Equipment for a first run
Updated
A short list, and the two items worth paying for are not the obvious ones.
The list
A melting pot or double boiler.
A pouring pitcher with a narrow spout.
A thermometer that reads quickly.
Scales: one to 1 g for wax, one to 0.1 g or better for fragrance and dye.
Wick stickers or a glue gun, and wick bars or centring tools.
A heat gun, useful for shrink bands and for smoothing a rough top.
A ruler for measuring flame and melt pool, and a notebook.
What to spend on
The thermometer. Three temperatures matter in this craft and all three come off it. A slow or inaccurate one makes the whole process guesswork.
The second scale. Dye at fractions of a percent is not weighable on a 1 g instrument.
Both are inexpensive, and both are the difference between a reproducible process and a hobby.
What to skip
A large melting tank, until the pour window rather than the melt capacity is your constraint.
A presto pot conversion or any filling equipment, until a few hundred candles a run.
A label applicator, until the label design has settled.
Anything specific to one vessel size, until you are certain about that vessel.
Dedicated equipment
Keep everything for candles only. Wax holds fragrance, and a pot used for a strong oil carries it into the next batch at a level a customer notices and you do not.
Consider a separate pot for very strong scent families. It is cheaper than a ruined batch of something delicate.