People Who Never Burn Their Candles Make Their Homes Feel ‘Staged’
One of my favorite things about meeting interior designers in real life is getting some of their more ‘unfiltered’ opinions. The ones that haven’t necessarily gone through their PR machines, and give a bit more insight into those strong, strong feelings that we all, really, have about our homes (and, let’s face it, other people’s).
So, at a recent Livingetc event, we posed some hard-hitting questions to some of our interior designer guests — all, of course, on the record. But it was one opinion that made it onto the Livingetc Instagram page that made a few members of the team rethink their at-home habits, specifically.
Designer Christian Bense, when asked about what he first notices when he walks into a home, had a very interesting opinion about a topic that’s actually a bit of a hot debate: do you burn your expensive candles from fancy candle brands?
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You should never expect to see a white wick in one of Christian’s schemes.
(Image credit: Alexander James. Design: Christian Bense)
“The first thing I look at when I go to a stylish person’s house is I see if they’ve ever lit their candles,” the designer told us. “I have a real thing about candles that are for ‘prop only’ and never lit.”
It all comes down to giving a home a lived-in feeling, the London-based interior designer adds. “I feel like a lit candle, whether it’s burning or not, is a true testament to you living in your home, so I judge you hard if you’ve got candles for show.”
Why Is That Controversial to Say?
It feels like it shouldn’t be, right? But if you’ve ever treated yourself to a little something from a luxury candle brand, you might well know the feeling of seeing your investment go up in smoke. Let’s face it, yes, you’re buying into a (hopefully) better quality of home fragrance that will fill your home with glorious scent, but unless you’re storing candles away when they’re not lit, you’re realistically also buying into a bit of a ‘brand flex’.
If you’ve got a big monthly budget for candles, then this won’t worry you, but if those luxury candles are a treat, you may want to keep them for best, or even not light them at all.
Lit candles, whether actually burning or not, are a “testament to you living in your home”.
(Image credit: Mary Wadsworth. Design: Christian Bense)
However, the glorious thing about Christian’s big opinion is that he’s not advocating that you actually have to burn away your precious candle; rather, at least give the impression that it’s not, after all, your most prized possession.
“A candle wick should always be black, and a candle should always have wax dripping down it,” the designer adds. Not that it has to be lit right at that moment.
How to Make Your Candles Look Lived-in
It’s an easy enough trick, but one that it pays to do right and avoid those common candle burning mistakes. Yes, you can simply light your wick to make it black, but make sure you blow it out right away. You might be tempted to leave it burning for a few minutes so you can fully enjoy the hot throw, just this once, but that’s not a good idea.
“Even if it’s just for a few minutes, burning a candle for a short time will cause it to tunnel when you eventually burn it for longer,” explains stylist Luke Arthur Wells. “Once the wax has started to melt, you’ll need to be in it for the long haul, and you’ll probably need to burn for at least three hours to get a full melt pool, but that’s fine; you won’t have lost much wax in that first burn.”
Luke also suggests always putting wicks out with a snuffer, like this chic Ferm Living one from Westwing, rather than blowing them out. This will stop your wax splashing and will also prevent ash from ending up in your melt pool, ruining its perfect surface.
Ferm Living
Candle Snuffer Twist
WICKMAN
Taper Candle Shaver
ester & erik
Wick Extinguisher in Rosé Gold
Luke also has a trick: if you keep your dinner candles in a candle holder, too, you can get that ‘drip down’ look Christian looks for. “Usually dinner candles are just too long straight out of the box anyway, so I often cut them down, and even sharpen them to fit better into the holders. When you light the dinner candle quickly to get its black wick, take the offcut of the base of the candle, and hold it over the lit flame. As it starts to melt, it will drip onto the top of the candles and run down the edges, without having to wait for the actual dinner candle to melt, often unpredictably.”
There, you still get the lived-in look, without having to burn down your candles too much.
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