A Little Burst Of Scent

That's what I decided on, once it became clear I would never be able to bring myself to empty whole bottles of essential oil into just one candle.

Tiny candles with lots of oil for their size!

Initially I thought tea-light candles would be perfect for this - they are pretty small after all. But they burn for maybe an hour or two, and are effectively a use-once thing. I think they'd be better suited for gift sets.

So I settled for a small jar about 1.5 inch x 1.5 inch in size, which I figured would be good for 3-4 hours over multiple uses.

Don't burn your candles on the bed, kids

That was the state of it after burning for half an hour. I hadn't filled it to the top with wax, plus, I used paraffin wax, which means it shrank to an even lower level after cooling down. So in all, it must've burnt down 4-5 mm in height in half an hour. I think this will definitely go for 4.5 - 5 hours at least!

What you need:

1. However much wax (I used paraffin) you think you need for whatever small jar or mould you've got. I don't know how much of the wax I used by weight for the 1.5" x 1.5" jar above because I just eyeball these things. If the wax is in the form of pellets or flakes, then you could probably go for an amount that fills the jar/mould 1.5 - 1.75 times to start with.
   

2. Essential oil of choice! I used Ylang Ylang because my mum likes it (she says it reminds her of the incense her mum used during everyday puja) and I saw it on sale on amazon, which was perfect timing, hah. For this jar, I put in ~5ml of oil (eyeballed again, as the first thing I did on opening the packaging of the bottle was accidentally drop the dropper (hehe) and shatter it to teeny pieces (yes, I was surprised too, that the dropper was made of glass)).

The candle gave off a mild, but very noticeable, scent after a half hour of burning (in a slightly large room with minimal ventilation). For just 5ml of oil, and a projected 4.5 hours of burn-time (which can be extended slightly by adding some stearin (I didn't, because stearin also increases shrinkage, and I was using a jar for the candle, I didn't want it to shrink too much from the sides) and snipping the wick to a quarter of an inch before burning), I'd say I'm really happy with the result! Now I just need to make sure I keep it wrapped up in cling-wrap when not in use, or it might lose its scent.

Bear in mind that Ylang Ylang is more of a base note (this wiki places it as middle/base), so it will have a more noticeable scent than other oils with just the 5ml. Middle and top notes will need more, presumably.

But as this is my first ever candle not from a kit that actually gave off a smell while burning, I am overjoyed.

Now I know what I need to experiment with next - making a single top-note scent candle and a single middle-note scent candle, and seeing how much oil I need for a similar scent throw as today's Ylang Ylang. Then I can try gauging how much of each kind I'd need for mixed scents. I imagine I'd be able to make more such little bursts of scent (a.k.a. scent bombs (teehee)) with mixes that measure 5-8ml overall. That's still a bit much of oil for so small a candle, if you ask me. But it's better than dunking 40 ml on a single pillar candle.

P.S. - ignore the weird blobs on the candle surface, I was trying to stew some lavender buds in the wax, and they ended up adding nothing at all to the mix, odour-wise.

P.P.S. - I dislike the smell of Ylang Ylang oil. It makes my throat itch, and it's too heady (though not as heady as rose - and I dislike rose oil too, hehe).

And definitely don't burn them near your laptop