Anthropologie Volcano Candle Scent: Is it Cheaper to Burn or Diffuse?

Ok so you’ve probably experienced the overwhelming feeling of walking into an Anthropologie store and being surrounded by all the things you wish were in your closet while simultaneously asking yourself WHAT IS THAT HEAVENLY SMELL? So, that’s the volcano candle. It’s Anthropologie’s “signature scent” and they burn it in all of their stores. It smells amazing to say the least.

I'll include a link to the candle Here

I’ve always loved that scent and that candle. It fills up a room with its citrusy yet florally vibe and smells nothing like an actual volcano haha- still confused on why they named it that, but I’m not complaining about the scent one bit!

I used to ask for that candle for my birthday or Christmas, because it runs about $30 for a 19oz jar and wasn’t something that I’d buy for myself. When I did get one, I’d hoard it and only burn it every now and then or when we had company over because it was expensive and I didn’t want to use it up!

When I got into Young Living oils last fall, we began diffusing oils rather than burning candles. As much as I love candles, we kind of had to go through a “break up” after I learned about all of the harmful toxins and chemical fragrances that are in almost all candles. I honestly didn’t miss most of them, but that volcano scent was a tough one to part with!

When I saw a pinterest post on a diffuser blend that was suppose to smell like the Anthropologie Volcano candle, I knew I had to try it! I bought the 4 oils you needed to make the blend and was skeptically hopeful that the smell would be similar. Well, YOU GUYS. It smells SO FREAKING SIMILAR that I honestly can’t even believe it. The oils to make the blend were kind of expensive, so then I got thinking- which is cheaper, the diffuser blend or the candle itself?

So if you’re a cheapo like me or just a math nerd (which I am not, this was a challenge for me lol), here’s the breakdown:

Volcano Candle: cost = $30 for a 19oz jar on Anthropologie’s website (before any tax or shipping)

-The description claims that it burns for a max of 85 hours. I’ve burned a handful of these and I’m not sure I’ve ever got 85 hours out of it, but ok let’s just say it does burn for the FULL 85 hours.

$30.00 for the candle x .35 cents per hour burning = 85 hours total

So, best case scenario, you’re paying .35 cents an hour to burn the candle.

Not bad honestly!

Volcano Diffuser Blend:

2 drops Geranium

2 drops Orange

2 drops Grapefruit

2 drops Northern Lights Black Spruce

= 8 drops total and smells just like the Volcano Candle!

Here’s the price breakdown: (I’m giving you the pricing for a Young Living Member because that’s what I am, retail would be paying 24% more than these prices)

Geranium essential oil 15ml: $42.50 (contains 300 drops)

Orange essential oil 15 ml: $11.00 (contains 300 drops)

Grapefruit essential oil 15 ml: $17.25 (300 drops)

Northern Lights Black Spruce essential oil 15 ml: $47.50 (300 drops)

Total cost for all four oils = $118.25 (total drops = 1,200)

Ok, so if each time you diffuse you use 2 drops of EACH oil, that totals 8 drops for every diffuser session.

8 drops of oil x 150 diffusing sessions = the total of 1,200 drops (which is the total contents of all 4 oils)

The diffuser that I use runs for 10 hours on the low setting. So 150 diffuser sessions x 10 hours each session = 1,500 hours total time you could diffuse with those four oils.

So 1,500 total hours diffusing divided by the cost of the oil which was $118.25 = the cost per hour is .078 cents.

Let’s just round up and say it costs .08 cents a hour to run the diffuser using the volcano candle blend.

Cost to burn the volcano candle: .35 cents /hour

Cost to diffuse the volcano scent: .08 cents/hour

That means it’s over FIVE times more expensive to burn the candle than it is to run the diffuser with the same scent!

I honestly couldn’t believe it was that much of a difference! Not only is diffusing SO much cheaper, but it’s also supporting and building up your body rather than tearing it down with harmful chemicals. Did you know that most candles are made from paraffin wax which releases two chemicals that are known carcinogens- benzene and toluene? Like how crazy is that. Scented candles are a huge source of indoor air pollution and are as dangerous as second hand smoke. Not only that but they’re full of artificial fragrances that are horrible for our bodies. The word “fragrance” as listed in ingredients can include THOUSANDS of different chemicals. Go visit www.wellnessmama.com and type “scented candles” into the search bar. You will not believe the stuff you will read about how bad candles are for your body and air pollution. It’s actually insane. As much as I loved the ambiance, I just can’t burn them in good faith anymore. And my diffuser has a candle flicker setting so it totally still gives me all the cozy vibes.

Diffusing oils over burning candles checks all of my boxes:

-My belief that I am the gatekeeper of my own home. I choose what I bring in. I want to choose products that are non toxic, plant based and safe for myself and my family. CHECK

-The deal-lover in me who is always trying to figure out hacks to make things I love cheaper and save me money. CHECK

-The part of me that wants to make our home cozy and smell good without all the nasty chemicals. CHECK

It’s kind of a no brainer for me.

Click here to purchase the oils for this blend, or grab your starter kit!

The prices I gave were based on having a Young Living membership, which means you’ve already purchased a starter kit. The starter kit comes with 12 oils, a diffuser, and some other YL samples. If you decide you want your kit, you can use the link above- basically you purchase a kit once and you get wholesale pricing forever and will be able to get these oils at the member price. But even if you were to pay retail, you’d still only being paying 24% more than my calculations, which is still so much less expensive than the candle!

You also have the option of purchasing smaller sizes (5ml instead of 15ml) for some of the oils, which would bring your cost down initially but you do get a slightly better price for buying the larger bottles.

Anyways, this totally fulfills my craving for my old favorite candle so I obviously had to share! I’ve had the volcano blend going in my diffuser just about non-stop since yesterday, but I’m happy to report that I did the math and I still have about 1,486 hours to go until I’ll have to restock on my oils. For less than .08 cents an hour, I’ll be diffusing these babies guilt-free AND worry-free.

These are the oils you need- Geranium, Orange, Northern Lights Black Spruce and Grapefruit! Use two drops of each in your diffuser!