Soy Candle Making Supplies

Knowing where to buy good soy candle making supplies and what supplies you'll need, is half the battle. You'll find info here on different types of soy wax, wicks, fragrance oils and more. I'll point you to some candle making suppliers that I've had great experience with and I'll do reviews of different supply companies, waxes and oils so you can get a good idea of what works and what might not. Feel free to let me know if there is anything you'd like to see here or if you have any questions!

Best Fragrance Oils For Soy Candles

December 1, 2018 by SoyCandleMakingTime 169 Comments

Get started now with a basic soy candle making recipe!

Fragrance is the essence of scented soy candles, so obviously everyone that makes soy candles wants to make their candles the best scented out there! There are so many different fragrances and fragrance oil suppliers that it can be difficult to know which fragrances throw well in soy wax and which suppliers carry the best fragrances.

Hot scent throw is what every candle maker strives for. A candle can have an awesome cold throw, but then when you burn it for awhile it may do poorly with the hot throw.

This is why it’s so important to buy the right fragrance oils. There’s nothing worse than spending a bunch of money on candle fragrance oils and then finding out they do not have a good hot scent throw!

The thing with soy candles is that not all oils throw well in soy wax, so you need to make sure you buy fragrance oils that are made for soy wax or known to throw well in soy.

So I am going to list oils from a few different companies that sell wholesale candle making supplies . These companies are ones that I know sell fragrance oils that give a good hot throw in soy candle wax. These are oils that I have used and highly recommend. I have by no means tried all the fragrance oils that these suppliers carry, so that’ll be up to you if you want to try some other kinds. Many candle making suppliers carry 1oz samples of their oils, so it is wise to start with that and do some testing your soy candles before deciding on buying more in bulk.

And remember, just because a fragrance oil from one company throws awesome, that does not mean the same fragrance oil from a different company will do the same! Candle fragrance oils will vary from company to company (though some may use the same manufacturer, so might have some of the same fragrances).

When I was searching for a good coffee fragrance, I bought samples from 4 different places and none of them smelled the same. I thought that the coffee scent from Candlesoylutions in the list below was the truest black coffee fragrance (I do use the max amount of that one since it is harder to get any coffee scent to throw strong)

And to answer the question “Can I make candles with perfume?” No, most perfumes contain alcohol, and even if they don’t, fragrance oils for candles are specifically made to use in candle wax.

List of Best Fragrance Oils for Soy Candles

Unless otherwise stated, these are all fragrances I have personally used.

Candle Science

Apple Harvest (recommended by group members)

Citron and Mandarin (recommended by group members)

Coffee (recommended by group members)

Coriander and Tonka

Grapefruit Mangosteen (recommended by group members)

Orange Chili pepper (recommended by group members)

Peach Nectar (recommended by group members)

Sunwashed Linen (recommended by group members)

Very Vanilla (recommended by group members)

CandleSoylutions

Almost Paradise

Apple Pie

Apple Spice

Apple Strudel

Birthday Cake

Black Coffee (light throw)

Buttered Rum

Carrot Cake

Cherry Almond

Chocolate

Cinnamon

Cinnamon Spice

Clean Cotton

Clove

Clove Pomander

Cucumber Melon

Evergreen

Frankincense

Fresh Linen

Grape

Honeysuckle

Leather

Lemon

Lemon Cheesecake

Lemongrass

Lilac

Lilac Blossoms

Lime

Love Spell

Mistletoe

Nutmeg

Ocean

Orange Spice

Pumpkin Pie

Raspberry

Strawberry

Sugar Cookie

Sunflower (I used to have a perfume like this. On of my all time favorite fragrances!)

Toasted Hazelnut

Vanilla

White Cake

Wild Cherry

Candle Cocoon

Blatantly blueberry (recommended by group members)

Brandied Pear (recommended by group members)

Brewed Jasmine

Coffee pumpkin (recommended by group members)

Cranberry Compote

Crushed Strawberry and Rhubarb

Daydream Believer

Dewdrop

Ginger Chiffon (recommended by group members)

Malayan Mango (recommended by group members)

Masala Chai (recommended by group members)

Melon,Fig and Apricot

Peony White Tea (recommended by group members)

Raspberry Cordial

Solace

Vanilla Voodoo (recommended by group members)

Winter Woodlands Whisper

Brambleberry

Apple Pie

Blueberry

Espresso

Pumpkin Crunch

Relaxing (recommended by group members)

Rosehip Jasmine (recommended by group members)

Natures Garden

Christmas Cabin

Fresh Cut Grass

Leather Jacket

Oatmeal, Milk and Honey (More of a lighter fragrance, but it does smell good when burning)

Northstar Country Candle Supply

Baby Powder (medium scent, smells just like baby powder)

Midsummer Night (like the Yankee scent and very strong!)

Pearberry (not a really strong scent, but you can smell it and it smells nice)

Peak Candle Supply

Enchanted Apple (recommended by group members)

The Flaming Candle Company

Avocado Mint (recommended by group members)

Chili Pepper (recommended by group members)

Love Spell (recommended by group members)

Sweet Orange (recommended by group members)

There may have been some fragrance oils that I missed and there are definitely more that I will be testing, so check back as I will update this list as I test more candle fragrance oils.

If you know of some other best fragrance oils for soy candles, please feel free to share in the comments!

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Best Soy Wax For Candle Making

June 12, 2018 by SoyCandleMakingTime 18 Comments

You’ve decided on soy wax for your candles or maybe you are switching from another type of wax. You google soy wax for candle making and find that there are many types to choose from! Which is the best soy wax for candles? At this point you may just choose one and roll with it. You may eventually find that you run into a few issues. Maybe it’s too much frosting. Maybe you don’t get the strong fragrance throw you were looking for. Sink holes, why are there sink holes???

You begin to wonder if you made a mistake and start looking for answers.

You search Google for “What is the best soy wax for candles” and find multiple articles with different opinions.

You ask in groups and find hundreds of different opinions there as well, though some soy waxes tend to stick out as ones that a majority seem to have the best luck with.

All this can be so confusing!!

The problem is, it is really difficult to say which soy wax is best. There is no “best” soy wax for candle making, only what works best for you.

Each soy wax has strengths and weaknesses. Different soy waxes have different melting temperatures, pouring temperatures and cooling temperatures. Some soy waxes cool with smoother tops, while others have more of an issue with sink holes or frost. (there are things you can do to minimize the frost and sink holes). Some candle makers find that some soy wax gives a better hot throw than others.

I know you probably came upon this article because you hoped I would give you the magic answer and tell you what the best soy wax for candle making is. I’m sorry to disappoint, but I can list the types of soy wax and give you some idea of which ones I’ve used that have worked well, and which ones others tend to use most with great success. So far my favorite soy wax for candles is 100% Midwest Soy, P-100 Pillar Blend (great for tarts and votives) and Ecosoya Advanced.

Types of Soy Wax for Candles

Calwax CB3- Made from 100% hydrogenated soy and vegetable oils. Single pour

Candle Science Soy Wax on Amazon.com– This is actually just the Golden Brands 464 that they have on their website as well. It’s a little expensive for a 2lb bag of soy wax on Amazon, but if you have Amazon Prime, then it would qualify for free shipping, so it might be worth it depending where you live and if you are just wanting to test it out.

Cargill Naturewax C-1– This is actually a soy/palm wax blend. Description says it has great fragrance throw, and resistant to bloom or “frosting”. Also avoids wet spots by completely pulling away from the containers. This soy wax could also work for tarts and votives since it pulls away completely.

Cargill Naturewax C-3– 100% soy wax from Elevance. It is resistant to bloom or “frosting” and wet spots and is supposed to give an excellent scent throw.

EcoSoya Q210, Ecosoya Q220, EcoSoya Q230, EcoSoya Quantum– Ecosoya recently re-formulated their soy wax and these are the new formulas. I have not tried any of their new soy candle waxes yet so I can’t comment on them personally at this time.

Ecosoya Advanced Container soy wax– Made with pure soybeans and carefully selected botanical oils. Extreme resistance to bloom or “frosting”. Contracts slightly for a more even appearance. Smooth tops and consistent color retention.

Ecosoya PB Pillar Blend– Made from pure 100% soybeans and carefully selected botanical oils. Self-releasing from molds. This wax is for Pillars, votives, tarts and any other molded candles. Very smooth appearance and I personally know it makes beautiful votives and melts. Ships well in all climates.

P-100 Pillar/Votive/Tart blend This is a pillar/votive blend soy wax and is great for pillars, votives and tarts/melts. *I have used this wax and it works very well and cools to a nice smooth finish and has good hot throw

100% Midwest Soy This is an excellent soy wax for candle making that I have used for my containers since I started several years ago. Excellent jar adhesion and hot and cold throw. It is 100% soy wax, nothing added or blended. Since it is 100% soy, it can have more issues with frosting. I’ve found I have a lot less trouble during the warmer months so room temperature plays a big part if you are doing everything else correctly.

Millenium Blend – A container wax that is a blend of soy and other natural ingredients (no paraffin) to resist frosting or bloom. Long burning, good jar adhesion and color retention. This blend does give a nice smooth appearance and has a smoother appearance than some other soy waxes after it burns as well. It is a nice wax, but can have a little more trouble with “wet spots” (pulling away from the jar in some spots).

Golden Brands 416– A tart/votive soy wax that contains no additives and is natural and kosher.

Golden Brands 435– This is a soy/cotton blended wax that is also both natural and kosher. The cotton blend is supposed to help with an easier burn and reduce frosting.

Golden Brands 464– *Recommended by many in our Facebook group for soy candle making! I had trouble with it the first batch I bought, but I think it was just a bad batch because the second time I bought it, it worked out much better. The best pour temp for this wax seems to be 135 degrees F or higher. Lower melt point than the 444 wax for better glass adhesion and burn time. This is a blended soy wax using a soy-based additive and is both natural and kosher. This soy-based additive enables the soy to be poured at a hotter temperature reducing frosting and increasing FO load. This wax blends well with paraffin, slack wax, and microcrystalline waxes.

Golden Brands 444 Soy Wax– Higher melt point than the 464 for higher fragrance load/stronger scent throw. This is a blended soy wax using a soy-based additive and is both natural and kosher. This soy-based additive enables the soy wax to be poured at a hotter temperature reducing frosting and increasing FO load. This wax blends well with paraffin, slack wax, and microcrystalline waxes.

Golden Brands 415 Soy Wax– A pure soy wax that has a higher melt point than 402 allowing for a higher fragrance load for a stronger scent throw. *I have tested this wax and I really like it. It cooled to a very nice smooth appearance with no frosting.

Golden Brands 402 Soy Wax– A pure soy wax that has a lower melt point for better glass adhesion (less “wet” spots) and better burn.

KY Soy 115– 100% soybean wax for containers. Fragrance load up to 10% (they state that tops may require a repour)

KY Soy 125– All natural soybean/cottonseed blend. Fragrance load up to 10%

KY Puresoy– 100% soy wax with no additives. Fragrance load up to 12%. They also state that tops may require a repour.

Nature’s Garden (NG) 100% Soy Wax– This is simply the Golden Brands 415 (see description above)

Soy 120 by Candlewic– This is an all natural soy based wax. Fragrance load is 3% which seems extremely low. They do suggest adding Palm Stearic or beeswax to it, but it can be used alone.

Soy 125 by Candlewic– This is an all natural soy wax made with soy wax and soybean oil so that it has a higher fragrance load than the 120. Fragrance load is 5-6% . The addition of Palm Stearic or Beeswax is also suggested which will give a higher fragrance load.

What do you think is the best soy wax for candle making? Leave a comment below!

P-100 Soy Wax Review-How Well Does It Work For Votives, Melts and Pillar Candles?

June 28, 2017 by SoyCandleMakingTime 2 Comments

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When I started making soy votive candles in 2009, I used the soy votive blend from Candlesoylutions.com. It was made by a company called Enchanted Lites. In 2013, Enchanted Lites went out of business and another company took over their waxes, except the votive blend. I had always had good results with the EL votive wax, so I was pretty disappointed when I found out. I was, however, able to test out a couple different soy votive/pillar waxes thanks to Candlesoylutions providing me with some samples, as they were going to have to find something to replace the EL wax. The only one that tested excellent at the time was the Ecosoya PB (pillar blend), but that was the most expensive option. And then, they got their hands on a votive wax blend called P-100 soy wax . I was able to get a sample of that as well and it is excellent! Even better than the Enchanted Lites votive blend in my opinion.

The instructions say to pour hot, like I normally do with a soy votive/pillar blend wax, to get a shiny smooth look. The instructions also say to pour a bit cooler to get sort of a “mottled” look. When I poured at the normal high temp of around 170 degrees, my votives turned out beautiful. I also tried the lower temp to see what they meant by a “mottled” look, and it’s basically just that they look frosted, but not really in a nice way, so I wouldn’t recommend pouring at the lower temp. Of course you can try it for yourself and see what you think 🙂

You can also use this wax for soy pillar candles as well. I’ve made several pillar candles with it and they’ve turned out great. For a 3×3.5 inch pillar I use Eco 14 wick from an unwaxed spool and so far they always burn excellent (provided I don’t let them burn too long lol). The price is also less than the Ecosoya PB, so that’s a plus.

Overall, I definitely recommend the P-100 soy votive/pillar blend

Below are some pictures of the votives, melts and pillars I’ve made with the P-100 soy wax.

P-100 Soy Wax Votive Candles

The soy votive candles below turned out really nice. The instructions say to pour at 175 F for a smooth look, pour at 145 F. for a “mottled” look, and that if you heat the molds before pouring at 175 they’ll be more shiny. The votive on the far left was poured at 175 unheated molds. Middle: poured at 175, heated mold and Right: poured at 145 unheated mold.

I didn’t see any difference with the heated and unheated molds at 175 degrees, but they both turned out nice and smooth looking. The one in the middle is little rough around the top edge, but that’s because I didn’t quite fill it enough.

The one on the right has slight “mottling” but to me it doesn’t look very nice and it’s mainly on the bottom.
I’ll try pouring even cooler next time and maybe it’ll give more of a neater effect.

P-100 Soy Wax Melts

Next we have some soy wax melts/tarts I made with P-100 soy wax. Very smooth and shiny when poured at 175-180 degrees F. I love these! These wax melts are gorgeous and the molds are just candy molds I picked up at Hobby Lobby.

P-100 Soy Wax Pillar Candles

Last, but not least, P-100 soy wax makes beautiful soy pillar candles!

Here’s a short clip of one burning. Sunflowers and Seamist fragrance from Candle Cocoon, and it had a great throw!

Here are a couple more pictures of some other stunning soy pillar candles I made with P-100

There you have it! There really aren’t many soy votive/tart/pillar blends to choose from , but P-100 is an excellent choice!

You can get it from Candlesoylutions.com or American Soy Organics.

Have you tried it? What do you think? Leave a comment below!

What Wax Should I Use for Soy Wax Melts?

September 25, 2014 by SoyCandleMakingTime 10 Comments

Here is a question I was asked a little while ago, and I thought I would go ahead and post it and answer it here:

Question

“Hi there! First off love your site and have found it very helpful! My question is can I make soy melts using my 100% soy wax that I use for my container, jar and tealights candles? Or do I need to buy a soy wax specific to pillar candles? Thanks, your help would be greatly appreciated ” Stevie

Answer

You can use the 100% soy wax, but the problem is, it most likely isn’t going to release from the molds very well so you would need something like a mold release spray. The other problem with making tarts with that is when someone uses them in a warmer, they won’t be able to pop them out very easy when they want to put a new one in. So I recommend using a votive/pillar blend wax or you can add an all natural modifier to the 100% soy.

Here are a couple votive blends you can use:

Ecosoya PB (Pillar Blend) turns out beautiful votives and tarts. (Available at quite a few places online, so you can just do a search for it to find someplace closest to you)

P-100 Ultimate Pillar Blend. This is a new one by American Soy Organics . I have recently tested this wax out and I really like it. Turned out beautiful votives as well. You can now get this wax at CandleSoylutions too.

Candle Cocoon Soy Votive Wax Haven’t tried this one yet, but I’ve heard it is a good one too.

Soy Modifier (all vegetable). This hardens the wax, supposed to reduce frosting, and I have used it in Golden Brands 416 wax to make some test votives. It did help with release from the molds, but it kind of got a frosted look and didn’t keep a nice smooth color. I still need to do more testing with this modifier though. It may work better with a different wax or different amounts.
You can get the soy modifier from American Soy Organics and Candlesoylutions.

So, for those of you reading this post…. Have you used 100% soy wax for making wax melts or tarts? If so, how do they turn out for you?

Review: Soy Wax GW 464-Golden Brands

June 19, 2014 by SoyCandleMakingTime 62 Comments

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UPDATE: I bought some more 464 wax from Candle Science this time to try again. There was a huge difference! Click the link to see how it went: Golden Brands 464 Pour Temp Test-1

I’ve heard great things about Golden Brands 464 soy wax. It is supposed to give beautiful tops in container candles. Here is what the Golden Brands website says about their 464 and 444 blends:

“Golden Wax has two blended waxes that contain a soy-based additive and are both natural and kosher. This soy-based additive enables the soy to be poured at a hotter temperature reducing frosting and increasing FO load. These waxes blend well with paraffin, slack wax, and microcrystalline waxes.”

It says of the 464 specifically “Has a lower melt point which helps with the burn and gives better glass adhesion”

So, in testing this wax, I expect to see beautiful smooth tops when cooled, and very minimal or no “wet” spots around the jar (where the wax has pulled away from the jar in spots). No frosting, craters, etc….. I also expect an even better hot throw than the 100% soy wax I normally use.

Most of the reviews I’ve read have been extremely positive. Some of the reviews said they had problems with lumpy tops and sink holes until they tried pouring at 160-170 degrees, and then they came out perfectly.

The instructions for the GW 464 wax say to:

Heat soy wax to 185 F (so fragrance oil fully dissolves)-
Add fragrance oil and color
Remove from heat and stir gently for 2 minutes
Allow soy wax to cool to desired pour temperature (suggested temp is 130-140 degrees)
Stir gently one last time and pour candle

I noticed when melting the 464 wax that it has a thicker, creamier appearance than the other waxes I’ve used.

First Test Candles

So let’s get right into the results of my testing. This first picture below shows the cracks and sink hole I got. This is only 2 of the test candles. For my first round of testing, I made 4 8oz candles with the Golden Brands 464 wax and Melon Fig Apricot fragrance oil (Candle Cocoon) and 2 drops of dye for each lb of wax (1 drop in each 8oz candle)

One candle using Eco-14 wick poured at about 135 degrees .5oz (1/2oz)fragrance oil
One candle using CD-16 wick poured at about 135 degrees .5oz (1/2oz)fragrance oil
One candle using CD-16 wick poured at 170 degrees .25oz (1/4oz)fragrance oil
One candle using CD-18 wick poured at 100 degrees. .25oz (1/4oz) fragrance oil

You can see the sink holes below, and that is what happened to all of the total of 9 candles I made with this wax. The only one that got smallest sink hole was the one I poured at 100 degrees. Other than that, the ones I poured at higher temperatures looked the nicest as far as smooth shiny appearance and no frosting or wet spots. The lower the temperature, the rougher looking the top was.

Oh the Bubbles!

The two pictures below are of the first 4 test candles as I was burning them. I had a horrible time with air bubbles in these! (you can see the bubbles all around the edge of the melted wax) I’ve never had a problem with my soy wax getting air bubbles, but this wax seems to be very susceptible to it. I think because it has a thicker consistency when it’s melted.

The bubbles caused the wicks to burn very inconsistently with popping and crackling and the candles, especially the ones with more fragrance oil in them, did not end up burning to the edge like I would expect with my normal CD 16 and 18 wicks. These wicks work great in these jars with other soy waxes I’ve tried and especially my normal 100% soy wax from American Soy Organics (formerly Enchanted Lites Soy wax)

The picture below is of the test candles that I used .5oz of fragrance oil in each candle. The candle on the left had a hard time staying lit after a couple burn sessions and the wicks on almost all 4 of them seemed to get really thick which was weird.

More Testing!

Here are the next 3 test candles I made. I used:

Eco 14 wick in all of them
.5oz Melon Fig Apricot in the green one, poured at 90 degrees
.5oz PearBerry and no dye in one, poured at 130 degrees
.5oz Pumpkin Pie and no dye in one, poured at 110 degrees

This time I made sure to stir and pour these Very, Very slowly to minimize air bubbles. They all still got sink holes, but they did not have near as many air bubbles and ended up burning a lot better, though there was still some crackling and popping mostly with the green candle which I used the Melon Fig Apricot oil again.

The other two candles I tried Pumpkin Pie in one, and PearBerry in the other with no dye in those two.

My theory is that the Melon Fig Apricot is a heavier fragrance oil so it may have a harder time burning, especially with this particular wax and the added dye.

The picture below is toward the end of the two candles on the right (middle candle and green candle). The one on the far left I started testing later than the other two so it is not finished burning yet. As you can see, the one in the middle is done (total burn time about 49 hours). It burned mostly to the edge, but still left more wax on the sides of the jar than my other soy wax candles do. The green candle actually burned longer than the middle one (about 55 hours) and it also surprised me that it actually melted more wax off the sides too. I thought since that one had more air bubbles, it might not burn as well as the other two, but I think it actually did better.

With my observation of this soy wax, if you can get it to work well for you, is that it probably needs a little hotter wick than some other soy waxes.

The candle below is a candle I had made using the same Melon, Fig, Apricot oil as the other green candles, and the same amount of dye. Notice there are no air bubbles and it is burning nicely. The difference? This candle was made using the Millenium Blend soy wax from American Soy Organics (previously Enchanted Lites). I just thought I would show this so you can see that it is definitely the GW(Golden Brands) 464 wax that is the problem and not the dye or fragrance oil.

One Last Test…..

And these are the last two candles I made using the Golden Brands 464 wax. Here’s what I used:

.5oz Oatmeal Milk and Honey fragrance oil in each candle
CD-16 wick in each candle
No dye in either candle
Poured one on the left at 140 degrees
Poured candle on the right at 125 degrees

Both candles still got sink holes. I also stirred and poured these Very, very slowly and they both did much better without many bubbles, although they still have some. They seem to be burning pretty well and fairly cleanly too.

So What Do I Think???

Well, my experience with this soy wax has not been a good one. I’ve heard others rave about this wax, yet I’ve also heard of some others having issues with it. I followed advice and poured at higher temperatures, but it seems no matter what temperature I poured the wax into the jars at, they all got sink holes. Now that is a pretty easy fix if you just want to leave some wax in the pour pot so you can pour a little on to top them off and fix the holes, but I also had that horrible air bubble issue. Even though it was much better after I started stirring and pouring much slower, I still don’t like the fact that they still had some air bubbles which caused the candles to crack and pop a bit. And I don’t like the fact that I have to tip toe around trying to get this wax to work well when I have used other soy waxes that are much less complicated.

Now, I don’t know, maybe I got a bad batch, and I’ll probably try ordering some of this wax from Candlescience next time, but I’ve never gotten a “bad batch” of my regular soy wax which works pretty consistently for me.

On the positive side, if it weren’t for the sink hole and air bubbles, this wax cools to a beautiful, smooth, shiny appearance when poured at higher temps.

Have you tried or do you use Golden Brands 464 wax? I would love to hear your experience with it and any tips you might have! Just leave a comment below!