Whether it’s a bright summer’s day or a dark wintry one, we love filling our living spaces with gorgeous scents and fragrances.

While reed diffusers, room mists and fabric sprays are great, there’s something particularly comforting about candles. The slow release of scent and the glowing flicker of a flame makes for the perfect day or night addition to any room. 

Unfortunately, though, we’ve all witnessed one too many candles going to waste thanks to tunnelling.

Tunnelling is when the candle’s wax only melts down the centre while burning. This creates an uneven surface, and you’re left with a ring of wax around the rim of your candle jar.

The more you burn your candle, the more the middle drops below the top level of wax. This results in a lot of wasted wax and significantly reduces the amount of burn time your candle has. Not ideal. 

The most common cause of candle tunnelling is not allowing your candle to burn for long enough. That’s why it’s always advised that you let a candle burn until there’s an even layer of wax across the top – something that’s especially important the first time you light it.

Another reason is your wick size. If the wick is too small, the candle won’t be able to generate enough heat to melt evenly on the surface, but if it’s too long then it can cause it to burn hotter and faster than it was designed to. That’s why we’d always recommend using a wick trimmer before lighting a candle, that way you can ensure it’s the ideal length for the perfect burn.

The type of wax plays a factor too. For example, natural formulations containing soy wax (like Neom’s) lasts longer than paraffin wax candles and take longer to burn, but the real bonus is that they’ll burn more evenly. 

Once a candle tunnel develops, it may seem near impossible to fix, but years (and a lot of wasted wax) later, we’ve discovered that the answer was sitting in your kitchen cupboard all along. Turns out aluminium foil is the key to fixing a tunnelled candle quickly.

First, trim the wick of your candle — this helps to prevent your candle from creating soot and also maintains a healthy flame height. Then, simply wrap your aluminium foil around the edge of the candle, leaving a hole in the middle so that the wick can burn through properly and the flame isn’t blocked.

Light your candle and allow it to burn for a couple of hours until the top surface of wax has melted to an evened-out level. 

Of course, another way to avoid tunnelling is to let your candle burn for a good few hours the first time you use it but we appreciate sometimes that just isn’t possible.

Don’t mind us, just going to grab some foil from the cupboard…

Images: Courtesy of brand; Charlotte Bitmead