How To Properly Burn And Get the Maximum Life From a Candle

​Burning scented candles is a lovely way to relax and fill your home with fragrance and beauty. It’s a relatively simple process, but there are a few things you should know to get the most out of your candle and avoid losing burn time and scent.

When you get a new candle, the first time that you light it is the most important; it sets the stage for the life of the candle. The longer your candle burns, the bigger the opening of the wax pool is for future use. You don’t even want to trim the wick that first time if it’s a wider container, because a larger, hotter flame could be the only way to melt the wax all the way out to the edge. So if you were to only burn the candle for an hour or so, you would have a really small wax pool, and the dry hard wax around the outside edge will almost never burn (this is called tunneling), even in subsequent burnings, therefore losing you precious wax/burn time and scent. If, after you light the wick, there is any smoke at all, then extinguish the flame and trim the wick slightly. You never want any soot or smoke at any time. (Diamonds & Rust candles by Vintage Bliss Boutique are 100% soy, so they burn without chemicals and soot.) Once the candle has formed a melt pool all the way to the edge of its container, blow out the candle and trim the wick back to 1/8-1/4 inch before all future burns. This first burn takes approximately 1 hour per 1 inch of diameter of the vessel.

Your second burn won’t have to be as long as your first burn. In fact, you shouldn't let your candle burn for more than 4 hours the second or third time that you use it. However, you should always let your candle burn until the whole surface area of it is melted. If you only leave your candle to burn for a short time, you won’t be burning all the wax to the edge, resulting in the dreaded tunneling effect in future burns. Only have a short time to enjoy a candle? Burn a votive.

Follow these instructions and you will get the most out of every candle!
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