Essential Oil Candles — Made of natural ingredients, this DIY Rosemary Grapefruit Candle will make your kitchen smell delicious and serve as the perfect gift for friends and family.
When it comes to holiday gifting, I, Erin really don’t think you can go wrong with candles. They’re a useful and beautiful gift that people don’t always splurge on for themselves.
Plus, they’re somewhat of a one-size-fits-all gift for hosts, Secret Santas, co-workers, etc.
And that’s why I always have these super cute essential oils DIY Rosemary Grapefruit Candles are my gift go-to’s!
Tips For Making Your Own DIY Candles
I like to make up a bunch of essential oil candles at once time of year. And then, keep them on hand as we move into the holiday season.
Here are a few tips I’ve picked up over the years that make candle-making (and the clean-up!) a lot easier:
Use Soy Wax — Not only soy wax non-toxic, but it’s water soluble making it a SNAP to clean up. Pure beeswax is also a non-toxic option, but it’s a nightmare to remove from kitchen surfaces, in case of any wayward drops.
Paraffin wax is another common wax candle. It is cheaper than soy and beeswax. However, we prefer soy wax for its natural ingredients and slower burn time.
Forget the Double Boiler — No need to mess with setting up a double boiler and investing in an overpriced candlemaking pour pot. I use a thrifted saucepan that’s dedicated to candlemaking only and melt the wax directly in the pan on low heat.
With this method, you’ll want to stir pretty frequently, and remove the pan from heat as soon as the chips are melted. However, it’s less set up/clean up and less expensive to get up and running with supplies in the beginning.
Lay Down Wax Paper — Do yourself a favor and lay down parchment or wax paper on your counters before you begin. Soy wax is easy to clean, but wax paper eliminates the need for any scrubbing.
Materials Needed To Make A DIY Essential Oil Rosemary Grapefruit Candle
Lead-free wicks and metal wick tabs — I prefer using cotton wicks since they’re cheaper and easier to maintain. You can also buy precut wicks that include tabs.
Rosemary essential oil — Purchase undiluted pure essential oils to really get a strong scent.
Grapefruit essential oil — Using essential oils is more natural way to scent your candles versus synthetic fragrances.
Metal vessels — I purchased 16oz stainless steel gold brushed stemless wineglasses to hold the candles at a local store. You can find similar ones here and here.
Optional: Ribbon — For gift wrapping
Optional: Rosemary sprigs — For garnishing
Tools Needed For To Make Your Own Natural Candle
Wood dowel — For stirring or holding up your wicks
Pencils — To hold up your wicks
Dedicated sauce pan — I thrifted a sauce pan that is just for making candles at home.
How To Make Scented Candles With Essential Oils Candles | DIY Rosemary Grapefruit Candle
Step 1 — Lay parchment paper down next to your stove to make clean-up easier.
Step 2 — Then, measure out your wax flakes. A good rule of thumb is to double the volume of each candle vessel.
Step 3 — Heat the wax on low heat, stirring frequently just until the wax flakes are melted.
Remove the pan from heat.
Step 4 — While the wax is cooling slightly, connect the wick with the metal wick tabs. Center it inside your vessel. Make sure that the wick plate touches the bottom.
Then, wrap the excess wick around a pencil or wood dowel and rest on the opening.
Step 5 — Add roughly 20 drops of each essential oil per candle to the pan and give it a stir.
The number of drops you’ll need will greatly depend on how strong you’d like the scent.
Since I’m making 2 candles, I’ve added 40 drops of each oil.
Step 6 — Evenly divide the wax between the vessels and allow to cool to a solid state.
Step 7 — Once the wax is completely cool, trim the wicks to ½”.
Optional — If giving these essential oil candles as gifts, wrap the candles top to bottom with ribbon and secure with a piece of tape on the bottom of the vessel.
Garnish with rosemary sprigs. But make sure to remove the accoutrements before lighting these babies!
More Easy Candle & Aromatherapy DIY’s
Have you made essential oil candles at home? What are your favorite scent combinations?! It also makes a great DIY gift idea, too!
In case you’re looking for a few other candle and aromatherapy DIY ideas, here are some of my favorites from the archives —
- DIY Reed Diffuser: How To Make Your Own Essential Oil Diffuser
- Retro DIY Faux Wood Candle Holder
- Dual DIY Copper Candle Holder
- Rainbow DIY Taper Candle Holder
- Wooden Taper Candle Holder
- Balloon Dipped DIY Citronella Candles
- DIY Giant Birthday Candles
Essential Oil Candles: DIY Rosemary Grapefruit Candle
Essentail Oils Candle: DIY Rosemary Grapefruit Candle
Equipment
- Wood dowel or any stir sticks
- Pencils
- Parchment or wax paper
- Dedicated sauce pan for candle making
Ingredients
- Soy wax flakes
- Lead-free wicks and metal wick tabs or buy pre-cut wicks with metal tabs included
- Rosemary essential oil
- Grapefruit essential oil
- 2 metal vessels for candleholder
- Ribbon optional for gift packaging
- Rosemary sprigs optional for garnishing as gift topper
Instructions
- Lay parchment paper down next to your stove to make clean-up easier.
- Measure out your wax flakes. A good rule of thumb is to double the volume of each candle vessel.
- Heat the wax on low heat, stirring frequently just until the wax flakes are melted. Then, remove the pan from heat.
- While the wax is cooling slightly, fasten the wicks and metal tabs. Center the wicks inside your vessel. Make sure that the wick tab touches the bottom. Then, wrap the excess wick around a pencil or wood dowel and rest on the top opening.
- Add roughly 20 drops of each essential oil per candle to the pan and give it a stir. The number of drops you’ll need will greatly depend on how strong you’d like the scent to be and the brand of essential oil you use. Since I’m making 2 candles, I’ve added 40 drops of each oil. You can be very generous since it takes a lot of oil.
- Evenly divide the wax between the vessels and allow to cool to a solid state. You can speed up this process by placing the candles in the fridge for about 12 hours. They will also harden overnight when left out.
- Once the wax is completely cool, trim the wicks to ½”.
- Optional — If giving these essential oil candles as gifts, wrap the candles top to bottom with ribbon and secure with a piece of tape on the bottom of the vessel. Garnish with rosemary sprigs.
Notes
- Essential oils have different flash points, meaning they have their own ideal burn temperatures. If you want the scent of your candle to last as long as possible, use a candle thermometer to measure the temperature of your wax before adding your essential oil.
- Grapefruit has a flashpoint of 109° F (43° C) and rosemary at 104° F (40° C). Therefore, when melted wax is cooling, wait until it reaches about 104°-109° F before adding in your grapefruit and rosemary essential oil. This temperature will allow the oils to release at its highest form.
Hi, thanks for the insightful article above on making homemade candles. My partner and I are trying to do the same, but it seems the hot throw isn’t quite that strong… We are using pure essential oils only (no fragrance) to keep things all natural. What do you recommend? You can check my post about the best essential oils for candles here https://www.vinevida.com/blogs/our-blog/10-best-essential-oils-for-candles-make-your-candle-and-bring-the-target-scent
Thanks!
Hi! Have you looked more into the flashpoint temperature. It is dependent of the type of essential oil you are using and its flashpoint will optimize the scent. Too hot or too cold will not use the essential oil to its full potential. We would also recommend using high quality essential oils. And you can also always just add more drops for a stronger scent! Hope this helps!
These are so cute! I love this idea for gifts!
Thank you, Rachael!
I love this idea! They look so cute and adorable! My daughter loves projects like this! Can’t wait to make these with her!
Let us know how they turn out, Beth! XOXO
I’m so excited to try making these. Your step by step instruction photos help me see that it’s not as intimidating as it seems to make my own candles. And I LOVE the scent combo – rosemary and grapefruit. BEAUTIFUL website and GORGEOUS ideas! Thanks
Thank you so much, Lisalia. We are so glad to hear that we made these easy to follow! They seriously are easy to make!
They look amazing and I think I saw your site and made my first soy wax candle.
However, I noticed that you don’t follow the essential oils’ flashpoint rule. Rosemary and Grapefruit are 2 of my fax scents for candles, hand creams etc, but they both have very low flashpoint at around 40-45 (CF). looks like you poured oils above this temperature, which will burn out the essence. Does your candle smell ok making this way? I made my second batch (my first batch, the same as your way, wasn’t strong at all) following the flashpoint rule, definitely last long and strong.
Also noticed Soya wax can be applied as hand cream which for me was a huge added bonus :)
Hi Shoko! We are so glad you’ve been following our site for a long time and trying all the DIY’s. This is such interesting and informative information about the flashpoint for rosemary and grapefruit. We are going to look into this and ask our contributor also who helped us with the post! Thank you so much for this info!
Love these! Im curious how much waX you used per candle? I see dOuble the aMount of the candle Vessel, but can you gIve an approx amount for ordering purposes?
Hi Kylnn! So glad you like the DIY. I believe Erin based the amount she ordered on the measurements of the vessel online!
I love the gold pots you made these in! Candles Make such great gifts, really want to make some myself after Reading this!
Isoscella | http://www.isoscella.co.Uk
Totally agree! Glad you like the project! xo
What brand oils did you use? I see the label isn’t displayed in photos.
Hi Beth, we’ve linked to some of our favorites in the post!
So surprised by how easy this is! Where did you get your pots from?
– Natalie
http://www.workovereasy.com
Hi Natalie! Erin got the gold pots from Target :) http://rstyle.me/n/b77hcnnjn6
You make it look so easy. I certainly want to make some now.
Erin is pretty much a genius!