Natural scented candles with citral, star anise and lemon eucalyptus ensure a peaceful summer evening on the terrace, garden or at home without annoying insects and mosquito bites. In addition, its wonderful aroma conjures up a pleasant atmosphere and purifies the air. They are ready in less than 20 minutes and will also be a beautiful attention to please the hosts of summer celebrations!
For the production of scented repellent candles, we recommend using a container with a lid, which will ensure that the essential oils will not evaporate from the candle and the scent will be intense for a much longer time than if we left it open. We went for aluminum packaging, but you can choose, for example, these beautiful glass jars with wooden lids (if you choose a packaging other than ours, choose a suitable wick - the Candle Guide will help with this).
Coconut-soy wax has a lower melting point and higher viscosity compared to other natural waxes, which makes it an ideal material for making container candles. It is excellent to work with, has an excellent burning quality and a high degree of whiteness, which will make the candles color well. We also decided to dye the wax and made the summer candles sunny yellow-orange, but of course you can choose and determine the color yourself.
And now to the essentials – essential oils that repel mosquitoes and other insects. We mixed an absolutely divine-smelling and excellently working combination of citral, star anise and lemon eucalyptus into the repellent candles.
Citral is a citrus-y and herbal-smelling essential oil from a plant close to lemongrass. There are many studies on its ability to repel mosquitoes, but also biting thistle flies. Citral for its astringent and anti-inflammatory effects can also be used in the production of healing cosmetics or when mixing perfumes.
To the citral we add, perhaps a little unexpectedly, star anise essential oil. It is a great repellent, which also gives the candle an interesting, sweet and fresh spicy scent.
The use of lemon eucalyptus as an insect repellent will certainly not surprise many of you. Read more about its effects in our comprehensive article on insect repellent essential oils here: Natural repellents - what will protect you from pesky insects?
Ok lets go!
What does it take?
For approx. 5 candles in aluminum packaging
- 500 grams of coconut-soy wax
- 5 pieces of aluminum packaging 100ml (depends on the height of pouring the wax)
- Lemon Eucalyptus essential oil
How to do it?
For a detailed production process with advice and recommendations, read this article: How to make a natural candle (not only) from soy wax? Step-by-step instructions for complete beginners - Ekokoza.cz, especially if it is your first candle making. :)
If you are already a more experienced candle maker, prepare the working material and surface in the classic way.
In a water bath, let the wax melt in the container with the beak. If you want to color the wax, break off or cut a small amount of candle color with a knife and drop it into the melting wax. Meanwhile, prepare the wrappers and use pins or skewers to center the wicks.
As soon as the wax is liquid, remove it from the hotplate and add the essential oils, the following dosage has worked for us: 8 grams of citral, 7 grams of lemon eucalyptus and 6 grams of star anise per 500 grams of wax. But you can adjust the dosage, just don't exceed the recommended limit of 10 for the amount of fragrances.
After adding the oils, stir (do not beat) the wax for at least two minutes.
Pour the wax into the prepared containers, re-center the wicks if necessary, and let the candles cool in a rather warm place without touching each other for 24 hours (ideally longer).
Shorten the wicks of the candles that have cooled down, and close the ones that are not going to be lit immediately with a lid.
And it's done! A beautiful peaceful summer!
