Kalmar : Large Scented Joy Candle

Who doesn’t love to burn a beautifully fragranced candle on a warm summer evening? At The Amazing Blog, we love how the flickering ambient light from a solo candle under the stars, always adds to the mystical evening glow. This is another of our #amazingfinds with the Joy Candle from wellbeing and lifestyle brand Kalmar. More than just a candle, it’s full of botanicals and infused with amber gemstone to enhance positivity with crystal healing.

The journey of Kalmar begins with its founder, Karen Ruimy. She was born in Morocco and moved to Paris with her family when she was seven. Karen was thriving in the world of finance as she climbed up the corporate ladder and landed a position as a director at the age of 28. This also happened to be the beginning of her spiritual journey. Since then, her spiritual awakening has led her to focus on her spiritual healing, writing, dance, music and philanthropy. In 2016, she began her brand Kalmar to help others on their journey to wellbeing. She has made this her life's work - realigning the mind, body and soul through energy and intention-setting, assisting individuals to move forward on their own unique journey to wellbeing. The brand is centred around four soul states joy, calm, peace, and love; focusing on the positive holistic impacts on the body. As Karen says, "It's our passion to create indulgent self-care products that help you create sacred rituals to rejuvenate your being, uplift your mood, and boost energy." The bath, body care and candles are suitable for vegans, non-toxic, and cruelty-free. Kalmar's products are sustainably sourced as their packaging is FSC Certified. With every purchase, Kalmar will also plant one tree across the UK. They are also a member of the Forest Carbon’s Carbon 100 Club. Kalmar has made a name for themselves in the wellbeing and lifestyle industry as they won multiple awards for their range. They recently won three awards at the 2022 Beauty Shortlist Awards, ‘Best Solid Natural Fragrance’ for their Peace Balm of Serenity and two Editor’s Choice Awards for their I Am Loved Body Cream and Calm Deep Cocoon Shower Cream. The Scented Joy Candle won ‘Best Luxury Candle’ at the 2022 Beauty Shortlist Wellbeing Awards.

The Joy Candle is a luxurious candle, with a scent that lifts spirits and gently fragrances a space, it also enhances energy and positivity. As they say, "The invigorating scent freshens your mind to start a new day or open yourself up to new possibilities." According to Kalmar, this candle is good for bringing warmth and comfort to your space with an essence of a late summer evening. This candle is made from natural vegetable waxes (not specified) and contains a fresh and zesty scent of lemon, ginger and bergamot, jasmine, magnolia and white musk; that is also combined with rhodiola, cocoa, orange extract, and amber gemstone extract.

Let’s take a look at the slightly more unusual ingredients. Rhodiola is a plant that has been used in Chinese medicine for centuries and is thought to increase the body's resistance to stress. It also helps with fatigue, reduces symptoms of depression, and improves brain function and exercise performance. Cocoa, when used aromatically, actually helps calm your body and mind, and in addition to a delicious citrus scent, the orange extract boosts your mood and reduces stress. The amber gemstone extract, sourced from fossilised tree resin, has many emotional healing properties, including emotional stability through relaxation, and also helps with the reduction of depression and anxiety. It also offers strength, protection, peace, trust, wisdom, and memory.

The candle is great for setting intentions, and Kalmar recommends lighting the candle when you need a vital energy boost.. "After lighting the candle, close your eyes and say the mantra, ‘I'm so inspired at this moment, my soul is thriving." i.e. inhale the zesty scent, and exhale all the stress. Edwina, our executive editor, was one of the judges at The Beauty Shortlist Awards, and she loved lighting this candle - even in the morning - to enhance her energy, getting her prepared to conquer the day! This candle is poured into a striking buttercup yellow recyclable glass container, and packaged in a sustainably sourced card. We think that this is one to gift to a friend or to keep and enjoy for yourself. The Joy Candle makes the perfect addition to any space. To purchase see here for the 200g Joy Candle £45, or here the Smaller 75g Joy Candle £25.

Chic & Raw: Rose Quartz Heart Chakra Crystal Candle

Who doesn’t love to burn a beautifully fragranced candle in the evening? At The Amazing Blog, we love how with its flickering ambient light it helps make a house feel like a home. This is another of our #amazingfinds, more than just a candle; this  Rose Quartz Heart Chakra Crystal Candle from Chic & Raw  combines the positive energies of crystal healing, natural soy wax and a relaxing spa-like fragrance.

Binanti Cuzner and her husband Darren created Chic & Raw in 2019. The brand started as a creative outlet to help them get away from their busy and stressful work lives. With Binanti’s love of yoga, meditation and chakra healing (focal points in ancient meditative practices), she wanted to share her knowledge and beliefs to help others through her brand. Chic & Raw dedicates itself to providing holistic and luxury products beneficial for the mind, body and soul. These are mainly candles, "I wanted to create a sense of joy and harmony with these candles," said Binanti. She studied chakras and crystal healing, matching them for an optimum release in her candles for healing crystal vibration.  She wants to combine beauty with harmony to make every home beautiful by releasing uplifting scents and integrating this with the unique crystals. Binanti believes that a harmonised home, relates to peace of mind. Chic & Raw is committed to working with a few trusted suppliers, and wherever possible, sources local ingredients from UK businesses. The cotton wicks are organic, the soy wax is natural and the fragrances are a mix of essential oils or luxury fragrances from the French perfume house, Drom. We applaud the brand their giving-back policy where they recently partnered with Ecologi to plant a tree for every product sold on Earth Day. Their current candles are themed as Crystal, Tinned and Colour Therapy. Plus, they have other lifestyle products and a new skincare Honeyzen, which for now, has only one face oil. 

As mentioned, we tried was the Rose Quartz Heart Chakra Crystal Candle, presented in a solid luxury cardboard rose gold foiled box. The candle itself comes in an elegant electroplated rose gold and etched glass container (which we later repurposed for storage). Incorporated in this candle are two rose quartz crystals positioned at opposite edges; these are ethically sourced from Madagascar. Rose quartz is known to enhance the heart chakra, boosting feelings of peace, calm and love. It is often used during meditation to help open the mind and heal the heart. It’s also possible to remove these crystals as the wax melts, placing them in your hands, or on the heart chakra to activate the rose quartz while meditating. The candle is made with natural soy wax, a non-toxic alternative to paraffin. Indeed, soy wax is biodegradable, releases less soot while burning, more sustainable and burns 50% longer than paraffin. The organic cotton wick makes it easier to continuously relight the candle, where it can last up to approximately 40 hours. The soy wax contains white tea essential oil, which is known to promote a general sense of wellbeing and helps to alleviate symptoms of anxiety, insomnia and depression. This is a light and clean scent with subtle notes of citrus, basil, peony and amber. This mingles sensuously with the warm and spicy ginger oil, known for its stimulating and warming qualities. We lit this candle during those bleak February #lockdown days, using it to enhance our affirmations and offer thanks for keeping our loved ones safe. It's a candle we'd recommend lighting during meditation to uplift spirits and to help deal with any emotional pain. There are three other Crystal Candles in the range with Ruby, Amethyst and Aventurine, each one offering a different purpose. They also provide a fascinating insight on how to ‘active’ or ‘recharge’ your crystals here. As Binanti says: “Burning Chic & Raw Crystal Chakra Candles releases both the energy of the crystal and the soothing fragrances that relieves stress and helps to balance your mind and body.” Something we could all benefit from at this time. This luxurious Rose Quartz Heart Chakra Candle is available for £36 here.