How to get the most life out of your candles

Your candle collection shouldn’t feature blackened jars and a smoky smell. Follow these tips and for long lasting candles that look like new well after the first burn.

Trim the wick every time

The most important tip on here (as in if you only take this one thing away) is to trim the wick every time. Before you light the candle, cut the wick down to a quarter inch.

You don’t need a fancy wick trimmer (although they do make the job easy). We recommend using a pair of nail clippers in a pinch!

This will keep your candle burning safe and clean. If your jar is sooty, you’re probably not trimming your wicks enough.

Make a wide wax pool

Here’s where the longevity comes in. There’s nothing worse than leaving unmelted wax down the sides of the jar—that’s hours of burn time wasted. To stop this tunnelling, keep the candle lit for a 2-3 hours at a time. The melted wax pool will have time to spread all the way across the top of the candle, and you’ll have a nice flat surface until the candle is gone.

On the flip side, limit your candle sessions to no longer than 4 hours at a time. Any more and the wick gets too long, the flame gets too big, and you get a sooty candle. If you want to have a candle going for longer, just light up a different scent!

Snuff, don't blow

To keep your candle in the most pristine condition, never blow it out. Blowing a candle out can result in soot build up on the jar, debris in the melted wax from the burned wick, and more smoke.

Instead, snuff out the candle with the lid (and let the small amount of smoke out before putting the lid back on for storage).

Any sort of breeze can result in soot build up and debris in your candle, so keep it away from open windows and busy areas.