Our Materials
Why Beeswax: Most commercial candles are made from paraffin wax, a byproduct of the motor oil production process – it’s literally the bottom of the barrel. When treated with hexane and toluene this byproduct solidifies into paraffin. When burned, paraffin releases similar emissions as diesel fuel. Because we tend to burn candles indoors and in confined spaces like bedrooms and bathrooms, they've quickly become one of the greatest sources of in-home air pollution, which contributes to things like asthma, headaches, sleeplessness, and anxiety. For those who enjoy scented candles, it's also important to note that the chemical phthalates used to enhance scent in many commercial candles are endocrine disruptors, particularly damaging to women and developing children. As you make conscious lifestyle choices like natural household cleaners and organic produce, we highly recommend switching to clean-burning beeswax. Yet another reason to choose beeswax is its long burn time. Beeswax has a higher melt point than all other candle waxes and thus, if built correctly, will burn much more slowly.
Our Lightly Filtered Raw Beeswax: We source our raw beeswax from U.S. beekeepers. We use only premium beeswax cappings, a sustainable byproduct of the honey harvest that leaves the comb intact for the bees to reuse. Our company founder has been buying beeswax for over 30 years and applies an expert eye (and nose!) to selecting the highest-quality, most fragrant and best-burning American beeswax available on the market. Beeswax generally has a light honey and pollen scent, sweet like the flowers it came from, the intensity of which varies from batch to batch. Our wax is naturally and lightly filtered using a filter press. This process removes particulate from the wax that would otherwise make its way into the wick and weaken the flame. Light filtration ensures a quality burn.
Ivory Beeswax: Our ivory pure beeswax is made two ways: through hyper-filtration that removes the yellow color (and honey smell) of the pollen and honey in raw beeswax; and by bleaching. Because we source our ivory beeswax from a variety of sources, we cannot guarantee that it has not been bleached. Ivory beeswax is a wonderful option for folks who are extremely sensitive to pollen or scent but still want the clean and long-burning benefits of pure beeswax -- or, for folks who are seeking a white beeswax candle!
Cotton Wick: Bluecorn's wicks are always cotton or a blend of paper and cotton. We use hundreds of different kinds of wicks and are constantly test burning to make sure wick and wax are a perfect match for the particular candle type.
Essential Oils vs. Chemical Fragrances: Bluecorn uses 100% pure essential oils and plant-based botanicals to scent our beeswax candles, in contrast to most scented candles on the market, which use chemical fragrances. These chemicals, which commonly include endocrine-disrupting phthalates, will often produce a stronger cold throw (unlit candle) and hot throw (lit candle). Our scented beeswax candles will naturally be less intense than these. To get the strongest hot throw from them, we recommend using our larger glassware candles, which allow you to burn for longer periods of time, giving the essential oils time to volatilize.
Color Dye: We use EVO liquid dye to color our candles. The dye itself is suspended in a vegetable oil carrier base, as opposed to the more common petroleum carrier oil. Our dyes are California Prop 65 and REACH compliant. We use dyes that contain no chemicals classified as harmful or toxic nor any CMR (carcinogenic, mutagenic, reprotoxic) or PBT (persistent, bio accumulative, toxic) substances. Our dyes do not contain any ingredient listed in OSHA's hazardous communication 29 CFR 1910.1200. We also have more than a quarter century of experience serving customers with extreme chemical sensitivity who are able to safely and enjoyably burn our colored candles.
Aromática: Our newest line is made with plant-based wax -- coconut with a touch of soy -- to hold much higher concentrations of scent than is possible in beeswax. It's important to note that unlike our Beeswax Botanica line, these fragrance-forward candles DO use chemical fragrances, though we've carefully sourced the cleanest on the market -- always phthalate-free and California Prop 65 compliant. It took us a long time to make this leap and we're proud to say that these potent candles are beloved even by the most scent-sensitive folks on our staff. If you've been looking for stronger hot throw (scent while burning) than Botanica provides, we encourage you to check out the new line.
