Back to Blog

Make Her Day!

People often assume that because Daniella is autistic that she is also not very sociable.  This could not be further from the truth.  Daniella loves meeting new people and finding out important facts about them (what's your name, when's your birthday and what fragrance do you like are commonly asked) and she looks forward to greeting everyone as they arrive at our workshops.  Those that take the time to engage with her possibly don't appreciate how much those small conversations m...

How do you reuse your candle jars?

We're loving having summer salads complete with freshly picked herbs which we are growing in our repurposed travel tins.Sustainability and responsible use of resources is important to us at Bentley & Hart.  Our boxes are made from trees planted in renewable forests, and we love to share ideas for reusing and upcycling our jars and travel tins.Some ideas for repurposing candle jars and tins are; as pen holders - always a must when working from home, make up brush storage in the bathroom - cr...

Scents for Creativity

Our love of scented candles and home fragrances constantly stimulates our creative juices. We all use scented candles in different ways to fit our lifestyles.  Whether it be working from home, relaxing and unwinding, entertaining friends and family, alfresco dining - the list goes on.  Helping us capture those moments, and providing additional inspiration is our talented Laura, shown here in full on summer mode. Our pick for a classic Kiwi summer scent is our bespoke Bella’s Candle. ...

Take the scent of home on holiday this New Year

Travel tins are the perfect way to take your favourite home scents with you as you hit the road this New Year.  Great for helping the family acclimatise to strange surroundings, our 100g travel tins are also the ideal solution for ridding holiday homes of lingering odours which may have taken hold while properties are closed up for long periods.And if you can't decide on just one fragrance, our Discovery Tins can give the gift of choice....

Season’s Greetings

“‘Tis the season to be jolly…”  We hope you all have a safe and happy holiday season with friends and family. The team at Bentley & Hart will be taking a bit of a break to reconnect with family that we haven’t seen this year. Hopefully you all can get some time to do the same. We’re looking forward to coming back in the New Year fully refreshed and energised. We’d like to say a special thank you to all those that supp...

Christmas Candle Workshop

Jingle Bells were ringing last weekend for these lovely ladies who attended our Christmas Candle Workshop. It was wonderful to be able to share the chandlery experience and select that favourite scent from our fragrance library. Everyone created some beautiful scented candles to take home for themselves and special gifts for others. Our Candle Workshop experience is a great way to learn the art of chandlery, gain an appreciation of what it takes to create a scented candle and many tricks and tip...

With a little help from my friends!

The team at Bentley & Hart had so much fun recently working on a project with a stunning Christmas theme. We really enjoy working with small business owners like ourselves that bring a personal touch to their products and aim to deliver an outstanding consumer experience. When Sarah phoned us and asked if we would like to participate in her Christmas Advent Calendar (@beautydaysnz) we were very excited to participate alongside some of New Zealand's most successful beauty brands. Sarah wanted to ...

Using home fragrances to create your ideal ambience

Home fragrances whether they be from candles, diffusers or room sprays are a great way to create an ambience or mood for any occasion. Some scents such as citrus notes are uplifting & invigorating which are great if you are working from home, while others such as vanilla and soft florals are calming and relaxing.  What we always find fascinating is how different the fragrance oils are in colour and viscosity which is why we weigh the fragrance oil when making our candles rather than measuri...

Is it hard to make candles?

We often get asked if it is hard to make candles.  In theory, no it is not - add fragrance to melted wax, pop in a wick and your set to go.   In practice however, making a candle that burns correctly, doesn't soot or get too hot, does not tunnel or become a flame thrower and fills your space with your desired fragrance, takes time and lots of testing.  Different waxes can take different levels of fragrance oils, and different wicks are required depending on the fragrance load...

Why we do what we do

The inspiration for Bentley & Hart came when our daughter Daniella, who is autistic, was about to leave school and was looking for employment opportunities.  That was back in 2015 which seems like an age ago now but we are so pleased with how having our home based business has allowed Daniella to thrive in a work environment. Daniella is a numbers girl and she takes great delight in counting the orders that come in, and the candles that go out.  She's also really good when it comes tim...