The Best Wax Melts in the UK

"Best" depends entirely on what you are trying to do with the melt. A melt that fills an open-plan kitchen-diner is usually too much for a bedroom. Rather than rank one winner, this page picks the best melt for each situation, and tells you what we judged it on.

How we compare

Four things, in this order: fragrance load (how much oil is in the wax), usable burn time (hours before the scent is spent, not hours the wax stays liquid), wax type (soy, blend or paraffin), and cost per hour of fragrance rather than cost per pack. A cheap pack that gives four hours per melt is worse value than a dearer one giving twelve.

Best all-rounder

A soy-blend melt at 8–10% fragrance load. Strong enough for a standard living room, clean enough not to become cloying over an evening, and easy to clean out of a burner. This is the right default for most homes.

Best for a large or open-plan room

A higher-load melt used in a wide, shallow burner well — or better, two burners in different spots rather than one working harder. Surface area and placement beat melt size every time. See strongest smelling wax melts.

Best for bedrooms

A soy melt in a woody or gourmand scent, burned in a soapstone burner. Stone tempers the release so the fragrance is present without being insistent, which is what you want in a room you sleep in.

Best for homes with pets

Any soy melt, in a burner placed well out of reach and in a ventilated room. Avoid tea tree, citrus and pine oils around cats, and never leave a lit tealight unattended. Read are wax melts safe for pets before choosing a scent.

Best value

Simmering granules, if you do not mind measuring. Because you control the quantity, you can run a small bathroom on a teaspoon rather than committing a whole melt to it.

Best as a gift

A mixed wax melt gift set that includes a burner. Giving melts alone means the recipient needs a second purchase before they can use your present.

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