My Story

I love burning candles and at times it's critical to maintaining my sanity. Over the years, I have spent hundreds and hundreds of dollars on various sizes and scents. Regardless of the manufacturer, three things were consistent; candle ingredients were not transparent, candle burn times rarely matched what the label advertised, and each candle had a considerable amount of wax in the container once the wick had reached the end. One day, I opened a cabinet in my garage filled with candle jars containing leftover wax, and just like that, I had a project. I started re-melting the candles to create candle melts. I quickly learned that re-melting the wax resulted in my candle melts having little to no fragrance. This is where things got real! While doing research on candles and fragrances, not only did I learn why my candle melts had lost fragrance, I also learned about the paraffin candles I was burning in my home, instantly, the peace that candle burning provided was disrupted. 

Paraffin is a petroleum-based by-product produced when rendering crude oil. In combination with synthetic fragrances, these candles look and smell great, unfortunately, they create additional pollution in our homes. Further research led me to natural wax candles. Waxes such as soy, palm and coconut are natural wax options, however, they are soft and require chemical hardeners or other additives in order to achieve a long burning candle. In some instances, candle makers will add beeswax to paraffin and other natural waxes to extend candle life. In comparison, beeswax is produced by honey bees. The scent and color are determined by the flora of the region in which the honey bee forages. After a tremendous amount of trial and error, I discovered the beauty of 100% pure beeswax and I was determined to craft a long burning, natural candle, free of chemicals and synthetic fragrances. The rest is history in the making!

June Bug Candles creates non-toxic, long burning, luxury candles, utilizing beeswax as a natural alternative to the common paraffin wax candle. Our beeswax is sourced from U.S. apiaries and hand poured in small batches in Arizona using 100% cotton wicks. All our labels and much of our packaging is hand crafted by small business owners throughout the United States.