"Burning a candle isn't only about making your room smell amazing. The act of lighting a candle, taking a moment to make your space a little more beautiful, is a ritual that ignites an intention"
We stock a few different candle brands in our gift store Eggplant & Poppy - and a common question we get asked is "do these candles have essential oils or fragrant oils in them?"
You'd be right to think Essential oils are automatically better for you, they're natural of course, and not synthetic. I only use essential oils in my diffuser at home & in the shop, but I have been doing some research of my own in regards to the use of different oils in the candles we burn.
And of course, our wise friend Kere from Loobylou Candles has all the right info - so I thought i would share her knowledge here .
Loobylou was conceived during Kere's life-affirming cancer journey. She is motivated by what she is putting out there, both to the outside world and her inner world. Sharing her love of fragrance and candle making is Kere's contribution to making the world a little brighter.
Loobylou carefully create their own blends, and months can go into creating the right formulation of any given candle. Their stunning oils are a blend of perfume grade fragrant oils, and essential oils. There's a few reasons that they do it like this, and it's all about the result, as evidenced in all of their amazing products.
'a candle with only essential oils is not safe'
"In general, fragrance oils work better in candles than essential oils, the reason being that many are fine-tuned for the type of wax, whereas essential oils are fixed in composition, and can be unstable in a natural wax blend. The being said, a large proportion of fragrant oils are comprised using essential oil products to begin with.
The important consideration is that the fragrance oils we use are no different to say a high quality designer perfume, so if you're looking for a candle that produces a beautiful fragrance, and is safe enough for skin contact - Loobylou Candles are for you!
We spend months, years even, looking for the 'perfect' oil, as opposed to the most easily accessible oils. For this reason, our oils are sourced the world over and we work with 5 different manufacturers and suppliers of fragrant and essential oils. Even now there's still a few scents we would love to include in our line, but we don't think they're a true enough representation of the fragrance.
The flash point, in many essential oils, is quite low and as an ignition source a candle can easily catch on fire. We want no part of your home going up in flames, and putting you or your family in any kind of risk. Most conscientious wax and oil suppliers are now making it very clear that a candle with only essential oils is not safe.
Scent throw. It's just better with a blend. Look at it like we are taking the best of both worlds. We genuinely do source the best and the truest of oils right across the Loobylou range.
Environmental effects. Some essential oils are derived simply by gently pressing the natural product and distilling the resulting oil. Most are harvested using somewhat harsher methods such as heating, mashing and steaming. Many are extracted using powerful solvents which create harmful by-products, requiring disposal. The resulting essential oil can contain residues of this process which render them a long way from the original botanical product.
Cost. While is seems like a candle is often more natural, or organic when using essential oils, the truth isn't always so.
Firstly, unless two materials are in perfect harmony - they can create hideous byproducts, or potential ignition risk as above. We do a LOT of testing and trialling here at HQ, and we costed a couple of our fragrances using only essential oils. Loobylou has been all about bringing you the best possible product for a reasonable price. There are a limited number of people prepared to spend the equivalent of a magnum of Veuve Clicquot on a single candle!"
So there you go!
I love that this question doesn't just have a black & white answer - there is so much that goes into quality candle making, so dont be quick to pass by a candle that has fragrant oil in it - just make sure it's used the correct way.
"Burning a candle isn't only about making your room smell amazing. The act of lighting a candle, taking a moment to make your space a little more beautiful, is a ritual that ignites an intention"
- Kere M Baker, Founder of Loobylou
You can shop Loobylou & our other candle ranges HERE on Eggplant & Poppy
