It’s officially fall, it’s officially October and that means we can officially start thinking about the holidays! For me, that means crisp, pine-scented mornings, cozy knits, hot toddies, and eggnog. I love the creamy, nutmeg-laced beverage that only gets better with age, but making a fresh batch is admittedly a process. I wanted a way to keep the delicious scent of the holiday drink filling my living room all season without having to make batch after batch of eggnog (but don’t get me wrong, I’ll definitely be whipping some up in the near future!). So I decided to share a soy wax candle DIY with an eggnog-scented mixture essential oil that do the trick quite nicely.
To begin my soy wax candle DIY project, I started by rounding up a bunch of vintage glassware in different shapes, sizes and height. A good thrift store is my go-to for treasure hunts like this. I gathered a bunch of glass, crystal, and gold-trimmed glasses to use as my candle vessels and to go along with the cocktail theme of the candles. Then, I infused soy wax (I prefer soy because it has a cleaner burn and lasts longer) with nutmeg, cinnamon, and vanilla essential oils to create a subtle but delicious scent that smells just like eggnog!
How to Make Soy Wax Candles with Essential Oils
- soy wax
- vanilla essential oil
- cinnamon essential oil
- nutmeg essential oil
- wood wicks
- bulk spices, for topping (I used cinnamon sticks, star anise, peppercorns, and ground nutmeg)
- assorted vintage glassware
- stove or hot plate
- double boiler or glass pot layered in a metal pot
- wooden stirrer (chopsticks and skewers work great for this)
- nail clippers
Start by setting up a double boiler by adding an inch or two of water to the bottom of a pan and bringing it to a simmer. Place a smaller pan inside the other one and add your soy wax flakes. The flakes will reduce by about a half when they melt, so simply fill your glass twice with wax flakes to measure about how much you’ll need to melt.
Use a wooden chopstick or skewer to stir the wax as it melts. Once it’s fully melted, remove it from the heat and let cool for about two minutes. We want the wax to cool just a bit before we add the essential oils so as not to dilute the scents with too much heat. Allowing the wax to cool a little bit will also help it settle nicely in your glass without cracking or pulling away from the edges.
Add your essential oils. You’ll need to use what seems like a lot in order to get a scent you can actually smell when you burn your candle. You’ll want to use about 50 drops per cup of wax, which I broke down into 15 drops cinnamon, 20 drops vanilla and 15 drops nutmeg essential oil. Stir gently to combine, being careful not to create too many air bubbles in the wax.
Place the wood wick on the stand it came with and set it carefully in the center of your glass. It should stay upright pretty easily as long as it’s on a level surface.
Carefully pour the wax into the glass, leaving 1/2″ to 1″ of space at the top of the glass. Let cool in a temperate environment. Don’t be tempted to put the candles in the fridge to cool them faster as this will result in cracked candles.
You’ll be able to see as the candles cool from bottom to top, since the wax will slowly change from a clear, pale yellow color to an opaque white. When the top 1″ of wax in the glass is just starting to turn opaque, top with cinnamon stick, pieces of star anise, a sprinkle of peppercorns and a pinch of nutmeg.
Once the wax is dry, it’s time to trim the wick. We want the finished wick to stick out of the wax about 1/4″ to 1/2″ so trim what you can with a pair of scissors, then go back in with some nail clippers (I’ve found the toenail kind work the best) and keep trimming. This allows you to easily trim below the lip of the glass if you need to.
And that’s all there is to our soy wax candle DIY! I found this process to be super simple and totally addictive. I’m already planning on making another batch because these will make beautiful holiday table decor as well as super cute gifts, so I want to have a nice, big stockpile on hand. Plus, I anticipate burning quite a few of these beauties myself in the next couple of months. You can also try using different essential oil mixes! I want to experiment with lavender, eucalyptus, and lemongrass essential oils next.
If you liked this soy wax candle DIY, you might enjoy these as well:
- fall scented bath bombs
- summer inspired DIY bath bomb
- essential oils for spider repellent
- the benefits of essential oils in bath bombs
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photography by Meghan Klein, styling and DIY by Hannah Cross for Jojotastic.
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