Meet the Maker: INZHO Candles

Creating a candle is not as easy as some may think. When I started creating candles for fun, I was submerged into wide variety of wicks, wax and jars not knowing fully where to begin. It was a minefield! And what I thought would take me a day or so to perfect actually took me around a year to finalise.

Wax

I always knew I wanted to use soy as my aim was to create a product that was vegan which unfortunately ruled out beeswax, and natural. I have always used natural beauty products as they are so much better for your skin so I wanted to make sure my candles followed this.

Wicks

The hardest part to candle making for me was finding the right wick for my jars. There is nothing worse than buying a candle and when you burn it, the wick runs out before all the wax is melted, however I also needed to bear in mind that my jars can get warm when the candle is burning so the size of the wick is important.

I found that the premade wicks are coated in wax and yet it is never specified what the wax is, so I started creating my own wicks for my candles so I can safely say my candles are 100% soy and therefore 100% vegan.

Jars

I chose amber because it is one of the few glass colours that protects essential oils from sunlight and oxidisation. I love the amber glow that gets created from the candle especially in the evening. 

Scent

As an aromatherapist, I would only ever use essential oils – fragrance oils give me a massive headache and I often have people telling me that about scented candles they own. Part of the reason why I started creating my own candles was because I just could not find any candles made with essential oils. I now realise the main reason why is due to cost as essential oils are incredibly expensive. A fragrance oil is a diluted form of the essential oil and can be diluted in a variety of ways, which may include animal derivatives.

Now why do I name my ranges after animals? I was pretty fed up of seeing relaxing / detoxing / revitalising named candles and I am a huge animal lover so animals made sense. I  love how each animal is linked to a meaning which meant I could link my essential oil blends to that meaning too. This is a simplified version of spirit animals, linking back to the origins of INZHO. Dove, for example links with peace, so I blended essential oils that not only give you the benefit of a beautiful fragrance but the feeling of peace these essential oils create.

Many people ask how I choose my essential oils and this is where being an aromatherapist was vital. Essential oils are made up of a variety of different chemical constituents and from that they can be linked into different groups such as alcohols and phenols. These different groups link to different benefits and so it is very important that any blend is balanced – you do not want to mix an oil that is extremely calming with one that is extremely energising. Each of my blends are created to ensure a balance between the oils yet still achieving the main benefit of the animal it is named after. 

The INZHO range started as purely candles, and in March 2020 it developed to include body oils. Each is formulated with the same essential oil blends as my candle ranges and once applied, it will leave your skin both looking and feeling glowing and deeply nourished. I found that so many brands use almond oil as a base which excludes those with nut allergies. I created body oils that are nut free AND vegan. All of my body oils have a base oil mix of Sunflower, Grapeseed and Apricot Kernel oils to deeply hydrate and nourish the skin. I added vitamin E to add further nourishment along with my essential oil blends to ‘work their magic’ and provide their therapeutic benefits.

2021 is a very exciting time for me as I will be opening Haslemere’s first vegan treatment room and I will be creating a number of limited edition scents which will make an appearance during the course of the year. I will use these body oils in my treatments.

I really hope you love our products as much as I do! I am looking forward to helping connect you with your spirit animal to achieve a state of wellness and balance, leaving you “in hozho”.

Lucy is offering all Virtual High Street customers a free tea light and gift wrapping service with any order placed, until 15/3/2021. Either add "Virtual High Street Haslemere' into the notes section at checkout or drop her a message.

Click here for more information on INZHO and to contact Lucy.