Why can I barely smell my candle?
It could be that the room you've placed your candle in is too large for the scent to adequately fill it. Especially if it has high ceilings or if it is a mezzanine flat. It could also be due to where you've placed the candle – e.g. if it's right near an open window or an air vent where scent can easily escape.
It hasn't been burning long enough.
Typically, it takes until the melt pool reaches the edges of your vessel to truly appreciate the scent. Each inch of diameter of the candle vessel = the number of hours your candle needs to be burned the first time. For our 8oz glass jar candle, that's about 3 hours.
While unlit, simply add a few drops of your preferred fragrance directly to the candle wax (near the base of the wick). Once lit, the candle will throw the aroma of the fragrance oil you added.
Olfactory adaptation
When we wear a fragrance regularly, the brain associates it with our own body odor. The fact that we no longer smell our perfume is part of a physiological process of olfaction. With our own scent, the stimulation of our olfactory sensors is permanent.
Currently, paraffin waxes are thought to be the best for producing a powerful aroma, which is why many high-end businesses continue to utilize paraffin wax in their candles.
To troubleshoot the problem, first try burning your candle in a smaller room, such as a bathroom or home office, in case the scent is simply subtler than expected. Also, try burning your candle for a longer period of time, as it may simply need a full melt-pool to diffuse the scent.
Essential oils are notorious for not playing nicely with candle wax. Unlike fragrance oils, essential oils oftentimes have very low flash points which cause them to evaporate when added to hot candle wax.
If you can't smell your perfume or home scenting products anymore, There is a real scientific explanation for it. It's called olfactory fatigue. As our brains remain exposed to a scent for a certain period, they eventually tend to ignore the old smell in order to avoid sensory overload.
Hyposmia [high-POSE-mee-ah] is a reduced ability to detect odors. Anosmia [ah-NOSE-mee-ah] is the complete inability to detect odors. In rare cases, someone may be born without a sense of smell, a condition called congenital anosmia.
Everyone has their own scent—just think of how differently your grandma and your boyfriend smell when you lean in for a hug. But can we smell ourselves? For the first time, scientists show that yes, we can, ScienceNOW reports. Our basis of self-smell originates in molecules similar to those animals use to chose mates.
Why do my wax melts not smell?
Different from candles, wax melts slowly lose their scent over time, while the wax from candles evaporates. When a wax melt loses its fragrance, it's time to swap it out for a new melt!
Yankee candles are made from paraffin wax, as well as essential oils for fragrance and cotton for the wicks.
Add too much fragrance: Using more fragrance oil does not always guarantee a stronger scent throw. Each wax has a recommended fragrance oil load and going beyond that limit can cause the fragrance oil to separate from the wax which could be a potential fire hazard (not to mention the ugly "gooey" spots it can create).
Never touch or move a candle while it is burning or while the wax is liquefied. Don't burn a candle all the way down. For a margin of safety, discontinue burning a candle when 1/2 inch remains in the container or 2 inches if using a pillar candle.
Get it right the first time.
Candles should burn one hour for every 1 inch in diameter of the actual candle size. For example, a candle that is 2 inches across should burn for 2 hours.
There are many factors while in use that can affect any candle's performance, including: room drafts, debris that may have accumulated in the wax's melt pool, wick length and proper pre‐burn trimming which is included on the instructions on the candle label.
Most DIY candle makers like to use fragrance oils when concocting scented candles, since they're more user-friendly. Essential oils are more challenging because they're more volatile, meaning they have a lower boiling point and evaporate more quickly when exposed to heat.
Yes, that's right — scent degradation is actually the same underlying process that produces a candle's cold throw. The good news is that scent degradation happens very gradually and is almost unnoticeable for the first 6 months to a year, depending on the type of wax and the quality of fragrance oils used.
RELAX AND WAIT UNTIL YOUR CANDLE IS FULLY MELTED
🔥 This is the MOST critical step. The first time you burn your candle make sure to wait at least 3-4 hours or until the wax pool liquefies to the edge of your glass. Once the wax pool is completely melted on the top, then you can blow out your candle.
Solution: Particularly for their first burn, candles are supposed to burn for at least one hour per inch of container diameter. So, if you bought a new candle that is 3 inches in diameter, you should burn your candle for at least 3 hours (though not more than 4 at a time).
Why is my new candle not burning to the edge?
You can fix a tunneled candle by wrapping a piece of aluminum foil around the edges and simply letting it burn. Make sure the foil hangs over the built-up wax areas, but leave an opening in the center so the wick can still burn properly. After a couple of hours, the wax should melt and even out the surface.
Besides being decorative, lids help keep your candles clean by keeping dust and debris out. They also preserve the lifespan of scented candles by preventing the fragrance from escaping, which happens whenever the wax is exposed to open air (you might recognize this phenomenon as "cold throw").
After pouring the candles and allowing them to harden, you must then allow them to cure. This cure time will ensure that the candles provide the richest scents when you burn them.
Each candle contains a lead-free wick that won't burn out. Candle melts consistently & evenly, radiating enough fragrance to fill an entire room, with a burn time of approximately 25 - 45 hours!
#1- The most important thing you need to know for any candle made with 2, 3 or more wicks is that each wick needs to be lit, every single burn. Igniting one wick at a time will not prolong the life of the candle but rather can lead to wick drowning or uneven melt pools.
Never touch or move a candle while it is burning or while the wax is liquefied. Don't burn a candle all the way down. For a margin of safety, discontinue burning a candle when 1/2 inch remains in the container or 2 inches if using a pillar candle.
If you burn your candle for more than 4 hours at a time, carbon will collect on the wick, and your wick will begin to "mushroom." This can cause the wick to become unstable, the flame to get too large, your candle to smoke, and soot to be released into the air and around your candle container.
The candle's first burn is an important step to avoid tunneling. Your goal on a first burn is to fully melt the top layer of wax, evenly. If you do not, a “tunnel” will form in the center of the candle, creating a memory ring. Tunneling happens when the first-burn is not a long enough period of time.
Burning a candle for too long will cause carbon to collect on the wick, leading it to “mushroom.” The wick will then become unstable and produce a dangerously large flame. Plus, your candle will start to smoke and release soot. Avoid this by always following the manufacturer's instructions.
So, back to WICKS...the first thing you should do when you buy our candles or any other, is trim the wick before first burn. Trim it about 1/8" above the surface of the wax. Then burn your candle.
How do you light a candle when the wick is too low?
If the wick is too short even to light, melt a bit of the wax with a heat gun and pour it onto a paper plate. You can also scrape out room-temperature wax using a butter knife to expose the wick so you can light it.
Another way to melt candle wax at home is in the microwave. Some people choose this method as they can melt the wax faster than if they were using a double boiler.
The aluminum foil allows the flame to stay even and continuously radiate heat, and the foil also helps to retain heat to help melt the leftover wax. Ellie Martin Cliffe, our executive editor, tested this and swears by its magic. “I tried the aluminum foil trick over the weekend and it worked beautifully,” she says.