INFO: Essential oils or fragrances oils? What difference does it make in candles?

The dilemma 

When I started designing my own collection of natural scented candles for ARTISANE | nyc, I wanted to make candles that would be all-natural and non-toxic. Thus, when it was time to select and source the fragrance component of the candle, it made sense to me that using essential oils was going to be a better option since their composition is 100% natural. 

What I didn't realize at first and found out later after a lot of research and testing is that essential oils burn when used in candles and therefore lose their scents. Even adding a higher percentage of oils in my recipe would not change the fact that my candles didn't smell enough. 

It was not the only challenge I met while working with essential oils, I noticed that the price for a small quantity of essential oils can be very expensive depending on the type you are looking for, for example, the famous Rose from Damas, very popular in perfumery can cost hundreds of dollars for only a few drops of oils. 

Another fact about essential oils that made it difficult to work with them is that, although completely natural (since essential oils are directly extracted from the flowers and plants they come from), some of them can be highly toxic when inhaled. 

All these things considered, I came to the conclusion that I had to find an alternative to essential oils and I moved to "phthalates free" fragrances oils. 

Phthalates are a group of chemicals that have multiple uses. We find them in a lot of products and as a chemical product, they can be harmful. 

Check our collections of natural scented candles here made with all-natural wax blend and phthalates free fragrances by ARTISANE | nyc.