There are so many factors to consider when producing candles, especially essential oils candles, and not very much information can be acquired, so it's a process of research, testing and elimination. For instance, the wax burns a hole straight through the middle leaving a wall of wax that lines the glass which is wasted. The pool of molten wax is too hot hereby decreasing the burn time. Wax is too soft, wax has imperfections in the top (still working on that one), not enough scent throw (no worries here) and the list goes on and on.
In addition, I have decided to go down the healthy route (only covered by about 1-2% of the candle market), not just for my children's lungs and lounge walls but for the environment where the materials are sourced. For the ultimate scent throw (to fill a room) it's a process of finding the right blend of wax, as more often than not, cheap scented candle you get from Marks & Sparks and the like hardly fill a two man lift let alone a normal size room. The choice of wax also determines the optimal appearance of the candle (the velvet creamy organic kind) plus, to back up my healthy commitment, the materials must also meet organic requirements. For this reason I have NOT chosen palm oil based on the devastating effect logging is having to the eco-system in Indonesia. And who doesn't love Orangutans? Where most candles will advise they use "vegetable wax" almost certainly palm oil is used! My candles are made with only 2 ingredients, Soy and secret other wax that I have decided not to disclose (as it took a great deal of research to work it out) + a cotton wick.Another factor, now that all the above has been refined and burning optimised, one must have ideas on unique scent blends and ultimately, based on the power of essential oils, have a concept for therapeutic benefits which requires knowledge of essential oils (my bedtime reading). You may not even be aware, that over 98-99% of candles on the market are made using "fragrance" and even when they boast "aromatherapy candles" they are actually only adding a tiny proportion of essential oil mixed with other oils and chemicals to produce the required scent, similar to parfume. I am curious as to how they can even advertise aromatherapy candles? Even Jo Malone uses the word "fragrance" and doesn't even advise what kind of wax used which suggests they use paraffin, i.e toxins (yuck)! Natural Magic candles use essential oils yet they advertise "vegetable" wax in their ingredients, so one must question the possibility of palm materials being used?
Now that I am confident enough to boast my pure aromatherapy candles have been perfected, along side my research and developments, I have been working on some new scents. So far I have produced:
1. RELAX with lavender, rose geranium & rosewood - cosy lounge, fire crackling and maybe the odd glass of vino.
2. INVIGORATE with ylang ylang, lemongrass & ginger - allow yourself to be swept away to exotic shores conjured in your mind!
3. REFRESH with rosemary, lavender & lime - the perfect detox without the rubber hose (you know where that goes).
4. ROMANCE with a secret blend starring Moroccan Rose - for starry eyed romcom gazing, chocolate nibbling moments.
I now have two more scent blends which I must say are gorgeous and include some other little essential oil touches I have decided to keep close to my chest:
5. PAMPER with angelica, chamomile and some other little secret wonders! The ultimate luxurious pampering experience.
6. REVITALISE predominately with eucalyptus, lime, bergamot - to catapult you back on track to being your usual amazing self!
Within 15-20 minutes the pool of wax has increased to almost full potential enabling greater scent throw to fill a room.Now that my beautiful candles are progressing nicely I can turn my efforts towards producing lovely handmade smellies including soap, salt rubs and bath bombs. Based on the first batch I made, friends almost snapped my hands off when they heard I was making soaps, which prompted me to develop this further. My aim is to create products predominately made with olive oil (due to a future project in Italy) beautifully scented with essential oils. So keep watch for these a little later in the year, when I'll be explaining why I am going down this route, if you haven't already guessed!
