What Makes A Good Candle?

So, what makes a good candle? I hear this question a lot, actually. Mostly from people that buy their candles from Dollar Tree or WalMart. There really is no one good answer to this question. But here goes....The simple version...

A good candle starts with a clean wax, (wax of any kind), a good wick (no lead), and a heat proof container. Add a good quality fragrance oil that is pure and undiluted, and you are well on your way. Then the trick becomes, do all of your parts work together? That is the basis of a good candle. If your parts don't match up and work together, each part may be of excellent quality, but the marriage is bad.

What do I mean by this? For instance, take the best wick, and the best oils, and blend them in a cheap, dirty wax, and your candle will smoke and won't smell very good. BUT, blend a terrific oil, with a clean quality wax, and a lead-free wick that is perfectly sized for the oil, wax, and container, and you have a beautiful candle that burns slow, completely, and throws a scent throughout the area. The tricky part is putting all the parts together. This is where skill and patience come in. Often new candlemakers on the market tend to avoid testing each and every scent. After all, those 869 fragrances are all so tempting that we just have to try them all! They'll all work, right? Wrong. To make the best possible candle, each component must be tested with each component. That's what we do here, at Bushel Basket Candle Co. The clean quality wax must be matched up perfectly with that terrific new fragrance oil, and the wick must be the exactly correct size, or it doesn't make it on our shelves or in our catalog.

We'd love to know what your favorite fragrance is! Mine varies with what I'm pouring that day. Today it was Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. Oh my gosh! The rich oatmeal with the raisins and brown sugar just seeps into the air and smells incredible! But tomorrow, I will have a new favorite, or a new best seller that drives me crazy.