Best brand of essential oils for candle making

A curated list of the best fragrance oils for candles to make your home smell amazing!

Ever since I began making candles, I’ve been on a mission to find fragrance oils that actually smell good and have a good scent throw.

I do have a sensitive nose, but I was surprised at how many of the fragrance oils I tried had stinky chemical odors and didn’t resemble the natural ingredients they were supposed to at all.

After trying many, many different brands and hundreds of scents, I finally have a list of winners. And I’ll continue to add to this list as I test more fragrances.

Fragrance Oils vs. Essential Oils in Candles

When I first began making candles, I was excited to make all-natural candles with essential oils.

But after wasting A LOT of expensive essential oils, here’s the conclusion I came to: You can pour as many essential oils as you want into your candle wax, but you’ll just be wasting your expensive oils.

The heat from the candle flame breaks down the essential oils (and so does the heat used in the candle-making process). Bottom line: It’s just not a good use of essential oils, and it’s not an effective way to scent your home either.

Natural Fragrance Oils for Candles

BUT. And this is a big but. You can get all-natural candle fragrance oils that are made entirely from plants. My favorite brand of natural fragrance oils is Makesy(formerly The Wooden Wick Co.), and I’ll list a lot of my favorite scents from them below. But this post is not sponsored and I’m only sharing my own honest opinions.

When I was first starting my candle making journey, I just assumed that fragrance oils from companies with names like “Plant Guru,” or “Essentials” would have all natural ingredients.

Not so, and it can be difficult to find lists of ingredients. But you should assume that any fragrance oils that don’t specifically claim to be naturally derived are chemical-based, even if they have natural-sounding names.

How to Make Candles

Making scented candles is fun and easy. This quick-start tutorial will tell you everything you need to know, and the basic recipe will work with any of the fragrance oils in this post. I’ll also include links to individual recipes and projects as we go.

How to Make Soy Candles: A Beginner’s Guide

If you want to take a deeper dive into the best candle waxes, wick types, containers, and wax dyes, this post will answer all your questions:

How to Make Candles: A Beginner’s Guide

How to Make Wax Melts

I also love to make scented wax melts! These make perfect gifts and I like to pair them with an inexpensive wax warmer in a gift basket.

That’s what everyone is getting for Christmas this year. Shhhhh!

Check out the simple tutorial below for DIY wax melts. You can use this recipe with any of the fragrance oils listed below.

How to Make Wax Melts: Everything You Need to Know

Candle Fragrance Oils

Now, on to the best candle fragrance oils I’ve found for each season and occasion…

Fall Fragrances

Autumn scents are an important part of the Fall experience, from pumpkin spice to cinnamon & clove, to apples & chai tea. I’ve tested several new Fall fragrances this year and added them to this list.

And of course a few of these scents could be great for Christmastime too.

Spiced Pear & Whiskey

From Makesy (formerly The Wooden Wick Co.) This is probably my very favorite Fall scent. You can see it in this scented soy candle tutorial. This one would be great for Christmas time too!

Pumpkin & Persimmon

From Makesy (formerly The Wooden Wick Co.) This is the best pumpkin spice fragrance I’ve found. And trust me, I’ve tried A LOT of them! Here’s my recipe for DIY Pumpkin Spice Wax Melts.

Pumpkin Harvest

From Nature’s Oil This is another nice pumpkin spice-type fragrance.

Here’s the tutorial for the Fall scented candle below using Pumpkin Harvest.

Maple Chai & Sweet Cream

From Makesy (formerly The Wooden Wick Co.) This one reminds me of something sweet and freshly baked.

Apple Rind & Cinnamon

From Makesy (formerly The Wooden Wick Co.) This one is a lovely classic apple cider scent!

Christmas & Holiday Fragrance Oils

This is where it all began- me trying to find a convincing Christmas tree scent to make scented candles. I was trying to make up for the fact that I finally got a fake tree last year. I’ve tested at least 9 different fir and tree scents trying to find the perfect fresh cut tree scent.

And then as I was testing more oils this year, a giant fir tree came crashing through my roof during a wind storm! It turns out THAT is the way to get your house to smell like a Christmas tree. But I digress.

I’ve come to the conclusion that you really can’t beat the real thing. But these three candle fragrance oils are the closest I’ve found.

Cloudberry & Balsam

From Makesy (formerly The Wooden Wick Co.)

Juniper Spruce & Balsam Fir

From Makesy (formerly The Wooden Wick Co.)

Tree Sap & Fir

From Makesy (formerly The Wooden Wick Co.)

Peppermint Swirl

From Nature’s Oil. This nice strong peppermint scent is perfect for Christmas time!

Candied Citrus Peel

From Makesy (formerly The Wooden Wick Co.)

Warm Gingerbread & Masala Chai

From Makesy (formerly The Wooden Wick Co.)

Raw Cinnamon & Clove

From Makesy (formerly The Wooden Wick Co.)

Floral Scents

I honestly didn’t think I liked very many floral scents until I got Makesy’s Floral Fragrance Discovery Kit. There are a lot of lovely subtle scents in there that don’t remind me of stinky 90’s potpourri at all! Here are a few of my favorites thus far:

Lilac & Mimosa

From Makesy I just discovered this lovely floral scent. I’ve used it to make room spray, and plan to use it in a candle next. This is my favorite of the floral fragrance oils so far!

Lavender Leaf & Balsam

From Makesy (formerly The Wooden Wick Co.)

Star Jasmine & Santal

From Makesy

Orchid & Black Amber

From Makesy

Fruity & Tropical Fragrances

Pink Sands

From Candle Lynn on Etsy. This is probably my all-time favorite candle scent! It transports me to a spa at a Caribbean beachside resort, and it’s a very convincing copycat for Yankee Candle’s Pink Sands. You can see the recipe for these Pink Sands Wax Melts below:

Tangerine & Peach Tea

From Makesy (formerly The Wooden Wick Co.) This one is nice and fruity, yet authentic and sophisticated.

Muskmellon & Strawberry Bellini

From Makesy

Calamansi & Tangerine Blossom

from Makesy

Beachy Scents

Sun Lotion & Sea Breeze

From Makesy

Citrus & Herbal Scents

Lemon Verbena & Thyme

From Makesy (formerly The Wooden Wick Co.) I really love this fresh clean scent in the kitchen! Or actually anywhere, and I just ordered a big bottle of it.

Sweet Citrus & Tonka Bean

From Makesy (formerly The Wooden Wick Co.) What is a tonka bean, you ask? I had to look it up too, and I’m still not exactly certain. But they sure smell good!

Citronella Fragrance Oils

Last summer I was determined to make effective mosquito-repelling citronella candles for my outdoor living spaces. These oils are the winners from my experiments:

Bug Off

From Nature’s Oil

Citron & Camphor

From Makesy

Fresh Laundry Fragrance Oils

Who doesn’t love the smell of clean laundry? These fresh linen scents are perfect for candles, wax melts, and DIY room spray!

Washed Linens & Clean Musk

From Makesy

Vanilla & Cashmere

From Makesy (formerly The Wooden Wick Co.)

I know I’ll have many more great scents to add to this list now that I’ve discovered a few great fragrance oil companies. I hope this helps you find fragrances you love for your DIY candles and wax melts too!

Fragrance Oil for Beeswax Candles

Bee Balm & Coco de Mer

Yellow beeswax has its own natural scent, so people often make beeswax candles without adding any fragrance oil. But this amazing fragrance enhances the beeswax scent and I love it! This is a great one for Fall and Winter. Here’s my tutorial for beeswax candles and here a tutorial for beeswax wax melts using this candle scent.

More DIY Candles & Wax Melts…

What is The Best Wax for Candles? Soy vs. Beeswax vs. Paraffin

The Best Candle Jars & Tins & Where To Get Them

The Best Wax Melt Molds For Every Occasion

How to Make Candles: A Beginner’s Guide

The Best Wax Melters On A Budget