What Are The Best Candle Brands

Gone are the days when scented candles reminded only of vanilla, lavender small tea candles from the old parents’ house. Nowadays there’s an entire industry of the perfume and personalizing the living space with signature flavors. More and more brands are trying to attract clients with unusual scents and special candles to offer as a present or to redesign the house’s atmosphere.

While some years ago, people used to have a candle in their places to light it only at special holidays, today you’re likely to own at least 4-5 candles in your collection. And while some companies focus on creating scented candles at cheap prices and dedicated to the mass, there are brands who take the category to a whole another level. Their waxes are qualitative and the flavors are essentially like perfume in a wax form.

Today’s article is about the most popular candle brands, those ones which come with more than some scented candles, but entire collections of aromatherapy accessories. Their fine fragrance-based candles use high-quality essential oils and other ingredients that stand out in this market.

So have you wondered who are the big names in the candle world? How did some companies do to start from their kitchens and become household names? Well, here is a list with the most important names in this industry and their path in the world of fragrant candles. Their products have stormed the shelves in the entire world and keep becoming better and better.


The Big Names in the Candle Industry

Yankee Candle

Yankee Candle

One of the most famous brands in the world when it comes to candles, Yankee Candle deserves a great title in the industry. The company is easy to recognize due to their famous jars and for their flavors that are constantly changing and improving. The biggest company in the world in this industry, Yankee Candle is the Pioneers of scented candles and are still becoming bigger and bigger. It’s a real delight to burn one of their products and there’s never enough to have only one candle in the house.

History- The American Success Story

The road to success started during the Christmas of 1969. Mike Kittredge, the founder of the global establishment was sixteen-years-old when he melted some crayons to make his mother a candle. So all broke, he took a few crayons, a milk can and a wick from another candle and made all by himself a multi-colored candle. The fortunate twist of the story was a visitor who enjoyed much the boy’s work and bought his first ever candle. So Mike did some money to buy more paraffin and made another and other candles. He starts designing and handcrafting the candles in his family’s kitchen, with his father’s help. He opens a small retail shop and in 1973 all the 12 employees of the now known Yankee Candle company move into an old paper mill in Holyoke, Mass.

While in 1974 the first scented apothecary candle jars were hitting the market, the favorite flavors were Cinnamon, Bayberry, Cranberry, and French Vanilla.

During the years, the company started growing and launching lots of memorable collections. In 2015, there were over 200 million candles that Yankee Candle produced per year.

Years have passed, and people have chosen their favorite scents from Yankee Candle:

  • Balsam & Cedar
  • French Vanilla
  • Clean Cotton
  • Spiced Pumpkin
  • Midsummer Night
  • Spiced Pumpkin

But imagine there are around 200 different scents to choose from when it comes to Yankee Candle products.


candle brand

Bath & Body Works

Firstly opened in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Bath & Body Works dates since 1990. What people don’t know is that Bath & Body Works first line was sold at Express clothing stores and the concept wasn’t an American and pure as they might think. Actually, the brand was a rip-off of the British retailer, the Body Shop. Can you imagine they even copied the store’s signature green logo? Well, The Body Shop sued Bath & Body Works in 1991, so the company had to change all their packaging. As a result of the lawsuit, the company changed its logo and redecorated its heartland theme with wooden barrels.

The headquarters of the company is in Ohio, while in North America there are over 1,600 stores, most of them located in malls. But the global establishment has outputs all over the world: in the Middle East, Russia, Turkey, Latin America, and Singapore. Not talking about the millions of Bath & Body Works online offers.

It is easy to recognize the Bath & Body Works stores only by the smell. As scent is a very powerful memory trigger, you will be guided by the senses to buy another scented candle. When it comes to sells, the number is higher than you imagine. On average, the company’s stores have pulled in 1,6 billion in sales per year in the last 4 years. According to Forbes, “L Brands is among the very few specialty retailers in the U.S. who have performed exceedingly well amid the retail market slump.”

The scented candles have perfumes and names designed to trigger emotions and associate a feeling to a particular product:

  • Gingerbread Latte
  • Winter Candy Apple
  • Lemon Meringue
  • Bali Blue Surf
  • Waikiki Beach Coconut
  • Peach Bellini
  • A Thousand Wishes
  • Cashmere Glow

These are only a few of the hundreds of fragrances that Bath & Body Works sell on the market.


Our Own Candle Company

Our Own Candle Company started its activity in 1998, in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, where they operated a Home Decor business. What they did was to import decorative candle lamp shades. But after realizing they had too few, they decided to search for more qualitative and affordable candles. As they couldn’t find the deserved products, the company decided to source wax, wicks, glass jars and fragrances to suit their preferences. This is how they founded Our Own Candle Company and started making candles to love.

Their main values are to make candles that are:

  • Affordable: very good qualitative scented candles, but at affordable prices, so anyone could get some
  • Varied: more than 50 different scents, in a lot of different styles
  • Convenient: an easy to use website and retailers in every state of USA
  • Qualitative: the company is looking to create quality candles to get at very affordable prices

The candles are “proudly made in the USA”.


Chesapeake Bay Candle

Chesapeake Bay Candle was founded in 1994, by Mei Xu and David Wang. While they were husband and wife, the couple started making candles in the basement if their home in Annapolis, Maryland. The then-couple wanted to pay tribute to the beauty of the Chesapeake Bay shoreline, so they named their business Chesapeake Bay Candle.

The company is atypical to the previous ones, as their candle flavors are not so gourmet, but inspired from the botanical, clean and minimalist fragrances. The scented candles are part of the promotion of the wellness lifestyle brand. The home fragrances are infused with all natural essential oils so the people who use them can rediscover inner joy, peace, and tranquility by aromatherapy.


Gold Canyon Candles

The story of this company is like living the American Dream. It all started in the kitchen of Curt and Karen Waisath, in Gilbert. While AZ. Karen was staying home with her children,  she wanted to earn some extra money. So she started trying to create the perfect candle, as she was disappointed with the candles readily of those times.

The first fragrance was Fresh Orange, a scent that is still available today. The days were passing, and Karen’s high standards were shared with many other people, who started working with her. In just one year, Gold Canyon grew from one scented candle to over 26 other fragranced candles in four different sizes.

Today, the company has more than 15,700 Independent Fragrance Consultants across North America and fabulous sells.


 candle brand

Village Candles

The story of Village Candles started in 1993 when Paul Aldrich began to make candles he thought they represent perfection in this domain. During all this time, he was visualizing the future of his business and his great dream to become true. His family and friends were supporting him and offered suggestions for fragrances. People were also asked Paul to create a scented candle for their personal use or to give as presents.

The real ascension of the Village Candles happened almost by mistake. On a vacation in Pennsylvania, Paul stopped at a candle shop along the way. This store enthusiastically placed his candles (which were actually gifts for his family) on the main shelves and people not only bought them fast but ordered for more. Other thousands of retail stores wanted to sell Paul’s candles.

All the scented candles from Village Candles are handmade in the State of Maine. People can find their products across the country, in gift shops, grocery stores, even in retail outlets.


My Favorite Candle Brand Makers of Wax Goods


Conclusion

The stories of these notorious brands are at least as fascinating as their candle fragrances. It’s hard to choose from the millions of products, but there is always a place for a candle collection, isn’t it? Read also our insights for the best candles for men and the best candles for wax play.