At a quick glance, it’s hard to distinguish between high and low-quality scented candles. As they say, it's best to not judge a book by its cover, but by the quality of its content.
A luxury candle will last longer; have refined ingredients; higher concentrations of oils; and fuller, more complex fragrance profiles. But from appearance alone, many candles can deceive you by their high price point, quirky names, and unique containers.
Let’s break down the top aspects you must look for in a high-quality candle:
Cleaner Burn
You can tell your candle is high quality if it burns cleanly, evenly, and creates a pool of liquid wax all the way across the surface of the candle within 2 to 4 hours. Be sure to follow product guidelines, like initial burn time, found on all of our packaging and on our FAQ page.
Cleaner Ingredients
The cheapest candles to produce use paraffin wax. Not only is this bad for the environment, since they are petroleum-derived products created from fossil fuels, but they also can put your health at risk! Regular use of paraffin candles can increase your risk of developing cancer. Additionally, it can cause nausea, congenital disabilities, headaches, and respiratory problems.
Paraffin creates more soot (the black rim that develops around your candle jars edges) than other waxes. Opt. for a non-toxic candle wax that will affect your air quality the least; like soy, beeswax, and coconut wax.
All Hotel Collection Candles are made with a soy blend and hand poured with love in Miami, Florida.
Longer Burning Hours
The overall composition of a candle, rather than its size, determines its burning hours. Get a candle that is made to last, and can withstand longer burn hours, with a combination of the right type of quality wax blend; a high concentration of fragrance oils; and proper wicks chosen, according to the particular wax type present in the candle and in proportion to the size of the candle.
Type of Wick
The wick is the most important feature that you should consider when buying candles. A lot of cheap scented candles use lead wicks, which are hazardous to your health.
All Hotel Collection Candles wicks are 100% made from cotton and lead-free.
With that said, you must also make sure the size of the wick isn’t too big or too small. A wick that is too small may not produce enough heat to form a melt pool and it may get drowned inside the melted wax extinguishing the candle each time you burn it. A wick that is too large may produce soot and make the candle burn too fast, decreasing the burn time. In cases of glass or container candles, a large candlewick might make the container too hot or even cause cracks or breakage.
No Residual Wax on Edges
You know a candle was made cheaply when your container starts to form a ring of residual wax around it. As the candle burns down, the wax remains glued to the sides of the container, never to melt. Eventually, this can impact the candle and make it unable to light properly. After a good 1.5-2 hour burn, a premium candle will burn evenly with the wax melt reaching the pool allowing no leftover wax to go unused.
The Perfect Scent
Just because an unlit candle has a strong scent throw, does not mean it will carry that same scent properly throughout a room when lit. A candle that contains too much fragrance, or has low quality or synthetic fragrances can be too overpowering and irritate your senses. A premium scented candle will always contain the right amount of fragrance, will be derived from a high concentration of essential oils, will layer notes to blend together harmoniously, will circulate the scent throughout a space, and won’t give you a headache.
