CARING FOR YOUR SCENTED CANDLE

You've treated yourself or been lucky enough to receive a luxury scented candle as a gift. But now that you have it, how do you ensure you get the best performance from your candle? We've all received a candle in the past that either doesn't stay lit, only burns the wax in the middle or doesn't smell strong enough. All of these problems are annoying and usually arise from either a bad batch or a poorly made candle. Ultimately the old adage that 'you get what you pay for' certainly applies with scented candles, so assuming you have received or invested in a quality scented candle, here are some tips on how to get the best from it.

To get the best value from your candle you need to make sure that you set it up for a nice even, clean burn. Here's how:

No doubt in the past you will have burned a candle only to find that just the wax in the middle has melted - what a waste! Unfortunately, once you have started a tunnel in your candle it can be difficult or fiddly at best to repair the damage done. The best way to prevent your candle from tunnelling is to let the melt pool reach the edge of the container the very first time you light it. This enables the wax to melt and reset itself evenly so that the next time you come to light your candle the wax surface is nice and level.

It is good practice to trim your candle wick prior to each burn. This helps to prevent the top of the candle wick from mushrooming. Mushrooming is not ideal as it affects the efficiency of the burn and can result in lumps of unsightly carbon falling onto the surface of the candle.

For convenience LucyKing candles use wicks which are made from pure cotton and have a paper braided core. The paper braid ensures a cleaner burn and enables the user to trim the wick by hand, simply by bending the wick at its tip.

A decent unlit scented candle will continue to emit fragrance for at least a few years but there are a few things that you can do to get the best from your fragrance.

Candles can fill a room with fragrance for hours however, it's important to pick the correct sized candle for your room. It would be unreasonable to expect to fill a large living space with fragrance from a small tealight candle. Tealights are ideally suited to bathrooms, medium-sized candles to medium-sized rooms and larger candles to larger rooms. If you have a particularly large space you may consider having a candle at each end of the room, depending on the level of fragrance you require.

Keeping a lid on your unlit candle will prevent the fragrance from evaporating into the air, keeping it locked into the wax for longer. Lids are also great because they prevent dust and other debris from settling onto the surface of your candle.

Over time UV rays will break down the structure of your candle wax, in some cases causing discolouration of the wax and in the case of natural waxes such as soy wax, potentially creating calcification deposits on the surface. Discolouration and calcification will have no effect on the output of your candle. However, like any fragrance it is best to keep your candle out of UV light to preserve the life of your fragrance for as long as possible.

We hope the above information has equipped you with some great insights into getting the best from your scented candle. Scented candles are only one way to fragrance your home or workplace, read our guide to home fragrance for some alternative methods.

Love, LucyKing x