Wax melts are the unsung heroes of home fragrance—flameless, long-lasting, affordable, versatile and packed with luxurious scent options. Whether you're a seasoned wax melt connoisseur or just starting your scent journey, these 10 tips will help you maximize their magic and get the most bang for your buck.
1. Choose the Right Wax Melt
The quality of your wax melt plays the biggest role in how your scent experience will go, so you want to be sure you're using a high quality wax melt that is created with premium ingredients (like ours!) to ensure a smooth, clean and even melt and superb and lasting scent throw. Low quality wax melts often melt unevenly and will have a weak or even no scent throw, even worse, you may find there is a burning or astringent scent that can be an indicator of a cheap wax that is burning improperly. So be sure you're using trusted and well known brands.
2. Choose the Right Warmer
Not all warmers are created equal! To get the best scent throw, pick a warmer that best suits your wax melts and the space you’d like to use them in. The three most common types of warmers include:
- Tea Light Warmers – Uses a direct flame source that is perfect for a strong, quick scent release.
- Electric Warmers (Hot Plate) – Great for a consistent, controlled, long-lasting fragrance.
- Bulb Warmers – Ideal for a softer, more ambient scent experience.
Note: Be sure you’re using a wax warmer and not an oil burner, they look similar but oil burners get significantly hotter than wax warmers (some get as hot as 350F!)
3. Be Aware of How Hot (or Cold) Your Wax Warmer Runs
In conjunction with the above point, knowing the temperature that your wax warmer brings your wax melts to can go a long way in ensuring that you’re getting the maximum use out of your melts. We’ve found that our soy wax melts perform best around 160°F-175°F. We recommend not letting them go above 200°F as this can cause both the fragrance oils and the wax itself to degrade.
Each warmer tends to be a little bit different, some may run cooler than others which results in the fragrance just sitting in the warmer and not being able to be dispersed, and some may burn too hot, which can cause the fragrance oil to simply burn off before it can be released. Sometimes your warmers can malfunction and get hotter or colder over time.
Using something like a digital laser thermometer to get a quick reading on the temperature of your fully melted wax pool is a great way to keep track of your wax warmer’s baseline temperature. Note that you want to get the temperature of your fully melted wax, not the temperature of the warming dish or the heating element.
4. Use the Right Amount of Wax
Unlike candles that use a direct flame source that burns the wax as fuel, the wax in your wax melts will never burn off, only the fragrance in the melts are released so resist the urge to overload your warmer! Most warmers work best with one to two cubes (or about 0.5–1 oz of wax). Overloading can reduce scent throw and cause uneven melting.Similarly, if you don’t have enough of a wax pool in your warmer this can cause the wax to overheat and underperform. Aim for having about a half inch deep melt pool in your warmer.
5. Keep It Clean
A clean warmer = a happy nose!
Old wax residue can dilute new scents, so be sure to clean your warmer before swapping scents. Here are a few ways you can achieve this:
- Utilize a silicone wax warmer liner, this is a great option that makes cleaning up a breeze. You place the liner into your wax warmer dish and place your wax melts into the liner. When you're ready to discard the wax, simply allow it to cool and harden and you can easily pop it out of the liner with little to no mess.
- You can use cotton balls or pads to soak up the liquified wax and discard them in the trash. Or keep them as firestarters.
- You can let the wax cool in the warming dish until solid and use a tool like a butter knife to gently pop it out or scrape it out. You can also put the fully cooled dish into the freezer to harden the wax to the point where the edges pull away from the dish making it easier to pop out. Do not put a warm or hot warming dish into the freezer.
Note: never use cleaning products on your warmer as residual chemicals may release harmful gases once you heat your warmer up.
6. Store Wax Melts Properly
To keep your melts fresh, store them in their clamshells, ensuring all 4 corners are snapped shut. Keep them in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight. Heat and light can break down fragrance oils, making your melts lose their potency. Properly stored, your melts can last for over a year with little to no scent loss or degradation!
7. Rotate Your Scents Seasonally
Scent has the power to set the mood! Keep things fresh by switching your wax melts with the seasons:
- Spring – Florals, greenery, and fresh scents (think peonies, tulips, lilacs, daisies, freshly cut grass, herbal notes,etc. )
- Summer – Fruity, tropical, and airy/beachy fragrances
- Fall – Spiced, woody, and gourmand scents such as pumpkin, apple, cinnamon etc.
- Winter – Evergreens, musks, cooling peppermint and eucalyptus, and warm, sweet vanilla blends
8. Have Fun With It
Keep things fun and interesting by mixing and matching wax melt scents together to create your own unique blends. Be your own scent-alchemist and enjoy the art of making your own signature scents. You can do this by melting together two or three different pieces of your favorite wax melts together. We recommend melting similar fragrances (example two fruity scents, or two smoky scents) together to not have too much of a fragrance clash.
9. Optimize Airflow for Better Scent Throw
Good airflow helps when it comes to distributing and spreading your fragrance. Place your warmer in an open area, away from vents or windows where scent might dissipate too quickly.
Also, be mindful of drafts and the natural airflow of the room because sometimes a stream of air can push your fragrance into a corner or keep it from having an even scent throw. Try placing your warmer in different areas of your room/home until you find the one that works best.
10. Know When It’s Time to Change the Wax…Or Take A Break
If you can’t smell it anymore, it’s either time for a swap or there’s a chance you’ve gone “nose-blind” to the scent.
On average one snap bar should last about 30-40 hours, but this varies by the scent and warmer type and size. We recommend using your warmers for no more than 4 hours at a time to reduce the chances of you going nose-blind to the scent - this is when you've smelled a fragrance for so long that you essentially become desensitised to it to the point where you can barely smell it. Sometimes simply leaving the area where the melt is or stepping outside and deep breathing for a few minutes will be enough to reset your sense of smell and allow you to smell the fragrance when you reenter the space.
That said, sometimes the fragrance just gets used up and when that happens it's time to change out your melt for a new piece either in the same scent or a new one altogether.
Bonus Tip: Repurpose Your Used Up Wax Melts
Finally, even though you can safely dispose of the leftover hardened wax in the trash, if you’re aiming for a zero-waste approach, then you can absolutely repurpose your wax! Here are a few ideas:
- If there’s still some scent left in your wax, place the cooled and hardened wax into drawers as a scented sachet. If you use a silicone liner popping out the puck makes this a breeze!
- Create fire starters by dipping materials such as cotton balls, pinecones, or small pieces of wood into the wax and allow it to harden
- Create a potpourri by mixing in fragrant dried herbs into your wax, pouring them into a mold of your choice and letting it cool completely. Dried lavender and lemon peels are a great combo.
- Use the wax to create your own wax seals for letters.
- Once the wax has lost all scent you can keep it and use it to dilute strongly scented wax melts. This works great if you’re trying to scent a smaller room or space and you don’t want the scent to be overpowering.
Note that we do not recommend using the old wax to make candles. Wax used for wax melts are created differently than wax used for candles.
By following these tips, you’ll be able to get the most out of your wax melts and fill your home with long-lasting, luxurious fragrance.
From our home to yours we wish you happy melting!
- Kitty.
