How to Use Our Beeswax Candles With a Candle Warmer Lamp

Getting the best scent from your candle, without ever lighting the wick

Candle warmer lamps can be a beautiful way to enjoy your Soli Deo Gloria candle without an open flame. For the best performance, however, proper warmer use and positioning are essential, especially with pure beeswax.

Our candles are made with 100% beeswax and essential oils, rather than the softer waxes commonly found in conventional scented candles. Beeswax has a relatively high melting point, generally around 144–149°F (62–65°C), so it needs adequate, properly positioned heat to create a melt pool.

That means simply placing your candle somewhere beneath a warmer and turning it on may not give you the experience you’re expecting, but once you nail positioning, you will find the candles (or jarred wax melts)and beautiful scent to your home. 

Want more good news? We've tested the candle warmer lamps we sell specifically with our candles, so once you know what you're looking for, using one is simple.

[Step 1] Start With the Right Lamp Position

The distance that matters is the distance between the bulb and the surface of the wax.

Your candle should be centered directly beneath the bulb, with the lamp positioned at our recommended starting height. Top-down warmer lamps work by directing heat onto the surface of the candle, creating a liquid layer of wax from which the aromatic compounds are released. Heat level must be HIGH.

This is our recommended starting position. Measure from the surface of the wax to the bulb 2.5 inches—not from the top of the jar.

Your position may need to vary slightly depending on the temperature of your home. A cooler room can require a little more heat than a warmer one. But with the warmer lamps we sell, you shouldn't need to make dramatic adjustments from the position we've tested.

[Step 2] Start on High, Then Turn It Down

With our SDG Candle Warmer Lamp, we begin approximately 2.5 inches above the wax on HIGH. Once a full melt pool has formed, turn the warmer down to LOW to maintain it. If LOW isn't quite enough for your room temperature, move up to MEDIUM.

Hit the minus button until lamp light is at low after initial pool- move up to medium only if pool does not maintain due to room temp.

Using another warmer? Different warmers vary in heat output, bulb wattage, and design, so the ideal distance and setting may differ. Use our melt-pool examples below as your guide.

Your Melt Pool Tells You Everything

You want the heat to create an even pool of liquid (translucent) wax across the surface of the candle.

Just right! Look for an even, small, completely translucent melt pool across the surface of your candle.

Your entire candle does not need to become liquid. A top-down warmer is designed to melt the upper layer of wax; the candle underneath should remain solid.

And this is where one of the most common warmer mistakes happens.

If Your Wax Looks Thick, Cloudy, or “Glue-Like”…

This is one of the most common signs that a candle warmer isn't providing enough heat for our beeswax candles.

Beeswax softens as it heats before becoming fully liquid. If the top of your candle looks thick, cloudy, sludgy, or almost glue-like rather than developing a clear-to-translucent liquid melt pool, your candle likely needs more heat. Here is an example:

Not quite there! If your wax looks thick, opaque, or glue-like, it is softening but hasn't reached a sufficient temperature to form a proper liquid melt pool or throw any scent.

First, make sure your candle is centered directly beneath the bulb. Then decrease the distance between the bulb and the surface of the wax in small incriments.

Give the candle time to respond after making an adjustment. As the beeswax reaches the proper temperature, that cloudy, softened wax should transition into a smooth, liquid, more translucent melt pool.

Closer Isn't Always Better

This is the other side of warmer misuse.

If you're not getting the scent you expected, it can be tempting to move the bulb as close to the wax as possible. But more heat isn't automatically better.

The goal isn't to make the deepest or hottest melt pool possible. You're trying to give the beeswax enough heat to melt the surface and release its aroma effectively.

Excessive heat can make aromatic compounds evaporate more quickly, meaning you may get a very strong initial release but exhaust that top layer quickly.

Too much heat. Your candle doesn't need a deep pool of liquid wax to release its aroma. See how far down from top translucent wax goes- that is too much! 

If your candle is melting much more aggressively than our example of a proper melt pool, move the lamp slightly farther away.

What Happens When the Scent Starts to Fade?

Here's another major difference between burning a candle and warming one.

When you burn a candle, wax is consumed as the candle burns. With a lamp warmer, you're repeatedly melting the same upper layer of wax.

Eventually, that top layer can have significantly less aroma left to release even though the wax itself is still sitting there.

When you've had multiple warming sessions and notice that your candle isn't giving you the scent it once did, don't automatically move the lamp closer and closer trying to force more scent from that same wax. Warmer guidance (and us here at SDGCC) commonly recommends removing some of the spent liquid wax so that a fresh layer beneath can be warmed. 

Allow the wax to cool enough to handle safely, but not completely, so you can pour excess wax IN THE TRASH! Do not pour in the sink or toilet. 

One Important Note About Burning After Warming

If you've chosen to use your candle with a warmer, we recommend continuing to use it as a warmer candle rather than switching back and forth between warming and burning.

Repeated melting can affect the wick's original position. Other major candle manufacturers similarly caution against burning a candle after it has been used under a warmer because the wick can potentially shift.

So pick your method and enjoy it that way: Burn it, or warm it.

A Few Final Warmer Tips

Always center your candle beneath the bulb, use the warmer on a stable surface, away from pets and children, and follow the safety and operating instructions included with your lamp.

Most importantly, don't chase scent by continually increasing the heat. Watch your melt pool. Once you know what properly warmed beeswax looks like, your candle will tell you whether your warmer needs an adjustment.

Using Our Jarred Beeswax Melts?

Our jarred wax melts can be used under your candle warmer lamp, too! Because they're made with the same pure beeswax and essential oils as our candles, the same basic principle applies: beeswax needs enough heat to become fully liquid before you'll get the best scent release.

With an SDG Candle Warmer Lamp, start on HIGH, with the bulb approximately 2.5 inches above the surface of the jar. Use 2-4 melts at a time. Once it has completely liquefied, reduce the warmer to LOW to maintain it, moving up to MEDIUM if needed.

You don't need to melt the entire jar. You're looking for a small, fully liquid, translucent layer across the top of amount of melts you have chosen —just like the proper candle melt pool pictured.

If your melt looks thick, cloudy, creamy, or glue-like, it needs more heat. Use the troubleshooting examples to adjust your warmer.

A Note About Our Candle Warmer Lamps

The positions and examples shown in this guide are specifically based on the candle warmer lamps sold by Soli Deo Gloria Candle Company and tested with our beeswax candles.

Different lamps can use different bulbs, wattages, heat output, and distances from the candle. If you're using a warmer purchased elsewhere, our exact positioning recommendations may not apply.

We've done the testing on ours so you don't have to, you just need to start at our recommended position, watch your melt pool, and make small adjustments if your home's temperature calls for it.

Pure beeswax is a little different. That's part of what we love about it.