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Citronella candle buying guide

Updated: 22 October 2026

You are comparing tea lights, glass jars and tins on amazon.co.uk, and the titles all sound as if they do the same job. This citronella candle buying guide is the short list of lines worth reading before you pay: a burn time in hours, a smell people still notice once the wick is lit, and a container that matches the wind on your patio. None of the eight listings in our [anti-mosquito candle comparison](/hub/pest-control/anti-mosquito-candle) prints an oil percentage, so a laboratory figure from a candle of known strength cannot be copied onto a tea light. Peter F., editor for DIY & tools at productscompared.co.uk, checked the amazon.co.uk listings and did not run a lab test. A qualifying purchase can earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

You are comparing tea lights, glass jars and tins on amazon.co.uk, and the titles all sound as if they do the same job.

Our top picks

Price's Price's citronella tealights, 25 pack

Best overall

Price's Price's citronella tealights, 25 pack
8.6/10about £3.01
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Zuvo Zuvo citronella tea lights, 25 pack

Best value

Zuvo Zuvo citronella tea lights, 25 pack
8.1/10about £4.90
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Price's Price's citronella garden candles, pack of 4

Alternative

Price's Price's citronella garden candles, pack of 4
7.4/10about £11.95
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On this page
  1. 1.What the listing must show
  2. 2.Tea lights, jars and tins
  3. 3.Price and review weight
  4. 4.What not to expect from the scent

What the listing must show

Start with the burn-time field, not the words “long lasting”. In this set, Zuvo is the only tea light with “4 hours” on the title. Price’s own site says its citronella tea lights last up to about four hours, and the amazon.co.uk file for the 25-pack does not print that number. Treat a missing figure as missing. Do not fill it in from a rival’s tin or from a wholesaler’s blog. Next, look for a smell reviewers can still detect after lighting. Saved texts on the cheap tea lights often say there is no citronella smell, and a few say only the top of the wax is scented. If the vapour is not there, you have a small flame and a lemon-coloured label. Container is the third check.

Tea lights, jars and tins

The three 25-packs sit in a narrow band. Price’s tea lights are £3.01, with 4.3 from 9,563 reviews and no hours on the amazon file. 1ABOVE is £4.25, with 4.1 from 579 reviews and again no hours. Zuvo is £4.90, with 4.2 from 317 reviews, aluminium cups, and the 4 hour title that the other two lack. You will relight if each cup finishes in two or three hours, which a large minority of Zuvo reviews describe, and which Price’s tea-light reviews often put at about two hours. Who each format suits is on the best citronella candles page.
Price's Price's citronella tealights, 25 pack

Testsieger

Price's Price's citronella tealights, 25 pack
8.6/10about £3.01
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Price and review weight

Entry money in this capture is £3.01 to £4.90 for 25 tea lights. Mid-range is about £9.25 to £12.99 for glass, tins or the 355 ml candle. The upper end of the set is £19.79. Good Housekeeping UK, on 22 May 2024, showed some high-street outdoor candles around £8 to £16. That is a snapshot of other shops, not a price for these ASINs. Under £5 buys spares. Around £10 buys a container. Neither band buys a stated oil percentage. Rank the pack by what you can check, then by how many people had the chance to complain.

What not to expect from the scent

A 1996 field count of candles made with 3% citronella oil recorded about 42% fewer Aedes bites than no candle, and people were still bitten. Plain candles reduced bites a little as well. You do not have a known oil strength on these listings, so the 42% figure is not a promise for a £3 tea light. A later indoor trial of a 5% citronella candle reported about 29% repellency. Citronella products, in UK malaria guidance for travellers, give short-lived protection and are not what UKMEAG recommends when bites matter. Soy wax or the word “natural” does not fill in the missing percentage. If the job is fewer bites on skin, use the citronella candle or insect repellent page.

Common questions

Why do reviews say there is no smell?
On the cheap tea lights, saved texts often say the citronella scent is missing once the wick is lit, or that only the top layer of wax carries it. A candle with no smell gives you no reason to expect the effect the title implies. Light one in still air before you buy a second pack on the strength of the unlit tin.
Is a 4.5 from two reviews better than a 4.3 from thousands?
No. CKB’s 4.5 from 2 reviews cannot show short wicks, weak scent or broken packaging, because almost nobody has reported yet. Price’s tea lights at 4.3 from 9,563 reviews cost £3.01 and already contain those complaints. Use the count as the weight, and use the stars only inside that weight.
Does soy wax mean a stronger repellent?
No. AXXTAN, TTRWIN and Pest strike mention soy, and none of them states an oil percentage. Soy describes the wax base in the bullet, not how much citronella oil is in the melt. A soy tin can still have no measurable effect on biting insects, and a non-soy tea light can still smell strongly of citronella.
Can I treat a missing burn time as “long lasting”?
No. “Long lasting” on Price’s tea lights, AXXTAN, Pest strike and CKB is not an hour figure. Zuvo’s title says 4 hours and reviews often report less. TTRWIN’s bullet says 60 hours and a saved review says 30. If the listing does not print a number, you do not have a burn time.
Are US 3% citronella labels the UK standard?
No. The 3% figure belongs to a specific trial and to some US product labels. It is not printed on these amazon.co.uk files, and it is not a British requirement you can tick off in the specification. Buy on the hours, the smell and the container you can actually see.

Related pages

How to use citronella candles

Anti-mosquito candle

Best citronella candles UK: spare pack, tin or jar

Citronella candle or insect repellent for UK bites

Citronella candles for the patio when air is still

Sources

Public UK and study sources used for this comparison. Shelf prices, stars and review counts are the amazon.co.uk figures captured for these eight listings. Last checked 22 October 2026.

  1. Lindsay and others, 1996, citronella candles (retrieved 22 October 2026)
  2. Müller and others, 2008, indoor citronella candle (retrieved 22 October 2026)
  3. GOV.UK bite prevention for travellers (retrieved 22 October 2026)
  4. Fit for Travel mosquito bite avoidance (retrieved 22 October 2026)
  5. NHS malaria (retrieved 22 October 2026)
  6. GOV.UK native mosquitoes (retrieved 22 October 2026)
  7. HSE regulated biocides (retrieved 22 October 2026)
  8. London Fire Brigade candle safety (retrieved 22 October 2026)