Considering this is 2016 (at least for a little while longer) and we no longer rely on candles for light very often, one of the biggest reasons to keep candles is for the scents. I personally love herbal candles like lavender or mint. Some people like fruity, perfurmed, etc. Since I love herbal candles, I tend to rely on essential oils with my candles. Since essential oils are so easy to find, easy to use, and relatively inexpensive, let’s start there!

• CITRUS: These oils are great for fruity, cheerful candles as they tend to be very fresh and refreshing! Bergamot, grapefruit, lemon, lime orange and tangerine are all available in essential oils and work well on their own or combined with other oils. The important thing for beginners is probably to choose one scent from each family and familiarize yourself with the ones you like best, the combinations you appreciate, and other uses so that you’re getting more out of your new hobby than just candles. Grapefruit oil in particular is therapeutic in that it can have an uplifting effect on the mood and can help with skin problems. I like to add a few drops into my body moisturizer in the morning as the refreshing scent wafts around me all day encouraging a better mood!
• FLORAL: A lot of these oils are going to be familiar to you tea-drinkers as they tend to be edibles. Whether you go with chamomile, jasmine, lavender, rose or ylang ylang, floral oils tend to be a little pricier but go a little further. Lavender is my preferred floral oil as it’s a little less floral than herbal so it’s not as aggressive of a scent. It’s soothing and calming on the nerves and can be used in nearly any capacity. My favorite use for lavender oil is to diffuse it with eucalyptus oil before bed as it helps with calming me down after a long day – and the eucalyptus offers decongesting effects. Together they leave me calm and breathing easy at the end of the day!
• HERBAL: The herbal family overlaps with the floral family although these tend to be a little more aggressive oils so I advise using them a little more sparingly. Some of them, if not properly diluted, can cause some skin irritation even when being burned in a candle but ESPECIALLY if being used topically. Basil, sage, peppermint and rosemary are some of my favorite with peppermint being the one I use more frequently. Peppermint just has such a refreshing scent that burning a peppermint candle in the home for just an hour or two can really diffuse any bad smells that may be lingering. I also like to mix a few drops of peppermint oil and a few drops of tea tree oil in a glass of water to use as mouthwash.

More next time!

Leave it in the comments if you’ve used any of the above oils and had good or bad effects!