A soy wax candle scented with pure eucalyptus essential oil and nothing else — the single-note candle in Azur's range. Hand-poured in their atelier in Groningen, in a handmade jesmonite vessel. 205 ml, around 40 hours.
Why eucalyptus smells like a sauna
The association is not marketing — it is a real Nordic practice. Eucalyptus oil is added to the water thrown on sauna stones (the löyly), and the steam carries it into the room. Anyone who has been in a Finnish or Estonian sauna knows the smell immediately.
The compound doing the work is 1,8-cineole, also called eucalyptol. It makes up the large majority of eucalyptus oil and it is unusually penetrating — it is the sensation of the airways opening that people describe as "clearing".
Worth noting that the feeling and the fact are not the same thing: cineole produces a strong sensation of easier breathing, largely by stimulating cold receptors in the nose, whether or not anything has physically changed. We are not going to tell you a candle does anything for your airways.
The single-oil choice
Most scented candles blend several oils, partly for complexity and partly because blending is how you build a scent that lasts through a burn. A single-note eucalyptus candle is a deliberately austere choice: sharp, cold, medicinal in the good sense, with nothing sweet or floral softening it.
It is the most divisive candle in the range. People who like it like it very much; people expecting something cosy will find it clinical.
Essential oils rather than fragrance oils — the trade-off
Synthetic fragrance oils are engineered to survive being burned and to fill a room. Essential oils are not — their volatile compounds burn off faster, so an essential oil candle has a gentler scent throw. It will scent the room it is in. It will not perfume a house.
Eucalyptus is one of the better essential oils for a candle in this respect — cineole is small, volatile and carries well — but the general point holds.
Children and pets
Eucalyptus oil should not be applied near the face of babies or young children — 1,8-cineole can cause breathing difficulty in infants. A candle burning across a room is a different exposure from oil on skin, but it is a reason not to burn this in a nursery.
Do not burn scented candles near pet birds, whose respiratory systems are extraordinarily sensitive. Eucalyptus oil is also toxic to cats and dogs if ingested — not a concern from a burning candle, but a reason to keep the unburnt wax out of reach.
Propos'Nature
Propos'Nature
NOW Foods
Garden of Life
