I am so excited, and so happy to announce my new online shop that I have filled with my also new aromatherapy candles! Originally I wasn’t planning on opening the shop before I started selling these candles in my office, but the way the world is today with COVID-19 I had to go with the flow and change up my plans. It doesn’t change the fact that I have beautiful aromatherapy candles to offer to my clients (and beyond) that will help bring wonderful things into your home (aside from just good scents).
THE SHOP
My office is located right in downtown Ballston Spa, but I am a by-appointment-only place for massage and so I haven’t quite worked out how I’m going to handle in-person shopping. If you come for a massage you will absolutely be able to add a candle (and eventually other goodies) at checkout and take one home with you (or multiple, I’m not judging). It’s when you don’t have a scheduled massage that I have to workout the details for. It might be a case that once or twice a week on Facebook, once I have a semi-solidified schedule down (you would not believe how much my schedule can fluctuate in 48hrs) I will announce when “retail therapy” will be available, and those will be open hours that I am both in the office and I don’t have any appointments so you can come look at and [hopefully] purchase some goodies.
Similarly because I am by-appointment-only it is very difficult for me to do curbside pickup right now, and so it’s just not a shipping option. I apologize for those who would prefer that (since it’d be free), but I just haven’t been able to logically work that out. If you have suggestions please feel free to drop a comment and let me know, sometimes an outside perspective can be very helpful.
The nice thing about shipping though is being able to send the candles anywhere. You live across the country but want one? Yup, I’ll ship to you! You’re in Hawaii? No problem. Just over the hill in Vermont? Sure thing! I’ve done my best to keep the shipping costs fair, but until I get a feel for what actual shipping costs end up being (these are best estimates) it’s hard to know if I need to raise or lower them. So some adjustments might be made over time as orders come in and I gain some experience. Right now costs were estimated using a calculator on the United States Postal Service website and a rough weight of one candle. Actual costs may vary. Shipping is a fickle mistress, so please bear with me on that one.
THE CANDLES
Candles are not the only item that I want to offer, but they are the beginning! Thank goodness I started with these too, because I think they had the easiest learning curve of all the things I want to eventually offer (and I’m going to just let you guess what that might be and leave it as a surprise). The actual melting of wax, coloring of wax, and pouring the candles was no trouble. I had to learn a few things (like using hot water as a double-boiler for the wax melting and not putting it right on the stove) to make it happen, but it all came together easily. Essential oils on the other hand… not so much.
Here’s the thing about essential oils (and any oil for that matter): they have a flashpoint. Flashpoints are the temperature at which something evaporates or disappears, or catches on fire if it’s flammable (which essential oils in wax are not). When it comes to placing an essential oil in molten hot wax though, you have to make sure the wax is cool enough to not just flash off the oil, thus removing the scent. I know, science. In simpler terms it means there are some oils that I cannot use because their flashpoints are so low that the wax has started to solidify and cannot be poured anymore. It’s possible that they could be mixed with an oil that has a higher flashpoint to make them stable but I’m just not going to futz with that. So I had to cross check every oil I wanted to put in my initial purchase with what its flashpoint was versus what the melting point of soy wax was. In the end I bought seven essential oils for my initial scents: lemongrass, eucalyptus, lavender, cinnamon (cassia), vanilla (oleoresin), patchouli (dark), and peppermint. Of these oils eucalyptus is at the lowest flashpoint I can handle with soy wax, 120ºF, and that was an interesting pour.
You might be wondering, if the flashpoints are an issue, what about when I burn the candle? I’m glad you asked! The beauty of mixing the oil in with the wax is it’s mixed in with all the wax, so as you burn the candle some will flash off, yes, but there’s more to throw scent still available. This means your candle will continue to smell lovely right down to the end. It’s definitely much easier to burn the candles than to pour them, thank goodness!
I did make a test candle using only 15 drops of essential oil, and then burned it until it died (in stages because it took a lot longer than I expected). The throw (aka the amount of scent it gives off) was gentle, but it filled a room. It was most noticeable to me when I left and then returned, because my nose adjusted to it quickly. So these aren’t Yankee Candles that not only stink up the whole house, but potentially the whole neighborhood too (fun fact: if you drive past the Yankee Candle factory in Massachusetts on the highway with the windows open on a nice summer day, you can smell it; I speak from experience). I have upped the amount of oil in each to 20 drops to increase the throw just a bit, but overall I really like that they’re not super in-your-face. Burn time wise my test candle went for about 27 hours. I figure this means these candles will easily burn for 24 hours which is a great lifetime for a candle that’s only 4oz!
As I sell candles I will look to getting more oils to work with, and creating more scents for enjoyment. Right now I develop the candles by scent, and then I see what properties that offers for potential benefits. I will not promise that the aromatherapy will 100% give you what is on the label (that’s why it only says promote) because everyone reacts differently to these things. Just like we aren’t a one-medical-treatment-fits-all kind of society, the same holds true with holistic practices. These may work fantastic for you, and they might not. The beauty of it is there’s no harm it trying a candle and seeing what happens.
I truly hope that you enjoy the candles, and I cannot wait to be able to offer them directly from my office! Be safe out there, practice safe aromatherapy, and I look forward to seeing everyone soon.
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