'Cheap and Toxic': Meghan Markle's Luxury Lifestyle Brand Face Backlash Over Secret Candle Ingredients

Meghan Markle's lifestyle brand As Ever is facing fresh criticism after fans claimed they spotted 'cheap and toxic' ingredients and basic safety mistakes in a new candle promotion published online this week.

The backlash came after the Duchess of Sussex unveiled As Ever's latest product on Thursday, a branded matchbox offered free with the purchase of any one of five new candle bundles sold through her website. The bundles bring together candles already on sale and do not appear to include any extra discount, according to the promotional material.

Backlash Over Candle Images

The criticism did not begin with the price or the freebie, but with the images As Ever used to promote the launch. In the photographs, which were shared to advertise the matchbox and several candles, social media users claimed the wax appeared to be tunnelling around the wick, which they said suggested the product had not been burned properly.

On X, one user offered a detailed explanation of what they believed they were seeing. 'The pool of wax you see around the wick of Meghan's candle is referred to as candle tunnelling. This can waste a significant part of your candle,' they wrote, adding: 'Common causes of tunnelling are using a wick that's too small or an unsuitable wax blend'.

The same post also criticised the way the image was staged, pointing to used matches resting on the branded matchbox beside the candles. 'As an added note, you should never place a once-lit match on top of a paper box filled with matches. That's just common sense,' the user said, suggesting the set-up showed poor fire-safety awareness.

Another user went further, claiming the candle itself was substandard. 'That's because she's using the very CHEAP and TOXIC paraffin wax! Check the ingredients!' they said, linking the alleged tunnelling to what they saw as a cost cutting choice. However, no ingredient list was published, and there is no independent verification of the wax used, so any claim about toxicity should be treated cautiously until the brand provides full details.

A third commentator focused on the overall presentation rather than the candle itself. 'The whole photo is a mess and at first glance it looks like a pot head's coffee table,' they wrote, capturing a wider sense that the imagery felt cluttered and unpolished for a brand selling itself as luxury.

Luxury Image Under Pressure

For context, Meghan has positioned As Ever as a polished, aspirational lifestyle brand built around curated visuals and a sense of personal taste. That makes the reaction to the latest candle and matchbox launch awkward, because what was meant to be a simple add-on has instead become the focus of the story.

Candle enthusiasts on X also used the moment to share what they saw as basic candle care advice. One user wrote: 'To prevent tunnelling, your first burn of a new candle should allow the wax to completely melt from the wick to the edge of the glass/jar'.

They added: 'Also, keep the wick trimmed as a long wick burns hotter, and it also leans. I wonder if she states that anywhere on her product'. The suggestion was that either the candles were not performing as they should, or that the brand had not given customers the usual care instructions to avoid wasted wax.

Others stayed with the presentation itself. Another user said: 'The composition of this photo is truly uninviting. There are so many options to make busy layouts pleasing to the eye and somehow all of those were missed'. For a young company trading on Instagram-friendly imagery and tasteful living, that kind of criticism is not easy to shrug off.

So far, neither Meghan nor As Ever has publicly responded to the tunnelling claims, the paraffin wax allegation or the fire-safety concerns raised about the matches in the promotional shot. There is also no published ingredient list in the material cited, which means much of the debate is based on interpretation rather than confirmed fact.

That gap between what has been shown and what has been confirmed has done some of the damage. A small slip in a marketing image has given critics space to paint As Ever as careless, cheap or unprofessional, at least in their view, and the row is likely to continue until the brand addresses the product details more directly.