How on earth do we agree on what blends get to be in our candles?
Lisa and I don't always agree everything – while we share a deep love of Diet Coke - I LOVE green juice, whereas Lisa is a coffee fanatic! On days in the office together, while I’d happily skip lunch, Lisa would arrive laden with treats and lunch all planned! So, when it comes to what smells good - I approach it from a position of understanding what the more complex essential oils aromas we use, are doing for us therapeutically. Lisa’s immediate thought is – YES, but does it smell good??
One of my favourite aromas is Valerian, I think it smells like the floor of an ancient wood - mossy, woody, and just a little bit mystical. When I said we simply HAD to include this in our ‘Burnt Out’ blend, Lisa got the benefits for sleep and relaxation - but rather than visualising a magical wood, thought it smelt like feet! So, as you can imagine, it was quite a challenge working this into our first Antidote Collection, I think I blended over 60 variations before we got one that worked for me therapeutically but that also got Lisa's smell test seal of approval!
The ‘Smell Test’ aside - we both passionately believe that pure, high quality essential oils are always the best choice and so, when starting out on our Burn The Candle journey, we knew this was the only route we’d take. In terms of fragrance, there truthfully is a real difference between the aroma of a pure essential oil and one that has been made synthetically. The pure fragrance will be finer and smell more intense; however, an experienced nose can detect this easily. The main reason for this is that a plant that has been grown in the wild has had to struggle to survive. It’s had to work harder and use more energy to grow than a plant cultivated purely and gently simply to produce oil - so all its properties are far more potent making it more effective and its therapeutic effectiveness so much stronger – think of it as strength training for essential oils!
Although some brands choose to use chemical or synthetic ingredients to try and replicate the effects of natural essential oils, it can be said that the results are less impressive. (This however I should state now - is by no means a slant on any of the beautiful candles brands we’ve enjoyed over the years – we’re not into shaming of ANY kind , you’ll find us cheering from the side lines to celebrate and support the achievements of others!)
We feel that by using pure essential oils and botanicals for our blends, we can really achieve real therapeutic results that more than rival those achieved by chemical or synthetically based products. For us, Mother Nature simply always does it better!!