Candle Plan: Earth Matter Peru, 2026–2027

🕯️ What this candle line is for

A small line of hand-poured pillar candles in silicone molds: plain pillars, pillars with pressed flowers, and a few shaped candles, in soy, soy-and-coconut, soy-and-beeswax and pure beeswax. They are made in Chupaca and sold from the market table beside the soap, flowers and tincture.

• Who it is for: shoppers who buy a candle to give, to decorate, to scent a room or to mark a celebration. Not for night lighting: a neighbor who needs light at night is served by a S/ 1–5 paraffin candle (a basic 10 cm bucket candle is S/ 4.90 at Sodimac). We do not make tall plain white candles, and we position and label everything as vela aromática o decorativa.
• Price ladder: from a S/ 5 velita to a S/ 55 centerpiece, so a shopper with S/ 5 and a shopper with S/ 50 both find something. Every item is priced at least 2× its materials cost (the minimal keystone), with no item sold below that.
• Honest limits: all costs here are materials only (no labor, molds or stall fees), and the oil, wax-blend and wick choices still have to be proven in test burns.

⚠️ What is settled and what to check

• The Tree of Life mold holds far less than 450–680 g. The box that mold fits in (9.5 × 9.3 × 3.2 cm) is about 283 cm³, which is at most 254 g of soy wax even if the cavity filled the whole box, and a round or shaped cavity is nearer 150–200 g. At S/ 32/kg that is about S/ 5–6 of wax, not S/ 17.60. Measure it: fill the mold with water, pour the water on a scale, and multiply the grams by 0.9 for soy (0.96 for beeswax). This plan uses 150 g until you have the real figure.
• Settled: the soy is high-melt. Practimolds' premium high-melt soy wax: pearls, refined and hydrogenated, melting at 60–65 °C, fragrance added at 65–70 °C, S/ 800 per 25 kg (S/ 32/kg). It is made for molded candles, so plain soy pillars are fine on their own. The 20% beeswax blend stays as a choice for the honey, gift and shaped candles (harder, cleaner release, honey scent), not a necessity.
• Two rows in the soy pillar table. By geometry a 2″ × 3″ pillar holds about 139 g of wax, not 75 g, and the other rows run about 10% under the geometric figure (allowing for the wick and a little shrinkage). This plan uses geometry × 0.95 for every size.

🌿 The fragrance oils already in the cart, costed with duty

Exchange rate S/ 3.44 per US$ (BCRP and SUNAT, 14–15 October 2026). The eight oils total US$182.87. Under SUNAT's courier rule, a shipment up to US$ 200 FOB pays no duty or IGV; above that it pays 4% duty and then 18% IGV (16% IGV plus 2% IPM), about 23% more. So the cart as it stands, if it ships as one courier package, is just under the limit, and with the silicone mat for the soap molds (US$ 16.99) it is US$ 199.86, still just under. Two traps: several parcels for the same buyer arriving on the same flight are added together, and SUNAT has floated charging IGV on small shipments (no rule yet). The table shows both cases; the plan costs with the +23% column to be safe.

• These are cheap oils compared with Peruvian retail (Peruvian sellers list 10 ml bottles at S/ 43–50), so each 16 oz bottle (about 420 g) is a long-lasting supply that also serves the soap line.
• Check each oil's safety data sheet for its flash point. Sweet orange and eucalyptus flash at roughly 45–55 °C, lower than the others; the pour temperatures below respect that.
• Two oils deserve caution. The “vanilla essential oil” is almost certainly a vanilla extract or oleoresin in a carrier (real vanilla is not steam-distilled), so test it for wick clogging before using it in volume. Cassia cinnamon is a strong skin irritant: keep it to about 10% of a blend and out of anything that touches skin.
• “Therapeutic grade” on the listings is marketing. We make no aromatherapy or health claims on candles either.

Five blends from what is in the cart

Each blend pairs a volatile top note (orange, eucalyptus, peppermint) with cedarwood as the base note so the smell lasts, the same idea as the soap. Cost is per gram of blend at the +23% price.

Fragrance load is the biggest cost control. At about S/ 0.37 per gram, 4% oil in a 130 g candle costs about S/ 1.90, while the wax costs S/ 4.20. The plan uses 2% in the two cheapest sizes, 3–5% in the rest and none in the natural beeswax pillar (beeswax smells of honey by itself). Raise the load only if test burns show the scent is too faint.

🐝 Wax mixes

• Beeswax is not a luxury cost here. Peruvian listings run S/ 25/kg (Oliva Divina, laminated) to S/ 32/kg (Practimolds, candle-formulated), close to your soy at S/ 32/kg. The plan uses S/ 40/kg; ask Junín beekeepers (Selva Central cooperatives, Huancayo markets) for raw wax by the kilo and filter it. Refined cosmetic beeswax is S/ 142/kg, so avoid it. Small retail pots of virgin beeswax (S/ 40 for 150 g) are the expensive channel.
• Coconut. The coconut here is refined coconut oil, the same ingredient bought for soap. Pure “coconut wax” is not something I found sold in Peru.
• Do not blend paraffin. It would undercut the “natural” story that sets these candles apart.

🎨 Natural colors in candles

Most natural colorants are powders or water-soluble. They do not dissolve in wax: they settle, clog the wick, smoke and can scorch. So the soap plan's colors (clays, charcoal, cacao, coffee, spices, alfalfa, cochinilla, maíz morado) stay out of candles.

• Let the waxes be the color. Creamy soy, golden beeswax and honey-toned soy-beeswax already give three natural shades, and the beeswax color is the strongest local story.
• Achiote and palillo can tint, outside only. Their colors (bixin, curcumin) dissolve in oil. Infuse 1 tbsp of achiote seeds or 1 tsp of palillo in 50 g of coconut oil at about 60 °C for an hour, strain twice through fine cloth, and use it at 1% or less of the wax only in an over-dip.
• The over-dip: when a pillar has cured, dip it two or three times, a few seconds each, in a separate pot of tinted beeswax at about 75 °C. A 1–2 mm colored shell covers the outside while the core and wick stay plain. Test-burn every tinted design like the others.
• Color from outside the wax: pressed flowers on the wall only, cabuya twine, eucalyptus trays and Aco ceramic saucers.

🔥 Wicks, tabs and the method

Test every pairing before selling. Burn each test candle for 4 hours and check: a melt pool reaching about 3/4 of the way to the edge (leave a wall so a pillar does not collapse), a flame under about 3 cm, no mushrooming or soot, and clean release from the mold. Move one wick size up if the pool is too small and down if the flame is large or the candle softens. Record wick, tab, oil load and results in the batch log.

Method (silicone molds)

1. Prepare: cut the wick to candle height plus 4 cm, crimp the tab, glue it to the mold floor and hold the wick upright with a clip or a chopstick across the top. Level the silicone mold on a tray. Wick cost is only S/ 0.03–0.17 per candle, so test generously.
2. Melt the wax in a double boiler on an electric hot plate or a stable stove away from the oils (heat to about 80–85 °C for soy, a little lower for beeswax). Never heat wax directly over a flame and keep a lid within reach.
3. Add the oil blend at about 65 °C, which keeps the volatile oils below their loss point while the wax is still fluid, and stir for two minutes. (Practimolds gives 65–70 °C for its high-melt soy.) Add pigment or dried botanicals only if you use any, never on the wick.
4. Pour at about 55–60 °C (beeswax blends 65–70 °C) into the warmed silicone, tapping out bubbles. Keep a little wax back for the top-up.
5. Cool slowly away from drafts and the refrigerator (cold cracks pillars). Re-pour the sink hole around the wick after 1–2 hours with the reserved wax. Unmold after 8–12 hours.
6. Cure at least a week (two for beeswax blends) before the first burn test or sale: scent and hot throw improve with time. Store cured candles in a closed box in a cool room.

First test round: ten candles

• 2″ × 3″ soy + 24-ply (Lavender & Cedarwood, 4%) · same with hemp wick
• 2″ × 4″ soy 90 / coconut 10 + 24-ply · 2″ × 4″ soy 80 / beeswax 20 + hemp
• 2″ × 4″ pure beeswax + #2/0 square braid · same with hemp
• 1.5″ velita + 24-ply, and the same with a thinner wick
• Tree of Life (after the water-fill test) + hemp + 20 mm tab

💰 The price ladder and the keystone check

Materials cost includes wax, the oil blend, wick, tab, packaging and any embellishment. The “× cost” column is the keystone: 2.0× is the floor. The 2″ × 3″ pillar, the honey pillar, the gift pillar and the centerpiece sit just above it, the velita and the shaped candle well above, which is what lets the cheapest items stay cheap. Wax weights are geometry × 0.95 and should be replaced with weighed values once the molds arrive.

Who buys what

• A · Small budget: the S/ 5 velita and S/ 8 mini, lightly scented (2%) from the cheapest wax. Also a seconds bin: imperfect pillars and remelted offcuts poured into velita molds, S/ 3–4. It costs almost nothing and nothing is wasted.
• B · Home and gift: the S/ 13 and S/ 20 everyday pillars in five scents. This is the volume line.
• C · Gift and tourist: the pressed-flower gift pillar (S/ 32) and the Tree of Life (S/ 30). Their price is held by the look, not the wax.
• D · Natural: the unscented beeswax pillar (S/ 22) and the honey pillar (S/ 28), sold with the story of local beeswax.
• E · Hotels and events: the S/ 55 centerpiece pillar and boxed sets.
• Bundles: “soap + candle” gift sets (for example an S/ 14 soap with an S/ 20 candle at S/ 32), good for Mother's Day in May and the December gift season.

Wholesale: at half of retail, most of these candles would sell at about their materials cost, so wholesale only the high-margin items, at about 70% of retail: the velita (about S/ 3.50), the Tree of Life (about S/ 21) and boxed sets. Everything else stays retail until costs fall.

📊 How competitive can we be?

I found no artisan candle seller in Huancayo or Chupaca online, which fits what you have seen. The Peruvian competition is Lima retail and online sellers, mostly container candles:

• Price: branded container candles run S/ 18–50 and small beeswax candles S/ 14–49 each. Our pillars cost about S/ 9–12 per 100 g of wax, well below the branded ones (about S/ 27–38 per 100 g where the weight is known) and near the cheapest online listing. So we can be clearly cheaper than the brands and still hold the 2× keystone.
• What the competition does not offer: a local origin story (Orcotuna lavender and eucalyptus, Junín beeswax), pressed flowers from our own beds, eucalyptus-wood trays from the Chupaca woodshop, and a seat at the market table where the buyer can smell and touch it. Brands sell in malls and online; none appears at the Chupaca or Huancayo fairs.
• Do not give it away: a S/ 5 velita and a S/ 8 mini are fine, but leave the gift items at S/ 30+, in line with the S/ 30 soy candles online, because gift buyers read a very low price as low quality.
• Limits of this research: online prices only, some weights unknown, and no Huancayo market survey. Walk both fairs once and price any candle stall you find before fixing the ladder.

🌳 What ties in with the farm and Chupaca

• Pressed flowers (the gift pillar). Rudbeckia, cosmos, calendula and lavender sprigs from the beds, pressed in the planned workshops. Attach them only to the outer wall of a cooled pillar with a thin brushed layer of melted wax, never near the wick or on the top, so the flame never reaches them. Dry flowers and paper burn.
• Handmade paper (planned workshops) for wrap, labels and gift sleeves, removed before burning; cabuya twine from the agave belt to tie it.
• Eucalyptus wood from the woodshop. Router-cut trays, coasters and bases for the pillars (a “pillar + tray” set sells above the candle alone and protects the table). Keep trays away from the flame and never use them as the burning surface for the unfinished edge.
• Lavender: dried buds and sprigs for packaging now; lavender oil from the still later. Eucalyptus: the trees supply leaf sachets, and the still could add a little eucalyptus oil.
• Local beeswax and honey from Junín beekeepers, sold under the same label as the soap with honey.
• One purchase for two lines: the same 16 oz oils serve soap and candles; the coconut oil serves both too. Order them together to stay under the courier limit.
• Altitude and sun. Chupaca sits at about 3,300 m: cool nights set wax fast (pre-warm molds to avoid cracks) while strong midday sun can soften a candle on the table, so keep stock in shade, which also favors high-melt wax and the beeswax blend.

🧯 The market table, labels and safety

• Display: pillars in wooden crates on eucalyptus trays, one unlit sample per scent to smell, price cards by size. One lit tester at most, in a glass, on a metal tray, away from paper, dried flowers and wood, with a water bottle at hand.
• Label (Spanish): Vela aromática de cera de soya y cera de abeja. Ingredientes: cera de soya, cera de abeja, aceites esenciales (lavanda, cedro). Peso neto 130 g. Lote EMP-V-2612-01. Earth Matter Peru, Chupaca. Burn warning: Nunca deje una vela encendida sin supervisión. Mantenga lejos de niños, mascotas y materiales inflamables. Recorte la mecha a 0.5 cm antes de encender. No la encienda más de 4 horas seguidas. Deje de usarla cuando queden 2 cm de cera.
• No claims: say what it smells like, never what it does. No “relaxing”, “anti-stress”, “aromatherapy” or “therapeutic” on labels or at the table.
• Registration: candles are not cosmetics, so the DIGEMID soap notification should not apply, and I found no Peruvian registration requirement for candles. I have not verified that with an authority; ask DIGEMID and your municipality in writing, and keep the answer with the batch logs. You still need a RUC for wholesale invoices.

🗓️ Calendar and what to settle next

• Send me the real weight of water from the Tree of Life and the other molds, and I will correct the cost and price table.
• Keep the oil shipment (with the silicone mat, US$ 199.86) under US$ 200 FOB, and order the soap cutter and tools at least a week later; otherwise add about 23% to the oil costs.
• Get quotes for raw beeswax from Junín beekeepers and for refined coconut oil.

📚 Sources consulted

• Practimolds (Peru) — premium high-melt soy wax, 25 kg, S/ 800; melting point 60–65 °C
• Oliva Divina — laminated beeswax, S/ 25/kg
• Insuquímica — refined USP beeswax, S/ 142/kg
• Art Store Peru — virgin beeswax, 150 g at S/ 40
• BCRP, SUNAT, RPP, La Cámara — exchange rate S/ 3.43–3.44 per US$, 14–15 October 2026
• SUNAT, Serpost Importa Fácil, Infobae — courier shipments up to US$ 200 FOB pay no duty or IGV; US$ 200–2,000 pays 4% + 18% IGV
• Falabella Peru, Sodimac Peru, Mercado Libre Peru, Lumina Candle, ITYSP, Soyaromas — competitor candle prices (October 2026)
• BioAlei, Candle Craft, Bonavela — soy-coconut and high-melt soy wax descriptions