Reed diffusers and soy or beeswax candles are some of the easiest ways to naturally scent and improve the ambience of your home or office. To ensure you get the best experience out of your scented products, here are a few tips from our team:
1. Location, Location, Location
To wow your guests (or housemates) with the intended fragrance, make sure it is first positioned correctly in the space. Choose a high traffic area such as right inside the entry to ensure they get a welcome whiff as they walk past.
2. Treat With Care
Naturally scented products are not made with chemical substances to lengthen their life (such as diluting the fragrance of a room diffuser with alcohol), therefore it is important to position your scented stock where it is least likely to be affected by external factors. For example, do not place in direct sunlight, underneath air conditioning or by an open window. As with all scented products, ensure they are also out of reach of children or animals and not left on any unpolished/varnished surface. Treat them like a cup of hot coffee, you wouldn’t want a burn mark or oil stain on that lovely wooden table top.
3. Size Matters...
… and scent, of course. The bigger the candle or more robust the diffuser fragrance, the bigger the space will need to be to accommodate it, and the same in reverse if you are looking to scent a smaller room such as a bathroom. You want your guests to leave enticed by the fragrance, not feeling overwhelmed by it.
4. Keep Up The Maintenance
Candles often come with their own set of instructions for first and then prolonged use, to ensure an even burn. But what about room diffusers? To keep them fresh you must flip the reeds over on a regular basis. Not only will this provide a more consistent fragrance (if flipped frequently) but keeps the reeds themselves fresh and less likely to clog internally by the oil. Remember, room diffusers work by evaporation so the more often the reeds are turned the stronger and more consistent the fragrance, however this also means the quicker the oil will be used. When starting on a new bottle of essential oil, it’s also best to start with a fresh bundle of reeds to get the most out of your new fragrance.
If your candle has arrived without the handy step-by-step guide, just keep in mind these simple guidelines: When lighting a candle for the first time, try to burn it until the wax melts across the entire surface (around 2 - 4 hours) to prevent tunnelling. Before subsequent burns, trim the wick to 5mm to avoid soot building up and ‘mushrooming’ of the wick. If soot does form, wipe it with a clean damp cloth once the candle jar has cooled. Products like candles and room diffusers can also become dust magnets, so don’t forget to give them a quick wipe with a damp cloth once a week.
5. Create Your Own
You may very well find that one scent is just not enough. Why not try your hand at mixing and matching different fragrances throughout the home? We suggest a sweet rose scent in the bedroom and a zingy lemongrass in the kitchen. When you feel invigorated, join one of our perfumery workshops to design your very own personalised fragrance.
