You've been burning candles wrong your whole life

Photo credit: Hearst Communications, Inc. All rights reserved
Photo credit: Hearst Communications, Inc. All rights reserved

From Cosmopolitan UK

Luxury comes in all shapes and sizes. That is to say, Jo Malone candles come in small, medium, and large.

But before you crack open the Aldi dupe you got for Christmas, it turns out you've probably been burning candles wrong this whole time, and aren't getting the maximum burn time - or fragrance - out of them.

For her. For him. We have just the thing...

A post shared by Jo Malone London (@jomalonelondon) on Nov 16, 2017 at 5:33am PST

As Seventeen spotted on the Yankee Candle website, you're supposed to cut your wick to about half an inch before you use it, and every time you relight it.

"Keeping their wicks trimmed properly will help your candles burn fully and last longer", the advice says. "Specifically, your candle's wick should be trimmed after every 4 hours of burn time. [This will give you a] clean, even flame for a longer lasting candle and maximum fragrance."

Inteeeeresting.

Alia Raza, cofounder of fragrance brand Régime des Fleurs, agrees, and also explained to Vogue that the trick to extending your candles' life is to burn it for a significant amount of time during first use.

"In general, when you burn a candle, and especially the first time you burn it, you want to burn it for about two hours or more, depending on the size of the candle. That means the whole surface will burn evenly so it won’t create those dips."