Why I Chose Beeswax Candles - My Journey to a More Natural Candle
I’ve always loved candles.
There is something very comforting about candlelight. The gentle flicker of a flame, the warm glow it brings to a room and the cosy atmosphere it creates have always made candles a favourite in my home.
For years, I simply enjoyed candles without giving much thought to what they were made from but eventually I started to become more aware and conscious off the products I was using and began asking some simple questions....
What is actually in my candle?
As I became more interested in living a more natural lifestyle, I began looking more closely at the everyday products I used and candles were no exception.
I started asking myself:
What is this candle made from?
Where has it come from?
What am I breathing in when I burn it?
And is it a good choice for my home and the environment?
My biggest aha moment came when I realised something quite obvious, I joined the dots and realised that when I light a candle, I'm also breathing in the air around that candle.
That made me want to know more & if I was going to light candles regularly, I wanted to feel comfortable knowing what I was burning.
My journey from paraffin to beeswax
Like many people, when I was younger I started with paraffin candles. They were cheap, easy to find and came in every colour and fragrance imaginable.
But as I learned more about paraffin, I began to question whether it was the right choice for me. Paraffin is a petroleum-derived wax, made from a fossil-fuel source.
I decided I wanted to look for something more natural.
My next step was soy wax. At first, it seemed like the obvious natural alternative. Soy is a plant-based product and I loved scented candles, especially lavender.
But unfortunately, I found that the fragrance in scented candles could irritate my breathing. So I started looking more closely at what was actually going into the candles I was buying.
I discovered that soy wax isn’t simply the soybean as it comes from the field. The beans have to be processed to extract the oil and then further processed to turn it into wax. There are also wider questions around large-scale soybean production, including land use, deforestation and wildlife habitat.
Then I discovered something else that surprised me.
Not every candle labelled “soy” is necessarily made from 100% soy wax. Depending on the product, soy wax candles can be blended with other waxes or ingredients to achieve particular qualities such as texture, performance or scent throw.
This made me realise just how important it is to look beyond the label and ask questions about the ingredients, what else has been added and where those ingredients come from.
Whether you’re buying soy, beeswax or another type of candle, I think it’s worth asking a few simple questions.
What exactly is in the wax?
Where has it come from?
Is it pure?
What else has been added?
I discovered that even when something is described as a particular type of wax, it doesn’t necessarily tell you the whole story about what is actually in the finished candle. That applies to beeswax candles too as not all beeswax candles are necessarily made the same.
That was when I began looking more closely at beeswax and that discovery changed everything, the answer was to go right back to basics
Beeswax appealed to me because it was exactly the sort of material I had been searching for, it's made naturally by honey bees, and pure beeswax has its own gentle honey aroma and beautiful natural colour.
It doesn’t need to be heavily fragranced or artificially coloured to make it beautiful.
It is beautiful just as it is.
I started making my own beeswax candles so that I knew exactly what I was burning, nothing added, made with 100% pure Scottish beeswax and somewhere along the way, that became Celtic Beeswax Candles.
Today, I source raw beeswax directly from beekeepers in the Scottish Highlands and Perthshire.
The beeswax arrives in its raw form, and I filter it several times by hand to remove natural debris and impurities.
Then it is carefully melted and poured into candles moulds using natural cotton wicks.
There is something very satisfying about this process.
The finished candle may look simple, but behind it is a whole chain of nature, bees, flowers, beekeepers and careful handcrafting and I love that connection.
Why 100% pure beeswax matters to me
One of the most important things I wanted when I began making candles was simplicity and to use local beeswax. I didn’t want to add things just because they were expected in a candle.
My candles are made with 100% pure Scottish beeswax and natural cotton wicks.
There are no added perfumes or artificial colours.
Instead, you get the natural colour of the beeswax and its subtle honey aroma and because beeswax comes from the bees and the flowers they visit, every batch can be slightly different.
Some wax is pale golden yellow & some is deeper and warmer, with beautiful amber tones, reflecting to true colours of nature.
A candle with a connection to nature
Perhaps this is what I love most about beeswax candles, they feel connected to something real.
The wax has come from bees, the bees have gathered nectar and pollen from flowers.
The wax has been collected by beekeepers and eventually, it finds its way into my hands, where I craft it into a candle.
When you light it, you get to enjoy a little piece of that natural journey in your own home.
After all these years, I still love candles just as much as I did when I first started lighting them.
But now I look at them differently. I think about what they are made from, where the materials have come from and what I am choosing to bring into my home.
For me, beeswax simply makes sense.
It is natural, beautiful and wonderfully uncomplicated.
And I love knowing that the candles I make have a connection to Scottish beekeepers, our countryside and the bees themselves.
That is why I chose beeswax.
If you’d like to explore my collection of handmade candles, you can [browse Celtic Beeswax Candles] and discover the natural beauty of 100% pure Scottish beeswax for yourself.