Oftentimes, the fragrances we select for our home are a direct reflection of our mood. Or, at least, the mood we're hoping to set. For lifestyle and fragrance influencer Kudzi Chikumbu—also known by his social media alias Sir Candle Man—he found that candles, and scentscaping in general, often allowed him to transport into other worlds and realities, based on the stories the fragrances would create in his mind.
"It all started by accident. I was in Paris with my friends for a Beyoncé concert. We were shopping, and while waiting for them, I started smelling this fragrance which happened to be a candle," Sir Candle Man shares. "I immediately could imagine a story related to that scent. It was what I imagined it would smell like if I was living in Paris, and I was having a dinner party on a terrace, with R&B playing in the background."
Once stateside, and months later, the TikTok executive was able to find the exact same candle which took him back to his time in the French city. He also learned that the perfumer created the scent based on his own apartment in Paris. Moved by this, he decided to share the story on social media. Thus, Sir Candle Man was born.
While he didn't initially start off with the following he has today, the brand has now grown exponentially all through organic interactions and posts.
"For some reason, people just really gravitated toward the page because it was very authentic in many ways and just the purity of me. I posted a video of me spraying perfume which, I later learned, I was doing incorrectly based on the comments," reveals Chikumbu. "So I made a video of the proper ways, and it got millions of views. From there, I started posting more videos teaching people how to properly use their candles and other tips and tricks. Now I spend much of my days curating videos, finding and testing the best luxury candles and fragrances for people to try."
@sircandleman How to keep your candle vessels clean ✨ #cleantok #candles #candletok #learnontiktok ♬ original sound - Sir Candle Man
Below, Sir Candle Man shares with us three top tips for proper home candle burning. He also shares with us some of his favorites at the moment.
Always trim your wicks
"I've seen way too many mangled candles out in the streets. Always trim your wick to about a quarter of an inch," he advises. "The reason is, if it's too long, the flame will burn too hot and can interfere with the fragrance."
Let your candle burn to the full melt pool
Your candles should burn all the way to the full edges with every burn. If not, you'll get a ring and your candle will only burn within that small area; thus, wasting lots of wax.
Burn away from windows, fans or drafts
"It will cause the flame to burn unevenly," Sir Candle Man explains. "It can also create extra soot not only in the vessel but, depending on the wax, it can end up on your ceiling, too."
As for his favorites, he says right now he's really into the Restorative Retreat candle by LAFCO, the beige collection by CLR Los Angeles—which is Black-owned—and when he wants to splurge a little, he opts for Trudon scents.
"Next month I'll also be bringing back my "Soft Life" candle (available for pre-order) in collaboration with L'or de Seraphine. It sold out the first time around, but we're excited to release it again," he shares.
