We believe the best candles are those created with you in mind...
Through candle testing, blogs, comments, and conversations, we find out exactly what you want. We save, consider, test, and even bring to life the ideas you leave for us. Your visions are never overlooked. But how do we truly put the power of our candles into your hands? Two words: CANDLE. TESTING. 👏
What is candle testing?
Candle testing is the process of evaluating candles to ensure they meet your fragrance & quality standards! This involves assessing various factors such as burn time, hot + cold throw (how well the fragrance is dispersed), and overall likeness of the candle. Not only do you get to test along side us, you get to tell us what scent to create next by voting on your favorites! 💃
How do we pick what candles to test?
Over the years, we have received thousands of comments, DM’s, and emails with fragrance suggestions. This is where we pull out the notepad and take note of every single idea! From there, your ideas go to our fragrance oil creators who mix up the perfect blend of fragrance notes to create exactly what you imagined. 💭 We typically start with 30+ different fragrance oils to mix with our soy wax and try out new candle recipes. This does take time, but it's an important step in the process. We test these over and over again at our candle factory. We refer to this as internal testing.....with a primary objective of narrowing down to 4 - 6 fragrances for you to test in your home. Yes, going from 30 to 4 candles is very, very hard to do! We have dedicated "candle testers" who are trained in this process and you can learn more about the team that makes all our candles here.
What does internal testing at Antique Candle Co.® look like?
We do two tests. 1.) "hot throw testing" and 2.) "cold throw testing". Cold throw is how the candle smells before it burns in a room. Think: You pick up a candle and smell it at the store. That "cold throw" as a certain scent profile and strength. Then we start "hot throw testing". Each candle is placed in a special room and allowed to burn for 2 hours at a time. After it has been burning, we come into the room and smell how strong the candle is, what it smells like, and make a long list of all the fragrance notes we pick up on. At this time, we also start thinking about a name that might accurately describe the scent. Some scents are very straight forward like Vanilla Sugar Cookie, for instance. Some are more difficult to capture in a name. Momma's Kitchen is a great example.
How is a new candle selected? Like, how do you go from thousands ideas to one candle?
To recap, we start with sometimes hundreds of ideas from comments. Order 30+ fragrance oils. Make lots of candles with those oils to do internal testing at the candle factory in Lafayette, Indiana. Then, we try to narrow down to 4 - 6 candles. At that point, we ask for Candle Testers from our community. That's you! This is when you typically hear from us & we text and email our subscribers during the open windows.
For those that sign up to be a candle tester, they will submit their feedback on the 4 - 6 candles we have narrowed it down to. The survey we put together asks questions like "How satisfied are you with the scent while burning?" From the survey, we are able to take the data and feedback, look at averages, look at quality of the burn. Is it too strong? Not strong enough? Does it smell good? Does it fill your home? From there, we will determine the new candle to add to our shop. This can take a few weeks after you (the Candle Tester) submits your survey, but we always will let you know what the final results are!
How can you sign up to be a Candle Tester?
We offer candle testing rounds 1-3 times per year, usually at the start of a new season! You can find out about these opportunities and when they will happen by signing up to be a text & email friend or following along on Instagram. You can also join our Facebook group all about testing our candles & it's very active. You can post questions there anytime and veteran Candle Testers are there to answer your questions.
In general, there isn't a way to "sign up to be a candle tester" at any time. We open up each round separately and you have to purchase a candle testing kit at the open window. Because of this, I'd encourage you to stay in the know on ALL Candle Tester news, and get notified as soon as Fall Candle Testers officially launch! 👇
