Get to know a candle brand: Hygge Wax
If you can’t tell, I’ve been on a 100% soy candle kick. I’ve reviewed nothing else for a couple of months and I believe this clean-burning wax is primed to be a candle trend of 2018.
One of the newcomers to the trend is Samantha, a chandler who decided to start her own candle-making company after taking a class on technique. She and her boyfriend make and sell 100% soy candles from their Chicago home under the label Hygge Wax.
(Hygge, if you haven’t heard, is pronounced hue-guh and is the Danish art of enjoying cozy moments. I think candles are perfect for embracing hygge!)
What drew me to Hygge Wax were the unique and witty scents that Samantha chooses. From Boyfriend Hoodie to Beach Gnome, they each suggest a picture in your mind. They’re quite funky and definitely aimed at Millennials, so these are good for younger candle fans.
Samantha says of designing candle scents: “We start out one of two ways. We either come up with a name that we like and then try to create a scent to go with it, or we create a scent and try to find a name that fits. Some scents start out with suggestions from family members. For instance, my brother loves the smell of Vanilla Lime so I really wanted to make a scent my brother would love.” (That became Vanilla Limey.)
I lit Beach Gnome and Classy AF on a dreary DC day. It was hammering rain outside, but I decided to follow the candle brand’s suggestion and embrace the hygge life. As the rain poured and the candle burned, my sister and I decided to make the best of it. We opened a bottle of red wine and caught up with each others’ busy lives for the first time in a while. Beach Gnome was a gentle, coconutty scent that made us feel like we were somewhere much sunnier.
Later, we lit Classy AF in the kitchen, though it paired far better with dessert than with dinner. With a top note of vanilla, it reminded us not a little bit like a big slice of cheesecake. I adored the name of this candle, which is a not-quite-profane phrasing any Millennial will understand.
With a compact 4oz tin size, these candles are perfect for porting in your purse to your sister’s downtown loft (and then leaving with her as a housewarming gift!). And even though they are small and 100% soy wax tends to be less scented, these are particularly strong, filling a room quickly compared to other 100% soy wax candles I’ve tested lately.
Samantha says: “We started making these just for ourselves, friends, and family, but we enjoyed the creative process so much that we decided to try to go bigger!” I’m glad she did because I love her take on natural soy with decidedly youthful scents.