Aromatherapy Candles from Lux Aromatica

by Christina Rylan

Introduction to my Lux Aromatica review:

For me, there is something purely captivating about luxury candles from their simplistic beauty and sophistication to the gorgeous packaging they come in. And let’s not forget the exclusive “one of a kind” fragrances. It’s an experience I like to savor from beginning to end. I’m paying for it so yeah, I expect the whole nine yards.

When Kerensa, the owner of Lux Aromatica asked if we would like to try a few of her candles, I immediately went to her website to take a peek and was instantly drawn inside. I could tell this was a luxury site but it was also very down to earth and welcoming. I loved the graphics, the coloring, the pictures and descriptions… I liked it all. To me, her presentation was stunning and I knew this was a review I wanted to personally do myself.

Lux Aromatica specializes in 100% eco friendly aromatherapy soy candles and carries 14 different fragrances to choose from. 14 scents doesn’t seem like a lot but once you realize how many essential oils are used to create their fragrances, you’ll understand why. Depending on the scent, up to 15 or more essential oils are used to create a scent… talk about complex.

While browsing their various fragrances… I had a really hard time deciding what I wanted to try… they ALL appealed to me… that doesn’t happen very often. So to make it easier, I chose one scent (Havana) and emailed Kerensa letting her know my dilemma and asked her to surprise me.  I indicated in my email her presentation was so elegant and lovely, I literally couldn’t choose. Here was her response:

“Thanks so much for your thoughtful words. You pegged what I’m aiming for! Rather than try to compete with the big-box model, I’m reaching out to the niche who loves “natural” and loves supporting American hand-made. There’s a sweet transparency & connection, knowing exactly who made the candle in their hands. My customer knows what he/she likes, typically prefers to avoid synthetics, and likes a medium-level scent throw.”

I loved her response. I could actually feel her pride and connection to her candles which made me all the more excited to experience them for myself. And absolutely, there is a huge market for all natural candles and adding aromatherapy to that makes them even more appealing to those who prefer their candles to be as natural as possible. Lux Aromatica only uses pure essential oils in their wax which makes them very true aromatherapy.

I was really looking forward to trying these candles.

What did my candles from Lux Aromatica look like?

Oh my gosh, love!! I received 3 candles with a bonus Lavender essential oil handmade soap. Opening the shipping box came with many happy sighs and (ooohs and aaaahs) of appreciation. As with luxury brands, the boxes the candles are nestled in were just as exquisite as the candles themselves. I found myself examining each box and label before I even opened the lids to smell the candles inside. I probably won’t explain this accurately so please refer to each scent review below for a visual reference of each candle and matching box.

The boxes were SO pretty… they were round craft color thick boxes with flat matching (darker colored ) craft lids. The labels on the boxes wrapped around the entire center of each box and was a different color and graphics that correlated with each specific fragrance. The label on Havana was different shades of green with graphics of a ancient world map… the center logo was the perimeter of a compass and inside was the Lux Aromatica logo with the scent name. Ice Mint was a light aqua color… the center logo has an intricate metallic circle/border with the Lux Aromatica logo inside. Deep Summer had a purple and blue label with a huge blazing metallic gold sun to the left of the center logo, to the right of the logo, very cool vintage metallic gold swirls. I LOVED the packaging and labels!! So beautiful and detailed.

The candles themselves were beyond beautiful. The glass was very thick and heavy… you can totally recycle these and use them as cocktail glasses when you’re done burning them. Because these candles were as natural as can be… they were all a creamy white which means no color or dyes were added to the wax. Each candle had a clear round label that had the company logo (which is very pretty) with the scent name. They also each had a protective sticker completely covering the top of the candle to lock in the scent. You have to peel it off to smell the fragrance inside. Inside each box came with a beautiful vintage style thank you note with a personal message from the owner, Kerensa. She talks about her candles crafted with love and goes into a little bit about aromatherapy. Very well done and a nice personal touch. Can you tell I had so much fun unraveling these candles? I did!! I was so impressed!

What did my candles from Lux Aromatica smell like?

When browsing through all the different fragrances, I noticed this message under each scent description:

“We pour a little love into every candle, shaping it into an experience that feeds the senses, pleases the eye, and gives back to the earth. As your candle burns, the slowly melting wax dispenses essential oils into the air at a steady, pleasant rate. Soy’s low melt point preserves the integrity of the oil itself, allowing the aromatherapy benefit to fill the air.”

I loved that! So personal and soothing… and tied right in to the aromatherapy and natural vibe of these candles. One point I want to make (in my experience)… you know when you smell a candle with essential oils. It’s unmistakable. I could tell right away these candles were the real deal.

First up….

Deep Summer

Let’s start with the scent description:

“Heavy layers of sunshine spill onto garden herbs. Your most important job is deeply relaxing in your shaded hammock. Dive in!”

There is something so different about aromatherapy fragrances I can’t quite put my finger on. It has to be the essential oils which are so distinctive when you smell them. It’s sometimes really hard to explain… almost like trying to describe different colors to someone who is blind. Each scent is so rich, complex and natural… it’s almost something you have to experience personally to understand.

Deep Summer was one of those scents for me. Complex and hard to describe.  I sat this candle
next to me while watching TV and the aroma kept drifting to my nose – distracting me. I sat here trying to figure out what I was smelling and in the end, this candle smelled like pure aromatherapy to me. It was very mint’y,  calming and soothing and reminded me of a trip to an elegant and luxurious Sedona Spa.

Kerensa had let me know early on her candles are medium to lightly scented but this candle seemed so strong cold… I decided to burn it in my master bedroom (which is a pretty large room) to see how it would hold up. It took a good hour to get a complete melt pool and once it did, this candle easily fragranced the entire room and beyond. Deep Summer was so earthy and fresh… I really enjoyed it. It was a scent I couldn’t help closing my eyes to take deep breaths of.

My family had some opinions of their own. My 11 year old thought it smelled like fresh Rosemary, he liked it. My husband went back and forth from liking it to not liking it…. He said it reminded him of fresh California desert sage and said at times it was little too “natural” for him. LOL!! I disagreed and of course won the battle. I loved it!! This candle was meant to be natural in its purest form – and it was. His reaction and comments simply reaffirmed that.

Havana

This is the one scent I knew I wanted to review. I loved the name and description below:

“In that powerful way that fragrance can impart a sense of place, Havana speaks of a quintessential Caribbean day. A warm, sophisticated layering of fresh orange and amber threaded with traces of tabac will take you there.”

I have to confess, lighting this candle was a little hard for me… I wanted to keep it intact and save it. In case you’re wondering, that’s a classic hoarder trait… especially when you only have one. Gah!! So against the grain, I lit my Havana candle and waited for the magic to begin…

I’d say about 30 minutes in… I really started noticing the fragrance throughout my bedroom. What did it smell like?… heaven! I loved it – A lot – a lot – a lot!! Cold sniff, it didn’t have that “aromatherapy” vibe like Deep Summer had but I could still tell it was made with essential oils. It smelled sweeter and wasn’t as “herbal.” I smelled this candle, read the description and smelled the candle again and again trying to tie it all together. The description is right about one thing… it’s sophisticated but complex. I could smell a sweet citrus-y orange but swear I could also smell black pepper as well…. it was hard to tell… maybe it was the tabac. Whatever it was….. I was mesmerized!!! Once lit… the black pepper note went away… what was left was a beautiful and elegant citrus scent from afar… up close, a very realistic subtle tobacco scent. It was so realistic, you could actually smell the pipe smoke and it was real. Talk about unique!! I’ve smelled my fair share of tobacco and pipe smoke scents and to me, they all smell fake or perfumy, I’ve never liked any that I’ve tried… until this one. This fragrance was amazing and almost impossible to describe and I think something you have to experience yourself. I absolutely LOVED this candle!! I emailed Kerensa inquiring more about this fragrance and asked what the tabac was and she said she uses over 15 different essential oils to create Havana and one of the ingredients is tobacco absolute. That is why it smells so realistic.

Strength – WOW!! This candle scented my entire huge bedroom, master bathroom and went beyond into my great room. I was in heaven and stopped often just to appreciate this fragrance.

I would buy this candle again for sure and even in bath and body if it were available. Highly recommend this candle.

Ice Mint

Let’s start off with the scent description:

“The crisp refreshing cool of peppermint and eucalyptus, softened by soothing lavender. Ice Mint was named by our lovely niece Hannah, age 5 at the time, one day as she helped me in the candle room. I’d been batting ideas back and forth, needing to pick a direction. I gave her a list of words and some label designs to choose from, then let her sniff for inspiration. She picked Ice + Mint and the soft aquamarine label design that is still in use today. Good job, Hannah!”

Oh my goodness, this was another amazing fragrance smelling it out of the box! Peppermint and eucalyptus dominate (mostly peppermint)… and it was so strong and refreshing… you can’t help but perk up smelling this fragrance. I had this candle sitting next to me while working on my computer and that’s all I could smell… it was cool, crisp and practically cleared my sinuses just having it sit on my desk unlit. What I loved the most… this was not a “Vicks” type of fragrance… it was minty alright but smelled natural and refreshing… I am beginning to really appreciate candles scented with pure essential oils. There really is nothing like it.

I lit this candle in my bedroom, same place as the last two above and had a wee bit of a problem keeping this one lit. It started out okay but about 1/4th down, no matter what I did, the wick fizzled out and I couldn’t keep it lit.

What I could smell when the candle was going was wonderful. Reading the description, I couldn’t really detect lavender which sounds like an interesting addition. To me, this fragrance was all natural and refreshing mint.  I really liked it. I just wish the candle would have performed better.

How did my candles from Lux Aromatica burn?

Aside from the Ice Mint candle… my candles burned perfect. I never had to trim my wicks and had complete and even burns with no wasted wax with Deep Summer and Havana. The first few hours were sketchy, both candles looked like they were not getting complete melt pools and tunneling but both righted themselves and they burned perfect. Ice Mint had some issues and I’m hoping it was an isolated event. I loved the scent enough that I will for sure try it again in the future.

Would like to note with Deep Summer, the second time I lit this candle, the wick wouldn’t stay lit… it was a tiny nubbin flame.  A trick I learned… let a little wax around the flame melt then pick up the candle and tilt it so the wax moves away from the flame. That gives the wick more oxygen around it and it lit up perfectly after that. That trick doesn’t work with all candles but it did with my Lux Aromatica ones.

Closing to my review:

I think it’s safe to say I loved all three candles – a lot. Havana was my absolute favorite, Ice Mint and Deep Summer close seconds. These candles are not only fragrant but beautiful and uplifting. This was a nice change of pace for me and I really enjoyed this whole experience. It was fun watching the reactions from my husband and boys too… this was a different experience for them as well… my husband’s reaction the funniest. They’re so used to all my fruity and bakery scents… smelling candles with pure essential oils was a bit of a shock to their senses.

I’ve always been skeptical of aromatherapy candles – wondering if they’re real or not as many companies claim theirs to be. I was once told that true aromatherapy candles are pure in every detail with no synthetic fragrances… authentic aromatherapy are made with only pure essential oils. Lux Aromatica are pure to the core. These candles are as natural as can be from the wax to every ingredient that goes inside. You can tell by just smelling them and looking at the wax.

Their prices are pretty reasonable for a luxury brand as well. Candles made with pure essential oils can be expensive but if you love your candles to be as natural as possible, they’re worth every penny. I found these candles to be long lasting as well… each candle burned very slow, each lasting a good week and that was burning them every day till they were gone… that’s pretty good.

So if you’re searching for all natural aromatherapy candles… definitely check out Lux Aromatica. I was very impressed and will be back for sure… I’m so curious about all their other scents now.

Happy candle hunting!

~ Christina

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