Best Candle Care Tips

Believe it or not, there’s a million ways to use your candle wrong! The art of candle burning is a mix of common sense and learning the best tips and tricks to candle care. Have you ever experienced uneven burning (tunneling), soot around the edges of your vessel or a candle that burns way too fast? We’re sharing the best candle burning tips so you can get the most out of your La Lueur candles.

1. The first burn is the most important

The first time you light your candle will set the tone for the rest of your candle burning experience. Make sure you keep the candle lit for at least a few hours (or until the wax is melted completely evenly to the edges of the vessel) so you don’t experience tunneling. If the candle isn’t allowed to burn evenly all across during the first burn, it forms what’s called a memory ring, which will prevent it from burning evenly each time you light it.

For our classic collection, we recommend around 1-2 hours, for our 2-wick candles 3-4 hours and for our 3-wick candles up to 4-5 hours for the first burn.

2. Trim wicks to 1/4"

Trimming the wicks regularly is crucial to properly burning your candle and helps ensure your candle doesn’t produce soot. Keep an eye on your candle and if the flame seems too big or looks to be dancing around, put it out, trim the wick again and relight.

3. Avoid burning the candle for too long...or too little

There’s such a thing as burning a candle too long. The general rule is to avoid burning the candle for more than 4 hours. Burning a candle for overly long periods can cause the wick to become too large and the wax to overheat. Not only does doing this burn your candle faster than if you burned it the same amount of time in separate sessions, but it also produces unwanted smoke and soot.

4. *common sense* Candle Tips for a Safe Burn

Most candle care tips will feel like plain old common sense, like keeping your candles away from flammable materials that can catch on fire, never leaving them unattended and keeping them away from children and pets. Below are some more candle burning instructions to always keep in mind:

• Burn on heat resistant surfaces

• Keep away from the draft and air conditioner

• Never move a burning candle and handle only when the wax has solidified

• Always burn the candle in sight

• Never use a candle if the vessel has chipped or cracked

• Keep out of direct sunlight

• Never use water (or a lid) to put out the flame

5. Stop use when there is 1/4' of wax left

As strange as it might sound, you’re actually not supposed to burn a candle all the way to the bottom. Once there is about 10 mm of wax left, it’s time to let it go. All of our vessels are meant to be repurposed, so it’s never truly goodbye. Remove the remaining wax and use the vessel as a cotton pad jar, decorative piece or makeup brush holder.

6. Avoid soot in the air by using a wick dipper

While most people blow out their candles, the proper (and also healthiest) way to put out your candle and avoid smoke in the air is by using a tool called a wick dipper. These are affordable and can be purchased easily on the web. You simply dip the wick into the wax using the wick dipper.

7. How to fix a candle that keeps tunneling

While La Lueur candles burn evenly when the first burn is done properly, if you have a candle that keeps tunneling no matter what you do, try this trick. Fix a tunneling candle by wrapping a piece, or multiple smaller pieces, of aluminum foil around the edges of your vessel so that the foil is hanging over the built-up wax areas. There should be an open space in the middle to allow the candle to still burn properly. Let the candle burn for a few hours and you should find that the wax will melt evenly all the way around.  

Did you know La Lueur candles are made of a natural blend of Coconut Wax, Apricot Wax and Vegetable Wax along with 100% cotton wicks and premium fragrance oils free of Parabens, Phthalates, and Sulfates? Each La Lueur candle is lovingly handcrafted and quality controlled so we can deliver the best experience to each user.

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