About Yarra Light

Julia, the maker behind Yarra Light, standing on a granite outcrop above a eucalypt valley in the Macedon Ranges, Victoria

Yarra Light is Julia’s candle studio in Melbourne. She founded it in 2025 and she still makes everything herself: every candle sold here is hand-poured, wicked, labelled and packed by her, in small batches.

That is Julia in the photograph, on the granite at the top of the Macedon Ranges, about an hour north-west of Melbourne. It is the country the scents are drawn from, and the reason a candle called Bush Walk smells of eucalyptus, berry and sandalwood rather than of a laundry aisle.

Small batch means what it says. If you order a candle, Julia probably poured it, and there is no one else to hand it to if something is not right. Her address is julia@yarralight.au and it reaches her, not a help desk.

Candle-making setup with glass jars of liquid soy wax, wood wicks, and metal tins with cotton wicks

What is actually in the candle

Most candle brands will tell you the wax is premium and the fragrance is beautiful. Very few will tell you the numbers. Ours are the same here as on every product page:

  • Wax. Soy wax, produced in the USA from US-grown soybeans.
  • Fragrance load. 8% in the candles. The car diffusers are formulated at 25%, but that is a different kind of product and the two figures are not comparable.
  • Fragrance oils. Made in Australia, phthalate-free, formulated to IFRA standards.
  • Wicks. Wood wicks made in the USA on the Signature and NOIR ranges. Lead-free cotton wicks on the Weekday range, the Weekend Bundle, the Candle Discovery Kit and the Candle Sample. The wick type is stated on every product page.
  • Vessel. Glass, 8 cm x 9 cm, on the Signature range. Tinplate, 8 cm x 7 cm, on the Weekday range.
  • Net weight. Over 210 grams.
  • Burn time. Over 35 hours.
  • Made. Poured, packed and dispatched in Melbourne.

We wrote a guide to judging candle quality that explains why those four (wax, wick, fragrance load, vessel) are the ones worth asking any brand for, this one included.

Wooden wicks on a white background

What we do not claim

We do not describe these candles as non-toxic, chemical-free or healthier to burn, and we do not tell you that paraffin is bad for you. Those claims are everywhere in this industry. We cannot substantiate them, so we do not make them.

We hold no environmental certification, and we are not going to call the wicks or the packaging eco-friendly or sustainable. The wood wicks are made in the USA and imported. If you want to know what a particular component is made from, ask Julia and she will tell you what she knows and what she does not.

What you will always get here is what is in the candle, where each part of it came from, and what it weighs.