Why luxury candles are so expensive
Founded in 1643 in France, Trudon is one of the oldest candle manufacturers in the world. Its candles lined Marie Antoinette's bedroom and the churches of Paris. Today, prices range from $48 for one taper candle to $660 for a "great"-sized jarred candle. Its legacy isn't the only thing behind that hefty price tag. Every candle is meticulously handcrafted with high-quality materials, right down to the glass jar it comes in. Here's why luxury candles are so expensive.
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00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:03 This massive Troudon candle will set you back $660.
00:14 Sylvie uses this contraption to make sure each of the five wicks
00:18 is perfectly straight as she fills the glass container
00:21 with specially formulated wax.
00:24 [SPEAKING FRENCH]
00:26 [SPEAKING FRENCH]
00:30 That's why Christine will spend the 2 and 1/2 hours it
00:33 takes to straighten 3,000 wicks on these smaller candles
00:37 by hand.
00:39 And while these cost less than the five wick candle,
00:42 at $52 each, they're still more than three times
00:45 the price of a $17 Yankee candle of similar size.
00:49 Every step of the process at Troudon's candle factory
00:55 in Normandy, France, has been honed over 350 years
01:00 to create candles that burn evenly, smoke free,
01:03 and don't sputter.
01:06 So what made these candles good enough for Marie Antoinette?
01:09 And why are they so expensive?
01:11 Troudon goes back to 1643.
01:17 And back then, its products served an essential purpose.
01:20 [SPEAKING FRENCH]
01:25 You could find the bright white, clean-burning candles
01:28 everywhere, from the churches of Paris
01:31 to Marie Antoinette's chambers in Versailles.
01:33 [SPEAKING FRENCH]
01:44 The basics of candle making are simple.
01:46 Pour melted wax into a glass with a wick.
01:49 But a luxury candle must take those base components
01:52 and elevate them.
01:55 Many cheaper candles use a base of petroleum-based paraffin
01:59 wax, while luxury brands tend to opt for natural waxes.
02:03 Up until 2018, Troudon used blends featuring
02:06 beeswax in its candles.
02:09 [SPEAKING FRENCH]
02:20 Now, the company uses some paraffin wax,
02:23 but relies on vegetable oil for most of its candles.
02:27 [SPEAKING FRENCH]
02:37 The wax melts overnight, and fragrances
02:40 are added in the morning, right before pouring.
02:44 Troudon's most popular scented candle is filled by machine.
02:49 But its highest-end offerings, like this $660 great-sized
02:53 candle, are filled by hand.
02:58 [SPEAKING FRENCH]
03:04 Sylvie Lemaire glues five large wicks
03:07 to the bottom of the jar with a squeeze of silicon.
03:09 [SPEAKING FRENCH]
03:23 And when the wicks are dry, in goes the wax.
03:28 [SPEAKING FRENCH]
03:37 As the wax dries, it constricts, leaving space
03:41 around the edges and deformities that require a second pour.
03:46 It takes hours to dry completely,
03:48 but there's really only one way to know.
03:50 [SPEAKING FRENCH]
04:00 But before Sylvie can complete the second pour,
04:03 it's time to pinch the wicks.
04:05 And same goes for the small versions.
04:07 [SPEAKING FRENCH]
04:20 Christine tugs and straightens each wick.
04:23 [SPEAKING FRENCH]
04:38 Crooked or wilted wicks can affect
04:40 the evenness of the burn.
04:42 [SPEAKING FRENCH]
04:54 And not all wicks are created equal.
04:56 The lab optimizes wick sizes based
04:58 on the chemical formulas of the different scents.
05:01 But not all of Trudron's offerings
05:09 are meant to be burned, even when they do have wicks.
05:12 [SPEAKING FRENCH]
05:20 Sylvia Bernal has worked at Trudron for three years,
05:24 but she has more than a decade of experience
05:26 making wax busts.
05:28 The bust collection is unique to Trudron.
05:31 It's a collaboration with the French National Museum Council,
05:34 which provided the first molds.
05:36 [SPEAKING FRENCH]
05:46 But even if they'll never see a flame,
05:47 these wax sculptures are still created
05:50 with the same attention to detail
05:52 as Trudron's more traditional offerings.
05:55 [SPEAKING FRENCH]
06:09 [SPEAKING FRENCH]
06:25 But the mold only does part of the work.
06:29 [SPEAKING FRENCH]
06:53 She can also add material.
06:55 [SPEAKING FRENCH]
07:07 And if there's a hole too big to fill
07:08 or some other major flaw--
07:11 [SPEAKING FRENCH]
07:15 The busts are made from paraffin wax,
07:17 sometimes with a little added support, a taper candle
07:21 to hold everything in place.
07:23 [SPEAKING FRENCH]
07:32 One of the final steps is lightly
07:34 melting the foot of the bust on a hot plate to flatten it.
07:38 [SPEAKING FRENCH]
07:42 [SPEAKING FRENCH]
07:58 Nathalie Egbert is working on improving Trudron's wax
08:02 formulas even further.
08:04 Here, candles burn in olfactory chambers all day long.
08:08 She periodically evaluates their scent
08:11 and tests how well they burn.
08:13 [SPEAKING FRENCH]
08:23 Evaluating the smell of new candles
08:25 is the most subjective part of her job.
08:28 [SPEAKING FRENCH]
08:48 She notes her feedback and works with the company's
08:51 various development teams to perfect the formula.
08:54 [SPEAKING FRENCH]
09:13 The lab is also responsible for quality control.
09:17 It's this attention to detail that sets luxury candles apart.
09:22 The global luxury candle market is
09:24 expected to be worth more than $1 billion by 2030.
09:28 [SPEAKING FRENCH]
09:52 [SPEAKING FRENCH]
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