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What is that dark area you sometimes see on the side of a candle? It's commonly referred to by candlemakers as a 'wet spot'. (It is not actually an area that is wet, it just looks that way.) It occurs as the candle is cooling, and is caused by the wax contraction from the side of the jar. The area that looks darker or sometimes 'foggy' is the area that is still adhered to the side of jar, while the rest has contracted slightly away from the jar. It does not affect the candle in any way. Many natural waxes will do this. Paraffin generally does not, because of it's own properties and 'stickiness'.
A note about candle fragrancing: You may see information elsewhere about 'triple-fragranced' or 'triple scented' candles. Please do not be misled. This is a term that is loosely based on very old industry averages of using 1/2 ounce of fragrance oil per pound of wax. These 'triple-scented' candles are most likely made with 1 1/2 ounces of fragrance oil per pound of wax. While we all want to believe that 'more is better', with candles, this is not true. Candle waxes will hold a maximum percentage of fragrance. Exceeding the maximum can cause the fragrance oil to seep out of the wax (causing a possible fire hazard), and also to inhibit the scent 'throw' of the candle. Yes, it is possible for a 'triple-scented' candle to smell weaker while burning than a counterpart using less fragrance oil per pound of wax.
Another concern are regular candles marketed to be used as room fragrance and also use the melted wax on the skin. Not all fragrance oils are skin safe. The exception to this is if the candle is made specifically for this purpose using skin-safe fragrance in a concentration no more than 1-2% of the total weight, the candle is extinguished before using, and if you do not intend for it to be used as a strong, fragrant candle. (An actual candle uses 6% or more fragrance, much too high for the skin.)
We have noticed candle sites stating that certain soy candles do not use any chemical additives or artificial ingredients. This information can be misleading, because ALL 'Fragrance Oils' are made from chemicals designed to mimic naturally occuring chemicals. The only exceptions to this are 'Essential Oils', which are derived directly from actual plant materials. They are also chemicals, but are naturally occurring. And what about the phrase 'infused with essential oils'? This term has been popularized by large corporations to mean more than what it is. 'Infused with essential oils' can mean that there is one drop or a very tiny amount of essential oil in an entire run of thousands of air fresheners or candles. We do not use this phrase. It is true that some fragrance oils contain an amount of essential oils -they always have. Nothing new there. Our line of essential oil-only candles contain ONLY essential oils for fragrance. They are not mixed with any other synthetic fragrance oils. In fact, Soyphisticated Candles was one of the FIRST soy candle companies to use 100% essential oils as fragrance.
On the subject of 'Aromatherapy', only candles using actual essential oils can be considered aroma-therapeutic. True 'Aromatherapy' is only possible through the use of Essential Oils. The term 'aroma therapy' means to provide 'therapy', actual health and healing benefits, through the use of aroma. Candles using Fragrance Oils are using 'Aromachology', which is the use of scent to evoke memories, pleasant thoughts, etc.
To help avoid any misconceptions that you may encounter while shopping for soy candles, we will share some soy wax facts. When soy oil is hydrogenated to soy wax, any herbicide or pesticide residues are removed. Soy genetic modification affects only the protein part of the soybean, not the 20% oil component, so any soy candle is essentially GMO-free. There are no commercially available certified organic soy waxes. The three or four U.S. refineries do not hydrogenate organic soy oil for this purpose. |