Burning Love: 4 Hot Eco-Friendly Candles

Candles are an easy home décor fix for a bland and blah room, but you might be doing yourself more harm than good with brands using subpar paraffin wax, chemically laced scents and lead-based wicks that release toxins into your living space. Next time you’re looking to boost your bedroom’s romantic glow or your living room’s cozy feel, pick up one of these eco-friendly alternatives. Your homestead will thank you.

Volcanic Candles

Sure, they’re eco-friendly and sustainable, made of bee and palm wax, with a lead-free cotton wick. But what makes Volcanic Candles so special is their attention to detail. Handcrafted in Bali by artisans trained in traditional woodcarving, each one is an intricately designed work of art that’s almost too pretty to burn. But don’t let that stop you from lighting the wick—each pillar is crafted to burn right down the center so the candle’s design can stand out even more when the flame illuminates the painstaking artistic handiwork from the inside out. And there are 221 styles to choose from!

Tru Mélange

From their colors to their waxes to their scents to their wicks, Tru Melange has eco-consciousness wired throughout every step of their candle’s creations. Their waxes are a perfect blend of beeswax and soy, with their beeswax sourced from North American Apiaries and Co-ops, and their non-GMO soy courtesy of U.S. farmers. They use 100 percent pure essential oils for scent, and cotton-braided wicks with natural wax designed to help them burn more efficiently. And lastly, they use eco-friendly color dyes that don’t contain hazardous solvents like naphtha and naphthalene, the former being a derivative of petroleum, while the latter is a hydrocarbon found in coal or crude oil. Though they have countless candles to choose from, we recommend “Passion”—a delicious mix of clove bud and vanilla.

Alchemy Candles

This artisan candle-making company from Oregon focuses on small-batch, made to order candles that adhere to the strictest quality profiles. The essential oils they use to scent each candle is sourced from fruit, flowers, herbs and trees, chemical-free and without all the nonsense that tends to weigh down conventional candle products. You might be shocked to learn their candles are made of paraffin wax, but fret not—theirs is biodegradable and food-grade, the same kind that’s used in chocolate and to coat fruit at the supermarket. All of their packaging is biodegradable and recycled; their materials all come from U.S. soil; and if that’s not enough, the company is not only100 percent wind-powered, but they also planted 4,600 Douglas Fir trees for forest restoration. Wait, there’s one more thing: their flavors. Maui pineapple and vanilla? Turkish rose and pink lotus? Oregon lavender and lemongrass? Yes, please!

Pacifica Soy Candles

Don’t be turned off by the fact that you can find Pacifica Candles in pretty much any major retail outlet – that doesn’t mean the company’s conscious leanings aren’t true. Pacifica recycles and uses post-consumer materials, with every box they use to package their candles 100 percent recyclable. They also aim to have zero product-manufacturing waste in their factory, offset their company travel by purchasing carbon credits, and donate to charities and women’s shelters whenever possible. Lastly, they aim to source their materials locally and within U.S. bounds whenever possible. The result is a fantastic line of phthalate-free soy candles with essential and natural oils and lead-free cotton wicks in flavors like Tahitian Gardenia, Mexican Cocoa and Waikiki Pikake.

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Original article from TakePart