If you are a candle lover, there is no doubt you regularly spend time pouring over all the candles you see in any store. You may marvel at the colors of the candles, their shapes and sizes, but the overall thing that is likely getting your attention is the scent.
How do they make candles that smell so wonderful, can set a mood and can bring back memories of days past, by being perfectly scented.
It’s all about science, fragrance and oils.
Candles are scented with fragrance oils. These are a combination of a liquid fragrance and an oil that make a thicker liquid solution. If you think about it, most of the things in your life have some of these oils in them. It could be the scents that make your shower gel seem like a summer breeze or the fragrance that makes your dish-washing soap smell like a ripe lemon. Scents are in almost everything these days. Why, then, do candles seem so much better when it comes to scents?
When it comes to the scent of an individual candle, it all depends on how much of the fragrance is mixed into the wax as the candle is being created. When the wax is hot, this fragrance is added and mixed into the wax solution. Then the candles are poured or formed into their final design. As they cool, the fragrance cools inside the wax. While you can still smell the scent when you lift up the cooled candle, you won’t get to all the scenting until you burn the candle.
As the wick melts the wax, those drops of fragrance that were attached to the solid wax are freed and are released into the air. This is what creates the scents that you smell when you light candles in your home.
Now that you know what how the scent got there and how it gets out, you may be wondering why not all candles have the same amount of scent.
This is usually an issue of quality manufacturing. Those fragrance oils used to create the scents in candles are often the most expensive part of the candle. For this reason, many manufacturers try to save a few pennies here and there by putting fewer drops into their mixture. They may do this in one of two ways. They will either put less fragrance into the fragrance oil solution, or they will put less of the fragrance oil solution into the candle mixture. Either way the results are the same. You are getting less scent than you had hoped.
The only way to make sure you get well-scented candles is to look for those that are quality candles, made by companies that understand the delicate balance involved in making a great candle.
What about those ‘triple scented’ candles, you may be asking. If you have seen the labels promising ‘more scent’ or even ‘triple scent’ you may think this is just what you want, three times the scent for your money. This is not always the case. Many times their ‘triple scented’ candles are what should be in a single scent candle. They just don’t use as much fragrance in their regular candles. Essentially, they are charging you more for what you should be getting in the first place.
While you may be tempted by many lower quality scented candles because of their price, once you get home, you will often be disappointed by the results. Instead, get to know a quality candle. Once you appreciate the work that goes into proper scenting, you will never turn back.