The best candle making kit for most beginners is the CandleScience Starter Candle Making Kit (Search Amazon for CandleScience Starter Candle Making Kit ). CandleScience packs two 1 lb bags of its Coconut Apricot Wax, six 8 oz candle tins, six LX 18 pretabbed wicks, two 1 oz fragrance oils, wick stickers, wick bars and labels, and says the kit makes six 8 oz candles with no experience required.

Pick the CandleScience SimplySoy Starter if you want an all-soy wax, or the Starter+ if you want clear glass jars with lids and a digital thermometer. If you own no candle tools at all, the Hearth & Harbor Soy Candle Making Kit adds a melting pot, thermometer and dye blocks, and its dried-flower version suits decorated candles.

This page used to be a premium upgrade list whose picks could not be matched to current maker product pages. It now covers beginner kits whose makers publish exactly what is in the box. None has been used to make candles for this page, and contents and wax specs come from each maker’s own pages. CandleScience sells its kits through its own store, so the Amazon links for them are labeled searches.

Quick comparison

Kit Best for Wax Containers and wicks Tools in the box
CandleScience Starter (Search Amazon for CandleScience Starter Candle Making Kit ) Best first kit overall 2 lb Coconut Apricot (apricot, coconut, paraffin, soy) Six 8 oz tins, six LX 18 pretabbed wicks Wick stickers and wick bars
CandleScience SimplySoy Starter (Search Amazon for CandleScience SimplySoy Starter Candle Making Kit ) All-soy wax 2 lb SimplySoy Artisan Wax (soy) Six 8 oz tins, six CD 20 pretabbed wicks Wick stickers and wick bars
CandleScience Starter+ (Search Amazon for CandleScience Starter+ Candle Making Kit ) Glass jars with lids 3 lb Coconut Apricot Six clear tumbler jars with metal lids, six LX 18 wicks Digital thermometer, wick stickers and bars
Hearth & Harbor Soy Kit (2 lbs) Starting with no tools 2 lb soy wax in four 8 oz bags Two 8 oz square tins with covers, four cotton wicks Melting pot, thermometer, trivet mat, 16 dye blocks
Hearth & Harbor Soy Kit + Dried Flowers Decorated botanical candles 2 lb soy wax Four 8 oz metal tins, eight cotton wicks Melting pot, thermometer, centering tool

CandleScience Starter Candle Making Kit: best first kit overall

The CandleScience Starter Candle Making Kit (Search Amazon for CandleScience Starter Candle Making Kit ) comes from a candle supply maker that also publishes the specs of the wax and wicks inside it. CandleScience lists these contents:

  • Six 8 oz candle tins
  • Two 1 lb bags of CandleScience Coconut Apricot Wax
  • Six LX 18 6" pretabbed wicks, with six wick stickers and six wick bars
  • Two 1 oz bottles of fragrance, chosen from CandleScience’s CleanScents line
  • Six warning labels, six 2.5" round product labels and printed instructions

The wax is the main reason to pick it. CandleScience describes Coconut Apricot as a single-pour container wax with a cure time of just one to two days. It is a blend: the listed ingredients are apricot, coconut, paraffin and soy, and CandleScience says the paraffin is key to the wax’s strong fragrance throw. The 1 lb bags are heat-safe, so no metal pouring pitcher is needed.

The kit lists no thermometer. CandleScience’s instructions for this wax are to heat it to 185°F (85°C) using a double boiler, add fragrance, and pour at 170°F (77°C), give or take 5°F. Plan on buying a thermometer, or choose the Starter+.

Choose it if you want wax, wicks and containers that the maker matched for you, with the shortest published cure time on this list. Skip it if you want a wax without paraffin, or a thermometer in the box.

CandleScience SimplySoy Starter Candle Making Kit: best all-soy kit

The CandleScience SimplySoy Starter Candle Making Kit (Search Amazon for CandleScience SimplySoy Starter Candle Making Kit ) has the same layout as the Starter kit, with six 8 oz tins, two 1 oz fragrances, wick stickers, wick bars and labels, but two different parts:

  • Wax: two 1 lb bags of CandleScience SimplySoy Artisan Wax, which CandleScience lists with one ingredient, soy. The kit page says it comes in a heat-safe, microwavable bag.
  • Wicks: six CD 20 6" pretabbed wicks. CandleScience describes CD as a flat braided cotton wick with paper threads woven into the cotton, designed to ensure a consistent burn with higher fragrance loads, especially in softer, more viscous natural waxes.

SimplySoy works at lower temperatures than the blend. CandleScience says to heat it to 180°F (82.2°C) using a double boiler, pour at 160°F (71.1°C), and let the candles cure for at least two days for optimal fragrance throw. Like the Starter kit, it lists no thermometer.

Choose it if you want a soy-only wax. Skip it if you want candles ready to burn sooner. CandleScience gives the blend a one-to-two-day cure.

CandleScience Starter+ Candle Making Kit: best for glass jar candles

The CandleScience Starter+ Candle Making Kit (Search Amazon for CandleScience Starter+ Candle Making Kit ) swaps the tins for six clear tumbler jars with black metal flat lids. It also adds a third pound of Coconut Apricot Wax, a third 1 oz fragrance, and a digital thermometer, which the Starter kit leaves out. The six LX 18 6" pretabbed wicks, wick stickers, wick bars, warning labels and 2" x 2" square labels round it out.

CandleScience says the Starter+ has everything you need, with no experience or fancy equipment required. The kit page does not list the jar size.

Choose it if you want glass jar candles with lids, and a thermometer included. Skip it if tins are fine for you and you already own a thermometer, since the Starter kit covers the same wax and wicks.

Hearth & Harbor Soy Candle Making Kit (2 lbs): best if you own no tools

The Hearth & Harbor Soy Candle Making Kit is the most tool-heavy kit here. Hearth & Harbor lists:

  • 2 lb of soy wax, in four 8 oz bags
  • A melting pot, a trivet mat and a thermometer
  • 16 dye blocks and four 10 ml fragrance oils
  • Two square 8 oz candle tins with covers
  • Four cotton wicks, four glue dots and four bow tie clips
  • Four stirring sticks, three finger protectors and four warning labels
  • Four kraft cards with 18-inch string

That covers melting, coloring and scenting. Two limits matter. The kit has two 8 oz tins for 2 lb of wax, so have extra heat-safe containers ready if you want to pour all of it. And Hearth & Harbor’s kit page does not publish the wax’s melt point, pour temperature or cure time, so follow the printed instructions.

Choose it if you want a melting pot, thermometer, dyes and fragrance in one box. Skip it if you want maker-published wax specs to work from.

Hearth & Harbor Soy Candle Making Kit + Dried Flowers (2 lbs): best for decorated candles

The Hearth & Harbor Soy Candle Making Kit + Dried Flowers trades the dyes and fragrance for botanical decoration and more containers. Hearth & Harbor lists 2 lb of soy wax, a melting pot, a thermometer, four 8 oz metal tins, eight cotton wicks, four wood wick holders, a metal centering tool, eight glue stickers and nine dried flowers. Two stirring sticks, two finger protectors, four warning labels, four kraft cards with string and a step-by-step guide complete the box.

The contents list names no fragrance oil, so buy one separately if you want scented candles. Hearth & Harbor’s site and its Amazon listing give different melting pot sizes, so check the listing if pot size matters to you.

Choose it if you want to decorate candles with dried flowers and like having wick holders and a centering tool. Skip it if you want scent in the box.

How to choose a candle making kit

Soy or a blend

SimplySoy Artisan Wax is listed as soy only. Coconut Apricot Wax blends apricot, coconut, paraffin and soy, and CandleScience credits the paraffin for its strong fragrance throw. Hearth & Harbor describes its kit wax as soy wax and publishes no further wax specs.

Tins or glass jars

Every kit here uses 8 oz tins except the Starter+, the only one with glass jars and lids.

Temperatures and cure time

CandleScience publishes these handling specs for the two waxes in its kits:

Wax Melt point Heat to Pour at Cure
Coconut Apricot 121–131°F (49.4–55.0°C) 185°F (85°C) 170°F (77°C) ± 5°F One to two days
SimplySoy Artisan 122–128°F (50.0–53.3°C) 180°F (82.2°C) 160°F (71.1°C) ± 5°F At least two days

Both kits that lack a thermometer still need one to hit these numbers.

Tools you still need

CandleScience’s beginner soy candle tutorial lists household items you will also need: a heat source to make a double boiler, a stirring spatula, paper towels, isopropyl alcohol and scissors. After the candles cool, it says to trim the wicks to 1/4 inch (6 mm).

Wicks are sized for the kit’s containers

CandleScience pairs LX 18 wicks with its Coconut Apricot kits and CD 20 wicks with the SimplySoy kit. If you later pour into different containers, the wick may need to change. For Coconut Apricot Wax, CandleScience says containers wider than 3.25 inches will likely need more than one wick. The candle wick size chart lists CandleScience’s starting wicks by container diameter for nine waxes.

Fragrance

Each CandleScience kit includes one 1 oz fragrance bottle per 1 lb bag of wax. CandleScience’s soy candle tutorial describes that ratio as approximately a 7% fragrance load. Hearth & Harbor’s 2 lb kit includes four 10 ml fragrance oils, and its dried-flower kit lists none.

Where to keep supplies

For bins and carts sized for a small candle bench, see the best compact candle-making storage .

Final verdict

Buy the CandleScience Starter Candle Making Kit for matched wax, wicks and tins, and add a thermometer. Choose the SimplySoy Starter for soy-only wax, or the Starter+ for glass jars and an included thermometer. With no tools at all, get the Hearth & Harbor Soy Candle Making Kit (2 lbs), or its dried-flower version for decorated candles.

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