The lovely smells that wax melts {also known as tarts or bars} and candles emit are associated with luxury, pampering, and romance, which is probably why they are so beloved. They also hold the potential to be very good for one’s health…or they can be very detrimental to it.
The Problems with Store-bought Wax Melts
Whether you buy wax melts from Scentsy or a brick and mortar building like Walmart or Bath & Body Works, they all have a few major problems with them–their ingredients! Most of these popular wax melts {or candles, for that matter}, are made using paraffin wax.
Paraffin wax is bad because it is a petroleum by-product that, when burned {such as via a wax warmer or a candle} emits toxins into the air that are harmful to health when inhaled {which, the whole point of wax melts or candles is to inhale the smell} (SC State University).
Beyond the paraffin wax, store-bought wax melts and candles also contain other bad-for-you ingredients in the form of artificial fragrances and colorants. Since these fragrances and colorants {like most any other ingredients the wax melt or candle might contain} are undisclosed, you don’t know what you’re getting or how bad they are for your health.
The Problems with Soy Wax
Although soy wax might be a somewhat more healthful alternative to paraffin wax, it, too really isn’t always the best. The vast majority of soy anything is made using genetically modified soy beans that have been treated with pesticides, herbicides, and so on. Now, if you can find soy wax that came from organic, non-GMO plants that have not been treated with any poisons, then, yes go for it! For me, I didn’t find any that I trusted.
Breakdown of Ingredients
Just before I dive into the how much and the how to, let me introduce you to the ingredients for my DIY wax melts. I chose three very basic, simple, all-natural ingredients for my wax melts.
- Beeswax. This is the base of the wax melts {because you just have melts if there’s no wax…yeah}. Stick to using all-natural, unbleached beeswax and make sure it’s real beeswax {just because something looks like a honeycomb doesn’t mean it’s real beeswax; and just because a label says beeswax doesn’t mean it’s not imitation beeswax…always dig a little deeper}.
- Coconut oil. This ups the healthfulness of the wax melts by a notch or two and also makes the beeswax softer so that it doesn’t take forever and ten days for the beeswax to melt {if it was solid beeswax, it’d take quite a while for the warmer to melt it}. Be sure your coconut oil choice is expeller pressed.
- Essential oils. This is the whole point of the wax melts–to get lovely smells into the air! And since we’re using essential oils {I only trust and only use the Young Living brand, by the way}, it’s also awesome because they support good health in addition to smelling good!
Scent Blends
Below are some scent ideas to make your wax melts smell lovely. Add the total amount of essential oils recommended below to the entire recipe {you’re also of course welcome to use others not listed}. Depending on the specific oils you use and how strong your sense of smell is, you may need to increase or decrease the amount of oil you use. The blends I share below include strong oils so the fragrance should be stronger.
| Italian Kitchen • 25 drops marjoram essential oil • 15 drops basil essential oil • 15 drops oregano essential oil • 5 drops thyme essential oilApple Pie • 30 drops cinnamon bark essential oil • 10 drops nutmeg essential oil • 10 drops ginger essential oil • 10 drops cardamom essential oil Pumpkin Spice |
Citrus Mint • 20 drops peppermint essential oil • 20 drops tangerine essential oil • 20 drops lemon essential oil • 15 drops spearmint essential oilFrozen Forest • 25 drops blue spruce essential oil • 25 drops peppermint essential oil • 15 drops pine essential oil • 15 drops vanilla absolute Candy Cane |
Tips for These Wax Melts
- Essential oils. The scent throw {how much yummy smelling goodness emits from the wax melt} will depend on the type and amount of essential oils used. I recommend sticking to stronger oils like peppermint, cinnamon, and most of the tree ones. Subtler essential oils do put good stuff into the air, but because their fragrance is lighter, it’s harder to smell. You may need to add more or less based on the type of essential oil. If, after they have set and you find that the smell isn’t as strong as you’d like, you can re-melt the wax melts as explained in the instructions below then, once fully melted, remove from the heat and add more essential oil {be sure to stir them in well}.
- Beeswax. You can use a brick of beeswax or pastille beeswax for this recipe. If using a block, be sure to grate the amount you need first using a cheese grater. Also, be sure to use all-natural, unbleached beeswax.
- Storage. Store these wax melts in a cool, dry area in an airtight container. Because they are kinda softish to ensure that they don’t take forever to melt, you may want to store them between sheets of parchment paper or just keep them tucked away in the refrigerator {especially during the summer and in warmer or more humid climates}.
- Use. Each melt lasts a long time! Keep reusing it until it is no longer putting out a scent.
- Leftover wax. When you’re done with a melt, save it. You can melt it down again, add more essential oils, create more melts, and keep them going even further!
BONUS RANDOM TIP: This might be kinda random, but if you want to, you could totally use these wax melts as lip balm! You may want to switch up which oils go into it {I’d use less and milder essential oils such as lavender, lemon, orange, and so on; or just a rather small amount of peppermint because peppermint lip balm is awesome and the peppermint essential oil serves as a natural lip plumper}. Hooray for versatile natural stuff!!!
DIY All-natural Wax Melts {To Use in Wax Warmers}
Ingredients
- 1/2 c.
+ 2 tbsp. coconut oil - 1 oz.
(by weight) beeswax pellets - essential oil{s} of choice
Instructions
- Bring an inch or two of water to a simmer over medium heat in a small saucepan. Cover the opening of the saucepan with a glass bowl to create a double boiler.
- Put the coconut oil and beeswax in the glass bowl. Allow to heat, stirring occasionally, until completely melted.
- Remove from the heat and thoroughly stir in essential oils.
- Pour into mold and allow to cool until hardened {popping then in the refrigerator expedites this}.
- To use, place one in the proper bowl of a wax warmer and use the warmer as directed by the manufacturer.
Notes
Thank you TJ! I found this information very helpful, and am just starting to make my own wax melts! I have one question: why only this type of essential oil? How do you feel about the Now brand of organic essential oils?
Hi, Avis. I researched essential oils for over a year and found Young Living to be the purest (checked out gas chromotography, did tests, etc.). The Now brand I would not recommend as they do contain unhealthful fillers so they can be sold for less.
I asked YL for GC/MS reports and they refused to provide any.
You could try again. Could have been a stubborn employee. They gave me some when I was researching it.
Hi, TJ! I am so excited to have found your recipe. I am going to make these for some teachers that I work with at school. I’m also happy to see that you use a high quality essential oil, such as YL. I sell Doterra, and always enjoy meeting others who love EO’s.
Hi from the UK TJ !
I am definitely going to gift some of these to friends this Christmas. I am addicted to wax melts but as you say I have found some of the shop bought ones are now NOT even using soy wax and The smell they emit once the fragrance is finished can be really awful, like a burning petrol smell 🙁
LOVE LOVE LOVE your site!!!
I do have one question….is the beeswax/coconut oil mixture reusable after the scent has dissipated???
Sure is. You can add more essential oils.
Is beewax better than Soy or vice a verse. I have a cat and dog. I use Scentsy wax melts now. Can I also use lavender essential oil?
are the recipe amounts measured in cups? I usually use metric
Thanks for sharing all of this, TJ. I’m so excited to start making my own non-toxic tarts and candles. Two questions for you: First, I’ve only been buying organic EO’s. Veriditas Botanicals and Aura Cacia. Were these brands included in your research? Second, have you tried making tarts using cookie cutters on a baking sheet? I saw this idea on another page, but they were using paraffin/soy wax. Just curious if the beeswax & coconut oil work well using that method, too.
Hi, Dina. I did look into both of those brands. Aura Cacia was one of the worst and Veriditas Botanicals, while a little higher quality, still paled in comparison to Young Living. And, nope, I’ve never tried the baking sheet method. You’re welcome to try and share how it works in a comment here. 🙂
Hi. In your research did you look at Rocky Mountain Oils? They used to be Native American Nutritionals. Thanks!
Hi can’t wait to try this out ? would this method also work for making scented candles
Hi, Rhian! I believes so, yes. 🙂
Where do you buy your beeswax?? 🙂
Hi, Kristen! I get them off of Amazon. They’re linked to in the post. 🙂
Hello, I looked through the post and didn’t see the amazon link to your beeswax.
Hi TJ,
The link for the wax brings you to Amazon, but not directly to the product you recommended.
Can you send me a direct link? I tried finding a good brand, but fear getting duped.
Thank you,
Jacqueline
Hello TJ. If I substituted essential oil with fragrance oil, would the wax tarts still be considered natural and safe for inhalation?
Hi, Renee! Unlikely since such things are typically dubbed fragrance oil because they have adulterants that are not good for the body. What brand are you looking at for the fragrance oils?
Do you sell these? If so please contact me!
I sell the essential oils, but the wax melts. Sorry!
How long does one melt from one of your recipes emit scent for, before it needs more EO?? I love the candle look, but I wonder if diffusing is just as easy for that scent.
It lasted probably a week or so, depends on the specific oil. It is actually easier to just diffuse though. Less work and lasts probably about as long. 🙂
one tart lasted a week? or one whole recipe?
One tart.
Hi TJ
Is there a brand you recommend for beeswax and coconut oil?? I didn’t see any recommendations in the post. Imposing for a healthier way to make my home smell better.
Another question, TJ! What should the temperature be when you put the EO in? If the wax/coconut oil combo is too hot, won’t it kind of ‘burn off’ more of the EO scent? So, is there a certain temp to aim for to drop in the EO?
Let it cool till it just starts solidifying.
Doesn’t heat from the wax melter destroy the benefits of the EO? I was told a) that the scent is the only thing that survives the heat from the warmer and b) this is why YL recommends cold diffusion, so that all of the benefits of the oils remain intact.
This is a lower temperature than what would totally destroy, but, yes, it’s far better to diffuse them. This recipe is there because of demand from those who wanted to make the tart things. I’d recommend diffusing above this for sure.
Hi,
Thank you so much for this recipe, Can’t wait to try it out. I live in Singapore where its quite humid and you mentioned that these tend to be on the softer side. I want to make some as favours for a shower and was wondering if its worth putting in less coconut oil to help preserve them. Do you have any thoughts or experience in this matter?
Thanks
Hi, FM. You sure can try. The downside is that they’ll take longer to melt.
My 6yr old son has sinus issues only when sleeping. Wakes up stuffy with an irritated throat (because he becomes a mouth breather after his nose is stuffed up). I ordered scentsy warmer with the Just Breathe to help with the issue. It smells like lemon cleaner and gave us a headache!!
Do you have an oil blend of eucalyptus, mint, lavender fragrance? Or any essential oil blend that will help with breathing?
Thanks!
Hi, Jen! Thanks for the comment and sorry I took so long getting to it. I was gone for a week and came back to hundreds of comments so just now getting around to this. So sorry!
So, what I would highly, highly recommend is that you get an essential oil diffuser and some R.C. {stands for Respiratory Congestion}, Breath Again, and/or SniffleEase. These three are Young Living’s AMAZING breathing blends. SniffleEase is formulated especially for kids, but at his age the other two would work great as well. Feel free to contact me via the contact form if you have any further questions and/or check out my essential oil landing page at MeasuringFlower.com/EssentialOils. Have a blessed day!
I want to find an alternative to paraffin for my Dr. Scholl’s Thermal Therapy Bath (for hands and feet). Would your wax melt recipe work for this purpose?
Get a sleep study on your son. Worked wonders on my Grandson. They removed his tonsils.
After making soy candles for years I just tried this – and had the mint orange and lemon EO’s and just love it! Thank you so much!
My sister makes all natural wax melts with soy wax which she gets from an organic website. She said it takes less essential oil then with beeswax. She makes beeswax candles and said it’s difficult to add scent because so much is required.
Awesome article! Thanks for sharing this. I was gifted a wax warmer and some melts for Christmas and I’ve been hesitant to use it knowing all the bad things that traditional wax melts contain. I’ll be trying this out today!
Wanting to make my own wax melts and I have liver issues and asthma wanting to know were to purchase the oils,and the name of the beeswax,and what kind of coconut oil to buy.I just purchased a wax warmer from Walmart and it came with wax melts and it made me have severe coughing spells and headaches so I need your help on were to buy the items you say are good for your health.
Thanks Tina
Hi, Tina! In this article, under the “Breakdown of Ingredients” section, I’ve linked to the beeswax and oils I recommend. 🙂 The only essential oil brand I can recommend for quality is Young Living (more on them here: http://measuringflower.com/essentialoils). Hope this helps!
I can’t wait to try this recipe. Thanks for sharing.
I’m trying the wax warmers because the Diffusers have a real hard time giving out any scent at all! Unless your nose is within an inch of the Diffuser, there’s just no scent in the room…even if I use lots of drops of essential oil. So here’s hoping the warmers work well.
Could you please tell me where you purchase your beeswax for wax melts?
hi tj! 🙂
do you recommend orange essential oils for this project? if so how many drops would you recommend in a batch. thanks so much!
Hi, could you please tell me why you use expeller pressed coconut oil?
Many thanks
Rachel
Hello! I’m up to 60 drops of essential oil in my wax melts…I’m making 4 6-cubed containers at a time. I’m still not only getting a smell, but all I do smell is the wax and coconut oil? Also, I’m melting these down in a parafinn melter. Could it be too hot? Is it altering the smell? Thank you!
I purchased a Partylite melter and it melts more slowly than one bought at Walmart or elsewhere. Will this still melt in one of these do you think? I love this idea!!
I am wondering if you have researched the brand Dotera. I understand it is an off shoot of Young Living. Thank you
Hi, Cindy. Yes, I did. They have much fewer oils and blends, failed some gas chromotography results, and I just plain don’t like their dirty dealing. Which is why YL won. 🙂
Hi TJ,
I enjoyed reading your post! Just bought a few wax warmers but I didn’t have the knowledge about the toxicity until now. So, I’m going to return a lot of the melts I purchased and make my own with your recipe…Have you heard of or researched Epigenetic Labs essential oils sold by Organixx?
What do you think of those? They are certified organic, GMO free, indigenously sourced and have a full one year “no questions asked” money-back guarantee. I bought some supplements from this company and got a few of their oils but have yet to use them. Your thoughts are very much appreciated, since it sounds like you do a lot of research on oils.
Thank you for posting this!
Excuse my ignorant question but what does 1/2 c. + 2 tbsp. stand for? 1/2 cups + 2 tablespoons of coconut oil?
Yes
Hi TJ,
I am so happy to have found your post . What is the melt point? Thank you
This is a fantastic post! I am excited to try these beewax, coconut oil and essential oils combination. I get horrible migraines from cheap wax. I defuse with essential oils for many reasons. TJ this is awesome. Next time I purchase essential oils, I will order Young Living. Thank you for sharing!!! 🙂
Hi TJ,
Thank you for sharing your post, I have a quick question I want to make coconut wax melts but is there enough fragrance without essential oils as I could only find coconut flavour oil
Thank you
If I wanted to make a coffee melt, would I use brewed coffee or ground beans? I love the smell of fresh brewed coffee, but I am not a fan of flavored coffees. How much aroma emits from the coconut oil? I wouldn’t want that to cover the coffee smell.
Hi TJ, I am wondering if you know of another oil that can be used instead of coconut oil? My mom is allergic to it. I would like to make these .
I did research but not as extensive as you. Did you research Rock Mountain oils or Mountain Rose oils?
Yes, those were part of our research. 🙂
The real problem is WHERE to find an honest beeswax seller. 99% of all the wax sold on Ebay is like you say, synthetic with perfume, colors and paraffin. Those chinese sellers make it look real and mould it with ‘beeswax’ written on it and so on . Everybody is saying “Pure 100% Organic”. It’s all a massive scam. Even American beekeepers are cheating. It’s almost impossible to buy real wax online.
Hi TJ,
Thanks so much for all the info you share. I am so delighted to come across your site. I too have recently started making melts. I am wondering about using coconut wax, purchased from NorthWood Candle supply. It is advertised as 90% coconut wax, 10% palm and soy. Have any idea how much beeswax to try to firm it up just a bit, per lb.? Do you have any suggestions where else to get coconut wax?
Thanks very much,
Sue
I have a cat in the house, Would vanilla extract work as a scent in these instead of EOs? Alcohol is flammable so should it be non-alcoholic vanilla?
What alternative oil can I use instead of coconut. We have a severe coconut allergy in our house.
Hi! I’m just wondering about the 1/2 cup and 2tbsp of coconut oil, is there any way you could be more specific on the 1/2 cup measurement? Also, amazing post thank you so much for the information!
Hi what are your thoughts on simply Earth?
I am going o make these soon, but was wondering if you recommend unrefined vs refined coconut oil? Not sure if unrefined would end up having a very coconut-y scent or if it doesn’t matter. The link for coconut oil in your recipe takes me to amazon, not the specific product.
Will unrefined coconut oil make the scent to coconut-y? I wonder if refined is a better choice or if it doesn’t matter in the end? Thanks, hoping to make ASAP!
I used unrefined and it smelled WAY too coconut-ty even with 80 drops of essential oil.
Hi could you please tell me how much beeswax and coconut oil I need to use? Thank you
your link for young living oils takes me to rocky mountain oils