In the latest Yuzen box, I got a lovely red flower candle that I love. It’s been over a decade since I last used a candle so I was pretty excited to give this one a try. I’ve burned it for about 8 hours now, which is just over halfway through its life cycle of 15 hours. For such a tiny candle (only 1.5 oz), it sure does burn for a long time! I’ve loved the enhanced mood you get just from being in a room with a candle gently flickering, day or night. I feel cooler and the space immediately feels homier. Pretty great for such a tiny change. 🙂

This has really gotten me back into candles, though this time around I’m looking for soy (or other plant-based wax) candles, which I hadn’t heard of back in the day. Since my childhood, I’ve learned a lot about more eco-friendly products and when it comes to candles, plant-based ones are the way to go. red flower is a wonderful eco-friendly brand and I’d like to get their larger 6 oz candles that are topped with flower petals! Also, one of the brands that I really want to try is Diamond Candles, partly because of the novelty, and partly because of their scents. They’ve got really strong branding and very active social media channels and right now I’m dead set on winning a candle since they hold giveaways so often.

However, I also want to try fragrance oils since I seem to be sensitive to the burning of the candles. My throat gets a little scratchy and I even get a bit of a headache. I’m extremely sensitive to particles in the air! Ever since I went tunneling at UCLA (exploring the underground tunnels there), I’ve suddenly become what I deemed a “smog-o-meter” – whenever the quality of the air outside drops, I’m sure to know it. It was very dusty down there and that seemed to exacerbate something in me. In fact, in the three months directly after my tunneling experience, I had a nasty cough that would rear its head whenever I went outside. Things have calmed down since, but I’ve always been sensitive to smoke, particularly whenever someone is smoking in the same room. I think that the smaller flame from the tea light should be fine since I’ve never had an issue with that. I’m looking forward to testing fragrance oils soon!