You can’t deny the allure of a scented candle. Take a whiff and suddenly, you’re catapulted into a mood so warm and fuzzy, you feel like hugging every person you encounter. Your are senses soothed, and the room is void of anything generally unpleasant. I’ve always associated scented candles with older women (they are, after all, the ones with a taste for the finer things in life and ultimately, more cash to spare), but with everyone burning a vanilla or lemon candle in every home and office, I figured it’s time I interfere in the smelly fuss with a more curious scentsibility.

But before you enter into candle-ownership, here are a couple of things to keep in mind to maximize my recommendations in the gallery:

1. When you light a candle for the first time, don’t trim the wick. The flame needs to be large enough to burn the entire top surface wax into liquid to prevent “tunneling.” This is when the wick miserably sinks into a tunnel of wax and in turn, makes it difficult to light it for your next burn.

2. For the second burn onwards, make sure to keep your wick trimmed to about one-eighth of an inch to prevent soot from forming around the candle.

3. Optimum burning time is one hour per one-inch diameter of the actual candle size. So, if your candle is, say, three inches in diameter, it should burn for three hours. This is to keep the wax burning evenly, and again, prevent tunneling.

4. The best way to extinguish the flame is by using a candle dipper since it gets rid of the smoke, smell, and prevents the wax from splattering (which happens when you blow a candle out). So get yourself one!

5. Once the flame is out, push the wick back into the melted wax using the candle dipper, gently lift it back up, and straighten it. Now it’s ready for its next burn!

Photos by Jash Manuel