Did you know there’s a right way to burn candles? Yep there is! Burning candles the 'wrong' way may lead to waste. And burning your candles the right way means getting the most out of your candles! Check out these tips to get the most out of your candles.
1. Burn different candle scents in different rooms
After smelling the same scent for more than around 15 minutes, your nose and olfactory system become less sensitive to the scent, making it seem like the scent from your candle has gone or has weakened.
A person can actually go ‘nose blind’ in about 15 minutes. And when you stop smelling your candle’s scent you may want to light more candles—but someone new walking into the room is going to be overwhelmed by all that scent.
For scents to stand out more, use a different smelling candle in different areas of your home, so your nose can be stimulated again when you walk from room to room.
2. Place candles away from draughts
Pay attention to where your candle is placed in the room. If you’re placing it near a window that gets opened often or a fan, that can affect the strength of your candle's scent.
3. Don't try to use candles to mask odours.
If you cooked strong smelling food, or your baby has done a number 2, don't immediately resort to lighting a candle. Trying to mask odours with a just candle doesn’t work well. When you light a scented candle to try to hide a bad smell, you just end up with both odours competing in your room, and nothing smells good.
Open a window to air out the room first, then light your candle.
4. Put your candle in the right place
Make sure you put your scented candle on a strong, heat-resistant surface, away from curtains and fabric. If burning a sculptural candle, make sure it is on a fire-resistant candle dish so as not to get melted wax all over your surfaces. If you are burning more than one candle in the same room, space them at least 3 inches apart so they don’t melt each other!
5. Let the wax pool all the across the candle to avoid waste
Once your candle’s lit, do not blow it out until the top layer of wax has melted all the way across from one side of the glass to the other. This can take a couple of hours.
If don’t allow that top layer of wax to fully melt, you could cause 'tunnelling' in your candle. Tunnelling happens when the wick starts to sink lower and wax rises around it like a tunnel is forming right through the centre of the candle. After a while, the sides rise up and don’t ever melt completely, which means a reduction of burn time and hours of scent wasted.
6. Don't light more than two candle scents in the same room at the same time
Sometimes you may want to create your own scents by lighting two different candles scents at the same time. This is called 'layering' and we're all for it! However, lighting more than two different scents can be a bit too much and just doesn't smell good. It can even make some people feel nauseous.
7. Buy multi-wick candles
The bigger the candle, the longer the burn time. But what you might not know is that multi-wick candles in the same exact sized jar as a single wick candle will actually burn slower. Burning a candle with more than one wick actually help extend the life of a candle because it helps avoid tunnelling. This way, you’re using every bit of wax in your jar while it melts.
TIP: Be aware of wide candles that only have one wick! If the candle surface has just one wick and a diameter of more than 3 or 4 inches, it is very unlikely that the wick will produce enough heat to allow the top surface to pool completely. Check out our double wicked scented candles.
8. USE A LID TO PUT YOUR CANDLE OUT FOR THE CLEANEST BURN
Whenever possible, put out the candle with a candle snuffer or a candle lid to cut oxygen supply to the flame, minimize the generation of smoke and prevent a burning smell. Putting the candle out with the lid, instead of blowing it out means that the jar burns clean, evenly, and helps prevent excess soot.
9. KEEP THE WICK TRIMMED TO 1/4 INCH
Trimming your candle’s wicks will give you a cleaner, brighter burn. Long, untrimmed wicks are the top cause of smoke stains that end up on your glass jar candles. Trimming the wick keeps the flame in control and helps prevent soot marks from forming.
Try to trim your candle’s wick after every 4 hours of burn time. When trimming the wick, always extinguish the flame, let the candle cool down to room temperature, and use a wick trimmer to trim the wick to 1/4 of an inch before relighting.
10. Remember candle safety when burning your candles
Always burn your candle on a heat resistant surface, and remember to keep it away from draughts and NEVER leave it unattended while lit.
Keep candles away from anything flammable. Make sure burning candles are out of reach of children and pets. Never leave a burning candle unattended. Our candles come with candle safety cards that can be referred back to if you need reminding.
11. Don't burn for more than 4 hours at a time
Burning candles for longer than four hours at a time can cause a number of issues. The wick will get too long which will cause the candle's flame to get too high and cause sooting on the jar. Your candle may overheat in its glass jar which can cause the whole candle melts into liquid, the wicks will move out of place, which will cause uneven burning the next time the candle is lit. And in some cases, leaving a candle to burn too long can even cause the candle jar to break!