The only material for madding candle is paraffin wax, fully refined grade is not used commonly since it is expensive and not competitive ,  

semi refined from 1% to 7% oil content can be used to produce different types of candles:

different shapes , odors , colors  which are used in religious ceremonies , houses , churches , funerals and even for lighting in the countries which do not have electricity because of war or other reasons .

If you live in the United States, chances are you’ll never use basic paraffin because there’s a wide range of pre-blends available, specially formulated for a specific type of candle.  

But if you’re a beginner, you can learn a lot by playing around with pure paraffin and additives as most european candle makers have to, due to the unavailability of pre-blends in these countries.