DIY Citronella Candles + Why You Should Make Your Own
DIY Citronella Candles + Why You Should Make Your Own – Angie Cruise Blog
DIY Citronella Candles + Why You Should Make Your Own
Love the outdoors, but hate all the pesky critters that come with it? These DIY citronella candles will be perfect for your patio this summer!
Happy July, friends! Summer is officially in full swing and we’re finding ourselves outdoors a
lately. Yay for vitamin D! Boo for mosquitoes! An old habit of mine is to fill my back patio with citronella candles all summer long so we can sit out there and enjoy the ambiance without being carried away. Unfortunately, candles suck. I know. I can hear your shocked gasps from here! But really, they do.
I never believed it before. I mean, it’s a
. The worst risk I run is of burning my house down, right? And since we don’t leave our candles unattended, no harm done! Right? Wrong!
It turns out, candles contain a lot of stuff our lungs don’t like.
Things like benzene, toluene, and even formaldehyde. Even worse? If the label on your candle claims “fragrance” as an ingredient. This ingredient covers a wide variety of chemicals that are no good for us. This is a big problem. The chemicals making up the scents in these candles (and many other household products!) can cause all sorts of health issues. Issues such as ashma, allergies, skin problems, migraines, increased cancer risks, and damage to the central nervous system. No, thank you!
*See end of post for further reading on this information
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Luckily, we have better alternatives!
Every day, I am more and more thankful that I discovered essential oils. Taking that first step has greatly improved my family’s health. Not only because of the benefits of the oils themselves, but also because I joined a community that has opened my eyes about the dangers of everyday conventional products!
I tossed all of my candles a year ago, except for a few that sit on shelves for decoration, but I do miss the look of a lit candle sometimes. Making my own candles has been on my list of things to learn for a long time now, and this week, I finally bit the bullet!
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DIY Citronella Candles:
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I love having citronella candles on the patio, so it was the perfect motivation to finally try my hand at the craft. It took me less than an hour from start to finish, and the ingredients were
affordable! All I needed to make my DIY citronella candles were:
1/2 cup coconut oil
Large cotton wicks with tabs
Citronella Essential Oil
Lemongrass Essential Oil
First things first
: Plant Therapy essential oils are my new go-to brand for essential oils. I used to be with Young Living, but just couldn’t deal with the prices and structure of the business anymore. I did a lot of research and talked to a lot of other essential oil lovers, and ended up finding Plant Therapy. Their missions is to have the greatest impact on as many people as possible by offering high quality essential oils along with proper education to their customers. They have on-staff aromatherapists, an extensive Kid Safe line, and product testing available right on their website for
to see. Plus, you don’t have to sign up for a membership to save. If you want to give them a try
you can get $5 off your purchase of $50, plus FREE SHIPPING! Just use Code “5OFF” to save.
The process was surprisingly simple, and I instantly regretted waiting so long to try my hand at it! I pretty much just had to melt the wax and coconut oil together, add my essential oils, and pour the wax into my prepped jars. The longest part of the entire process was waiting for the wax to melt in a double boiler! Once that was done, everything went really quickly!
claim to be a candle-making expert, so if you’d like a full tutorial, you can check out the one I followed
. I can say, though, that I am incredibly happy with how my candles turned out, and cannot wait to sit outside mosquito-free once these are done curing!
Have you made your own candles before? If not, what are you waiting for? I’d love to hear how the recipe works out for you!
Want to learn more about the dangers of synthetic fragrances and conventional candles? Here are some of the articles I pulled information from!
The Dangers of Synthetic Scents
(This one has a ton of great information and an awesome infographic!)
The Big Problem with Scented Candles
EPA Study on Scented Candles and Incense
Can Burning Candles Make You Sick?
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Girl Mom. Essential Oiler. DIYer. Foodie. Aspiring Yogi. Texas Girl. This is a showcase of everything that makes my heart sing.
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