The Best Clean-Burning Scented Candles (from someone who burns candles daily!)

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I’ll cut right to the chase – the best cleaning-burning candles are from Antique Candle Co.

I’ve been an Antique Candle Co. customer since 2023, and I’m a huge fan of their candles! In fact, they’re the only scented candles I burn in our farmhouse today.

And when I say I burn them daily, I mean it. There’s almost always an ACC. candle burning on the kitchen counter, or at my desk while I work on the blog. I’m burning Apple Orchard right now as I write this post!

I love how the right candle can instantly make your house feel more inviting, and just make it smell like home. So finding a cleaner option, and a candle I felt good about burning every day has been really important to me.

My oldest struggles with year-round allergies, and I myself was diagnosed with PCOS a few years ago. Over time, I have become more mindful of the products I bring into our home and the ingredients we’re exposed to.

And because I burn scented candles almost every day, candles were one of the first swaps I made. I just wasn’t willing to give up my beloved candles!

Once I tried Antique Candle Co., and found a few new favorite scents, I never looked back.

Now I’m no expert on this subject by any means, and I’m not trying to create a perfectly toxin-free home. I’m just someone who likes to do a little research and make better choices for where I can for my home and my family.

Antique Candle Co. candles are the ones I landed on, and years later, they’re still the candles I reach for. Let me tell you why I love them and why they have been the best clean-burning candles for our home!

What does “clean-burning candle” even mean?

So what does clean-burning even mean? And are scented candles really that bad for you? These are the things I asked too before I made the switch to ACC.

Let’s chat about it…

Antique Candle Co. candles are all made with 100% natural, paraffin-free soy wax. They use premium fragrance oils and 100% lead-free cotton wicks. Their candles are sulfate free, phthalate free, dye free, and cruelty free.

I pulled the above info directly from Antique Candle Co’s website.

But I wanted to learn more about what all this means, so I went a little further down the rabbit hole. And after a few quick google searches I learned that:

Soy wax burns at a lower temperature than paraffin wax, resulting in less soot and longer burn times. Double win! I also learned about some of the ingredients you do not want in your candles, and how when burned they can release VOC’s and contribute to indoor air pollution inside your home.

Scented candles really can be pretty nasty. But don’t just take my word for it. Always do your own research to determine what is best for your home and your family.

Why I LOVE Antique Candle Co!

There are so many reasons why I love Antique Candle Co. candles, and why I keep coming back to purchase more year after year.

ACC candles are clean-burning.

I know we just talked a little about that, but it’s one of the things I truly love about my ACC candles. It’s why I initially tried them in the first place, and it’s what keeps me coming back to order more when my candle stash gets low.

These candles just behave like they should.

Have you ever burned a store bought candle and no matter what you did, it would form a weird tunnel leaving you with a lot of wasted wax that would never melt.

I feel like that used to happen to my candles all the time before I switched to Antique Candle Co.

I don’t know what it is about their candles, maybe it’s the soy wax or the way a cotton wick burns… but their candles just behave the way you want them too.

They burn evenly and don’t tunnel downwards. They keep their smell even when you get to the bottom of the jar. Their scent carries and fills the space like I like it to. They don’t leave a thick layer of black soot on the jars. They just behave!

Now maybe part of it is that I’ve just gotten better about taking care of my candles. I do trim my wicks before burning. And I typically burn them for at least an hour at a time, often a couple hours. At least long enough to let the wax melt all the way across the top of the jar. I blow out the candle, instead of just topping it with the lid.

Whatever the reason, I’ve just found these candles to be much less fussy than the ones I used to buy. They just behave and burn the way a good candle should!

They aren’t just clean-burning, but they aesthetically look clean!

Yes, Antique Candle Co. candles burn clean, but they also look clean in our home.

I don’t know about you, but I just don’t love a colorful candle. I want to burn my pumpkin spice candles just because I like the scent, not because they’re “in season”. And I don’t want a jar of orange wax sitting on the counter in April. I mean, this is White and Woodgrain!

ACC candles are dye free, so their wax is completely white wax. The candles are hand-poured in classic mason jars with a tin lid, and the label is super simple, just a few lines of black text to tell you the name of the scent.

Occasionally they have antique candle launches, where their scents are hand-poured into thrifted and antique vessels. Think old coffee tins, pretty glassware, crocks… they are STUNNING! So if the aesthetics of it all is your thing, you might want to check out the Antique Candle Co’s antique candle launches.

ACC is a small business.

Who doesn’t love supporting small businesses?!

I do my fair share shopping at Target, Amazon, Home Goods… but when I can, I try to shop small. And Antique Candle Co. is one of my favorite small businesses to shop!

Fun fact, the owner and founder of Antique Candle Co. is actually named Brittany too! She started ACC in 2014 and she has the coolest story! You can read all about it here: how ACC got started.

Their candles smell amazing!

I’ve been buying ACC candles for years, so I’ve gotten to sample A LOT of different scents.

So far, I have yet to find a scent that I truly disliked, but I have found a few favorite scents along the way!

So I want to share a few of my personal favorites with you. These are the ones I keep coming back to because they are just so good!

Another thing I LOVE about Antique Candle Co. is that they are always coming up with new seasonal candles to try. I am grouping all my favorite scents by season, that way you can easily scroll through the list and find a new scent to try no matter what season it is when you land on this post.

Now that doesn’t mean I only burn spring scents in the spring, for example! It’s just that the spring scents aren’t always available to order outside of spring. Hope that helps!

My Favorite Spring Scents

Sweet Lemon – Perfect for spring! It reminds me of those little lemon drop candies.

Fresh Cut Herbs – This one’s very fresh, and a little strong, but in a good way. I have to be in the mood for this scent. I like to burn it when I’m cleaning because it feels like it’s working right alongside me, sort of neutralizing the smell in the air while I clear out all the dust bunnies and dirt.

Clean Cotton – This one’s a retired scent, but it’s sometimes brought back “from the vault” in limited quantities because it’s such a fan favorite. And when it does, I always stock up! It smells SOOOOO good, very fresh and slightly citrusy. It’s one of my all time faves, and the perfect “I just cleaned the entire house” candle.

Sun Kissed Citrus – This one’s citrusy but warm. It’s like the perfect combination of lemons, oranges, and grapefruit. I put this under spring, but really this one is great to carry you through spring and summer!

Find your new favorite →

My Favorite Summer Scents

Georgia Peach – I LOVE peaches, and this candle just feels like summertime to me. Like fresh peaches from a roadside stand, and a homemade cobbler baking in the oven.

Pineapple Coconut – It’s like vacation in a jar! This scent reminds me of the beach, and sunscreen, and fresh pineapples. It smells heavenly in our home, and I look forward to burning it each summer.

North Shore – This one’s great for summer, and is a little more of a refreshing scent. Refreshing like that “after beach shower”, and putting on lotion and pj’s before dinner. It’s clean and subtly sweet, and maybe even a little more masculine smelling than most of the other candles on this list.

Find your new favorite →

My Favorite Fall Scents

Apple Butter, Apple Cider, Apple Orchard, Apple Pie – I pretty much love all of the apple candles! Apple Butter is AH-MAZING, but it’s another retired scent so be on the lookout for it in the “vault” launches. And Apple Orchard is also SO good. It smells like literal crisp, fresh cut apples. Apple Pie smells just like you would imagine!

They’re all unique, but you can’t go wrong with ACC’s apple candles.

Pumpkin Spice – It’s a classic warm scent that’s not too pumpkin-y and not too sweet either. It’s SO GOOD!

Find your new favorite →

My Favorite Christmas Scents

Christmas Day – If you only buy one Christmas candle, make it this one! It’s divine!! It’s like somehow they bottled up Christmas. The tree, the cinnamon, the warm desserts baking in the oven… it just smells like Christmas!

Spiced Cranberry – I love to rotate between Christmas Day and Spiced Cranberry all December. This one’s sweet and fruity with a hint of warmth from the cinnamon, cloves, and allspice. It’s so good!

Citrus Pomegranate – Our family loves to eat pomegranates around the holidays. I make the most delicious cheeseball covered in pomegranates, and the kids like to eat them plain. So this scent is a nostalgic one for me around the holidays. It’s perfectly sweet and a little citrusy.

Tree Farm – This candle truly smells like a real live “straight off the tree lot” Christmas tree. If you’re a faux tree girl like me, but you find yourself craving that familiar Christmas tree scent, you have to try ACC’s Tree Farm!

Find your new favorite →

My Year-round Favorites from Antique Candle Co

I also thought it might be helpful to include a few of my personal favorite year-round scents. In my opinion, these are the ones you could burn year-round and not think twice about it.

Most of them are also ACC fan favorites, so they’re scents that you can typically order throughout the year, not just when they’re considered “in season”.

Momma’s Kitchen – This one’s a crowd pleaser for sure. I always have a couple of these in my candle stash because they just smell like home to me, and they make great gifts!

Country Pear – It’s bakey, but a bit more subtle than some of the holiday bakey scents. I think it adds the perfect sweet aroma to your home without making you crave baked goods.

Country Home – I LOVE this candle so much! It’s very similar to Momma’s Kitchen in my opinion, but maybe slightly less sweet and a little more woodsy. If you’re a fan of Momma’s Kitchen I recommend giving this one a try!

Warm Caramel Crumble – Perfect for when you just want your home to smell like a hug. Warm Caramel Crumble is sweet, warm, and just feels so inviting to me. It literally feels like walking into your local bakery, and grabbing a dessert to share with family and friends.

Find your new favorite →

Antique Candle Co Promo Code

One of the best things about working with Antique Candle Co. is that I get to pass along a little savings to you.

Using my code: WOODGRAIN20 you can save 20% on the best clean-burning candles for your home with code!

Antique Candle Co. candles truly are the best smelling, clean-burning candles! They have a scent for everyone, whether you like fresh, fruity, floral, bakey, or even masculine woodsy candles.

Scent Happiness Guarantee

AND Antique Candle Co. also offers a scent happiness guarantee because they want you to love the candle you choose!

It can be hard to order candles online rather than in the stores. You can’t just pop open the lid and do a smell check before you buy.

So if you don’t love the scent you picked, let Antique Candle Co. know, and they’ll send you a new candle with a different scent at no cost to you!

Just one of the many reasons why I LOVE ACC and feel proud to recommend them to you.

Antique Candle Co. candles bring me so much joy, and they truly make our house smell like HOME!

I hope this post was helpful to you on your search for the best clean-burning candles for your home.

Thanks for stopping by the blog today!

If you ever need help choosing which scents to try next, send me a DM on Instagram @whiteandwoodgrain. I’ve tried almost all of their scents, and I’d be happy to recommend one to ya!

Until next time…

Love, Brittany