I too have been a victim of designing stuff in golden ratio, especially after my high school art professor, (also my mentor for getting into design college) completely filled my head with it. Unfortunately it often turns out to be “Sisyphean work” (Speaking of the Greeks…)
I think the circle idea might work but I’d definitely rethink the colours. Yellow/black combination in this setting reminds me of Batman a bit. Not a big fan of these colours generally, I usually refrain from using basic colours like red, yellow, magenta, …unless print is the association you want to achieve here, but even in that case, I think cmyk colour are being overused in print related logos. Also, try using colour combinations for a reason, e.g. combining complimentary colours, if you want to achieve the contrast. The combination of this yellow and this pink looks very amateur to me. Pink and yellow could work nicely together but not saturated like this. Maybe different shades? If you’re struggling with picking the right colours, see if Pinterest can serve as inspiration. 
About the candle/brush issue, look up brush icons and see how they are outlined. Not saying copy them, but maybe you get a heureka moment and realise something you could change to make them look more brushy.