Candle company reveals you've been burning them wrong all your life - here's how to fix it!

scented candle

We all love cosying up with a scented candle burning, especially now autumn is in full swing. But many of us are making the same mistake that leads to an uneven burn and wasted wax.

Thankfully there's a simple trick to help our scented candles burn evenly, with Mrs Hinch favourite Ava May Aromas telling us how we can get the most out of them.

An uneven candle is known as 'tunnelling', and you've probably experienced this many times before, resulting in both a waste of candle wax and money. But there's a way to prevent tunnelling - and to fix it when it's already happened.

Ava May Aromas founder Hannah Chapman revealed, "The majority of us own candles, but actually a lot of people don't know how to burn them correctly. And the first burn is so important to maximise how long your candle will last and how well it will burn.”

Read more: Where to get the BEST bargains on scented candles

"The first burn is when your candle's memory kicks in, and the second time it burns, it will only melt as far as it did the first time you burned it. So, if you don't melt the entire top layer of wax the first time, the candle will most likely tunnel its entire life! 

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"To prevent tunnelling, let your candles burn one hour for every inch in diameter on its first burn until the whole diameter of wax is burning. For example, if your candle is three inches across, it should burn for three hours to melt the top layer evenly."

But what if it's already tunnelled? Follow one simple hack to get your candle burning evenly again. Hannah says, "Simply wrap aluminium foil around the edge of your candle, making sure it hangs over the built up wax areas but leave a sizeable hole in the middle so that the wick can burn through properly."

Ava May Aromas is known for its designer dupe scents from Dior to Jo Malone, as well as popular cleaning products like ZoFlora and Lenor, Must-haves for all you Hinchers out there!

There's also some gift sets available if you can't make your mind up or want some recommendations.

Lucy Buglass
Digital Writer

Lucy Buglass is a Digital Writer for What's on TV, Goodto.com, and Woman&Home. After finishing her degree in Film Studies at Oxford Brookes University she moved to London to begin her career. She's passionate about entertainment and spends most of her free time watching Netflix series, BBC dramas, or going to the cinema to catch the latest film releases.