Day 008 - Candle Care

Currently Burning: Wildberry Scone

Today I figured I would post a general how-to for taking care of your candles. These rules can generally apply to any type of candle company, but of course my focus is going to be Candles by Victoria. Here's my Top 5 Candle Care Tips.

1. Keep those wicks trimmed! - I sign off with this phrase every day, because I feel it's probably the most important of all of the tips. If you don't keep your wicks on your candles trimmed down to about 1/4 of an inch, the candle will smoke a lot when you first light it. This is the reason why candles can sometimes get black residue on the top/sides. While that in itself isn't a huge deal, if you continuously allow candles to smoke like that, the black residue will build up on your ceilings and walls. Personally, I just use a pair of kitchen shears to trim my wicks, but I know that Victoria sells wick trimmers on her site as well. Also, if you're burning a candle for longer than 3 hours, you should blow it out, trim the wick, and relight it so you don't have to worry about carbon build up on the wick.
2. Allow your candle to burn all the way to the edges - This is especially important the first time you light your candle. Candles have a memory, so if you blow a candle out prior to it reaching a full melt pool, the next time you light the candle, it will only burn out to that edge rather than the complete edge. Victoria's candles have really soft wax, so even if you did this it will eventually burn down because the sides of the candle will heat up enough. Typically you'll need to allow your candles to burn for a minimum of 1 hour per inch of diameter.
3. Make sure your candle is not under a draft - This can really mess with your candle. Not only will it cause the flame to dance around and put black residue on the sides of the candle, but it can also cause your wick to drift and not be dead center anymore. Having a candle under a ceiling fan or by an open window can make it almost impossible to achieve a full melt pool. 
4. Make sure the wick stays centered - This can be hard to fix, but the easiest way I have found is to place the candle on a candle warmer and allow all the wax to melt. Then you can take a toothpick or a knife and move the wick to where it needs to be. If it's not in the center of the candle, it can be difficult to achieve the full melt pool. 
5. Never leave candles unattended - This one is pretty obvious. I always make sure I have at least 3 hours to spend at home if I'm going to light a candle. I hate having to blow them out early, but if I ever need to leave I make sure to blow them all out. While unlikely, it is possible for a candle to break, knock over, or catch something above it on fire. I try not to leave candles burning in rooms that I'm not sitting in as well, but I'm worse about doing that. 

 Hopefully that's helpful to someone out there! Victoria always includes instructions with any order so there may be more tips and tricks on that as well. Now onto the daily review!

Wildberry Scone (4): This is a good mix of fruity/bakery. To me, the predominant smell is blueberry. After it melts, you get the buttery, crusty note of the scone. It reminds me of eating a blueberry scone from Starbucks. Not sure if I would get this in a full size candle, because it smells really similar to a few of her other scents to me.

Remember to keep those wicks trimmed!

Jason