Search "non toxic candles primally pure" and you are asking a question that most candle jars never have to answer. In the United States, a candle company does not have to print an ingredient list. The word "non-toxic" on the front is the company's own claim, and nothing on the back has to support it.
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That gap is why careful shoppers search by brand name. They want the company that tells them what is inside, and Primally Pure is one of the brands that publishes its list. It is also why a small group of makers, MBur among them, pour beeswax candles made from a single wax with nothing blended in, so the wax line on the label reads as one word.
Most people handle the label problem the same way. They look for a reassuring word like "clean" or "natural," then pick the jar that looks the most honest. That habit leans on a common myth: that any candle with beeswax on the label is a beeswax candle. A candle burns four separate ingredients, and the front of the jar usually speaks for one of them at most.
Why your worry about candle smoke is reasonable
If you have ever wondered what you breathe while a candle burns, you are asking a fair question. Research has shown that burning candles add particles and gases to indoor air. The type of wax and the type of fragrance both change what comes off the flame.
The EPA's guidance on fragrances used indoors explains how scented products can affect the air in your home. Its point is simple. What a product releases matters most in rooms where the air does not move much.
Think of a bedroom with the door shut on a winter night. Or a small bathroom with no window and a weak fan. In rooms like these, more of what the candle gives off stays close to you.
So the label question is really a question about the air you live in. Wanting a full answer is sensible. The place to start is the wax, because the wax sets the limits for everything else in the jar.
The wax, which sets the floor for everything else
Start with the wax most candles are made of. Crude oil goes into a refinery and gets heated in tall towers until it separates by weight. The light parts become gasoline. The heavier parts become diesel and lubricating oil.
At the bottom of that process, a waxy sludge is left behind. Refiners strip the leftover oil out of it, then bleach it white so it can take dye and scent. That bleached residue is paraffin. Put plainly, paraffin is petroleum waste that has been cleaned up enough to pour into a jar.
When paraffin burns, the flame breaks those petroleum hydrocarbons apart. Some of them do not burn all the way, and that incomplete burn is where the black ring on a jar rim comes from. Studies have found that paraffin candles release benzene, toluene, and formaldehyde as they burn. Those are compounds most people would rather keep out of a closed room.
The soy label that still leaves a question open
Soy is the usual swap. It starts as soybean oil that has been hydrogenated, which means hydrogen is added so the liquid oil turns solid at room temperature. That makes soy a better start than paraffin.
The catch is the word "blend." Many soy candles mix in paraffin to help the wax hold its shape and carry scent. A label can say "soy blend" without telling you the ratio.
Picture yourself in a home store, turning a jar over in your hand. The back says "soy wax blend" in small print, with nothing after it. You came looking for an answer and you still do not know what you would be burning.
That moment is the reason a single-ingredient wax matters. Our Just To Clarify beeswax candle lists its wax as 100% beeswax, so there is no ratio to guess at. Beeswax is the wax honeybees make to build their comb, and beekeepers collect it as a byproduct of honey. It is filtered and melted, with no chemical refining step.
So what's in Primally Pure candles?
By now you can probably guess the shape of the answer. Primally Pure builds its candles on a base of beeswax blended with certified organic coconut oil. It scents them with organic and wildcrafted essential oils. It names those oils on the label instead of hiding them behind one word like "fragrance."
Its scent blends include Bergamot + Eucalyptus and Warm Citrus Spice. There is no paraffin in that list, which puts the brand well ahead of most of the candle aisle.
The list also shows you how to shop. The question to ask of any beeswax candle is whether beeswax is the only wax in it. Primally Pure's own list answers that question for you, because its wax line names two ingredients.
That second ingredient is worth understanding before you choose, because it changes how a candle behaves once it is lit.
The second ingredient, and what it changes in the jar
Coconut oil is soft. It melts at about 76°F, which is why a jar of it turns to liquid on a warm kitchen counter in summer. Beeswax melts at about 145°F, the highest melting point of any common candle wax.
Mix the two and the blend lands somewhere in between. Makers add coconut oil to soften the wax so it melts into a pool sooner.
Melting point controls burn speed. A flame draws liquid wax up the wick as fuel. A softer wax turns to liquid faster, so the flame has more fuel ready and works through the candle sooner. A wax that stays solid longer feeds the flame slowly.
That is why 100% beeswax burns longer than any other candle wax. MBur's 12 oz candle burns 80+ hours on two wooden wicks, and the 5 oz size burns 40 hours on one. Those hours come straight from the melting point of a single wax.
The side-by-side view
| MBur (100% beeswax) | Beeswax and coconut oil blend | Soy blend | Paraffin | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wax | 100% beeswax, one ingredient | Beeswax softened with coconut oil | Hydrogenated soybean oil, often mixed with paraffin | Petroleum residue left from oil refining |
| Processing | Filtered and melted, no chemical refining | Two waxes melted together | Hydrogenated, sometimes blended | De-oiled and bleached |
| Burn behavior | Highest melting point, slow steady burn, 40 or 80+ hours by size | Softer wax that melts sooner | Soft wax with a low melting point | Lower melting point, burns fast |
| Soot | Minimal with a trimmed wick | Low when the wick suits the wax | Rises when paraffin is blended in | Black soot from unburned hydrocarbons |
| Fragrance | Phthalate-free fragrance | Essential oils | Often toxic fragrance with phthalates | Often toxic fragrance with phthalates |
| Wick | Wooden, two on the 12 oz size | Depends on the maker | Depends on the maker | Depends on the maker |
| Dye | None | Depends on the maker | Often dyed | Often dyed, since bleached paraffin starts white |
| Where it is made | Hand poured in New York City | Depends on the maker | Varies by brand | Varies by brand |
Read down the first column and every row has one plain answer. That is what a single-ingredient wax gives you: a label with nothing left to interpret. The next row down, fragrance, is where most labels stop talking.
The line doing the most work on the label: fragrance
After the wax, fragrance carries the most weight. A single word, "fragrance," can stand in for dozens of compounds. Some of those are phthalates, which are chemicals used to make a scent last longer.
Many candles use toxic fragrances containing phthalates and parabens, and the label never has to say so. This is the line where a reader who checks the wax can still get caught.
Primally Pure answers this line with essential oils, named one by one. MBur answers it with non-toxic, phthalate-free fragrance oils, blended for the hot wax of a pure beeswax candle. Either way, the word "fragrance" stops being a mystery.
Think about the end of a long day, the bathroom door shut and the tub filling. In a room that small, a heavy scent goes from pleasant to too much within minutes. That is the room our Wine Down beeswax candle was made for, with notes: Lavender, Chamomile, Sage, Rosemary, Camphor, Cedar, Sandalwood.
"Absolutely loved the Wine Down candle! The scent is so light and clean ... not overpowering at all, which is exactly what I look for. It made my space feel cozy and refreshed at the same time. I'll definitely be purchasing it again. Highly recommend if you're sensitive to strong scents but still want something that smells amazing!"
Nicole D.
Nicole's words point to what a careful reader wants from the fragrance line. She wants a scent she can enjoy in a closed room, from a label she can trust. The last two lines on the label are the ones you can check without reading anything at all.
The two you can see with your own eyes: wick and color
Look at the wick first. Some wicks have a thin metal core, often zinc, to keep them standing upright in soft wax. When that wick burns, the metal sits right in the flame.
A wooden wick is a thin strip of wood that burns down with the wax. You hear it as a soft crackle. MBur uses wooden wicks in every candle, and the 12 oz size has two, which spread heat across the wider jar so the pool melts evenly.
Then look at the color. Bleached paraffin starts out white, so any color you see in a paraffin candle came from a dye. Beeswax is naturally golden. MBur adds no chemical dye, so the color in the jar is simply the wax.
Soot is the last thing you can see. Check the rim of the jar after a few burns. A clean single wax with a trimmed wick leaves the glass close to clear, while a dark ring tells you something in the jar did not burn all the way.
A four-line checklist for any candle you pick up
Put those four lines together and you have a test you can run on any jar in a few seconds.
- Wax: one ingredient, and the word "100%" in front of it. Beeswax burns the slowest of all.
- Fragrance: named and phthalate-free, never a lone word "fragrance."
- Wick: wood or plain fiber, with no metal core.
- Dye: none. The color should be the wax itself.
Run MBur through it and every line has an answer. The wax is 100% beeswax. The fragrance is phthalate-free. The wicks are wood, and there is no chemical dye. Every candle is hand poured in New York City, and beeswax is naturally hypoallergenic.
Once the label checks out, the only choice left is which scent and which size suit your room. That is where most readers raise their last question.
"But the candle I use already says essential oils"
Then you already read labels, and your instinct is good. The open line on a blend is the wax, so the real question becomes which 100% beeswax scent matches the one you love now.
If you reach for Bergamot + Eucalyptus, you like a bright citrus opening over something green. Just To Clarify opens on bergamot too, with notes: Bergamot, Lemon, Orange, Green tea, Black tea, Sandal wood. The two teas give it the clear, steeped smell of a pot by the window in the morning, and the sandalwood keeps it warm as it burns down.
"But my living room is big and open"
Then size matters more than scent strength. The 12 oz candle burns on two wooden wicks, which melt a wider pool and send more scent across the room. It is also the size for any room you light most nights.
The 5 oz size, with one wick and 40 hours of burn time, fits a bathroom or a small bedroom you use now and then. Match the size to the room and the scent will fill it the way you want.
How to burn a beeswax candle so it stays clean
A clean label is half the job. The other half is how you burn the candle at home.
- Let the first burn reach the edge. Keep the candle lit until the melted pool touches the side of the jar. Wax remembers its first pool, and a full one sets up every burn after it.
- Trim the wooden wick before each light. Keep it to about 1/8 inch. A short wick keeps the flame steady and the glass clear.
- Burn for four hours at most. Then put it out, let it cool, and trim again.
- Keep air moving in small rooms. Crack a window or leave the door open a few inches, and keep the candle away from drafts that make the flame flicker.
If you live with asthma, allergies, or any condition that reacts to scent, follow your doctor's guidance on candles and scented products. The American Lung Association's page on fragrances and indoor air is a useful read to bring to that conversation.
Questions readers ask before they switch
Are Primally Pure candles actually non-toxic?
Going by the ingredients they publish, Primally Pure candles are made without paraffin and scented with named essential oils. The wax is a blend of beeswax and organic coconut oil. If you want the wax line to read as a single ingredient, every candle in MBur's 100% beeswax candle collection is made from beeswax alone.
What's the difference between 100% beeswax and a beeswax blend?
A blend mixes beeswax with a softer wax or oil, often coconut oil. That lowers the melting point, so the wax melts sooner and feeds the flame faster. Pure beeswax keeps the highest melting point, which is why Just To Clarify in 100% beeswax burns 80+ hours in the 12 oz size.
How long do beeswax candles actually burn?
At MBur, the 5 oz size burns 40 hours on one wooden wick, and the 12 oz size burns 80+ hours on two. A full first burn and a trimmed wick help you get every one of those hours. Wine Down in pure beeswax is a good one to start in a bath or bedroom you light most evenings.
Do you have a scent like Bergamot + Eucalyptus?
For the bergamot side, Just To Clarify is the closest match. For the cool eucalyptus side, look at Sunday Reset beeswax candle, with notes: Peppermint, Clove, Cedar, Patchouli, Vanilla, Eucalyptus. It opens cold and clean, then warms into cedar and vanilla as the wax pool spreads.
The pick for a home where you read every label
Primally Pure publishes a clean list, built on beeswax with coconut oil and scented with essential oils. The four lines on any label decide what you breathe. A candle with one wax, phthalate-free fragrance, a wooden wick, and no dye passes all four with nothing left to explain.
For the room you light most days, choose Just To Clarify in the 12 oz, 80-hour size ($65). It opens on bergamot like the candle you may already love, and the green and black teas keep it calm and clear for the whole evening. It is 100% beeswax on two wooden wicks, so the wax line is one word and the burn runs 80+ hours.
"They smell up a WHOLE room during the burn & even a while after blowing them out. I won't buy other candles anymore, they're just that good."
Paige
The right time to switch is before your current candle burns down, so the next jar you light is one whose label you can read in full.
Choose Just To Clarify in the 12 oz size for the room you light every day, because that is the room where you want to know exactly what is in the air.
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