7 Tricks to Find the Best Candle Brands

There's nothing like lighting your favorite candle. In one action, you're immediately transported to a tropical paradise, a line full of fresh laundry, a juicy berry patch or a mystical, earthy Zen zone. Yet, you can't get there with poor-quality, inferior products.

Though your nose may be able to sniff out a great candle a mile away, the question is: where can you find them? Today, we're sharing seven tricks that can lead you to the best candle brands on the market, so you can skip straight to the good stuff. Ready to learn more? Put down that department store variety and let's get started.

1. Prioritize Quality not Quantity

The best candle brands don't leave you scratching your head, looking for more options, but they also don’t leave you uncertain about which candle in their lineup is the best. The right candle brand will be selective, with a commitment to great fragrances only. From clean and fresh fragrances to decadent gourmand scents, you should have the same strength in fragrance from scent #1 to scent #200. Afterall, what good are a million fragrance options, if none of them maintain their strength?

2. Product Variety Counts

Look for lines that include different product types in the same fragrance.  If you see  premium fragrance sprays in addition to candles, that’s a start. (Candles and complimentary room sprays give you a way to keep a consistent fragrance through your space.) In addition, if a company has invested in creating scented room sprays that complement their candles, they are confident the fragrance is a strong seller.  If you happen to run across a fragrance offered in melts, sprays, car fresheners and so on, you’re almost guaranteed to find it’s a top seller.

3. Read Ingredient Lists

A quick burn and artificial smell are both signs of a poor-quality candle, but its ingredients list is also a dead giveaway. Look for brands that don't have anything to hide. For instance, our candles feature a proprietary wax blend, along with a zinc-core wick, that delivers a clean, even and long-lasting burn. Other brands use muddy wax blends that consist of multiple wax types, artificial dyes, fillers and other chemicals, such as microcrystalline or stearic acid. These things lengthen the ingredients list and frustrate buyers.

4. Notice Burn Time

Have you ever noticed that when you first burn a candle, things seem to be going well, but after the second and third burns, your burn time is dragging out?  Sure, long burn times sound great, but if you see claims of extra long burn times that seem too good to be true, you might be getting ready to experience a candle that burns slowly because it doesn’t burn well.  On the other hand, short burn times on candles that seem like they should burn longer, probably means the wick is too big for the wax pool.  That means you’re in for a soot-fest, better known as a smoky candle. Look for average, reasonable burn times.

5. Ensure Against Fillers

Why don’t your other candles smell great for as long? Most employ cheap tactics to lure you in at the store, but leave you disappointed at home.  For instance, some candles utilize scentless fillers in their core, meaning the scent is only distributed to the outer edges. Once you burn those off, the scent is gone. Others use a two-layer pouring process that concentrates the fragrance to the top layer. So, when you reach the inner layer, that botanical or masculine scent you adored is nowhere to be found.  Look for brands that avoid the use of fillers, dyes, diluents or other such tactics. We’re here to help you ensure you only purchase brands with true craftsmanship in the candlemaking process. When you open the candle, there are a few tell tale signs that you should steer clear. 1) Check out the top of the candle.  If you see a perfectly circular center through the transparent wax on top, put it down. It could be that fragrance free core. If you see very visible bubbles throughout the candle it’s a sign of air-whipped wax, which is a new trend in fillers.  Air puffs the wax to fill the candle with less, offering a much faster burn time to bring you back for the next purchase sooner. This technique creates a quick, hot melt pool that expels fragrance quickly in the room. This gives the illusion of stronger fragrance in the candle, but it’s actually just burning through the fragrance much faster.

6. Don't Settle for Slight Scents

A premium candle is one that cold-carries. In short, that means you can still smell its rich scent even if the wick is miles from a flame. To distinguish a quality candle brand from the rest of the pack, notice how close you have to get to the candle to smell it, even when it isn’t burning. Candles can be gorgeous and complex like fine perfume, but if you have to have your nose directly over it to find the smell, then the fragrance is at a very low percentage in the candle.  You can fill candles with the most premium fragrance available, but if you only put it at 1%-3% in the candle, it’s no longer premium.  If your nose must be inches from the unlit candle to distinguish fragrance, you may not be dealing with low quality fragrance, but you aren’t dealing with a large enough amount of high quality fragrance. Want something better? Candleberry Candles scent 1,000 to 4,000 square feet of room space, with the market’s most premium fragrances! We utilize Advanced Fragrance Technology® to produce a clean-burning candle that delivers incredible scent with every burn.  

7. Find Robust Customer Support

Premium candle brands don't just provide a premium product; they also do all they can to support their customers before and after purchasing. If you spend money to support a brand, you should be offered customer support personnel to answer questions and field your feedback. How do you know if you’ll find that? Take a look at a brand’s website- are they transparent about ways to contact them? If you do contact them, are they timely and helpful in their responses? At Candleberry, our customers are at the forefront of all we do. We value customer feedback, and always have staff available to answer your questions. After all, why would a company spend so much effort and resources to make a candle the best on the market, and then drop the ball on customer relationships?

Why We're One of the Best Candle Brands

As for Candleberry products and company ethics, we go well beyond average expectations. We are  always on hand to listen, and it’s our philosophy that you should feel as though you're part of a fragrance family, where your opinion is deeply valued. We're committed to providing only the highest-quality fragrance products, that feature natural ingredients, impeccable craftsmanship, and unmatched attention to detail.

When you purchase any item from our extensive lineup, you can rest assured that you're teaming with one of the best candle brands available. We've made it our mission to transform and enrich every home with premium fragrance, from our concentrated room sprays and travel tin candles to our oversized four-wick beauties.