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Massage Candles – Final Thoughts and Round Up

Filed Under: Lotion

Day One – Introduction to Massage Candles
Day Two – The Fine Print
Day Three – Ingredients & Melting
Day Four – Pouring & Wick Setting

I hope you’ve enjoyed the Massage Candle Tutorial this week.

The final recipe below is the easiest recipe to make but also the least good in terms of performance during a massage. It doesn’t provide as much “slip” as the more oily, complex recipe from Day Two.

Items needed:

Candle Tin
Wick (We like the WU 250 or the CD20)
Skin Safe Fragrance
Container Soy Wax (Naturewax C3)
Liquid Vegetable Oil (like Apricot Kernal Oil or Sweet Almond Oil or Jojoba oil or Olive Oil)

Recipe:

3 ounces Soy Wax
1 ounce Liquid Oil
.25 ounce Fragrance

1. Measure out 3 ounces of Soy Wax and 1 ounce of Liquid Vegetable Oil. We tested Apricot Kernel Oil, Sweet Almond Oil, Jojoba and Olive Oil. My personal favorites were the Olive Oil and Apricot Kernel Oil.

2. Melt the Soy Wax and your choice of Liquid Oil in the microwave at short 45 second bursts in a heat safe container, like a Pyrex.

3. Add the fragrance or essential oil. This recipe is particularly good to do a delicate fragrance or essential oil since there is no sweet smelling cocoa butter to interfere with the sophisticated notes.

4. Stir and wait. The ideal temperature to pour this mixture is right before the wax oil mixture is about to set up. The cooler that the candle is poured, the more smooth your final product will be. Candles poured too warm have a tendency to crater or have pitted surfaces.

5. Center the wick and wait for the candle to harden. Once it’s solid, trim the wick, burn the candle and try a nice warm massage.

If you make these for yourself, friends or family – please let us know how they worked for you.

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39 Comments

  1. Hello. I’m a little confused, because while looking around for the Naturewax C3 Soy Wax I came across a website that said C 135 is the type of Soy Wax to buy because it is cosmetic grade. What is the difference? Is the C3 safe to use?

    • You could do either of them. I don’t think you’ll notice much of a difference in the massage candle between the two waxes =)

  2. Gostaria que vc me ajudasse a entender o que é 3 onças.Pois estou iniciando nessa massagem com velas

    • Oi Anna!

      Neste tutorial, três onças vai ser de cerca de 85 gramas. Espero que isso ajude, deixe-me saber se você tiver quaisquer outras perguntas. 🙂

      -Becky com Bramble Berry

      Hi Anna!

      In this tutorial, three ounces is going to be about 85 grams. I hope this helps, let me know if you have any other questions. 🙂

      -Becky with Bramble Berry

  3. Hi, I’m new at Candle Making and have been looking at different sites!
    The thing that has thrown me is you are saying use ratio 1:1 of soy wax and oil. While some other sites are saying use 3:1 wax and oil.
    I’m a bit confused now, Please Help!

  5. I have a bunch of beeswax and am trying to use in my products. Can I subtitute the bees wax for the soy wax? Thanks

    • You cannot sub beeswax for soy wax in the massage candles. The burning temperature is so much higher with the beeswax that your candle would be far too warm to give a massage with – and it would harden into a waxy mess when it cooled =)

  6. I’ve made these in a tealight form (avocado oil, soy wax, shea and coco butter and fragrance), the candles smell great when they are drying, but when lit, I have absolutely NO throw! Anyone else had experience with this? I tried to experiment with different oil amounts, but it doesn’t seem to do anything. Any ideas?
    TIA

    • Which fragrance or essential oil blend did you use? It could be that that particular fragrance or essential blend simply doesn’t “throw” all that much?

  7. I never made candles before and want to try these out. I was wondering if you can use olive oil from Costco. Also does it matter if it is extra virgin or not? Or is it better to use regular vegetable oil that you cook with? I am new at this and anything would help before ordering all the other stuff on the website. 😉 Also is the Oatmeal Milk And Honey Fragrance Oil and Relaxing Fragrance Oil okay to use? What fragrances would you recommend. I want to make some as gifts and some for myself. Thanks!

  8. Thanks for another great tutorial. Do you think substituting virgin coconut oil for the avocado oil would work?

  9. I been making massage candles for about a week now and I can’t seem to get the timing for the pouring right. I waited until it was slushy and poured it into my container and after some hours have passed I checked on it and the candle is watery.
    And are 8 oz mason jars ok to use for massage candles?

    • If you followed the recipe exactly the massage candles shouldn’t be watery after a couple hours (I’ve actually made this exact recipe). Did you add any extra liquid oils to the batch? And how much fragrance oil did you use?

      Courtney from BB

  10. Hi Anon,

    Thanks for jumping in.

    I don’t know of any skin safety issue with color so long as it’s a skin safe color and not a candle colorant. The issue I find is that most skin safe colorants clog wicks.

    .25 ounce in 4 oz. does equal around a 6% usage rate which should be safe for the majority of essential oils and fragrance oils. Generally, with lotions, I recommend less because of the whole “too much fragrance = perfume” but in this case, since we’re also trying to get a ‘throw’ in the candle (which is the primary purpose of the product), going a bit higher than a lotion makes sense. But by all means, if you (or anyone) is concerned with the usage rates, definitely use less or check with your vendor of essential oils and fragrance oils to see what their suggested usage rate is. Many fragrance oils have effective and safe usage rate far and above 6% for leave-on products but when in doubt, always check with your vendor.

  11. I'm concerned with the ammount of essential oil Anonymous is adding for a 4 oz. massage candle which is going on the skin.
    .06oz EO & .25oz FO would be 6% for a normal soy candle.
    Less should be used & No color should be added for the safety of the skin.

  12. Great – I'm so glad that you got a great combo of oils that you are happy with.

    Yes, you can use fragrance oils but they MUST be skin safe; so no potpourri or candle fragrances – skin safe only. Anything you get in the main fragrance categories at BrambleBerry.com is skin safe and candle safe (though 'throw' is a personal preference and should always be tested).

    Color is definitely fine but of course, make sure that it's skin safe and burn safe. NOt everything is burn safe and some colorants can easily clog wicks and most candle colors are not skin safe so tread carefully there.

    Let me know if you have any other questions =) I'm so glad that you're having good luck with this project.

  13. This recipe definitely got me started towards the right path. I experimented with wax-to-oil ratios, with a combination of essential oils, and i believe I finally got it! It feels great on the skin and it does not leave a sticky "waxy" feeling on the skin. Now, how safe is it to put in fragrance oils for massage candles? Also, is it safe to add a bit of color?

  14. Which Eco Soya wax did you use? They range in temperature for melt point from 111 to 175. Perhaps you started with one that had too warm of a melt point?

    In theory, no, a smaller wick won't make the candle burn at a lower temp. This is because the wax pool starts to form at the same temperature no matter what size the wick; additionally, the wax oil pool will be the same temperature once the wick has been blown out.

    With a 1:1 ratio of oils like you're doing, you're in a good place BUT I'd pull the Cocoa Butter. Cocoa Butter has a higher melt point than some oils and so that might be keeping your wax oil pool warmer than you'd like. I'd go with Shea Butter or just liquid oil in its place.

  15. Hi thank you so much for getting back to me so quickly. I have tried a few mixtures but they all feel too hot.The last batch I made I used a glass jar with double cdn 4 wick. I used 2ounce soy wax 1/2 ounce shae butter 1/2 ounce cocoa butter 1 ounce avocado oil 1/4ounce pure essential oil. Does a lower size wick make the candle burn at a lower temperature ? Thank you for your help

  16. Can you tell me more details?

    Exactly what amounts did you use? Did you weigh or do volume? What wick did you use? What candle container did you use? And what fragrance or essential oil did you use?

    You did blow out the wick prior to pouring the wax/oil mixture, right? I'm sure you did but that would also increase the temp if the candle was not extinguished.

    How did the wax feel on your hand?

  17. Hi I have made massage candles using your instructions,I used Eco Soya wax. My Problem is the candle felt way too hot. I used the wick size recommended for the jar size. would a smaller size wick ( i don't mean length) help this problem ?

  18. That sounds like a great idea! It would definitely speed up the cooling process. Just make sure it's on a flat surface so you have an even candle top.

  19. Can you put the tins in an ice tub to quicken the set up phase. The heat index is about 105 out here.

  20. CandiPill, Great question! The low melt point hand dipping, skin safe paraffin (120 degree melt point) would be totally fine! But, paraffin has a very very different feel than soy wax – it's more tacky, sticky and yes, even waxy. I haven't tried it but I suspect that it would be more 'stoppy' and not as smooth and flowing as using the soy wax. Just split the batch recs in 4 and make one candle. Let me know how it goes. I'm curious! =)

  21. Hi there

    Was wondering if you could sub in paraffin wax instead of soy or beeswax? Are there any dangers assoiciated with Paraffin Wax – I figure that since Liquid Paraffin is sometimes used as a body/bath oil (Baby Oil) – Paraffin Wax could double as a substitute? What are your thoughts?

  23. Hi Jennifer –

    I’d definitely ask the company you bought the wicks from to get their take on the wick/sooty smell issue.

    I haven’t had that problem with the massage candles and using our wicks before.

    Are you just blowing out the wicks and then getting the sooty smell? That’s really interesting.

    I’ll post the question over on the Teaach Soap Forum here and see what anyone has to add:

    http://www.teachsoap.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1128#1128

  24. I made a massage candle using your recipe, but I used a cotton core wick from another company. The oil took on the ashy scent of the wick after it was blown out a few times. Not a good smell for massage. Has anyone else had this problem.
    Are the Bramble Berry WU 250 wicks the best for massage candles and for not leaving a burnt smell?

  26. Hi,

    How long does it take for the soy massage candles to form with the recipe given of 1 part of everthing, wax and oils? Wanting to know if i’m being impatient as poured them at 5:30 and they are still not hard yet.

  27. We are going to be doing mineral make up – starting with a lipstick tutorial in a few weeks. We’re just waiting for our Zinc Oxide to show up before we start the projects. It will be so much fun to teach.

    =)

  28. Thank you for sharing this… I am preparing an order from Bramble Berry right now. 🙂 Curious, if you would discuss mineral make-up on your blog? I saw that you have classes at Otion and I would love to learn more about making mineral make-up. I have been using mineral make-up for two years now and I love it. ~Shelley