Let's talk about something nobody puts on a pretty label: what's actually burning in your candle.
I used to be a police officer. My whole career was built around noticing what other people missed — reading a room, reading a person, reading a situation before it went sideways. That instinct didn't disappear when the career did. It just found a new target: ingredient lists.
So here's the truth about candles, minus the marketing fluff.
Most candles are made with paraffin wax
Paraffin is a byproduct of petroleum refining. It's cheap, it holds fragrance well, and it's in the overwhelming majority of candles sold in this country, including a lot of the "luxury" ones with the fancy packaging.
When paraffin burns, it can release a handful of compounds you don't want floating around your living room, including benzene and toluene. Those aren't ingredients I made up to scare you — they're compounds regulators have studied for their link to respiratory irritation with repeated exposure. One candle isn't going to hurt you. But if you're burning cheap paraffin candles every night for years, in a house with the windows shut, that's not nothing.
Then there's the wick
Cheap metal-core wicks used to be made with lead. That's been restricted in the U.S. since the early 2000s, but it's still worth knowing, because plenty of imported candles slip through without anyone checking. A cotton wick isn't a "nice to have." It's a baseline.
And the fragrance
"Fragrance" is one of the least regulated words on a product label. It can legally mean a single ingredient or a cocktail of dozens, some of which include phthalates — compounds linked to hormone disruption. Companies aren't required to tell you which ones are in there, because fragrance formulas are protected as trade secrets.
I'm not telling you this to scare you off candles. I'm telling you because I love candles, and I built a business on them, and I think you deserve to know what you're inviting into your home.
Why I do it differently
Every Pearl & Company candle is:
- Made with a soy wax blend, not paraffin
- Poured with a cotton wick, not metal
- Non-toxic and vegan
- Cruelty-free
- Hand poured in small batches, not mass-produced on a line
I got NASM certified back in 2014 and spent years working as a personal trainer and nutrition coach before any of this. Wellness has always been part of how I think, and wellness was never just about what you eat or how you move. It's about what you're breathing in the room where you fall asleep every night.
After the injury that ended my police career, I spent a lot of time rebuilding — my body, my routines, my sense of who I was. Movement and small daily rituals were part of how I got through it. A candle became one of those rituals. Something small and steady I could control when a lot of my life felt like it wasn't mine to control anymore.
That's what I want a Pearl & Company candle to be for you. Not a luxury item. Not a status symbol. Just a small, honest reminder that you're allowed to slow down — without worrying about what's floating into your lungs while you do it.
The bottom line
"Non-toxic" gets thrown around a lot in this industry, and I get why people are skeptical. So don't take my word for it — read the label. Ask what the wax is. Ask what the wick is made of. Ask what "fragrance" actually means. A company that's proud of its ingredients will tell you. One that isn't, won't.
We will, every time.