Gorgeous wick-trimmers
For tiny moments of blissful candle husbandry
Keeping my candles neat and tidy is one of the very few tasks that makes me feel like I have my sh*t together, as if I have some minuscule element of control over my chaotic home.
Once or twice a week I will peruse my mantlepiece and lovingly inspect my wax babies. I carefully wipe their sooty rims with a damp tissue. I gently polish their lids with a soft cloth. To maintain an even, flat burn, I delicately scrape off excess wax that hasn’t melted off from the sides of the glass with a tiny knife. Controversial - je sais. My wicks are topiary-level trimmed, of course; and as I snip off a crusty black bauble or a too-long stem on a brand new candle, I often wonder whether there is a word for all of this joyful faffing. Candle Husbandry? Candlemongering? Candlesmithing?
If only I put as much care and patience into looking after my tax return, laundry or cuticles… one can only hope.
It therefore doesn’t come as a surprise to anyone that I don’t own a wick-trimmer. I own three. I don’t need three; but just like I don’t technically need five pairs of gold-snaffled loafers, they make me immeasurably happy.
If you, too, would like to feel immeasurably happy by a fancy pair of scissors, you’ve come to the right place. A posh wick-trimmer is also fabulously giftable to anyone in your life who owns a scented candle and is tricky to shop for. And can we all agree that the term ‘stocking filler’ was created specifically for this shape of objet? Apart from the bonkers Loewe one that costs a bomb (I had to include it, it’s too wonderful not to), they range from a fiver to about fifty quid so there should be something here for most budgets.
Happy shopping, and happy snipping!
Jo Malone London Ribbon & Bow Wick Trimmer, £34
PS: The bow design! I also love how the clipping ‘pod’ captures and encloses the sooty wick so that it doesn’t drop and make a mess. *Bristles with delicious satisfaction*
