Myths and Untruths within the candle industry.

Okay its time to talk about the Myths and Untruths within the candle industry. 

It takes many years to perfect making a safe burning candle and as of recently there is a lot of people starting businesses thinking that its a quick money maker or just a "side hustle"......NEWS!!! They are in some cases not even testing their products and go straight to selling them, no research has been done and its absolutely noticeable. When this happens things start to become DANGEROUS to the consumer.

So I want to tell you all what to be careful of!

• Phrases such as TRIPLE SCENTED
• Botanicals and Glitter in Candles
• Essential Oils 
• Oil Diffusers

TRIPLE SCENTED

Triple scented is basically a marketing term used to make a product sound more appealing, or give the impression that the product smells stronger than others on the market. This may take sometime to explain but lets have a go!

Different people will have differing opinions on this, so lets start back at the basics. Old industry standard was 3% fragrance, so triple scented would actually mean 9%, but that's old industry. New Industry we see the waxes we use standardly take 9% fragrance, this meaning if we were to now " Triple Scent " the fragrance would be 27%. 

This is just not achievable as wax will only absorb a certain amount of oil before it either pushes it out or no longer sets firmly. And even if it were to set properly the likelihood of the whole top of the candle becoming ignited (not just the wick) is extremely high. Another example would be, I can take a light delicate scent use triple the amount of oil and it will still not smell any stronger than a more powerful scent at a lower percentage.  

Some sellers claim that the fragrance has 3 layers of scent, a Top note, Middle note, Base note. Well unless the fragrance is a base scent like say Lemon....then nearly all fragrances have these. Others will claim the candle has 3 layers of fragrance like, Chocolate, Vanilla, Strawberry. that very well may be the case but that's a 3 LAYER candle NOT triple scent.

To conclude, 

• When you see the term Triple Scent its not always going to be be what you think it is!
• Not all fragrances perform better at higher level %.   

We use the MAXIMUM amount of fragrance possible. 

BOTANICALS & GLITTER

Here is a link to the ACCC Product Safety page, where you can have a read about the Combustible candle holders ban. https://www.productsafety.gov.au/bans/combustible-candle-holders ideally it states there's is a ban that applies to objects that are designed to hold or decorate a candle, which when subjected to flame or heat emanating from a candle, ignite and continue to flame for a period of five seconds or more after ignition.

Glitter - Glitters and Mica in and on top of candles may look pretty but as the candle burns they will be pulled into the wick. This will cause the wick to become clogged and not burn. 

Nothing going to burn but the wick here!

ESSENTIAL OILS 

This one is fairly straight forward. Pure Essential oils should never be applied directly to the skin, they need to be in a carrier oil or have directions on usage. Please make sure you read the warnings and directions on their labels. 

Also Essential oils in candles and melts....this is a very expensive option and I advise against it. Some can become toxic when heated, and if not toxic any properties the oils once had are immediately burnt off. 

No Toxins with us!

OIL DIFFUSERS

Oil diffusers either hanging, car vent or counter top need a special carrier base, this is for numerous reasons. So don't be pulled into ones that say 100% fragrance oil. 

Lets list these here; the fragrance oil is too thick to be carried properly through the wooden lids or reed sticks and wont disperse evenly, in a small area it will become over powering and in some case cause headaches, lastly as per the MSDS on the oils a base is needed. Here is some food for thought......when working with straight fragrance oils I wear a MASK!! 

No over exposure here either, stay healthy!