The World's Cleverest Candles

It's well and truly Candle Season. PJs on, slippers on, kettle on, CANDLES EVERYWHERE. I'm partial to a scented candle, but I'm also very into candles that do nifty things. Take these Spinifex MOW candle vases for example, which burn like normal candles until they reach the halfway point, when suddenly they become little waxy vases, ready to hold a single bloom. Now that's what I mean by NIFTY. I like the fact that I get to keep something pretty and useful at the end of my burning extravaganza. They're £5 each from Tactile Interiors.

Also excelling in the nifty stakes: this Candle by the Hour, which takes the concept of 17th Century courting candles (a clever technique employed by fretful parents, to stop potential suitors spending too much time with their daughters) into the modern day. Each inch of candle above the clip burns for around 20 minutes, so pull up as much as you want, and the clip will take care of extinguishing it once it's burned down. Good for forgetful types who leave candles burning for too long (tsk), as well as engineering oh-gosh-it's-pitch-black-you'd-better-just-kiss-me scenarios. Actually, in retrospect, those 17th Century mums and dads might not have been as clever as they first thought...

These are currently on Fab, where you can pick up a whopping 80-hour burn time candle for £23. 

These colour drip candles from Urban Outfitters are, as the box so succinctly states, beautiful. I've seen them doing their thing, and it's quite mesmerising waiting for the next colour to start dripping. They're hand-dipped, so no two are the same. A box of two candles is a fiver's worth of oohing and aahing and oh-look-it's-going-to-be-yellow-nexting. 

You've probably seen WoodWick candles, but perhaps you've never seen one in action. I AM OBSESSED. Once lit, they crackle like an open fire, a novelty that has yet to wear off for me. They also smell wonderful - this one is Evening Bonfire, which fits nicely with the crackly theme. They're not cheap - small candles start at £15.50 - but it's worth keeping an eye out for them in TK Maxx, where I buy all mine for a fraction of the price. *smugness*

What witchery is this? Levitating candles? Nope - it's the wonderfully-named Fly Candle Fly! hanging candle by Ingo Maurer. The transparent wire and see-through drip catcher give the impression of a candle floating in mid-air, which is a little disconcerting and a whole lotta brilliant. 

You could freak a lot of people out with these. What larks. The suspension system, plus one candle, is £38.10 from Made In Design. You can pick up spare candles there, too (apparently normal candles are too drippy).

I couldn't write this post without mentioning the world's most extraordinary, most ridiculous, most FLAMBOYANT birthday cake candle. MusiCandle's lotus flower candle not only sings Happy Birthday, but it has a whooshing, sparkling fountain of wonder rocketing out of the top; petals that open up to reveal tiny little lit candles; and it rotates. Because why do things by halves on your birthday? I am demanding a MusiCandle every year from now on. They're £5.99 each, and available in a whole host of colours. But before we all rush off to buy one, let's see it in all its whooshing, glowing, rotating and singing glory:

I think we can now see where Danny Boyle found his inspiration for the Olympic torch bit of the opening ceremony.