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Pick up a packet of biscuits and you will find a full ingredient list, fat content, and an FSSAI number. Food goes into your body, and the law says you deserve to know what is in it.
Pick up a scented candle, and in most cases you will find a scent name and a burn time. Nothing about what the fragrance actually is, or what the wax is made of.
That gap is stranger than it looks once you notice it. A candle's fragrance travels through your nose and into your lungs the same way food travels through your mouth and into your body. Almost nobody treats it with the same scrutiny.
Two things tell you whether a candle's fragrance quality is good: does the brand say its fragrance oils are IFRA-compliant, and does it clearly name the wax, soy, beeswax, or coconut, rather than just "premium wax." No paperwork to understand, just two things to look for.
Here is what those two checks actually mean, why so many candles skip them, and how to use them on any brand, not only ours.
🌿 Check one: does it say IFRA-compliant?
IFRA stands for the International Fragrance Association, an independent body that sets safety limits on fragrance ingredients. Being IFRA-compliant means a fragrance oil has been checked against those limits before it goes into a candle.
Think of it as the industry's baseline safety standard for fragrance, the way you would expect a food ingredient to meet a basic food-safety standard before it goes into a snack.
It is not a government law in India, and no one is inspecting shelves to enforce it. A brand follows it because it chooses to, which is exactly why it is worth checking for rather than assuming.
🕯️ Check two: does it clearly name the wax?
Wax matters just as much as fragrance, and it is easier to check. There are really only two families worth knowing.
| Wax type | What it is | What to notice |
|---|---|---|
| Soy, beeswax, coconut | Plant or bee-derived, renewable | Usually named directly and proudly on the front of the label |
| Paraffin, palm wax | A petroleum or palm byproduct, the cheapest common option | Often listed only in tiny backend specification fields, not on the main label |
Paraffin is not automatically dangerous in small, well-made candles. The honesty problem is different: it is frequently the one wax type brands say the least about.
Many mass-market decor candles do list "paraffin wax" or "palm wax," but only inside a fine-print materials field, never in the actual product description a shopper reads. The front label just says "premium fragrance" or nothing about wax at all.
That gap between what is marketed and what is technically disclosed somewhere is worth training your eye to catch.
IFRA's own consumer guidance makes a related point: a "natural" label does not by itself guarantee safety, so the word alone is never enough to check against.
Why don't more candle brands share this?
Often it is not deliberate hiding. Many candle brands, especially small or new ones, buy ready-made fragrance oil from sellers who never test or document it themselves, so the brand genuinely has nothing to pass on to you, not just something it is choosing not to share.
We ran into this ourselves while building Mikaya. Several fragrance sellers simply could not confirm their oils met any safety standard at all, let alone in writing. We kept looking until we found one who could, and stayed there.
That is worth remembering before judging a quiet brand harshly. Sometimes staying silent is a choice. Often, especially at a small scale, the seller never had the answer to give in the first place.
Check a candle before you buy it
Pull up any candle listing, ours or anyone else's, and answer based on what it actually says.
What does the listing say about the fragrance?
What does it say about the wax?
Does the marketing language match the fine print, if you can find any?
- Check two things before buying a candle: does it say IFRA-compliant, and does it clearly name the wax type.
- IFRA-compliant means the fragrance oil meets an independent industry safety standard. It is voluntary in India, not law.
- Soy, beeswax, and coconut wax are usually named proudly. Paraffin and palm wax are often buried in fine print instead.
- A brand's silence is not always dishonesty. Sometimes the fragrance seller never gave them the information to share.
- This checklist works on any brand's candle, not only Mikaya's.
🕯️ What this looks like at Mikaya
Our fragrance oils are IFRA-compliant and phthalate-free. Every candle names its wax directly on the product page, soy, beeswax, or a soy-coconut blend depending on the scent, never just "wax."
We are not asking you to take our word over anyone else's. Run the same two checks on any brand you are considering, ours included, and let what you actually find decide it.
Whichever format you land on, from a jar candle to a wax tablet tucked into a wardrobe, the two checks stay the same.
The bottom line
You do not need to become an expert in fragrance chemistry to buy a better candle. You need two habits: look for the words IFRA-compliant, and look for a named wax type instead of just "wax."
Treat a scented candle the way you already treat a snack. If the label cannot tell you what is actually inside, that silence is information too.
This sits alongside why we chose fragrance oil over essential oil and fragrance oil versus essential oil as part of the same idea: read past the scent name to what is actually in the jar.
If your candle has started throwing less scent than it used to, that is a separate, fixable problem, covered in why does my candle stop smelling.
What does IFRA-compliant mean in simple terms?
It means the fragrance oil in a candle has been checked against safety limits set by an independent industry body, the International Fragrance Association. Think of it as fragrance's version of a basic food-safety standard, applied before the scent goes into the wax.
Is paraffin wax bad for you?
Not automatically. Paraffin is a petroleum byproduct and the cheapest common candle wax, and well-made paraffin candles are not inherently unsafe. The real issue is transparency: brands using it often disclose it far less clearly than brands using soy or beeswax.
How do I know what wax is in my candle?
Check the product page or box for a named wax type such as soy, beeswax, or coconut. If it only says "wax" or "premium wax" with no further detail, that absence is itself worth noticing before you buy.
Does a "natural" label mean a candle is not paraffin?
Not necessarily. "Natural" has no fixed legal definition on a candle label. Check whether the specific wax type is actually named alongside that word, rather than trusting the word by itself.
Why don't more candle brands share this information?
Often because they genuinely cannot. Many buy ready-made fragrance oil from sellers who never test or document it themselves, so the brand has nothing concrete to pass on, not simply something it is choosing to withhold.
What should I actually check before buying a scented candle?
Two things: whether the brand says its fragrance oils are IFRA-compliant, and whether it clearly names the wax type, such as soy or beeswax, rather than a vague "premium wax." Both are visible on a product page without needing any technical background.
None of this requires becoming a label-reading expert overnight. Two habits, checked consistently, take you most of the way there.
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