Scented candles are one of the most popular methods of home fragrancing, thanks to their often eye-catching designs, beautiful scents and gorgeous flickering glow that creates a feeling of cosy indulgence. Despite their popularity, not everyone knows the secrets to getting the best experience from their favourite candles. With just a few quick steps, your scented candles can burn better and last longer.
If you want to become an expert in getting the most out of your home fragrance, read on for our top tips on candle care.
Choose your candle’s location carefully
You might think you can light a scented candle anywhere in the home to the same effect, but there’s a few key things to bear in mind.
Safety first! Always place your candle on a level and stable surface – no one wants a lit candle falling over! You should also keep burning candles away from flammable materials and out of reach of children and pets.
Secondly, make sure your candle won’t damage the home at all. Be careful not to place your candle too close to walls when burning as this can mark the wall. The surface your candle is on should be heat-resistant, as a hot candle could leave behind a mark on a delicate surface.
The last thing to consider is the airflow of the room. Draughts can cause your scented candle to smoke and burn excessively or unevenly. If you see the flame flickering a lot, extinguish the flame and move your candle to a different location to maximise its burn. In rooms where draughts are unavoidable, you can try turning your candle each time it is lit to even out the burn.
Trim the wick before you light your candle
Before each time lighting your scented candle, we recommend trimming the wick down to 5mm.
Why is trimming the wick important?
A shorter wick reduces the size of the flame, helping your candle to burn more slowly and cutting down on the amount of smoke produced.
If the wick is too long, a phenomenon called clubbing can also appear. This is when the candle consumes more wax than the flame can burn completely, leading to a club-shaped carbon deposit on the wick. If you notice clubbing on your candle, blow out the flame and allow the candle to cool, then trim the wick and re-light.
When trimming your wick always make sure that the trimmings don’t remain in the scented candle as this could cause a secondary ignition.
Use our Wick Trimmer to cut the wick to create a cleaner, more even burn.
Its ergonomic design makes it easy to reach candles of any size or shape to cut the wick effectively and preserve the burning quality of your candle over time.
Take your time
Scented candles are a wonderful way to unwind and you don’t want to rush when you’re using them to fragrance the home. We recommend burning your scented candle for between one to four hours at a time as this ensures the molten wax pool covers the full surface of your candle. Making sure the whole surface of the candle is molten is especially important when you burn your scented candle for the first few times, as it will prevent the candle from ‘tunnelling’ down the centre, leaving wasted wax on the sides of the jar and shortening the burn time of your candle.
This sleek windproof lighter has been designed with safety in mind, featuring a special lighting element to ignite the candles’ wick without a flame and a slide-out ignition port to conceal the lighting element when not in use. It’s also highly reusable, powered by a rechargeable lithium-ion battery which can be used hundreds of times before the batter power is exhausted.
Extinguish your candle with a candle snuffer
After an hour or two unwinding with your scented candle, we recommend using a candle snuffer when you want to extinguish the flame.
Why is it better to use a candle snuffer?
Blowing out your candles with your breath creates smoke, the scent of which mixes unpleasantly with the desired fragrance released by the candle. Using a snuffer instead reduces the smoke produced, allowing you to enjoy the lingering scent of your candle as it dissipates from the room.
If you blow too hard to extinguish your candle it can also bend the wick off-centre in the wax pool, leading to an uneven burn next time you light your candle, or wax splatter that can mark nearby surfaces. Using a candle snuffer avoids these issues.
After burning your candle, use this Candle Snuffer to extinguish the flame safely and in style and to remove the risk of wax splatter. Its ergonomic design makes it easy to reach candles of any size or shape to snuff them out effectively and preserve the burning quality of your candle over time.
