Why Your Candle Scent Doesn't Fill A Room by Coco Quill


Have you ever gone to a store, bought a candle and when you got it home it the smell never filled the room? Whiskey & Woof is all about helping you get the most out of your candles, so here are some of the reasons that might be the case. 

1) Size matters - are you burning a 3 oz or less candle in a living room of 20 square feet? One won't do the trick. This is an opportunity for you to cross blend several scents in your living room and experiment with your own scent design. A candle under three ounces would fill up a restroom. Want to test it? Put one in each area. Close the door and after half an hour, go outside. Come back in and see which area you can smell the candle scent more strongly.  Votives:A single votive won't fill a room

2) The type of wax being used. Different waxes retain different amounts of wax. Pillar wax which is used to make the very trendy bubble candles and other mold candles, depending on where you source it, holds roughly half of what container wax (yes, there are waxes made to stand alone vs. being in a candle holder), is able to accommodate. 

When I was experimenting with pillar wax in molds, I did try a Frenchie mold (bat ears were always broken no matter what prep tips I used- the mold was too tight vs. the bubble candles which came out fine) it could only hold 6% wax and took several weeks to cure. Curing is when the wax and fragrance combine which leads to our next point. 

3) Curing time - in one of my professional chandler groups, a business in Atlanta posted about an order of 300 candles for a conference their team poured, let settle for two hours, packed up and drove all night to deliver them in Florida. When I was speaking to a vendor she said there was no way I got that right. I found the post and read it to her. Her response "they couldn't have smelled very good, or much, at all." 

There is also a scientist who has made the Facebook group rounds telling other chandlers there's no point in curing when a candle is done. After 24 hours get it out -at least she is advising a day of curing. * You should always wait a minimum of 24 hours before burning a candle after it's poured. 

Curing time is important and varies depending on the type of wax. The aforementioned pillar wax takes six weeks for a scent to come in strong. Many container waxes need 2 weeks. This is why a lot of times you will see single owned shops make one large batch and when that's gone they have "sold out" of a scent either permanently or for a few weeks. 

4) Fragrance amount - every wax has a range of how much fragrance it can accommodate. For instance, container waxes usually hold 8-12% vs Pillar wax around 6%. Quality and the amount of fragrance used make a difference. 

-Coco Quill 

Founder of Whiskey & Woof 

 

 


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