My Candle Won't Stay Lit! How to Get Your Candle Burning

Lighting a scented candle at the end of a long day is a great way to create an instantly cozy mood and relax away tensions. However what if your candle just won't stay lit? Here are some tips to care for your candles — and keep your candle burning and lit happily for hours.

Reasons Your Candle Won't Stay Lit

1. Your Candle Wick is Too Long

For our candles, we use high quality self-trimming wicks so you shouldn't normally need to trim them. However often if you like to keep your candle burning for an extended period of time, the wick will get too long, making it difficult to keep the candle lit.

While this might seem counterintuitive, you have to remember that the candle stays lit not by burning the wick but by drawing the wax through the wick — the longer the wick is, the harder it is for the wax to flow to the top of the wick.

Solution: Aim to keep your wicks about 1/4" or 6mm above the surface of the wax.

2. Your Candle Wick is Too Short

Alternatively if your candle wick is so short you can't get it lit, that's also an issue. You just need to give the wick a bit more space from the wax so it can work it's magic.

Solution: Melt the wax right around the wick with matches or a lighter. Dab the excess wax out with a paper towel or drain it. Repeat if necessary.

3. Your Candle Wick is Drowning

This often happens if your candle has tunneled and the wick has burned below the surface of most the wax. The wax is melting down into the wick faster than the wick can burn it and the flame gets extinguished.

Solution: Dab away or drain excess melted wax from the area around the wick to give it enough space to burn.

If you continue having issues with your candle burning and it not staying lit, try upgrading your candles with our collection of high quality scented candles made of premium fragrances and a sustainable soy wax blend inspired by travel!