Candle Testing & YOU!
We believe the best candles are those created with you in mind...
Over the past 10 years, Antique Candle Co.® has dedicated ourselves to creating candles that bring a sense of warmth, nostalgia, and belonging into your home. But over those years we've really asked ourselves—What makes us different? What makes us special? The answer: YOU.
As we enter our second decade of business (thanks to all of your love + support ❤️), our dream for Antique Candle Co.® is evolving. We are craving more of YOU. Your opinion, your feedback, YOUR ideas! 💡 So where does this lead us? Our goal is to make sure each candle is truly special to you. Through candle testing, blogs, comments, and conversations, we find out exactly what you want. We save, consider, test, and even bring to life the ideas you leave for us. Your visions are never overlooked. But how do we truly put the power of our candles into your hands? Two words: CANDLE. TESTING. 👏
What is candle testing?
Candle testing is the process of evaluating candles to ensure they meet your fragrance & quality standards! This involves assessing various factors such as burn time, hot + cold throw (how well the fragrance is dispersed), and overall likeness of the candle. Not only do you get to test along side us and help our candle Chemist, you get to tell us what scent to create next by voting on your favorites! 💃
How do we pick the fragrances to test?
Over the years, we have received thousands of comments, DM’s, and emails with fragrance suggestions. This is where we pull out the notepad and take note of every single idea! From there, your ideas go to our oil creators who mix up the perfect blend of fragrance notes to create exactly what you imagined. 💭 We have two dedicate full-time employees (shout out to Jeremiah and Taylor) who quality test each fragrance. If those fragrances burn up to our standards, they get passed along to hot throw testing (hot throw is the scent of the candle while it is burning). If they pass, they then can be placed into our Candle Testing rounds! Sometimes they are also used for limited edition scents or new releases.
How do we pick one winner?
Hundreds, if not thousands, of candle friends will submit their feedback on the four tester fragrances that our team releases. They are asked questions like:
How satisfied are you with the scent while burning?
Do you think the name fits the scent?
Which candle of the four is your favorite?
From these questions (and many more) we are able to take the scent with the best average of each question and name an official winner! 👑
How can you candle test?
We offer candle testing rounds 1-3 times per year, usually at the start of a new season! You can find out about these opportunities and when they will happen by signing up to be a text & email friend, following along on Instagram, or joining our Candle Tester Facebook group!
If you missed it, we just wrapped up our Fall Candle Testers for 2024 and they were a hit! The official winner of this round is Main Street Bakery as voted #1 by hundreds of candle testers! 🎉 Here is what they had to say about Main Street Bakery:
"Lovely warm scent throughout the house. My favorite, very inviting."
"Smells like a bakery with fresh baked sweets."
Main Street Bakery was tested in over 2,000 homes and is now officially HERE! Try the newest scent that candle testers are raving about!
Thinking ahead: CHRISTMAS!
We are always one season ahead when it comes to creating new scents! When we look ahead at creating these new scents, the most important question we start to ask ourselves is, what do our candle friends want? This is where you come in! Year after year, your voices and ideas are HEARD. You're feedback is written down, a collection of ideas and wants are created. This is how we've launched fragrances like Pumpkin Bread, Clove & Pine, Apple Pie and MORE. 🤍 ALL through your suggestions & creative brainstorming in comments on our blogs!
We need your ideas now, for Christmas! Our team will start to look into all sorts of fragrance combinations and even order oil to test some of your ideas. 👀 Do you have any creative holiday scents? Or a classic that you just must have? Let us know in the comments, our team is taking notes! 📝
Here are a few staple holiday fragrances notes to get ya brainstorming: cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, snow, vanilla, ginger, and orange! 🎄❄️🍊