Light your candle in a well-ventilated room away from drafts or fans. It is very important for the first burn, to make sure the pool of melted wax reaches the edges of your candle before you snuff the flame. You should generally aim for the wax pool to be about 1cm deep at the edges or burn for approx 3/4hrs before putting it out. Following your first burn, avoid lighting your candle for short periods of time. Burning for longer periods of 4 hrs will cause carbon to build up on the wick resulting in the wick “mushrooming’.

Keep your candle away from any drafts

Trim candle wicks to ¼ inch before each use. Long wicks cause unburned carbon particles otherwise known as sooting, flickering flames and an uneven burn.

If the wick is looking like a mushroom, then there is an excess of carbon on it which can build up during burning. This can cause the wick to become unstable, the flame to get too large releasing soot into the air and around the candle jar. If it happens it’s very easy to resolve. When you put out your candle and let it cool, trim the wick removing the mushroom.

Don’t burn your candle all the way down, leave ½ inch of wax in the bottom. This ensures that the wick remains vertical and that the burn stays under control the whole time.

Place burning candles 10cm apart from one another. This will help stop the candles melting each other or creating their own drafts which would cause uneven and improper burning.

Use a snuffer to put out your burning candle, never use water to put out the flame. The snuffer helps to avoid problems associated with blowing out hot wax.