Talk some sense into me: candles

[MangosteenSoda]

I, until recently, had an (ir)rational hatred of candles. If there was a thread about stuff people like that you hate, for me it would be candles (and massages and musicals.. but I digress. Just the concept of tea lights would make my eye twitch.

I had a few candles in my house gathering dust because they are the kind of thing that people gift. I don’t know what possessed me, but towards the end of last year, I lit one, an it smelled glorious. It looked pretty too. Anyway, I’ve ended up burning my way through the previously discarded candles - my fireplace looks like a shrine at Lourdes. My home smells divine. I have used several boxes of matches. I fear I am addicted.

I just went to replace the first candle (the gateway drug of candles) and I discovered it costs £15. And after a bit of googling, discovered that’s not even considered expensive in the candle-verse.

What advice do you have? Any recommendations for lovely smelling and pocket friendly candles? I can spend 15 quid on one, but at my burn rate that’s going to get pretty costly. Aibu to just crack on and burn, or should I extinguish my new found habit?

Another one here trying to entire you over to the WaxMeltsverse. I have "Bookshop" from Northern Soul Scents on the go at the moment. I also recommend Teddy Eva Scents as well.

If you buy large fancy candles for your fireplace that are too good to light, dig a circular hole big enough for a tea light in the top and just burn and replace those. 2 hours’ burning time would do you for an evening. Scented if you like.

Thanks to Nancy Birtwhistle for that hack.

I have a (some might say ) irrational hated of House Plants .
Plants outdoors - love them

Plants indoors give me the heave . If I see a house on RightMove with an excessive number of plants it puts me right off .
Even worse when the same plants appear in every photo like they move them from room-to-room for their photo shoot .

ETA - I don't want cured

I’m somewhat a candle connoisseur and St Eval Winter Thyme is probably my favourite candle I have ever smelt

So now I’ve just brought myself a mystery box!

Love candles and love getting a surprise so happy days.

I burn candles every night. I adore expensive ones like white company, Jo Malone and Liberty but my day to day bargain is Asda. £4 normal price for a 2 wick but they are often on offer at £2 each. I’m a sucker for oud or pomegranate based ones.

That’s a really good hack. But in my case, I just lined up all the unused candles that had entered my home over the last few years across my slate fireplace (as a surface that shouldn’t burn). Like I said in the OP, it looks like some kind of religious shrine that I am trying to monetise (unfortunately the opposite is true re bank balance).

And that’s part of the problem. I don’t want a single candle. I want a bloody forest of the expensive little mofos.

I see you x

I didn’t want to be cured of my candle phobia, but it happened to by stealth.

Keep strong and keep watching your back, because before you know it you will have a eucalyptus in your sitting room xx

I really like nice scented candles but so many of them set off my allergies and make me sneeze. Jo Malone, Neom, st Eval, Norfolk Candle Company. It’s such a pain.

how do they get hot enough to actually do anything though? And does it melt to the bottom?

I have to keep candles as we occasionally have powercuts so need them for lights!
For scent in home I now prefer Aromatherapy diffusers/mister. I feel these are much safer than candles especially as they usually cutout automatically once ‘empty’ & of course have timer settings too, so i don’t worry if i’ve put out a candle.

Also diffuser can have any scent or combination of scents at any time, so you aren’t waiting to burn the current candle just to try another ‘flavour’.

Have you found anything that seems better regarding allergies ?

Just wondering really, because we are an allergic family too. I know it varies a lot from person to person anyway, but you’d never know! All help gratefully received 😊

I got a nice fig leaf and amber one from the Habitat bit of Sainsbury's, three years ago. I only light it on Christmas day so it's still going strong.

Just a heads up OP that burning candles is a huge issue for indoor air quality - the off gassing is shocking (as is the same with perfumes, cleaning products etc) so do some research.

The Sainsburys/Habitat ones are superb value for money. They smell like an expensive brand and the scent lingers for ages.

I can also recommend a USB candle lighter:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B098WSP93R

I've got arthritis and find this easier than using matches.

My favourite candles and some of the best smelling budget ones, are the habitat range from Sainsbury’s. It’s the ones that look like this…
https://www.habitat.co.uk/product/4663924?clickSR=slp:term:candle:81:179:1
(There’s loads of other scents, I got a tomato leaf one the other day and it’s lovely).

Otherwise you can get DW ones at TK Maxx for around £10-£15 and they smell great!

@tokentotty how does it work? Do you need to buy special candles to put on top of the burner?

Hone bargains and similar shops do some.
Asda do wax lyrical ones that smell nice . Asda often do Yankee cheap too

Aldi, Lidl or other supermarkets sell dupes, perhaps not quite as good but a fraction of the price. Also charity shops. If you like several at once lit, only use one scented, others can be cheap ones eg Asda home

I like St Eval. They are selling off their advent calendar if you wanted to try out different scents.
I also like Woodwick and some Yankee scents

Shearer's candles on Amazon

Next own brand tea lights are nice

Homesense are fantastic. The Sand and Fog candles from there are so lovely and usually around £8. They last too! Asda candles are good and long lasting too. Don’t be fooled by the cheap ones at places like B&M they just don’t last. I was very kindly gifted a big Jo malone candle for Christmas. I daren’t light it 😂

Wax melts are my current obsession and when people come over they always ask what the lovely smell is. Enjoy that rabbit hole OP!

So good that you overcame your candle quirk!

TK Maxx for.posh candles every time!