7 Ways to Maximize the Life of Your Candle

As the days get shorter and cooler, it’s officially time to lean into candle season—and no one knows more about getting the most out of your home fragrance than Kristen Pumphrey, co-owner and founder of the beloved Western brand P.F. Candle Co. While the scent you choose is personal, there’s definitely an art to burning candles that will make them last longer and keep your home smelling its best. From mastering wick-trimming to experimenting with scent layering, and even tackling candle-care mishaps like tunneling, Kristen shares her expert tips to maximize your candle experience this season.

1. Trim Your Wick

Courtesy of P.F. Candle Co./Grant Puckett

Using a wick trimmer creates a safer burn by removing built-up carbon on the wick, and it also makes your candle burn longer. When you see a mushroom shape on the top of the wick, that’s what you want to remove.

2. Consider All the Parts

Kristen has a three-part fragrance formula that she uses for a great smelling home, balancing the essences of everyday life with added elements. For the base, you want to take into account the ambient scents of your home—textiles, walls, furniture, etc.—as well as any long-lasting scents you’re introducing using reed diffusers. Accents are things that change from day to day, like cooking smells, trash that needs to be taken out, and of course, candles and incense sticks! The pops on top would be small burnables and room sprays—any scent that would dissipate within a couple hours but is necessary for instant fragrancing.

Courtesy of P.F. Candle Co./Grant Puckett

3. A Candle Warmer Lamp

If you’re in a space where you don’t want an open flame, a candle warmer lamp is a great option. You can put it on a timer—very low stress—and there are some great designs available.

4. Scenting by Mood 

The trend is moving beyond the “signature scent” and toward using fragrance as a form of self-expression. You select a fragrance based on how you’re feeling or the vibe you want to create, changing it up frequently—think of it like a weekly bouquet of flowers—rather than having the same thing each day.

5. Switch up Scents

Courtesy of P.F. Candle Co./Grant Puckett

Scent is such a great way to transition seasons, especially when you live in a warm area and your heart is ready for fall, but the temperature isn’t. If you’re traditional, you can look for spice notes like cinnamon and clove, or gourmet scents (I love a vanilla or a cider candle). Think of creating overlapping layers and burning two candles at once to slowly transition your home’s scent. Kristen is all for a “fall alternative” candle—scents that create a warm and cozy environment, with notes of sandalwood or a spice note, but which aren’t necessarily a traditional holiday scent. Black Fig and Teakwood & Tobacco are good examples of this.

6. Scent Layering

Courtesy of P.F. Candle Co./Grant Puckett

Become a fragrance alchemist and layer candles—or diffusers and candles, or candles and incense—with complementary scents to create your own blend. In the summer, I do this with an essential oil mister, but I love incense and candles for the cooler months.

7. Use Foil to Stop Tunneling

All is not lost if your candle tunnels. You can use the foil trick (wrap the top of the candle in aluminum foil, leaving an opening for heat to escape through the center), or scoop out extra wax. However, most wax will melt back in once you’ve burned it long enough, except for serious cases of tunneling. This is because of the so-called hurricane effect (named after the large vessels you can keep candles in safely while burning), which causes candles to gain more heat towards the bottom of the vessel.

Try These New Seasonal Scents from P.F. Candle Co.

Courtesy of P.F. Candle Co./Grant Puckett

P.F. Candle Co. has released a limited seasonals set in collectable green vessels (pictured above), bringing back archive scents that take you through the whole season. Kristen suggests starting now with Copal and Campfire, and then moving onto Vanilla Ghost Pepper (a personal fave that reminds me of New Mexico in the winter). Finally, round out the end of the holiday season with Smoky Cinnamon and Spruce in December.

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