It’s the coziest time of year, when you want to be snuggled under a blanket, hugging a warm cup of tea, with a candle lit to fight the cold. Sounds pretty perfect right about now, doesn’t it? If you’re wondering what could make it better, the secret might have to do with your candles. The thing is, there’s actually a right way and a wrong way to burn them. That’s why we turned to Abigail Stone, the founder and CEO of Otherland, the scented candle company with quite the fan club. The lifelong candle lover shares the nine most common candle burning mistakes:
Rushing your first burn. “We like to call this ‘get melty with it,’” Stone says. “Allot ideally two hours for the all-important first burn, because you need the melted, liquefied pool of wax to fully reach the edge of the glass at the end of the container. By getting this fully melted surface, it will ensure smooth future burns so you can avoid any tunneling.” Tunneling is when you burn the candle for too short a period of time and you get a memory ring of wax that builds up around the edge of the glass, causing more tunneling on future burns.
Burning for too short of a time. Though the initial burn is the most important, subsequent burns shouldn’t be quickies either. “In general, you don't want to light a candle for 15 minutes,” Stone says. “That is not the best use of your candle, your product and your investment. For each burn, ensure that the wax is getting liquefied as close to the edge of that glass ring as possible. Make sure you're never burning for just 15 or 20 minutes; try to get at least 45 minutes to an hour for a burn.”
Otherland founder and CEO Abigail Stone
Not knowing when to blow it out. After three hours, or four at the very max, extinguish your candle. “You can't light your candle in the morning and have it on throughout the afternoon and into the evening,” Stone says. “It's not a good idea for candle performance. When you have so much liquid in the jar from burning it for so long, you can get separation of the fragrance, or when it hardens over it may not be as fragrant for the subsequent burn.” Another reason is after about three to four hours, the wick will probably get mushroomy, when the wick clumps at the tip and curls over. That can create a larger flame, making it a safety hazard.
Skipping wick trimming. Mushrooming is one of the reasons that regular wick trimming is essential. “Probably the biggest mistake that people make when burning candles is not trimming your wick,” Stone says. “You never want to have a lit candle with a mushroom wick. Wicks should always be trimmed to about an eighth to a quarter of an inch, nice and neat. You need to do this before every burn.” A wick trimmer delivers a clean cut, but a regular pair of scissors will get the job done—just make sure to clean it up if little bits fall off into the candle.
Not cleaning the candle. “You never want any kind of debris to be in the candle—that's a fire hazard,” Stone says. “Keep matches and any type of debris out of your candle.”
Using the lid to extinguish it. It might seem intuitive to place the lid on to cut off oxygen, but lids aren’t designed to extinguish the flame and it could be dangerous. Otherland’s lids are made out of paperboard, so they have a warning not to do that, and metal lids aren’t safe either. Stone prefers to simply blow them out or you can opt for a candle snuffer.
Placing it in a drafty spot. “Keeping a candle away from any kind of vent, draft, window or any kind of fan is important,” Stone says. “That's for safety, because it can push the flickering flame in different directions and it might catch on something that you weren't expecting it to. Also, when it pushes the flame over, it exposes some of that wick, so a little bit of carbon is exposed and that's when you get sweating. You also want to keep the area around the candle clear and on a heat-resistant surface, and away from children, dogs, cats, anything that could potentially interact with it. Keep it in your sight always. Never leaving it unattended is, of course, critical.”
Letting it collect dust. Whether you wait a long time between burns or haven’t lit it up yet, it doesn’t take long for a candle to start gathering dust on the surface of the wax. “When I was testing different candles and exploring features I thought were most important for our company, I learned having a lid is really great,” Stone says. “We've got paperboard lids that help protect the candle from dust.” If yours doesn’t have a lid, you can buy one separately or store it upside down, which also helps seal in the scent by preventing evaporation from that top layer as it ages. To preserve the candle, keep it in a cool, dry place. If it does get dusty—which can be a burning hazard—wipe the surface down with a paper towel.
Burning it until the end. “When you get to the last half inch of wax, it's time to get rid of your candle,” Stone says. “Most candle companies should be using a wick tab at the bottom, which is a metal tab that will help self-extinguish the flame when it gets to the very bottom. But you should stop at a half an inch; it is not going to be a great burn experience anymore. It’s for safety purposes.”
Now that you have all the candle know-how, shop the best scented candles:
Two legendary French houses teamed up to create this limited-edition candle. Olivier Rousteing, the Creative Director of Balmain, put the fashion house’s spin on Trudon’s popular Ernesto candle, a favorite scent of the designer, by adorning the jar in Balmain’s iconic marinière pattern. $180, trudon.com
Returning for the spring season, the limited set of three scents inspired by flowers in bloom and fresh starts includes Ruby Root, with notes of sugarbeets, grass and ginger; Purple Petals, with lilacs, hyacinth and lychee; and Extra Hour, with shiso leaf, verbena and mint. $78, otherland.com
D.S. & DURGA Salt Marsh Rose Candle
D.S. & DURGA co-founder and perfumer David Moltz has always wanted to pay homage to his beloved New England roots and that’s exactly what he did with this candle. He captured “secret marshes full of swampy summer flowers” with mallow, sea lettuce, swamp rose, sweet pepper bush, grass and lichen moss. $65, dsanddurga.com
NEST New York Driftwood & Chamomile 3-Wick Candle
For their latest candle collect, NEST tapped the powers of aromatherapy to create a scent that will help you wind down at the end of the day and prepare you for a night of peaceful rest. The soothing and calming scent combines chamomile, driftwood, sandalwood and vanilla bean. $74, nestnewyork.com
The latest limited-edition candle by Malin + Goetz was inspired by the Hudson Valley home garden of the founders. Just as the smells of their garden waft through their window, the candle captures the scent of their tomatoes ripening in August, rounded out with basil, lavender, mint leaves, mandarin, cedarwood and green pepper. $58, malinandgoetz.com (available March 7)
C.O. Bigelow Citrus Bergamia
C.O. Bigelow is known for being the oldest apothecary in the US, and their candles are pretty impressive, too. This beautiful bergamot candle is completely vegan, made with domestically and sustainably-grown GMO-free soybeans. Hand-poured with an enviro-safe wick, it delivers a clean burn. $52, bigelowchemists.com
The very first fragrance created by luxury perfume house Krigler, Pleasure Gardenia is a fresh floral that celebrates love. Inspired by a Kyoto garden painted in gold on a traditional Japanese folding screen, it combines gardenia, jasmine, mimosa, musk and vanilla. $120, krigler.com
Unexpected fragrances are a fun way to mix up your candle game, like this limited-edition artichoke one from French favorite Diptyque. An accord of roses adds a unique spin to the artichoke for a touch of floral sweetness, with iris to complete the blend. $76, diptyqueparis.com
It took a year of perfecting this candle before it hit shelves. Created in tandem by Farmaesthetics founder Brenda Brock and Celine Chappert of Officine Oils of Paris, it is made with the best natural oils, waxes, herbs and flowers native to France and the US. The muse is the Farmaesthetics Midnight Honey Bath & Beauty Oil, with a blend of honey, violets, wood, roots and bergamot. Each candle is hand-poured into an amber apothecary glass and the beechwood wick crackles when lit to enliven the senses. $38, farmaesthetics.com
Nomad Noé WILD In Hollywood
Strike a match, light this up and you’ll be instantly transported to an LA speakeasy of yesteryear. Sweet and dark, whiskey, tobacco and oud provide the time travel. $65, nomadnoe.com
For the ultimate luxurious burn, light up one of AMAFFI’s signature candles. Based on the perfume house’s “Intrigant” fragrance, they’re made from mineral high-quality wax, blending vetiver, cardamom, elemi and cedar. In other words, they smell as beautiful as they look. $1,000, amaffi.com
Embrace the best parts of winter when you light this candle that’s better for you and the planet, thanks to the blend of certified organic grapeseed oil and wild Japanese berry wax. Your home will feel like a winter wonderland with notes of crushed pine needles, balsam mingle cool citrus and iced cedar. $62, esasnyc.com
White Barn Dark Amber & Oud 3-Wick Candle
The latest White Barn collection features seven new modern, minimalist and gender-neutral fragrances, with a clean design to reflect the theme. Dark Amber & Oud is as mysterious as it sounds. Meant to evoke the woodlands after a rainstorm, it features notes of dark golden amber, fresh rainwater and oud wood. $26.50, bathandbodyworks.com
Tom Ford Lost Cherry Candle
Of course Tom Ford would create a candle that looks as good as it smells. Just like the Private Blend fragrance it’s based on, it juxtaposes sultry and sweet with black cherry, bitter almond oil, griotte syrup, Turkish rose, Peru balsam and roasted tonka. $135, tomford.com
One of the most popular Boy Smells candles for good reason, the grounding musk scent reminiscent of a damp forest is one you’ll light over and over again. That effect comes courtesy of white birch, lush ivy, wild fig, rhubarb, violet leaves, papyrus, incense and black tea. $39, boysmells.com
Once you know the story behind this candle, it’ll smell even better. Made from certified fair-trade African shea butter to promote sustainability and the local shea butter industry in rural Africa, it tells the story of ancient Chad through scent. Top notes of cumin, elemi, clove, saffron and Chébé mingle with a heart of olibanum, leather, rose, jasmine and oud, and a base of myrrh, patchouli, cedar and sandalwood. $68.95, salwapetersen.com
Anecdote’s 2022 candle of the year certainly sums up the mood with the descriptor of “smells like high hopes and low expectations.” In case you’re wondering what that smells like, there are top notes of orange, citron and bergamot zest, with a musky base of white cedar, lemon blossom, and jasmine petals. $26, anecdotecandles.com