My Candle Burning Tips & a CC Find

CCC

You spend time and money and effort choosing lovely scented candles for your home. Here are my tips for getting the longest life out of your candles. Trust me that following these easy tips makes a huge difference. Your candle and container will be beautiful the entire life of your candle.

1. Trim the wick each and every time you use the candle to 1/4" to remove the little "mushroom" carbon wick tip to prevent the candle from smoking up your room and leaving ugly soot marks on the container. I prefer a wick trimmer, but scissors are fine. A wick trimmer makes a cleaner cut and collects the debris. Only trim when the candle is unlit and the wax is completely dry. If you are getting smoke or soot, it means your wick is too long!

2. Burn your candle for at least two hours the first time until the candle wax melts and pools completely across the surface. This sets the candle's muscle memory. Otherwise, you will set your candle up for tunneling where it burns straight down in subsequent burns, losing the peripheral wax surface pooling and greatly decreasing the life of the candle.

3. Don't burn a candle for longer than 4 to 6 hours at a time - you don't want the whole thing turning to liquid. The wick becomes unstable and it will smoke and create soot.

4. A candle snuffer is great for preventing smoke and ash particles as happens with blowing out the candle, but the best tool is a wick dipper - you dip the wick in the wax and pull it back out to extinguish the flame.

5. Reuse those pretty containers - for pencils, pens, paper clips, makeup, makeup brushes, hair accessories.

6. If you have a candle that is dusty on the surface, clean it off gently using a microfiber towel.

Yes, I did find a blue and white Chinoiserie candle wick trimmer and wick dipper. This is a great find. These are made by Wickman that makes the best tweezers and such and the quality is excellent. This is a beautiful set and Chinoiserie Chic! Click on the caption for the link.

Wickman Blue and White Chinoiserie Candle Wick Trimmer and Wick Dipper

Make sure to read my post from yesterday on some fabulous steals in special Valentine's candles.