How to Extend the Life of your Candle

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One of my favorite authors, Shauna Niequist, talked about burning the candles and her little pep talk stuck with me: “Burn the candles. You know the ones I mean—that fancy one that your friend sent you, in a beautiful box...Burn the candles. Not just when people come over. It’s about believing that you’re worth the good stuff, that someone wanted you to feel loved and seen and known.”

If we are going to burn those lovely, beautiful, luxurious candles (because YOU are worth it!),

A Wick Trimmer can make a big difference in keeping soot out of your candle.

LET’S LEARN HOW TO TREAT THEM RIGHT:

Invest $7 in a wick trimmer (really!). I though this item was a rich people frivolity until my friend Adrienne gave me one, and it actually makes a big difference! If you trim your wick to 1/4” before lighting, it avoids your candle turning sooty/black. If I can’t find my wick trimmer, I just use a paper towel and my hand.
You can avoid tunneling (when the wax sticks to the sides and doesn’t melt all the way) by letting your candle burn for 3-4 hours the FIRST time you light it, until the surface of the candle is COMPLETELY melted. Candles have “memory,” so if you extinguish it before the entire surface is melted, you waste a lot of your candle.
If you didn’t follow #2, you can use a candle warmer to melt the extra wax down if you get tunneling and pour into a vessel with a new wick ($10 for 60!!!). It takes about 20-30 minutes to melt down a candle. You can use a fork to pull our the old wick.
For one of my favorite dupes. I didn’t want to buy a $50 ceramic pumpkin candle from Anthropologie, so I bought a $7 ceramic pumpkin from Target and melted an inexpensive candle to DIY!

You can melt down any wax leftover after your wick burns out and pour it towards a new candle with this warmer (that can also keep your beverage warm;)

Once the wax starts melting, you can remove the old wick with a fork.

This mini ceramic pumpkin from the dollar section at Target would make a cute mini pumpkin candle!

One of my big pet peeves with candles is the waste generated from all of the candle vessels. We ALL say we will “re purpose,” but I hardly ever do! The business Siblings Candles is changing all that. You can purchase a ‘candle in a bag’ that you melt in the microwave and can pour into any vessel. The waste reduction is amazing! You can see my full review here.