Earth Friendly Candles

Earth Friendly Candles

 

Natalie here with some fun candle knowledge. I started out researching why one candle is better for you than another, but I found what I feel is a bit more important message, making more earth friendly candles. And I kept finding myself asking the same question over and over; What is it made of?

 

 

WAX. Soy wax (and other natural waxes) vs. Paraffin. I first set out to write about the benefits of a soy candle over a regular paraffin candle. I discovered the National Candle Association ( I didn’t even know they existed!) who states on their website that “All types of quality candle waxes have been shown to burn cleanly, safely and in the same manner.” So as of right now, I have not come to a final conclusion on candle wax and indoor air quality, but let’s look what the wax is made of.

 

Soy wax, as you can guess, is made from soy beans. Yay! Plants! Paraffin is an oil extract from petroleum. I did not delve into how the soy bean is turned into wax and how paraffin is extracted from petroleum. Personally, I’d rather have a candle that is made out of a plant, a renewable resource that can be grown again and again.

 

Wicks. Wicks can be made out of basically anything that burns. But the most popular choices are cotton, paper, and tin mixes. There is a lot of information out there about why one wick is better than another, and (surprisingly) wick care, but again it comes down to knowing what wick is made of.  All of our candles here at Vivid feature cotton or paper wicks.

 

 

 

Packaging! We all love pretty packaging, we have to ask, what is made of? While not all of the brands we carry here at Vivid say what their packaging is made of one brand boasts. Illume‘s website proudly states “all packaging is made from recycled materials, are recyclable, or in vessels designed for reuse.”

 

Though, another one of our brands, Paddywax does provide answers on how to remove the last bit of wax and does give a few ideas on what you can make with your now empty candle vessel. More on that later! 😉

Shipping. How far did this product have to travel from where it’s made to your hands? It’s hard to find out where all the individual pieces that go into the candle come from but we do know that all our candles here at Vivid are poured here in the USA!

Votivo, the third brand of candle that we carry, is made only 170- ish miles away in Spartanburg, South Carolina. So if you are looking for something that didn’t have to travel thousands of miles, we’ve got the candle ( or candles 😀 ) for you!