What to look for in your next purchase
A candle is an investment. They can last many months depending on use and quality. And as with any investment, you want to make sure you’re evaluating your next candle by the right factors.
We identified seven qualities that typically set so-called luxury candles apart from the rest. In the end, you enjoy not only a longer-lasting candle but also one that burns more cleanly with a more enriching fragrance and experience.
Fragrance
Personal choice dictates what kind of scent you desire—sweet, subtly spiced, floral, or anything in between—but the quality matters no matter what you choose. Here, pay attention to ingredients, concentration (we recommend 10%), and whether the fragrance is “clean” (that is, made without certain harmful ingredients including parabens, formaldehyde, and talc).
Type of Wax
Candles used to come from fossil fuels and animal fat, but these days we can extract them more sustainably through vegetable oil. Soy candles in particular produce less soot and hold fragrance better, without the carcinogenic effects of petroleum-based oil.
Wick
The first wicks by ancient Egyptians were made of reed cores dipped in animal fat, but nowadays we make them out of cotton. Wick care is important to maximizing a candle’s burn time—there’s a lot more to candle care than you might think!
How it’s poured
Hand-poured candles hold several benefits over mass-manufactured ones. Quality assurance is the foremost reason since products made individually ensure human inspection for every candle. Safety is another factor since a human-first production process makes it less likely toxic chemicals are involved. Finally, hand-pouring candles reduces waste by avoiding a mechanized and largely unsupervised production line.
The Design
Candles enrich the senses not only through fragrance but also through sight. The glow it casts and the design of its enclosure is important for an object doubling as home decor. We designed our candles to not only be functional (the white porcelain casts a soft glow and can be reused for other purposes) but to also be colorful accents for any home.
The Story
With our own collection based on the stories of extraordinary past figures, we’re a little biased in thinking this might be the most defining quality of a luxury candle. However it’s designed, and whatever its fragrance, scents can tell stories in the same way photos recall memories. They evoke emotions, feelings, and moods that can drastically differ from one formulation to the next.
Whatever candle you choose, luxury or otherwise, you’re never without choices. In our collection, we always try to uphold all seven of these qualities, all while offering seven distinct fragrances, stories, and experiences. Try them out for yourself.