Are you a candle lover? Do you like the warm glow of a traditional candle? Do you like the smell of those cinnamon apple holiday candles or the pumpkin spice autumn candles?
I love candles and always had them burning when I was home. But after adopting my cat using candles got a lot more difficult. She is a big climber and finding a safe spot for a candle became impossible. The last thing I needed was a candle to fall over and burn my cat. So, as much as I love the smell of real candles, I had to find a safer option.
I do still have some real candles, but I only take them out when we have guests, and the cat is in her room. For those occasions I prefer pure beeswax candles without added fragrance. They are just for ambiance and the food gives the fragrance instead of the candle.
Did you ever go through the candle section of a store and notice those strong smells? For me it seems to get worse every time I come across those candles. My husband bought 3 Yankee Candles for $17.00 each and I cannot even open the lid without getting nauseated by the strong smell. Candles years ago, had a nice gentle smell that did not knock you off your feet every time you got near them. But now, I cannot even take a breath without coughing.
And unless you make the candles yourself you do not know what ingredients are in your candle. In order to produce these strong smells, they need to use artificial fragrances and they don’t tell us what they are and where they were produced. You also don’t know what material the wick is made of and what is in the wax.
If you want a healthy candle, then a pure beeswax candle is the way to go. And if you need some fragrance then essential oils are your best bet. But the problem with that is, for candles you need a huge amount of essential oil just to get a little bit of fragrance. That is why almost all candles use artificial fragrances. I prefer to put a few drops of essential oil either into a bowl of water or on a piece of felt that I put in a little container. It is a gentle and not overpowering smell and I know what I am using.
There are other options to real candles. A few years ago, I found these battery-operated Glow Candles that had a remote control to turn them on and off, as well as different colors to choose from. The cost was great as the package of three different size candles was on sale for $19.99. But as nice as they are, they don’t really make you feel warm and cozy, and it became just a light that was there. They also used quite a lot of batteries, each candle holds 3 AAA batteries, and the remote 1 button battery, which is not good for the environment. But those candles do hold up really well as I am still using them today. Supposedly they are being made of real wax, and it does feel that way. Batteries last about 20 hours, depending on which kind of battery you use, and I suggest you read my blog post ‘Let’s Talk About Batteries‘.
For tealights I also switched to battery powered led candles. I bought a box of 24 last year in May for $12.00 and each one of them had a batterie already inside, which I thought was a very good deal. I used them as memorial candles and had them burning continuously. about 3 candles at a time. The batteries that came with those candles lasted really long, I would say about 96 hours, which surprised me. I then bought 100 button batteries for replacement, and they did not last very long, maybe 48 hours the most. So again, a big waste of batteries.
That leaves me with our latest purchase, well beginning of this year, Smart home USB powered LED candles. They have to be plugged in all the time and they work very well. We have them burning day and night, now for months on end. They do not get hot, they have a nice flickering, just like a real candle and there are no wasted batteries. They were a little more expensive, we paid $42.00, but in the end, if you add the purchase price of the batteries you need for the other candles, these USB powered candles are definitely the better deal. The package included the 3 candles, a USB cord with 3 connectors for the candles and a power plug for the USB. The candles are 4″, 5″ and 6″ tall. The candles do work with Alexa, Google Assistant and some others if you want to include them in your smart home setup. We just use them as candles that are ‘burning’ 24/7.
I hope this review will help you to decide which kind of candle you will buy next. Let me know in the comments if you have any other suggestions, or if you tried any of the candles I reviewed here.