How to Make Your Beeswax Candles Last Longer

You've done the research and chosen the healthiest, most beautiful pure beeswax candles from Farm and Hive for your home. Now, how do you get the best burn times and longest lifespan from your lovely candles? Follow our tips below to ensure you get the maximum number of burn hours from your candles.

We have to start with safety. Please be careful when burning candles, especially around kids, pets, textiles, etc. Make sure your candle is on an appropriate holder, has enough clear space around it, and has at least 24" of headroom. Always extinguish your candles before you go to bed or leave your house.

Tips for maximum candle life

• When lighting a candle, light the base of the wick, not the top.
• Trim candle wicks to 1/4" before re-lighting.
• Immerse the wick in the molten wax pool to extinguish instead of blowing out. This creates less smoke and primes the wick for the next burn.
• Burn your candle for at least as long as it takes the pool of molten wax to reach the outside edges of the candle. Dam up running areas with wax to prevent overly rapid burning.
• Drafts, fans, and breezes can impair the longevity and flame size of your candle or cause it to burn too quickly. If the flame is "dancing", you should move your candle to a spot with still air. 
• You may need to "hug" the top edges of your pillar candle with your hands if they start bowing outward. You may also trim them down to optimize the flame's access to oxygen.

Why is my candle turning white?

The powdery white coating that develops on your candle is called "bloom" and it means your candle is 100% real beeswax. It's totally harmless and doesn't affect the performance of your candle. If you don't like it, you can buff it away with a soft cloth... but we think it looks pretty!

What to do with leftover candle wax

Not all candles will use up all their wax by the time the wick is gone. Save the leftover wax to make your own lotion bars or even more candles. Beeswax can be melted down over and over again and it never expires. See our DIY section for candle mold kits and this blog post for more ideas!