Candle sweats fragrance oil
FO sweating means the wax could not bind to the fragrance at the rate you added it. It looks unprofessional and free surface oil is a fire risk near an open flame.
Why this happens
Sweating means the wax could not chemically bind the fragrance you loaded. The excess sits on the surface as free oil. It looks unprofessional and it lowers the candle's effective flash point, so treat it as a safety issue.
Likely causes
- Fragrance load above wax maximum.
- FO added below 70°C, so it did not emulsify.
- Storage in a warm room (>25°C).
How to diagnose
- Confirm load is within wax spec.
- Check FO addition temperature.
Change sheet · next batch
Fill in what you know. The change sheet below re-orders so the delta most likely to help your specific batch floats to the top.
Bring load back under the wax's stated maximum.
Full emulsification needs both temp and mechanical work.
Warm storage forces the FO back out of the wax.
Take action
- Fragrance load and IFRA: why your max load varies
IFRA category 12 caps candle fragrance load. Here's what the standard says, and why exceeding wax max backfires.