Personalised Candles: The Dictionary Meaning Collection

If you're looking for the perfect personalised candle for someone, The Commonfolk Collective's Dictionary Meaning range is your answer. Sold by Australian-based company Nerridah and Ross, they're personalised candles with a quote on the label, guaranteed to make that special person in your life feel truly appreciated. 

You decide what the candle says, along with its scent. Choose a fragrance and quote that speaks to the person receiving the candle. 

But why choose a scented gift?

Scents have the power to impact your mood, energy, and memories. Before deciding which candles in the dictionary meaning collection are right for you, start by thinking of the person. Choose a scent that reminds you of them.

Not sure where to start? Read on to learn more about personalised candles. 

What's a Base Note?

There are three types of fragrance notes for perfumed candles. These notes are the different stages of smells developed when burning a candle:

• Top notes
• Middle notes
• Base notes

Top Notes

The first impression is perceived by your sense of smell. They're fresh or sharp smells, but they're not long-lasting. They're known as headnotes and attract you towards the candle.

Examples of top notes are lemongrass, citrus, and herbal scents.

Middle Notes

Middle notes aka heart notes are the personality of the candle. Think of the personality of your person for this note. These notes stick around longer than the top notes as they drift into the base notes.

Middle notes work with the top note to create a complimentary scent. Examples of middle notes are rose, lavender, and cinnamon.

Base Notes

They're the last smell to appear since they evaporate from the wax. They have a long-lasting effect on your environment after the scented candle has been lit.

Base notes bring out the fullness of the scented candle. They are either rich, musky, or sweet. Vanilla, sandalwood, and other earthy scents are popular base notes. 

An alternative way to remember their differences is a cake.

Top notes set the stage, like the plate displaying the cake on a counter. Middle notes are the foundation, such as the ingredients used to make it. Base notes are the lingering impression, such as the taste of the cake. 

Beware of the amount of each note used within the scented candle. Too much of a base note will cause the scent to be heavy and overwhelming. Likewise, too much of a top note can tickle your nose.

Fragrance Families

Fragrance families have four main categories: Floral, Woody, Oriental and Fresh. There are various kinds of fragrances used to create unique candles. These are the main scent families they're categorised in.

Floral

The floral family features scents associated with fresh-cut flowers. They incorporate powdery notes and oriental florals. The most used floral families are rose, lilac, and sweet pea.

Woody

The woody family features earthy scents like amber and moss. Depicting aromatic woods or dry woody scents like musk and leather. 

Oriental

The oriental family features exotic or rich scents like vanilla and myrrh. Incense and amber are soft oriental scents. Woody orientals are sandalwood and patchouli oil.

A vanilla-scented candle is another great option. The Dictionary Meaning Collection—Mum candle has a base note of vanilla bean. 

Fresh

The fresh family scents are clean, aromatic, fruity, and bright. Aromatic herbs, greenery, and citrus are some common scents of this family used in candles. Aquatic scents are another used like ocean breeze or the seaside.

Combine to Perfection

Like the art of baking, there's an art to building fragrances. A combination of fragrance elements from each family evokes different energies and emotions. These elements of a scented candle work together in creating an inviting environment.

The fragrances should complement each other without overpowering the senses. Candles are for relaxation, setting the mood, and creating a positive environment.

The fragrance wheel displays the relationship between fragrance families. The relationship between their similarities and differences in scent. The wheel shows the subgroups and how each subgroup can lead to another by adding more of certain scents.

Choosing Personalised Candles

Now you have an idea of what goes into making scented candles. Let's go back to discussing personalised candles.

When choosing a personalised candle, think about how you want the candle to smell. This shows the recipient how they make you feel or what they mean to you, but it also shows how you perceive them. 

If you're thinking about which candle to gift a loved one, the Dictionary Meaning Candle—Love has a warm and calming scent. Let's look at the fragrance notes.

The top notes include aniseed, peach nectar, coconut milk, and pineapple. Middle notes are buttermilk, jasmine, sweet almond, coconut palm, and white ginger. The base notes are vanilla, musk, caramel, white musk, amber, and vanilla bean.

From the description of the notes, you can tell the aroma of the candle is warm and loving. Vanilla combined with floral and other scents of the oriental family provide a loving atmosphere when the candle is burning.

Receiver's Opinion

Keep in mind there may be scents the recipient does not like to smell, so it's best to steer clear of those scents in any note of the candle. Lavender is thought to be relaxing, but to some, it may be too pungent. 

Think of happy memories you had with the recipient. Were you at the beach? Or relaxing at home together with a cup of tea?

Does spending time with the person make you feel at home? The Dictionary Meaning Candle—Home has fragrance notes of cucumber, mint, and ginger. Combined with notes of jasmine, vanilla, and rosewood, the aroma feels refreshing and warm. 

Smells like home, doesn't it? Not exact but any scent which has vanilla as a note, is calming. When you think of home or being with family and friends, how do you feel?

You're happy, calm, and energised. Being around people you care about and wishing for your well-being is now created into this scent of home.

If you're far from your family and loved ones, light this candle up. Let the scent spread throughout the air. You'll feel like you're at home as your stress melts away like an ice cube left in the sun.

Dictionary Meaning Candles

This candle collection is already personalised with labels and scents for your convenience. Creating your own candle from scratch takes time and effort. Combining scents from various fragrance families is a science, so the mixture might seem nice but turn out terrible in the end.

Would you rather create a candle from scratch or select one made for your person? If you're crafty, then you could go that route but others either don't have the time or the skill. It's a messy process as well if it's your first time.

Choose a scent the recipient will never get tired of smelling. Holiday scented candles have pine and cinnamon but you wouldn't want to smell that into the new year. You'd want another scent or many scents to go with your mood or energy levels.

Does the recipient enjoy going to the beach? Feeling the ocean breeze on their face as they drink cocktails? Then the Dictionary Meaning Candle—Birthday is a great pick for them.

The top notes are cucumber and mint leaf. Middle notes are ginger root and jasmine. Base notes are cyclamen and sea salt. 

Lighting this candle will make you feel like you're at the beach. A blend of coconut and notes from the fresh fragrance family induces a peaceful atmosphere. The aroma of the candle envelopes you in the cool summer breeze of far-off beaches. 

Quality

Determine the candle quality of the product. Some candles have paraffin wax, a petroleum byproduct. When the candle is lit, it'll emit toxic fumes and can damage your health. 

No one wants a gift that's hazardous to their health. A whiff of these toxic fumes is like the smell of gasoline when it spilled on your pants or on the ground next to your car. 

The smell gives you an intense headache and could make you nauseous. Not only should the quality of the candle wax be good but the chemicals of the scents should make you feel relaxed, not tired from a piercing headache. The scent should be pleasant, not strong. 

Candles should bring forth positive energy to your environment. Giving you an escape from life's hardships or uplifting your current state of euphoria.

No matter the case, the higher the quality of the candle, the greater the scent. Quality personalised candles always last and smell better than the cheap kind. So, you can use your sense of smell to determine a candle's quality before buying it if you're able to.

Make sure to look at the product details of a candle. The scent of a candle is what everyone looks for, but keep an eye on the ingredients too. This ensures you're selecting a quality candle. 

Picking the Right Candle

Candles from this collection are Australian-made, vegan-friendly, and made from recycled bottles. They contain pure and renewable soy and candle wax blended with fragrance.

When you can't smell the candle, decoding the notes is the best way to choose. You're an expert now in fragrance notes. Check out the personalised candles in the Dictionary Meaning Collection.