FAQ
These are the most commonly asked questions about Osmḗ Candles products, people, principles and practices - we hope it includes what you're looking for or interested in.
What does Osmḗ mean?
It's an old Greek word meaning scent. It was actually inspired by one of our first customers, a hotel general manager who was originally from Greece.
Where are you based?
We've set up near Fareham, in Hampshire, UK. This means all our candles are made in the UK, not made abroad and then shipped in. This also means our team are protected by the employment laws of England and Wales, which is very important to us.
How much is shipping?
That depends largely on how many candles you buy. All our orders are shipped via DPD and they charge on a weight basis - roughly speaking a single candle, in its box, weighs about 570g. It's all calculated clearly for you at checkout but here's a quick guide:
- Up to 1kg - £6.50 (1 candle)
- 1kg to 5kg - £7.50 (up to 8 candles)
- 5kg to 10kg - £8.00 (up to 17 candles)
- 10kg to 11kg - £8.50 (up to 19 candles)
- 11kg to 12kg - £9.00 (up to 21 candles)
- 12kg to 13kg - £9.50 (up to 22 candles)
- 13 kg to 15kg - £10.00 (up to 26 candles)
Do you ship outside the UK?
Not right now, and here's why. Leaving the EU has caused lots of potential trade issues for small UK businesses, most notably around customs taxes. So, for now, we're not shipping outside the UK. Of course if you have a friend in the UK who could buy a candle for you and then send it to you we can't stop you from organising that, can we?
How soon will I get my candle?
Another question that depends on your order. All your candles are made according to the choices you make when placing your order, meaning we don't start the process until you tell us what you want. We ask that in busy periods you allow up to 20 working days for us to make your candle (we're a dedicated team, but we're not that big and we're not mechanised), but typically we turn around orders in well under 10 working days (in most cases just 2 or 3 days, but sometimes for the Highlands and islands of Scotland and other non-mainland areas it may take an extra day). What we promise is to keep you updated on where your order is in the process to give you some expectation of when it will be arriving, barring any production issues.
We typically don't carry stock because we don't want to be the kind of candle company that dictates what colour and scent combinations you can have your candles in. To try to pre-make candles to every option, before people place orders, would require making a lot of candles that may not find a home (there are currently 140 scent/colour combinations for our candles, so imagine making 100 of each and then finding not all combinations are ordered). This approach is potentially wasteful and negatively impacting on the environment as well, and we're dedicated to keeping our impact footprint as small as possible.
I live nearby, can I come and pick up my candles?
No, sorry, you can't. Owing to Covid-19 precautions we don't allow anyone to come and collect their candles. They're all picked up by couriers or taken to despatch offices to get them underway, using non-contact hand-over procedures to ensure that social distancing is maintained.
Are your candles Vegan Society certified?
No. Or rather, not yet. Most of our materials are certified as vegan or are vegan friendly (it's difficult to find certified vegan glassware, for example) so we can believe we're being Vegan Friendly, but we haven't started the certification process with the Vegan Society. It's on our to-do list.
Can you do this scent ...?
If it's not on our list of existing scents then that's because of a few reasons:
- The scent isn't available as an essential oil - if it's not an essential oil we don't use it
- We're considering it, but we haven't put it into production yet
- We've not heard of that scent or never seen that as an essential oil - thanks, we'll look into it
We're also looking into blended scents in the near future. Basil and Bergamot, anyone? Or Lemon and Mint?
Can I buy your candles in a shop?
Yes - but only in a limited number of stockists at the moment. We are expanding the list of shops and outlets who will independently carry our range, ordering the candles they predict will sell the best to their shop customers so that we only produce what they feel is needed. At the moment we're not publishing the list but will do so when we reach a number of stockist around the UK we feel comfortable with. In the meantime, if you could pop into your favourite candle parlour and ask if they stock our candles it could help get them closer to you sooner.
Do you sell in bulk to businesses?
Yes - please visit our main company website to learn more - click here
Do you do other sizes of candle?
Yes! We now produce 3 sizes of candle - our 270ml (in a 300ml double whiskey glass), a 190ml (in a 210ml single whiskey glass) and a 90ml (in a shot glass). They're all available in all of our scents, and the 270ml and 190ml are available in all of our colours. The 90ml are currently only available in their natural wax colour for retail customers (we hope to be changing this soon).
How long do your candles burn?
The advice on the bottom of your candles, as required by law, says not to burn a candle for more than 4 hours at a time. That said, this is a guide to what you can expect from our three sizes of candle:
- 270ml - between 20 and 40 hours
- 190ml - between 12 and 28 hours
- 90ml - up to 4 hours
Room temperature is a factor - the warmer your room the easier it is for the candle to melt and evaporate the essential oils, and so the closer to the lower end of the estimate you'll be.
One intrguing piece of advice passed on by one of our customers is to store your candle in the fridge when it's a hot day to get it to melt more slowly when you do come to use it (after removing it from the fridge, of course).
Do your candles tunnel?
Tunnelling, where a ring of wax around the edge of the candle remains, is an unfortunate fact of container candles. Whilst we've done everything we can to select candle wicks that have enough energy to melt the wax up to the glassware, we have to acknowledge that a number of factors will almost definitely lead to some tunnelling. First, we don't want the glassware to get hot so you burn yourself or it cracks, so our candles, under normal conditions, melt up to within a few millimetres of the glass, relying on the heat in the melted wax to then melt what's left, if possible. Next the temperature of your room can affect the burn (colder rooms will result in the outer area of the candle taking longer to melt) and then there's the duration of your burn, with shorter burns more likely to not create a candle-wide pool of melted wax that would heat the rest of the candle to the edge.
There's a pale discolouration/frosting on my candle - is it damaged?
No - in fact this is a natural behaviour of the eco soy wax that we use, albeit one we've tried to limit and overcome.
It happens as the wax 'sets' - the solidification process after we've poured them. It happens because of two main factors: first, moisture in the air of the pouring room, and second the ambient temperature in the setting room. As our pouring and setting rooms are naturally ventilated, and we do not use a dehumidifier to control the environment, naturally some moisture will get into the candles as we pour them, but this tends to be the least likely cause of the discolouration - in fact if it's between the wax and the glass it's more likely to do with the setting temperature.
Setting is generally a consistent process, but as mentioned the setting room is naturally ventilated, which means it is affected by the heat outside the building as much as inside - if theres a cold period during setting this can cause the wax to shrink a little too rapidly from the glass and pull away. This happens in lots of miniscule areas, but all at once and the effect is a kind of "frosted" look. The candle itself is perfectly OK, the scent still throws as far, and your use of the candle won't be affected, and use of the candle will often warm the wax enough for it to expand back to the glassware again over the life of the candle.
Many other candle manufacturers use a paraffin or mineral wax blended with their soy wax to overcome this, but we won't do this, preserving the naturalness of the product and preventing fumes from artificial materials being released into your home. We are working with our suppliers to find an alternate eco soy wax type to prevent this in future, hopefully eliminating the effect once and for all.
We hope we've answered as many of your questions as we can here. If you have any more queries we'd be happy to hear from you via our contact page.