Monsoon evenings have a very particular kind of beauty — the smell of rain on warm ground, the sound of it on the windowsill, the temptation to finally sit outside again after months of heat. And then, almost on cue, the mosquitoes show up and the evening gets cut short.

Most people's response is some combination of coils, sprays, and plug-in repellents — all of which work, to varying degrees, but come with a trade-off most of us don't think too hard about: synthetic chemicals released into the air of a room you're sitting in for hours. Citronella is the alternative that's been around far longer than any of those products, and it's worth understanding why it actually works, not just that it does.

What Citronella Actually Is

Citronella oil comes from the leaves and stems of citronella grass (Cymbopogon), a plant in the same family as lemongrass. It's been used as a natural insect deterrent for well over a century, well before synthetic repellents existed — long enough that it's now one of the most recognised natural repellent ingredients globally, including registration for use in insect repellent products in markets like the US.

How It Actually Works

Citronella doesn't kill mosquitoes, and it's worth being upfront about that — it's a repellent, not a pesticide. Mosquitoes locate humans largely through scent cues — carbon dioxide, body odour, certain skin compounds. Citronella's strong, distinct scent interferes with a mosquito's ability to pick up on those cues, effectively masking the signals that would otherwise lead it to you.

This is why citronella works best as an ambient, area-based deterrent — burning near where you're sitting — rather than as a guarantee that no mosquito will ever land on you. It shifts the odds in your favour; it doesn't build a wall.

Why the Delivery Method Matters

Citronella oil is only as good as how it's released into the air, and this is where a lot of products fall short. A cheap citronella candle made with a paraffin base and a thin layer of citronella oil on top burns fast, releases the oil inconsistently, and often needs to be relit or replaced constantly through a single evening.

A pure beeswax base changes that. Beeswax burns slower and steadier than paraffin, which means the citronella oil is released more consistently over a longer burn — instead of a strong initial burst that fades fast, you get a steadier presence of scent across the evening. It's the same reason we don't blend our beeswax with anything else in our other candles — consistency in the burn is consistency in what the candle is actually doing for you.

Why Beeswax and Citronella Work So Well Together

There's a reason we didn't build our citronella candle on a soy or paraffin base. Beeswax has a naturally dense, slightly porous structure — it's not a synthetic, uniform material engineered in a lab, but a raw substance with its own texture and consistency. That natural structure holds essential oils like citronella well, rather than letting them separate out or evaporate off too quickly the way they can in softer, more processed waxes.

Because beeswax also burns slower and at a steadier rate, the citronella oil suspended in it is released gradually across the whole burn — not front-loaded in the first twenty minutes and gone by the time you actually need it. Two natural materials, both minimally processed, doing their jobs the way they would on their own — just paired together instead of one propping up the other. It's less about a special chemical reaction and more about neither material getting in the other's way.

Why This Matters More in Monsoon Season Specifically

Monsoon is peak mosquito season for an obvious reason: standing water. Every puddle, clogged drain, and waterlogged plant tray becomes a breeding ground, which is why mosquito presence spikes so sharply the moment the rains start. It's also the season people most want their balconies, verandas, and open windows back — after months of shutting everything up against the heat.

That combination is exactly why citronella season and monsoon season line up. You want the windows open and the evening air in the room, and citronella is what makes that possible without trading it for coil smoke or chemical spray indoors.

Using It Well

A few practical notes for getting the most out of a citronella candle through monsoon:

• Place it upwind of where you're sitting, not right beside you — let the scent carry toward you rather than just around the candle itself.
• Light it before mosquitoes arrive, not after — it's a deterrent, not a rescue measure once they're already in the room.
• Use it in semi-enclosed spaces — verandas, covered balconies, near open windows — where the scent can build up rather than dissipate instantly in open air.
• Pair it with the basics — no standing water nearby undoes a lot of the reason mosquitoes were drawn to the space in the first place.

What We Made This For

Our citronella candle is built on the same principle as the rest of our line: pure beeswax as the base, so what's actually doing the work — the citronella oil — is released steadily and honestly, without cutting it with paraffin to bring the cost down. It's not a promise that no mosquito will ever bother you this monsoon. It's a way to reclaim a few evenings on the balcony without reaching for a spray can to do it.

Let the rain in. Keep the mosquitoes out. Light one.