The possibilities to use candles are infinite, and they are guilty of making any little ritual a bit more meaningful. To ensure you also create a healthy space, we discover some of the best ethical brands of natural & non-toxic candles.
Since the times of castles, Hogwarts, Vikings, Incas and Mayas, every scene is lit by a flame. Candlelight has been used since ancient times and is a symbol of the mystical word.
Candles are a romantic way to add soft and gentle natural light to an atmosphere… And why not? You can always re-create your Dumbledore room and make your wishes come true!
From the top of your imagination, to every special moment… candles can change the whole vibe when you place them on a dinner table.
You can enhance the romance by choosing candles with aromas. When you’re caught taking a bath, on the yoga mat or self-care ritual, candles can change the whole aura and become your guiding light.
In a nutshell, candles are not simply a stick of wax with a wick. Candles deliver the meaning in the exact way you choose to honour them with.
How to find natural & non-toxic candles
Now that we are convinced about candles, let’s make sure we also understand why it is important that we choose to light our rooms with natural and non-toxic candles.
Back when we interviewed Jennifer, founder at one of our favourite ethically-made candle brands M&J London, she helped us realise that what goes into candles and its potential negative impact on the environment is rather important to take into account. Especially if we want to create a clean-burning experience where you would only breathe a lovely and healthy fragrance.
When looking for natural and non toxic candles, here are some of the questions we need to ask to ensure they’re ethically and sustainably made:
- Are the candles 100% made out of soy, vegetable, coconut or beeswax? Avoid paraffin and petroleum derived candles as they’re made of complex mixtures that can contain thousands of components including allergens, VOCs, and phthalates. Instead, look for natural options like soy wax, vegetable wax, coconut wax and beeswax.
- How are the scents in candles formulated, and do they use good quality organic essential oils or natural aroma compounds? Keywords like “fine fragrance”, “high-quality fragrance”, “phalate-free fragrance” or “perfume” are to be avoided; because this could be a sign the product has been scented or blended with synthetic fragrances (which are derived from petroleum). Ultimately look for candles that have been scented with essential oils only.
- What is the material used for the wick? Lead wicks were banned in 2003 as it was found that synthetic and problematic volatile organic compounds (including formaldehyde), could be released into the air while a candle burns. Therefore natural and non toxic candles will have a lead-free wick made of linen and/or cotton. Also check with the brand if the cotton or linen is “unbleached”, otherwise it means the wick has gone through a chemical bleaching process.
- Is the packaging glass, and/or can it be repurposed? We also learned that brands can choose to use recycled glass tumblers, which cost four times as much as standard virgin manufactured glasses. Those brands that do use recycled glass wins one point forward for the environment.
- Where are the candles made? Is your brand local or does it come from overseas? Take into account the positive aspects of supporting your local economy, and observe where from the brand supplies the materials as well as where the candles are produced.
- Who made your candles? Are the people involved in the whole process paid fairly and work under safe conditions?
- Does the brand support back to a cause? Some brands choose to give a percentage of their benefits to reinvest back in causes. This is a common practice among eco & social enterprises.
Pro Tip: Share this page with your friends and family on socials, bookmark it for future occasions. This is a go-to-guide to inspire more people in your circle to embrace a more sustainable way of living!
Favourite selection of natural & non-toxic candles
Table of Contents
1. Slow Made
Slow made renewable, vegan coconut wax candles are crafted for mindful, sustainable, slow living. Solstice, Folklore, Bohème, Luna, Indigo, Serene, Drifter, Noir, Kindred are some of their signature mystical scents. The experience is clean-burning, all-natural, non-toxic so you can breathe easy and enjoy the slow.
The eco-luxe candles are handcrafted with a base blend of renewable, vegan coconut wax, a lead, and zinc free cotton wick, and phthalate-free fragrance infused with pure essential oils hand-poured in small batches in their Chicago studio.
Estimated Burning Time: up to 50 hours
Price: from USD $24.00 | Get a 10% off using the discount code “OURGOODBRANDS”
Ethical Values: Zero Waste, Circular, Vegan, Clean Ingredients, Sustainable Materials
2. BLK + GRN
BLK+ GRN is an all-natural marketplace by all black artisans. The brand is committed to natural products that support wellness + self-care.
All products are handcrafted by Black artisans and entrepreneurs who take sustainability and the environment seriously. They use ingredients that are high-quality, ethically sourced, and cruelty free. No nasties or use harmful chemicals or additives.
In their aromatherapy category you will find a range of ethically made natural & non-toxic candles from a range of brands including, KSM CANDLE CO., Blue Sage, Ardor Bin, Choiselle, and Naturalannie Essentials.
Estimated Burning Time: depends on each product and brand.
Price: from USD $13.00 up to $42.00 | Get a 10% off using the discount code “OURGOODBRANDS”
Ethical Values: Fair-trade, Handcrafted, Zero Waste, Organic, Clean Ingredients, Cruelty-free, Vegan, Social Justice
3. Sundays
Sundays is more than a nail studio. They are a nail care brand that promotes a non-toxic lifestyle. When founders discovered the number of harmful chemicals and toxins household candles contained, they spent a year developing their signature candle scents and formula.
Each candle is made with the perfect combination of 3 notes to create a soothing and long-lasting scent that consists of essential oils, as well as almond oil. These non-toxic candles are made of 100% non-GMO soybean wax, have a 100% unbleached cotton wick, and come in a hand-made matte finish ceramic container.
Made with 100% natural oils, soy wax, cotton wick, Sundays candles with a soothing and long-lasting scent. A gentle addition to your wellness experience, their candles are sustainable and reusable. Be as creative as you like in repurposing it as a planter, table decor, or makeup brush holder.
Let the green fir needle, soothing hemp flower, and smokey lilac lightly envelop your space like a warm campfire underneath the starry skies.
Estimated Burning Time: 50 hours
Price: USD $52.00
Ethical Values: Zero Waste, Clean Ingredients, Cruelty-free, Vegan
4. Made by Yoke
Made by Yoke is a holistic wellness brand committed to making sustainable self-care accessible to everyone. They believe through the power of Ayurveda we can reconnect to the wellness within. Made by Yoke are a team of women devoted to helping you find balance and vitality from the inside out and from outside in. To cultivate balance with scents and rituals that awaken and renew.
In Ayurveda, we adjust our diet, rituals, and products with the seasons. This allows us to stay in balance as the weather, sunlight, vegetation and natural rhythms of the land change. This winter incorporate seasonal routines to help invigorate and awaken the body during darker, cooler months.
Rooted in the traditions of yoga and Ayurveda, the brand makes products that support the blending of the inner and outer journey. For you to align your day-to-day lives with the rhythms of the universe, and natural cycles of the land, so that our true potential is realized. The Ayurveda Apothecary beauty line is designed to provide the tools to establish a personal wellness regime that can support rejuvenation and well-being for years to come.
In their extensive self-care range, Made by Yoke brings natural bath and body blends using traditional Ayurvedic herbs. They’re made according to traditional Ayurveda cycles of production (monthly lunar cycles) to extract the most nutritive potential. The formulas developed from results achieved in an Ayurveda practice and wellness clinic.
All are batched seasonally with freshly harvested flower buds, petals and leaves, in blends that support stress and exhaustion. The candles are poured with phthalate free fragrance oils and essential oils.
Estimated Burning Time: between 20-25 hours
Price: from USD $19.00
Ethical Values: Clean Ingredients, Vegan, Cruelty-free, Sustainable Materials, Fair Trade, Give Back
5. The Little Market
The Little Market is a nonprofit fair trade shop featuring ethically sourced, artisan-made products. Behind each of our products is a person who created it — and a story. The brand is committed to upholding the dignity of artisans, celebrating their cultural techniques and traditions, and bringing attention to social justice and human rights issues faced by their communities.
The Little Market works closely with artisan groups and social enterprises around the globe to source ethical, sustainable gifts, accessories, and home décor. When shopping at The Little Market, you have the opportunity to choose unique, one-of-a-kind pieces.
Besides their extensive home and beauty collections, the brand comes with a range of candles. They’re hand-poured, clean-burning candle features the bold and fragrant herbal scents, using a mixture of a phthalate-free coconut-soy wax blend and a pure cotton wick, and premium fragrances based on essential oils – making them also vegan and cruelty-free.
All candles are made in small batches by women who resettled as refugees in the United States. Based in Massachusetts, social enterprise Prosperity Candle invests in women to escape conflict and help end poverty. They earn living wages and develop their skill sets while creating a brighter future for themselves and their families. The women are entrepreneurs who have recently resettled from refugee camps. Candle making is a business a woman can start and expand in the safety of her own home with local materials, a critical element at times of unrest. Lastly, they will package the candle, including their signed names on the bottom of the candles they create.
Estimated Burning Time: around 70 hours
Price: from USD $44.00
Certifications: Cruelty-Free, Vegan, Good Shopping Guide Ethical Beauty, Palm oil-free
Ethical Values: Organic, Clean Ingredients, Vegan, Cruelty-free, Eco-friendly, Fair-trade, Locally Made, Handcrafted
6. Aromatherapy Associates
Aromatherapy Associates was founded in the mid-Eighties, with the purpose to help people in times of need, support them through the highs and lows of life and help their wellbeing.
Their aromatic candles are produced by 100% natural soy wax and they are expertly blended with up to 10ml of their essential oil blends, for pure wellbeing that will fill your space with therapeutic scents. All candles hand-poured in the UK & housed in a chic ceramic holder to suit your space.
Aromatherapy Associates headquarters uses 100% renewable energy and all their retail cartons use paper from 100% sustainable forests (FSC certified). The brand has removed over 1.5 tonnes of virgin plastic from our products in 2020, and use fully recyclable and, where possible, reusable packaging.
As a B Corp, they aim to create a better business that represents the highest standards of environmental and social impact. For instance, their employees are encouraged to take a collective 500 hours per year to undertake work with their community charity partners. Furthermore, the brands donates some of the benefits to organisations that support cancer research and mental health causes.
Price: miniature from USD $36; large from USD $63.90
Certifications: B Corporation
Ethical Values: Clean Ingredients, Vegan, Cruelty-free, Organic, Sustainable Materials, Locally Made, Fair Trade, Give Back
7. Urbankissed
Urbankissed is a conscious online destination for sustainable fashion, skincare & home accessories. The brand endeavour is to offer a harmonious balance between conscious and delightful consumption and to inspire a mindful way of living for women seeking to wear their values.
Urbankissed features a large range of affordable, timeless fashion and other home decoration beautifully crafted accessories. Urbankissed carries the perfect dinner tablescape candles. All of their sculptural candles are handmade with a soy wax blend and an unbleached cotton wick.
They are unscented and have been designed and created primarily for decorative use. These ethically candles are crafted in many different shapes, and do not include paraffin wax and phthalates so that your home can smell great without compromising your health!
Price: small from USD $7.80; large from USD $11.00
Ethical Values: Cruelty-Free, Eco-friendly, Fair-trade, Give Back, Handcrafted, Recycled, Vegan, Sustainable Materials
8. Bloomtown
In the range you can find everything for your face body, from candles, essential oils, bath oils, salt soaks, clay masks, lip care, sugar scrubs, soaps and deodorants.
Blowntown scent-infused botanical wax candles are made with a natural coconut and soy wax blend and lead-free wicks for a clean, even burn. When you’re finished burning them, you can use the jars to store brushes or other household items!
Bloomtown is also the first UK’s 1st Independently Certified Palm Oil-Free Company, also Certified Vegan & Cruelty-Free, and NO nasties like sulphates, parabens, PEGs, petrochemicals, phthalates, TEA/MEA/DEA, synthetic colours, SLS. Therefore you can be at peace knowing here you will only find natural and non-toxic candles.
Estimated Burning Time: between 20-25 hours
Price: from USD $19.00
Certifications: Cruelty-Free, Vegan, Good Shopping Guide Ethical Beauty, Palm oil-free
Ethical Values: Organic, Clean Ingredients, Vegan, Cruelty-free, Eco-friendly, Fair-trade, Locally Made, Handcrafted
9. Seattle Candle Co.
Seattle Candle Co. candles are hand-poured in small batches in a Seattle, WA studio. To create high-quality candles, this brand uses 100% soy wax, coconut oil, and cotton and paper wicks, and skips the dyes, parabens, and phthalates.
Seattle Candle Co. believes customers deserve long-lasting, clean-burning candles that fill their life with delightful scents. Since the brand is specialised in candles, in this little shop you’ll find an extensive range of scents and three different sizes for each. The small candles are poured into a metal vessel with a lid; the medium-sized candles are poured into a glass vessel and packaged in a square box; ad the large candles are double wicked, poured into a glass vessel and finished with a protective dust cover.
Estimated Burning Time: 4oz – 25 Hours; 8oz – 80 Hours; 16oz – 100 Hours
Price: USD $12.00, $30.00, and $50.00 for each size respectively
Ethical Values: Fair-trade, Locally Made, Handcrafted, Eco-friendly, Sustainable Materials, Zero Waste
10. Queen B candles
Queen B’s range of 100% pure Australian beeswax candles & wraps are all individually hand-made using the finest local ingredients.
They make it sound simple, but behind the scenes is over two decades of thorough research & development perfecting the world’s finest beeswax candles & wraps. Makers of premium beeswax candles & wraps. At Queen B they pour, cut & roll 100% pure Aussie beeswax by hand on Sydney’s Northern Beaches.
Queen B’s range of 100% pure Australian beeswax candles & wraps are all individually hand-made using the finest local ingredients. They make it sound simple, but behind the scenes is over two decades of thorough research & development perfecting the world’s finest beeswax candles & wraps. Queen B’s range of 100% pure Australian beeswax candles & wraps are all individually hand-made using the finest local ingredients.
Estimated Burning Time: depends on the size of each candle, with 2-hour minimum burn time for the small candle and up to 200 hours for the largest version of the Hand Rolled Beeswax Pillars.
Price: from USD $11.95 up to $99.95
Ethical Values: Locally Made, Handcrafted, Zero Waste, Eco-friendly, Sustainable Materials
11. M&J London
M&J London has created a collection of ethical scented candles inspired by travels around the world, a combination of places and seasons.
The brand’s mission is to create products of style and beauty while building a business that holds true to ideals of integrity and fairness to other people and to the environment as a whole. These ideals drive their entire production process — from sourcing materials to design and production.
In fact, the ethics and sustainability of M&J London scented candles are narrowed to each detail. The brand uses a lead-free wick made of linen and cotton, creating a clean-burning experience where you would only breathe a lovely and healthy fragrance.
Each of the scents is created by a perfumer, bringing the knowledge to develop bespoke blends of fragrances, combining essential oils and natural aroma compounds. The reason behind this formula is the dubious ethics of where essential oils are often sourced from.
The wax is vegan-friendly, made from 100% rainforest-safe soya, which is a renewable green resource that can be replaced at a rate comparable or faster to the rate of consumption. If that wasn’t good enough, soya wax does not stain, giving you a pain-free home environment.
The glass containers are handcrafted and fully made out of recycled glass, with a beautiful shape that you would love to keep and up-cycle as a drinking tumbler. Also, for each candle sold, a UK based women’s charity will receive £1 for each Large candle and 50p for each Small candle.
Estimated Burning Time: Small candle 30 hours; Large candle 60 hours
Price: USD $31.00 for the small, and $52.00 for the large candle
Ethical Values: Fair-trade, Locally Made, Handcrafted, Zero Waste, Eco-friendly, Sustainable Materials, Clean Ingredients
12. Madison Grace
Madison Grace is an ethical boutique that celebrates shopping with a purpose through its artisan-crafted home goods and accessories. Ethically made, sustainably designed, and effortlessly chic, the brand exists to inspire those who give care that an ethically conscious lifestyle not only does good but can look good too.
In their boutique, you’ll find their signature eco-candles, which are made from a sustainable 100% natural coconut wax blend with a cotton wick to ensure a clean, fragrant, and subtle burn. It comes in a 8oz reusable glass jar.
Scent Notes: Hints of vanilla, fig, and cashmere. This powdery and elegant fragrance is inspired by their community – made by adults challenged with physical + mental disabilities, a purchase of this candle, has your part of their story of providing meaningful work that uplifts their self-esteem while they gain dignified work.
Estimated Burning Time: info not available
Price: USD $39.00
Ethical Values: Fair-trade, Locally Made, Handcrafted, Social Justice
13. Beespoke of Devon
Bespoke of Devon designs and makes natural wax candles and in some, they combine pure essential oils to create luxurious and healthy aromatherapy candles.
Choose from a variety of aromas to suit your mood or an ‘aroma-free’ candle. The beeswax candles are left for you to enjoy its natural ‘honey’ fragrance: at Beespoke of Devon all beeswax is sourced locally and left for you to enjoy its natural ‘honey’ scent.
Along with their candles, the brand also creates kiln-fired fused glass jewelry and homeware to compliment our candles or stand alone as a beautiful piece for your home. Many of Beespoke of Devon products have had sandblasted designs etched onto them and either left frosted white or given a touch of ‘gold finish’.
Estimated Burning Time: depends on the size of each candle
Price: from USD $5.90 to $30.00
Ethical Values: Fair-trade, Locally Made, Handcrafted, Eco-friendly, Clean Ingredients
14. Woolzies
Woolzies Home Essentials is a small family owned company nestled in the picturesque Hudson Valley region of Southern New York State. The brand’s mission is to provide essential household products which are made naturally and responsibly, without sacrificing quality, safety or integrity.
Their range of organic candles are free of paraffin and synthetic fragrances. Made from 100% soy wax, a natural, biodegradable and renewable resource, they are long-lasting and clean-burning. Since soy is derived from plants, our candles do not produce the toxins normally associated with paraffin-based candles. This means you can breathe easy knowing there’s only the goodness of nature lighting up your environment.
Estimated Burning Time: 48 hours for the large candle
Price: from USD $7.99 to $19.99
Ethical Values: Sustainable Materials, Clean Ingredients, Vegan, Cruelty-free
15. Thistle Farms
At Thistle Farms you’ll find a wide range of health and beauty, personal hygiene, fashion and home decor accessories, always with eco-conscious materials and naturally healthy ingredients.
The candles are made with naturally derived fragrance molecules from plants. They are created without phthalates or parabens. They use a cotton wick to provide a clean burn. The small candles come in a reusable cement vessel and the large range in glass tumblers, which can also be repurposed.
Thistle Farms products directly impact the healing and empowerment of women survivors of trafficking, prostitution, and addiction in the USA. This social enterprise helps survivors with job training, employment, medical attention, housing, healing & more. They run a free 2-year program that provides survivors a safe place to live, a meaningful job, and a sisterhood of support. Their model connects survivor artisans from around the world and provides over 50% of profits back to the artisan groups.
Estimated Burning Time: 4oz candle 25-28 hours; 7.5oz candle 35 hours
Price: USD $20.00 for the small, and $32.00 for the large candle
Ethical Values: Fair-trade, Locally Made, Handcrafted, Sustainable Materials, Clean Ingredients, Social Justice, Give Back
We will continue to keep this blog updated, so if you have a suggestion of a similar sustainable, natural and non-toxic candle brands please share in the comments below!
