Rank 08 of 10
Voluspa
The cheap candle that does not look cheap
- Origin
- California, United States
- Founded
- 1999
- Wax
- Coconut wax blend
- Price range
- $16 to $85
The verdict
Voluspa is the value play and it knows it. Baltic Amber in the 9.5 oz embossed jar is $32 for about 60 hours, which works out to $0.53 an hour, and the cold throw is startling at that price. Burn quality is where it gives the money back: two of our four units tunneled and needed a long correction session, and the coconut blend left 11 mm of unburnable wax at the end. Buy it, but give the first burn a full three hours.
Kate Gorski, Founder and lead reviewer
Background
About Voluspa
Voluspa has been pouring coconut wax candles in California since 1999, and the Japonica line is the reason most people know the name. The embossed glass and metallic lids look like they cost three times what they do, which is a large part of the appeal and the single most commercially astute decision the brand ever made.
Baltic Amber is the flagship: amber, sandalwood and vanilla, warm without being cloying, and it has one of the strongest cold throws in the whole test. Lift the lid in a shop and it reads across the counter. Lit, it settles into something quieter than the cold throw promises, holding at about 17 feet.
The weakness is mechanical. The wick runs short relative to the diameter of the vessel, so if you cut the first burn before the melt pool reaches the edge you will tunnel, and once it tunnels the short wick tends to drown. Two of our four units did exactly that. The fix is free and it is simply patience on session one.
Raw data
The burn log
4 units, 236 logged hours, one 18 by 14 foot room with the door closed and the HVAC off.
- Time to full melt pool
- 52 min
- Throw distance
- 17 ft
- Units burned
- 4
- Wick
- Single cotton wick
- Vessel
- Embossed glass with a metallic lid
- Tested unit
- 9.5 oz, 60 h
- Tunneling
- Two of four units tunneled and needed a long correction burn
- Soot
- Light, but the embossing traps it in the pattern
- Wick behaviour
- Runs short, drowns in the pool if the first burn is cut early
- End of life
- 11 mm residue, the deepest end waste in the test
The range
Signature scents
- 01
Baltic Amber
Amber, sandalwood and vanilla. The flagship and the best cold throw here.
- 02
Santiago Huckleberry
Tart berry over cedar. Brighter and better in a kitchen.
- 03
French Cade & Lavender
Smoky juniper and lavender. The most grown-up option.
- 04
Crisp Champagne
Sparkling citrus and pear. Light and short-lived.
- 05
Mokara
Orchid and white musk. The clean, hotel-lobby choice.
The trade
What you gain, what you give up
In its favour
- $0.53 per burn hour, second best value on the board
- Embossed glass and metallic lid punch far above the price
- Cold throw competes with candles at three times the price
- Coconut wax blend burns cool
- The range runs from $16 tins to $85 multi-wick jars
Against it
- Two of four units tunneled during testing
- 11 mm of unburnable residue, the worst in the test
- Short wick drowns easily once a melt pool goes uneven
- Hot throw does not live up to the cold throw
Buy it if
Anybody buying three or four candles at once, and anyone who wants a jar that looks expensive on a bathroom shelf.
Skip it if
People who burn for one hour at a time. This candle punishes short sessions harder than anything else here.
The arithmetic
Price and value
We burned the Baltic Amber, Japonica 9.5 oz at $32, rated at 60 hours. That works out to $0.53 per burn hour against a board average near $0.89. On our value column Voluspa scores 8.4 out of 10, which accounts for measured performance and what the vessel is worth once the wax is gone, not just the rate.
Questions
Voluspa FAQ
Why does my Voluspa candle tunnel?
The wick is short relative to the vessel diameter, so the first burn has to run long enough for the melt pool to reach the glass. Give session one at least three hours. Once a tunnel forms the short wick tends to drown in it.
Is Voluspa a good candle for the price?
Yes. At roughly $0.53 per burn hour it is the second cheapest on our board, and the cold throw and packaging are well ahead of anything else at that rate.
What wax does Voluspa use?
A coconut wax blend. It burns cool and clean but stays soft, which is why the end residue is the deepest in our test.
How long does a Voluspa Japonica candle burn?
The 9.5 oz Japonica jar is rated at about 60 hours. Our units that did not tunnel came in near that. The two that tunneled lost roughly nine hours each.