When I was a teenager, my uncle had his own candle making business. His candles were amazing. Strong scented without being over powering and they burned forever. One fall when I was around 14, I spent some time at their house where I got to see them make their homemade candles. It was during this time that he made me my own special candle. It was a vanilla candle with a tiny bit of a cinnamon scent and I adored it. Years later, that homemade cinnamon vanilla candle is still my favorite scent. Now, I want to show you how to make homemade cinnamon vanilla candles too!
The great thing about these homemade candles is that they not only make your home smell amazing, but they also have the benefits of aromatherapy too since we use essential oils when we make homemade candles. These homemade cinnamon candles use both vanilla essential oil and cinnamon essential oil instead of artificial candle fragrance oils. The scent of vanilla can have aphrodisiac and anti-depressive properties while the smell of cinnamon has been shown to relieve stress, increase mental focus, boost libido and more. Combined in these natural scented candles, they are a pretty powerful combo!
How to Make Candles from Scratch
When I was first learning how to make scented candles, I worried about which essential oils I would use. These days, I pretty much use Plant Therapy essential oils exclusively. The quality is just as good as the more expensive brands and they don’t break my brain trying to pay for them because they’re fairly cheap. I like things that don’t break my brain.
If you want to use fragrance oils instead, you can do that too. My favorite candle fragrance oils are THESE. When I set up a block of time to make handmade candles, I do these vanilla scented candles, my homemade Citronella candles, homemade lavender candles and a few more. I do one big batch and use them as gifts (Six Dollar Family) or for my own home. They make amazing gifts when you tie your jars with a piece of burlap ribbon and add a rustic gift tag!
Supplies Needed to Make Vanilla Handmade Scented Candles
This list of candle making supplies will make one handmade cinnamon vanilla candle. We use paraffin wax instead of candle making wax because it is cheaper and works just as well as the more expensive candle wax. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s a food safe wax that is used for everything from candle making to food prep.
- 1 Half-Pint Mason Jar with lid and ring
- 20 drops vanilla essential oil
- 8 drops cinnamon essential oil
- 2 bricks paraffin wax
- Candle Wick with clip
- Double boiler
- Thermometer
- Wax adhesive (optional)
How to make vanilla scented candles
Before you begin making your candles, read the box on whichever brand of paraffin wax you’re using. This will give you the specific temperature you need the wax heated to for pouring. You will need to know this later on to finish your DIY candles.
To start your DIY scented candles, fill your double boiler bottom to nearly halfway, and place the paraffin wax bricks in the top half. Place on medium to high heat to begin with to let the water get boiling. This type of wax is easy to use and doesn’t need much attention but it can burn. Once the water is at a rolling boil, turn your heat down to low to keep that from happening. It may take longer to melt, but you will avoid wasting the wax.
As your wax begins to melt, be sure to stir it with a rubber spatula a couple of times to help it melt evenly. Once it begins to melt a bit, take your wick and dip it into the wax so you can place it in the jar. If you are using wax adhesive, you can skip this step since the wax adhesive will do this instead.
If you’re using wax adhesive, place the candle wick centered in the jar and use a glass dropper to add a few drops of adhesive to the bottom of the wick to help keep it steady. No matter which you used – melted wax or adhesive – push and hold the wick and clip into the bottom of the jar and hold in place for a few seconds to set it in place.
How to make homemade vanilla cinnamon candles
Check the temperature on your wax and remove it from the heat. By now it should be melted almost fully. This is where the temperature you found on the wax box earlier comes into play. Mine was around 20° F warmer than it should have been so I needed to pull it off the heat and allow it to cool a bit. While you’re waiting, stir it using the rubber spatula to help any wax that has not melted to finish.
If by chance, it hasn’t reached temperature, keep it on the heat while stirring constantly until it does.
Once the wax has cooled a bit – or if yours didn’t overheat; as soon as it reaches temperature – add the vanilla essential oil and cinnamon essential oil to the melting pot. Use a dropper or your spatula to stir the oil into the wax making sure you get them fully combined.
Once the oils are mixed, begin to pour the candle wax into your jar(s). Right now you are only trying to get the wick set into place so be sure to only fill your jars around 3/4 of the way full. Reserve the rest of the wax for topping off later.
The candle wick needs to be centered in the jar so your candle burns evenly. If it won’t stand in the center by itself, you may need to rig something to help it. I tend to use a plastic ruler set on top of the jar to run the candle wax through one of the holes in the ruler like shown in the photo. It’s simple and works perfectly.
Best DIY Candles
Allow the candle to harden and cool for around 30 minutes. When it is almost fully hardened, run a toothpick into the candle a couple of times. This helps release any air that may have built during the pouring process. Once you’ve done that, top the candle off and fill the holes you just made with the wax you set aside earlier. If you need to reheat it, do so on low until it reaches pouring temperature again.
Allow the candle to cool and harden for a few hours. When it is ready, the bottom and sides of the jar should be cool to the touch. Trim the wick to around 1/4″, add your lid and you’ve officially learned how to make homemade cinnamon vanilla candles!