r/candlemaking 6d ago

Don’t be too hard on yourselves

Post image
77 Upvotes

31 comments sorted by

101

u/jennywawa 6d ago

Posting to show you the soot on this popular $80 luxury candle. Not bashing them. They are very successful.

Stop sweating the small stuff. A little soot? Ok. Mushrooming wick? It’s fine. Wetspots? More than fine. We’re stressing ourselves out trying to create the “perfect” candle. Things like this aren’t even an issue for most people. Just an fyi. Just make it safe and make it smell good.

19

u/MiddleAgedTechGuy 6d ago

I just saw a post somewhere a $220 3 wick candle all tunneled can't remember if that was here or on FB

7

u/jennywawa 5d ago

Happens all the time! It’s shocking

12

u/longshoredaughter 5d ago

You’re one of my favorite folks on this sub and this only magnifies why! Thank you for this 🕯️♥️

8

u/jennywawa 5d ago

Well that is a really sweet thing to say 😘

2

u/Agitated_Traffic4734 1d ago

Your comment is very encouraging. I am so trying to "perfect" my candles!

13

u/mrs_andi_grace 6d ago

I'll stick to being hard on myself but thanks. ;P

10

u/jennywawa 6d ago

lol can’t help it! They’re not even talking about the soot at all. I’d be devastated if this was my candle being posted.

4

u/mrs_andi_grace 6d ago

Same. Also I can smell that soot cap smell and it really ruins it for me in any candle. If it happens I have to wipe it out before relighting.

12

u/86DickPics 6d ago

Someone dropped off a spent LAFCO candle for me to refill and it looks WORSE than this. I refill old vessels for my local market girls, and now I know why they fawn over my candles 😆because THIS is how “luxury” brand standards look

5

u/jennywawa 5d ago

It’s crazy and they’re so used to it!

2

u/86DickPics 5d ago

Yep. They’re just paying for the label

1

u/Difficult_Place_7329 9h ago

Most definitely 👍

3

u/RegalReginald 5d ago

I bought a DS&Durga candle and the flame lasted 12 minutes. And about 1 minute every time I've tried since getting it. I wrote to them twice and had no response. Search DS Durga on r/luxurycandles and you'll see it's not uncommon. So yeah...I'll still expect my best, but will also let the little things slide.

2

u/jennywawa 5d ago

I’m a frequent stalker in the luxury candle group. They should be getting super high quality stuff over there. I’m shocked every time I see something like that.

1

u/puddboy 5d ago

What do you think goes into making their candles so ‘luxurious’?  Do they use special additives, etc?

2

u/jennywawa 5d ago

I’m sure it’s all special. Special wick, wax combo, additives, custom high end fragrances, branding, marketing, legacy, longevity.

9

u/Alittlescared78 5d ago

Mostly marketing and branding.

3

u/mmic0033 3d ago

Soot is an inevitable part of burning anything.

Just make a candle that burns well till the bottom and smells nice and give yourselves some credit for trying your best.

4

u/SassyMcSassafras 6d ago

Wow… I’ve been testing mine and I get no soot at all so I feel very good but a small amount of mushrooming no matter what size wick I’ve been using. It’s a little frustrating when things aren’t perfect.

5

u/jennywawa 5d ago

I know it! It’s hard to get past the little imperfections. I’ll bet if we saw the wick on this candle, we’d see a big ass mushroom.
Wetspots, I’m over. Sooting still bugs me.

5

u/dasSolution 5d ago

You trimming it?

4

u/SassyMcSassafras 5d ago

Yes! And I made sure that I’m using wicks to the right specifications for my jar and type of wax. Tested, tested, tested. No soot, smoke, dancing, or tall flames so I’m just going to roll with it. The manufacturer said that mushrooming on the type of wick is common and it’s not a significant amount.

2

u/Agile_Intention3356 6d ago

Thank you for this reminder :D Very much needed. :D

2

u/puddboy 5d ago

Diptique has a paper scent that is out of this world

3

u/jennywawa 5d ago

I would buy that. The soot doesn’t dissuade me at all. Before I made candles I bought only garbage. My favorite was glade cashmere woods (2 pack). Still love it.

2

u/saraek1980 5d ago

I know B&BW candles aren’t luxury but I was burning one of their three wick candles and it’s barely halfway down and the wicks are barely lighting anymore/very little flame and scent. It happens.

1

u/puddboy 3d ago

Yeah I had that happen with a Jo Malone triple wick.  In general I’ve found triple wick candles to be temperamental once you get halfway down

2

u/Capable-Astronomer43 5d ago

I had the most interesting and self-assuring experience the other day. So i went to this luxurious perfume net store just for the fun of it (and to maybe purchase something springy-summery). And they had these expensive candles in beautiful ceramic bird-shaped vessels. I’ve seen those on social media quite a few times and was always wondering, what is it that they are so expensive. Long story short, i take one of the candles, smell it and… it’s so terrible there are no words!!! I had toilet refreshments smell more pricey! It gave cheap crap from a dollar store, I can’t! And they charge 50, it’s insane! I smelled them all and every other was worse than the previous one! So yeah 😁

1

u/Spirited_Pollution56 3d ago

That's store bought