Frequently Asked Questions
What is in the candles?
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Wax
All of our candles are lovingly and individually hand poured using soy wax. Soy wax is natural, fully sustainable and biodegradable. It is clean burning, so no nasty toxins. The perfect eco-friendly choice for anyone who cares about our planet, it is vegan friendly and yet another amazing thing to add to the never-ending list of plant-based wonderfulness! Soy wax can hold more fragrance than paraffin wax and due to its lower melting point, larger melt pool it has a faster scent dispersion and a more powerful scent throw. Soy wax also lasts up to 50% longer than paraffin wax.
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Essential Oils & Fragrance Oils
Our candles are highly fragranced using either my own essential oil blends or using fragrance oils which are derived from natural ingredients and essential oils. All Safety Data Sheets and CLP information available on request and all candles are labelled and CLP compliant.
Colours
Some of the candles contain candle pigments or dyes and I ensure that the colourings I use are of a high quality. Others contain micas although I use them more in the wax melts. Micas are the powder colourings usually found in cosmetic applications like eyeshadows and they give a beautiful shimmery effect as it moves in the melting wax.
Other Additions
A few of the candles may contain bio-glitters which are biodegradable, not flammable and will not give off any nasty toxins if they melt by touching the flame.
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Although some of the wax melts come with the natural additions such as dried herbs or flowers, I will not sell candles with these additions for two reasons; one – I want to ensure that nothing interferes with the fragrance and performance of the candles for your enjoyment and two – these additions become floating ‘debris’ in the wax making them a fire hazard.
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What is in the wax melts?
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Wax
All of our wax melts are lovingly and individually hand poured using soy wax. Soy wax is natural, fully sustainable and biodegradable. It is clean burning, so no nasty toxins. The perfect eco-friendly choice for anyone who cares about our planet, it is vegan friendly and yet another amazing thing to add to the never-ending list of plant-based wonderfulness! Soy wax can hold more fragrance than paraffin wax and due to its lower melting point, larger melt pool it has a faster scent dispersion and a more powerful scent throw. Soy wax also lasts up to 50% longer than paraffin wax.
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Essential Oils & Fragrance Oils
Our wax melts are highly fragranced using either my own essential oil blends or using fragrance oils which are derived from natural ingredients and essential oils. All Safety Data Sheets and CLP information available on request and all melts are labelled and CLP compliant.
Colours
Most of the wax melts contain wax pigments or dyes and I ensure that the colourings I use are of a high quality. Another common way that I colour the melts is using micas. Micas are the powder colourings usually found in cosmetic applications like make-up and eyeshadows and as the wax melts and moves from the heat they give a beautiful shimmery effect as it moves through the melting wax.
Other Additions
Some of the wax melts contain bio-glitters which are biodegradable, non-flammable and will not give off any nasty toxins if they melt. Some of the wax melts also come with natural additions such as dried herbs or flowers and petals. This is mostly the pure essential oil based melts and they add beautifully to the scent and as they do not come into direct contact with a flame or heat source they are safe to use unlike in candles.
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What is the difference between Fragrance Oil and Essential Oil?
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Essential oil is concentrated, natural oil extracted from different parts of plants, leaves, flowers, bark, roots etc. The oils are usually extracted through distillation and it can take an obscene (my words - you can find out actual numbers on specialist websites) amount of the plant material to create just the 5ml or 10ml bottles of oil. This is the reason that these oils are so powerful smelling and often so expensive to buy. You can read more about essential oils, absolutes, dilutes and blends on our blog!
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Fragrance oils are synthetic. They are essentially created from chemical compounds in a lab to create the desired scent. That however does not mean that they are bad. They often have a stronger scent in the wax as they have been created for that purpose and the ingredients used to create these oils from may be natural. I buy my fragrance oils from suppliers who I trust and from those who value natural ingredients. All the fragrance oils I use are vegan and are derived from natural ingredients and essential oils.
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Some of my fragrance products are purely essential oils, some are fragrance oils. I use fragrance oils where I cannot create a specific scent with essential oils alone. Vanilla for example - this is common in many blends and fragrances but there is no such thing as vanilla essential oil, you simply cannot extract the scent from the plant without using other means or additives and food grade vanilla essence includes a percentage of alcohol which would make the wax too volatile. Sometimes it really is a better option. Sometimes I might use a mixture of both. This is because while essential oils are powerful in most applications, they do not always bond well with the wax which means that the scent throw is not as strong. If I am using one of these in a candle, I may boost the fragrance with some fragrance oil but rest assured the therapeutic essential oil is still a main component!
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Why soy wax?
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All of our wax products are hand poured using soy wax. This is a personal choice and for me there are just too many benefits to using this type of wax that it would be silly not to! My main reasons are:
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It is healthier and more eco-friendly
Soy wax is natural, fully sustainable and biodegradable. It is clean burning, so no nasty toxins like in some other kinds of wax. The perfect eco-friendly choice for anyone who cares about our planet and something we care passionately about.
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Better scent throw
Simply put, soy wax can hold more fragrance than paraffin wax. Due to its lower melting point and therefor larger melt pool it has a faster scent dispersion and a more powerful scent throw.
Fragrance and candles that last
Soy wax can last up to 50% longer than paraffin wax which means longer burn time, longer fragrance and longer enjoyment.
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Everyone can enjoy it's benefits
Soy wax is vegan friendly as it is plant based. (FYI - our fragrances and colours are all vegan too!)
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Just another amazing thing to add to the never-ending list of plant-based wonderfulness!
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How do I know these products will be safe for me to use?
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All our aromatherapy and home fragrance products have been tested and all fragrances used are safety tested. Each product comes with a set of directions for use and ingredients showing any allergens, please ensure you read these before use. I have all the Safety Data Sheets and IFRA allergen information for all fragrances I use directly from the suppliers and am happy to provide any of these at request or provide specific information included in any of these. All products come with CLP compliant labels which means all relevant information that legally needs to be shared regarding safety, warnings, allergens or ingredients is available to you and you are advised to read them prior to use.
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When deciding which essential oil based products might be safe for you to use, the levels I use in products and if the directions for usage are adhered to then they should generally be safe for the majority of people to use. Please consult myself, a medical professional or a trained aromatherapist for advice if; you are pregnant or breastfeeding or if you are taking medications or have a medical condition.
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Which scent should I choose?
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This is hard right now as you cannot smell the fragrances in person whilst the pandemic keeps us in lockdown. Fragrances are such a personal thing and especially with essential oils, you are often drawn to what you need most.
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I will do my best to help you to decide by providing as much detail about the scent notes as possible on the website for the fragrances I use.
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Where essential oils are used and the therapeutic properties are a factor, please do contact me. I am more than happy to discuss needs and requirements and will recommend what I think is best. I will be beginning to provide information via the blog and through social media so please feel free to check that out. You can also book a consultation with myself via zoom via the events page, call or send me a message. The essential oils shop page has options to buy 10ml or a 5ml sample size so you can always test an oil out before buying a bigger one.
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What is wrong with my candle?​
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Firstly, please check that you have followed the directions and safety instructions provided with the candle properly and then read the below. If you have done this and your issue is not mentioned below, please contact me and let me know the problem. If it is an issue with the candle I will replace it provided the directions for use have been followed. Please see our Product Care & Safety Information page.
Common Issues:
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The wax has gone frosty
This is unfortunately something that soy wax can be prone to. This can happen where the surface of the wax can look like it has frosted over in some areas. It is usually due to changes in atmospheric changes in temperature. Please rest assured that it will not affect the performance of your candle and this effect will possible even disappear as your candle melts down.
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The wick is smoking
Wicks smoke for a number of reasons. One is the wick is the wrong size for the wax or due to the fragrance load in the candle. This is one of the things we look for in testing so by the time it gets to you this shouldn't be the reason. It could simply be that the wick is too long. Wicks should be trimmed to 5mm prior to lighting the candle to avoid this from happening. Take care not to cut it too short though or the candle may extinguish itself.
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It is burning down in the centre but not melting the edges
This is known as tunnelling. Again this can happen due to wick sizes or scent load but this should have been ironed out in testing. A common mistake made when burning candles is to light it and then extinguish it too soon on the first burn. On the first burn the candle should be lit long enough for the melt pool (molten wax) to reach to all sides of the container. Wax has memory, if you burn a smaller melt pool the candle will continue to burn to that area and tunnel downwards leaving wax at the edges.
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I cant see what I want on the website...
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No problem! There are many ways to contact me and I love a challenge so ask away. I will provide you with a quote before you commit and I will where possible create a concept drawing or mock up for you to approve first.
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I am happy to make bespoke items and this does include essential oil blends or fragrances but there is a charge for the safety tests. I am happy to discuss this if this is something you would like to do.
Do you accept returns?​
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That depends... If the product is faulty then yes. I will always try to make sure the customer is left happy with their purchase. Returns can be to rectify the issue and either fix or replace the item, or can in some circumstances be refunded.
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If the product is a bespoke product that I cannot sell on or something that has been personalised then no I cannot accept a return for a refund. I may offer a refund depending on the reasons for return or where possible I will rectify whatever the issues are with the product.
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Please read the site Terms & Conditions and the Returns Policy for more information and if you have a problem with an item please contact me so that I can work with you to resolve the issue.
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Do you offer faster delivery options?
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If you need a product quicker than stated please contact me. All products are posted via Royal Mail 1st Class / Royal Mail Tracked with Signature services or; Hermes Courier Service for larger sized items or orders. Postage is estimated at 1-3 days. I can post for next day guaranteed delivery at an additional cost but this will also depend on the time it will take to make the item prior to sending.
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If you require the item sooner than the production time and postage indicates please contact me directly before completing your order to find out if this is possible. We endeavour to provide you with an accurate estimate upon request. In addition to this, should we envisage any delay with your order we will notify you via email as soon as possible.
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