DIY Wax Melts
Wax melts are concentrated nuggets of essential oils enclosed in wax. When melted, the wax helps the oil fragrance diffuse safely, and extends the time that the scent will last.
Wax melts are a wonderfully easy way of diffusing the aromas of essential oils into your home, and they make stunning gifts. They’re also a fun way to keep the kids occupied.
Making your own wax melts let’s you choose whichever scent combinations you like, plus you know the ingredients will be only natural wax and essential oils - no paraffin or synthetic fragrances. Let’s get busy making!
Choose Your Wax
Soy wax is a lovely plant wax with a low burn temperature that makes great wax melts. We recommend using soy wax as it is neutral in colour and scent and is a great scent carrier.
You could use beeswax but it may have a slight beeswax honey scent which may interfere with other scents. If you are using beeswax, add in some coconut oil to make it a little softer, otherwise beeswax melts might take a really long time to ‘get going’.
Choose Your Scents
There are hundreds of essential oils to choose from, each with their own unique properties and scents. For wax melts you can make up a combination of different essential oils or use the essential oils by themselves.
Some scent ideas:
Sleepy Time
Chamomile, lavender, vetiver (the classic sleep scent)
Or
Helichrysum, snowbush, chamomile, geranium (very soft and luxurious scent)
Refreshing Herbal (great to freshen up a kitchen or bathroom):
Citrus Celebration
Spiritual
More scent inspiration can be found in our blogs on Solid Perfume Making and The Art of natural Perfumery.
Soy wax usually has a scent hold of around 5-10%, meaning you can add in essential oils up to 5-10% of your wax amount. Eg. if you have 100g soy wax you can add in 5-10ml essential oils.
Extras
You can also add in botanicals such as rose petals, jasmine blossoms or other flowers and herbs.
If you want to colour your wax melts you can use wax dyes or try natural colours. You could also melt down any natural wax crayons for colour.
Making Wax Melts
Making your wax melts is as easy as melting down the wax, stirring in the fragrance and any other extras, pouring into molds and leaving to set.
For molds, we recommend using silicone molds (a silicone ice tray works perfectly) as they are easily unmoldable. Try using molds of different shapes to make your wax melts even more pretty. Otherwise if you don’t have molds, you can make a slab of wax and then break it up into chunks.
Makes 10 x 15g wax melts (if using molds)
150g soy wax
15g essential oil(s) of your choice
Optional extras: colourants, handful of dried botanicals
Gently melt down the wax in a water bath (bowl containing the wax over a pot of steaming water). You can also use the microwave but be careful not to burn the wax.
Stir the melted wax for a few minutes to let it cool slightly (around 85℃ is a good temperature), then stir in the essential oils. Pour into molds and leave to set completely before unmolding. If giving as gifts, you can wrap the wax melts in rustic packaging or package them in a glass jar. Store in a cool dry place. To use: light a tea candle and place under your burner, then pop a wax melt or two in the melting tray and enjoy the scent.
How To Use
Simply pop 2-3 wax melts in a burner and place a tea candle underneath. The heat from the candle will gently melt the wax and diffuse the scent of the essential oils.
