Make Home Fragrance Last with our Candle Care Guide

We all know the excitement of unboxing and lighting a new candle, ready to experience its fragrance for the first time. We believe that feeling should last through the whole life of your candle, no matter how many times you light it. 

Taking care of your candles means you’ll have a consistent fragrance experience that never disappoints. Our simple tips and tricks will help you make sure you know how to take care of your scents. If you’ve purchased a different fragrance type from our collection, we’ve got that covered too in this candle care guide. Click to skip to the section you need.

The Basics Of Candle Care
Trimming Your Candle Wick
Avoid Uneven Burning
Using Wax Melts

The Basics of Candle Care

It pays to start with the basics, helping you begin caring for your candle from the off. Whether it’s a jar candle, tealights, votives, or any other candle type, these steps apply.

Before You Light Your Candle

• If you’re using a holder for your candle, make sure it’s made from heat-resistant materials. We recommend burning PartyLite candles only in PartyLite Holders, so you can trust what they’re made from.
• Always position candles at least 5 cm apart when you’re burning more than one at the same time. This is to stop them creating their own draughts that will cause the other candle to burn unevenly, or melting each other with any heat they give off.
• Avoid placing candles (whether they’re lit or not) in direct sunlight or near heat sources like electrical devices, cookers or heaters.
• Place candles on a flat and level surface, so wax pools are always even.
• Avoid draughty areas or parts of your room where the candle will be exposed to extreme temperature changes. 

Can’t wait to enjoy that scent? Before you get out the lighter or matches, there’s just a few more things to ensure. We promise it’s for your candle’s own good.

Safely Burning Your Candle Wax

• If your candle doesn’t need a holder, and you aren’t using one, make sure it’s burning on a heat-resistant surface.
• Remove debris before lighting your candle, including wick trimmings, match ends or dust particles. This ensures a safe and even burn.
• Take care to position the wick so that it points upwards in the centre of the wax.
• Never leave burning candles unattended. Ever!
• Use a snuffer to gently extinguish candle flames. This gives them a longer life, as wax cools evenly around the wick.
• Keep burning candles out of the reach of children and pets.
• Make sure to keep every open flame a safe distance away from flammable materials.
• Never place candles on or anywhere near furniture or electrical devices that are not heat-resistant. If you’re not sure, avoid it.
• A burning candle should never be moved. Liquid wax can cause injuries or damage to surfaces.
• Discontinue use when 1.3 cm (1/2”) of wax remains.
• If in doubt, see the packaging on our products for advice on safety and best usage.

That’s all the safety issues for your space taken care of, now it’s time to look after the candle. Trimming your candle wick is key to keeping it thriving throughout every burn. Thankfully it’s really simple.

How To Trim Your Candle Wick

• Trim wicks to 0.5 cm, using a wick trimmer or some scissors. You should trim the wick before every lighting to avoid them mushrooming, bending or otherwise compromising the candle’s burn. For small candles like tealights and votives, this isn’t usually necessary as their short wicks keep a good length throughout their lifespan after the first trim.
• If a ‘wick blossom’ or ‘mushroom’ develops on the wick, extinguish the candle, remove the very end, and then relight the candle. It’s very obvious if this happens as your wick will have a black ‘cap’ on the top of it that makes it look like a mushroom.  
• If your candle’s wick is too short, don’t panic. We’ve got you covered with our guide to fixing short wicks.

How To Fix Uneven Burning 

With all the steps above completed, you should be able to avoid uneven burning. But the effects of wind, temperature changes or accidentally missing a care step are sometimes hard to avoid. If your candle is burning unevenly, don’t fret. 

First, resist the temptation to pour away wax if you notice an uneven pool forming. Simply allow a full pool of wax to form on top of the candle, then extinguish it. Once it’s cooled you can retrim the wick and light it again.

If your candle is tunnelling (this is when a wax pool doesn’t form across the whole surface), that’s fixable too. Check out our guide of simple ways to remedy it. 

If you notice that your candle is flickering, this is also usually normal. However it can sometimes contribute to uneven burning in the long term. Here’s our advice on how you can stop it, and avoid it in the future.

With tealights and votives, a wax residue may sometimes remain in the cup or holder when you extinguish your candle. This shouldn’t impact how your candle burns, so there’s no need to remove it before lighting it again. 

To keep things burning evenly, you should remove any traces of soot from a jar candle. Do this by extinguishing the candle, then allow it to cool completely and let the wax solidify. Then simply use a soft dry cloth to wipe away the soot.

Using Wax Melts The Right Way

If you prefer to enjoy your fragrance outside of traditional candle forms, there’s a range of PartyLite wax melts available for you. 

Our Scent Plus® Heart Wax Melts are designed to be used indoors. If you prefer to take your scents outside, we also have a range of wax melts infused with scents made for the open air for our Fragrance Flame™ - Outdoor. For the best of both worlds, our Petite Fragrance Flame™ Wax Melts use exclusive technology which means they can be burned both inside and outdoors. Every PartyLite melt uses the same high quality formulas that our candle lovers have come to expect. 

We’ve explained exactly how to use our range of wax melts in detail here. And caring for your melts and burners is simple.

Steps to Take After Using Melts

Our Scent Plus® Heart Wax Melts don’t burn away like regular candle wax, so you need to remove the wax from your burner. You’ll know it’s time to remove the wax when the fragrance has gone.

• To remove used wax, let the dish cool to room temperature.
• Place the dish in the freezer for about 30 minutes to shrink the wax.
• Remove the dish from the freezer. Tip the dish to allow the wax to drop out. Repeat if necessary.

When using our Fragrance Flame and Petite Fragrance Flame, follow our simple safety steps to keep things burning the right way. 

• Don’t use more than 4 Fragrance Flame Wax Melts at a time.
• Use a wand lighter or long match to ignite. Make sure to touch the flame to both the wick and one of the melts.
• Don’t touch or move the wax once it’s become liquid. Spills can be hot and dangerous!
• Use the included snuffer to extinguish the flame.

Want to know more about how we make sure our fragrances are always safe, family-friendly and high quality products you can trust? Click here. For more advice on candles, style and your home, read more PartyLite Inspiration.