Our top 3 tips on storing candles to maximise their longevity

19 July 22
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luxury candles

Luxury scented candles provide a fantastic way to unwind after a long day. They make for a calming presence in any room, and you’ll want to keep them properly stored if you want to get the most out of them! Correctly housing your candles when they’re not in use increases their lifespan and reduces the risk of them becoming a safety hazard.

Here at Melt, we’ve been hand crafting luxury scented candles for nearly 20 years now, and as a result we’ve learned a thing or two about how to properly store your candles to maximise their longevity, as well as reduce the danger of them becoming a safety hazard. So, let’s get into our top three tips for storing your candles.

Safety first

As innocent and welcoming as they look, candles are still open flames and are therefore a fire hazard. As a result, we’d always advise that you keep your candles out of reach from children and pets. It’s all too easy for a toddler to knock a candle over out of curiosity while learning to walk, and cats are famous for getting up into places where they’re not supposed to be so just be aware! Our final point on fire safety, it’s imperative that you try not to leave candles lit when you’re not at home. Even the smallest of open flames still have an unpredictable element to them, so be sure to blow out your candles before leaving your home.

Candles must be stored at an ample temperature

As a general rule, we’d advise keeping your candles at room temperature, as any fluctuations can have an effect on the wax. If you store them in an area that’s too warm, the wax can soften, causing the shape to change. In an area that’s too cold on the other hand, the wax becomes harder in some spots than others, which causes the heat from the flame to take longer to melt the wax along the surface. However, the wax beneath the wick will still melt, causing the wax along the outer wall to remain solid. The flame will then slowly dip further into the centre of the candle in a process known as tunnelling.

How to prevent tunnelling

This is a surprisingly common issue, but rest assured that there are a few ways to get ahead of this problem before it’s too late. For starters, if you trim your wick down to about ¼ – ⅛ of an inch, you reduce the intensity of the burn that’s brought on by longer wicks. If the wick burns too hot, the wax in the middle of your candle will melt before the rest of the surface, and thus the tunnelling begins.

An intense burn can also dirty your candle by producing soot on the inside of your candle jar, which isn’t particularly nice to look at! Moreover, wax has a memory, and it remembers the shape it was in as it hardens, so if you blow your candle out while it’s tunnelling, unfortunately it’s going to stay that way so you want to ensure that the whole top layer of your candle has melted before you blow it out. For more on tunnelling and your candle’s wax pool, check out our post – ‘Why Is Your Luxury Candle’s Wax Pool Important?’.

Those are our top three tips for storing your luxury candles, and ensuring you get the absolute most out of their lifespan! We know how much you cherish the scent of your candles, so we’ve been sure to supply you with plenty of information to help you keep your candles smelling great. If you’re looking to make some new additions to your candle collection this summer, you’re in exactly the right place.

Take a look through our entire range of luxury candles and see what tickles your fancy! Or, pop down to our ‘Shop On The Farm’ where you can experience all our candles in person – we’d love to see you!

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