Burning a candle can be a blessing or a curse. The right one will elevate the mood, providing ambiance and a wonderful scent that’s exactly as strong as you want it. But it’s all too easy to get a candle that burns poorly, smells awful, or fills a room with a scent you don’t love. I‘m on the hunt to find the best candles you can buy on the internet. These are my favorites (so far).
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How We Tested and What’s Up Next
I burned each candle for a minimum of three hours. I took notes and polled my family and friends on the scent, strength, and appearance of each candle. We have many more candles to test from Siblings, Imaginary Authors, Diptyque, D.S. & Durga, Boy Smells, Paddywax, and more—plus a bevy of accessories.
The tables below include a “scent strength” section. “Strong” means the smell fills the entire room; “medium” means the smell fills the area near the candle but not the whole room; “faint” means you get a whiff now and then, but otherwise the scent is not too noticeable.
Materials, Tips, and Safety
An in-depth candle explainer is in the works, but in the meantime, here’s some helpful information.
Candle materials: There are a few popular materials for candles, including soy wax, paraffin wax, vegetable wax, coconut wax, and some others. Paraffin holds a scent well; soy wax lasts for a long time; palm wax has a high melting point. Sometimes candles are made with a blend of wax types. However, you should beware of one ingredient being marketed as more sustainable than others. Palm products contribute to deforestation, but soy isn’t necessarily sustainable if the plants are grown on single-crop swaths of land. Ultimately, it’s hard to discern whether a candle is truly made sustainably. Focusing on a vessel you’ll reuse, minimal packaging, or brands that donate proceeds toward environmental efforts can help.
Candle tips: The first time you burn a candle, you set the wax “memory.” If you allow it to burn for only a little while, and the entire top surface of the candle doesn’t melt, this sets a baseline shape for the wax that can lead to tunneling. Ensure that you burn a candle evenly to avoid tunneling. If you encounter tunneling, you can wrap foil around the candle while it’s lit or use a hair dryer to help soften the unmelted surrounding wax, but I think it’s way easier to just avoid it in the first place.
Candle safety: Never leave a burning candle unattended. Ensure candles are fully extinguished before walking away. Keep your wicks trimmed to about a fourth of an inch. Keep candles away from flammable materials (like curtains or hair) and don’t burn them in drafty rooms. Ensure they’re out of reach of pets and children. Don’t burn candles for more than a few hours at a time.