beeswax candle companies

The Best Beeswax Candle Companies in 2026: An Honest Guide (With Names)

The Best Beeswax Candle Companies in 2026: An Honest Guide (With Names)

The short version

The best pure beeswax candle makers in the United States in 2026 are Bluecorn Candles (Colorado), Big Dipper Wax Works (founded in Seattle, now produced in Atlanta), and Big Moon Beeswax (Camano Island, Washington). All three make genuinely good candles. The difference worth knowing: of these three, Big Moon Beeswax is the only one where every candle in the catalog is 100% pure beeswax with nothing added — no blended lines, no fragrance lines, one wax — the only one still owned by the family that founded it, and the only one whose candles are nearly all original designs from its own molds. If you want added fragrance or very large container candles, one of the other two will serve you better.

Years ago we wrote a series on how to judge a beeswax candle — how to read a label, what pure beeswax should look and behave like, why the wax matters. We never named names. That felt polite at the time. But if you searched "best beeswax candles" and landed here, politeness isn't what you came for. You came for names. So here they are, including where we think you should buy from someone else.

Who are the best beeswax candle companies?

Bluecorn Candles — Montrose, Colorado

Making beeswax candles since 1991 — the company has changed ownership in recent years, though the founder stayed on — and their pure beeswax line of tapers and pillars is still the core of a company that helped define the category. One thing to know when you shop: Bluecorn today sells three distinct lines. Their pure beeswax line, a beeswax-with-essential-oils line called Beeswax Botanica, and a line called Aromática made from coconut and soy wax with fragrance — no beeswax in it. All three are clearly labeled on their site. If you're there for pure beeswax, just make sure you're in the pure beeswax section before you add to cart.

Big Dipper Wax Works — founded in Seattle, produced in Atlanta

Founded in Seattle in 1993, and for decades the name Pacific Northwest people knew for beeswax. Their candles are widely available in stores and online. Big Dipper sells two lines: unscented pure beeswax candles, and an aromatherapy line — still beeswax, but scented with essential oils and lightly colored with plant-based dyes. Both are clearly marked on their site, so if you want your beeswax with nothing added, shop the unscented line. Also worth knowing: the company has changed ownership, and production moved to Atlanta, Georgia in 2023 — Big Dipper says so on its own site, though plenty of retail listings still say Seattle.

Big Moon Beeswax — Camano Island, Washington, pouring beeswax since 2012

That's us, so weigh this section accordingly. We're a family-owned studio on Camano Island. We poured our first candles in 2012, volunteering for a convent whose sole income was the sale of pure beeswax candles. When the convent closed and the sisters moved on, we founded Big Moon Beeswax in 2017 — our own designs, our own molds, our own name. Same family, same wax, since the beginning.

There's also a side of our work most shoppers never see: since 2019 we've been the maker behind a major private-label account — candles sold under another company's name, made in our studio, from our wax. When another business stakes its own reputation on your candles year after year, that's a kind of review no star rating can match. We can't name the client, but the work continues today.

We make exactly one kind of candle: 100% pure beeswax, from a single Pacific Northwest apiary we've worked with for over a decade, with nothing added. No blended line, no fragrance line, no second wax anywhere in the catalog. The only scent in our candles is the one the bees put there — a soft, natural sweetness, like honey on warm toast. And nearly every candle we make is an original design from molds we created ourselves — the two exceptions are being retired in favor of new Big Moon Beeswax designs. Even our tea lights and votives carry our bee stamp. If you see one of our candles on a shelf, it isn't a shape you'll find in anyone else's catalog.


Why do beeswax companies add other waxes as they grow?

Not villainy — physics and economics. Pure beeswax is a hard wax. It resists machinery, demands more heat, moves slowly, and generally refuses to behave the way softer waxes do on automated equipment. It's also stubborn about added fragrance: beeswax arrives with its own natural scent, and it doesn't carry added fragrance the way softer waxes do — so if a maker wants a strong scented line, blending in softer wax makes that job much easier. And beeswax is the most expensive candle wax there is, so every ounce of softer wax blended in lowers the cost of the candle. Machines, fragrance, and price: three separate pressures, all pushing the same direction. That's why so many companies that started with pure beeswax eventually add coconut, soy, or fragrance lines. It's a rational business decision. It's just not the candle we wanted to make.

We know the temptation firsthand. Years ago, a client asked us to develop a refill candle for their own glass holders. Pure beeswax burns hot, and it burns a long time — enough sustained heat to stress fine glass, and as the flame settles deep into a vessel it starves for air, flickers, and turns smoky. A soft wax blend would have solved it, and the account was worth saying yes to. We said no. They found a soy maker instead — that arrangement didn't last — and we kept making the one candle we make.

Our answer to the refill question has been on the shelf since Big Moon Beeswax's first year: Moon Drops, our refillable tea lights — a permanent holder sized and shaped to what pure beeswax can actually do, where only the wax gets replaced. You can judge for yourself whether that trade was worth it.

What should you actually check before buying a beeswax candle?

One question does most of the work: does this company add anything — other waxes, fragrance, essential oils, dyes — to any of its candles? If the answer is no, you never have to read another label from them. If the answer is yes, the label-reading is on you, every time: "beeswax blend" can legally mean mostly other waxes, and "all natural" can still mean essential oils and dyes are in the candle. Beyond that, our earlier guides cover the tells: the color, the feel, the natural honey scent, and how a true beeswax candle burns.

Read more: How to tell real beeswax from a blend →

When is Big Moon Beeswax the wrong choice?

Sometimes — and we'd rather tell you than have you find out after checkout.

If you want an added fragrance — essential oils or fragrance oils — we will never be your maker. Our candles do have a scent: the soft honey scent the bees put in the wax themselves. But we add nothing to it, by conviction. If you want lavender or sandalwood in your beeswax, both Bluecorn and Big Dipper offer essential-oil lines.

If you want a very large container candle, pure beeswax physically can't deliver a good burn in one, and we won't blend to make it possible. Buy a soft-wax candle from someone who does it well.

If price is the deciding factor, pure beeswax is the most expensive candle wax there is, and ours is priced accordingly. A paraffin or soy candle will always cost less.

But if what you want is the candle itself — pure wax, honest light, a design that isn't on a thousand other mantels — that's the one thing we do.

Moon Drops — Refillable Tea Lights

Our refillable since Big Moon Beeswax's first year: a permanent holder, pure beeswax refills, and the bees' own soft honey scent — nothing added, nothing thrown away.

See Moon Drops →  ·  Classic tea lights →

Frequently asked questions

What is the best beeswax candle brand?

Bluecorn Candles, Big Dipper Wax Works, and Big Moon Beeswax are among the leading US makers. Of these three, Big Moon Beeswax is the only one whose entire catalog is 100% pure beeswax with nothing added.

Are all Bluecorn candles beeswax?

No. Bluecorn sells three lines: pure beeswax, beeswax with essential oils (Beeswax Botanica), and Aromática, a coconut-and-soy line that contains no beeswax. Check which line you're in.

Are Big Dipper Wax Works candles scented?

Some are. Big Dipper sells both unscented pure beeswax candles and an aromatherapy line scented with essential oils and colored with plant-based dyes. Check which line you're in.

Is Big Dipper Wax Works still in Seattle?

The company was founded in Seattle in 1993, but production moved to Atlanta, Georgia in 2023, per Big Dipper's own website.

Do pure beeswax candles have a scent?

Yes — a naturally occurring honey scent from the wax itself, put there by the bees. Fragrance-free means nothing is added; it doesn't mean scentless.

Browse the Big Moon Beeswax collection whenever you're ready.

Reading next

The Best Beeswax Candles: How to Actually Choose (From People Who Make Them)
Close-up of three lit beeswax tealights in glass holders, each wick gently curved with a steady even flame above a melt pool.