as an identity. The Storm are as Pacific Northwest as it gets: cozy, dark-ish, intensely rooted, and quietly formidable in a way that only comes from a city that genuinely loves the gray.
Archive No. III
NIGHT
Roasted chestnut and caramel, tempered by actual rain. Birch bark for the forests just outside the city. This is the scent of a Seattle October and also of a franchise that has won four championships in the Pacific Northwest drizzle.
Shop Archive No. III →Toronto Tempo
Toronto, Ontario
Canada's first WNBA team is a brand new page, a fresh start, effervescent energy, the kind of champagne-cork moment that happens once. The Tempo is pure return, pure renewal, the league breathing in a new direction.
Archive No. XIII
SPRING
Champagne and freesia opening into jasmine and golden amberwood. "Renewal as inevitability." The first documented season of the Archive, and the first WNBA season for an entire country. This match was written in the stars, honestly.
Shop Archive No. XIII →Washington Mystics
Washington, D.C.
D.C. is a city of power dressed up as virtue; marble columns, hidden corridors, authority delivered in hushed tones. The Mystics carry that same mystique: composed on the surface, complex underneath.
Archive No. VIII
AIR
The Archive describes this candle as "harm disguised as protection" and "corruption that arrives disguised as care." We are not saying anything about D.C. We are simply noting the scent profile is a perfect match. Completely coincidental.
Shop Archive No. VIII →