How Fragranced by Ella May Began…
I have always had a huge love for candles in our home, salon & the pub, the Bax Castle. Especially a sweet vanilla scented candle from Sainsbury’s and in October 2020 my favourite scent was discontinued. I was not happy, I tried a few other candles from candle shops or local supermarkets, and they just were not the same, this is what started my thought of why I don’t just make my own! It could be a hobby; make a luxury product for my home and try to match the scent I love.
A little bit about Ella… My full-time job is working in my own beauty salon, Ella Tugwell Beauty based in Horsham, which is defiantly my passion. Being in the Coronavirus pandemic it has hit the beauty industry hard. I have had to close my business 3 times for national lockdowns. Usually, day to day if I am not in the salon, I am helping my partner run his country pub, The Bax Castle. We are both used to such a busy non-stop lifestyle and during a lockdown we are unable to work, this was incredible hard for me as I am always on the go and now nothing to do. What a perfect time to start my candles? It has all my attention, and I can research and test to find a really luxurious candle.
In November 2020, it was our second national lockdown, I decided to order an Amazon candle making kit. I had so much fun making my two tin container candles. I waited 48 hours then lit my first one excitedly. How disappointing, it does not smell, where did I go wrong? I booked a candle making course for December at Little Crafty, Worthing. It was great and showed me all the tools and products available. My clients loved the idea and were pushing me to start a business selling them, what an idea I thought. Completely different from the day to day running around, a venture that is therapeutic and enjoyable.
Following the course, I tried making another candle and had the same results. Problem solving is also my thing, so I decided to take to google, soy candle suppliers and Facebook groups to search and search and search for tips and information. The one main difficulty with candles is that there is no set formula. Each candle differs based on your glass, diameter, wick, wax and fragranced oil percentage. Mind Blown! So, I decided to choose my glass and wax to focus on testing for my own formula. I wanted my product to be clean, simple, affordable & good for your home/skin/pets but also natural, eco-friendly, vegan and being conscious of where products come from. It had to fit with anyone’s home décor and be a good size/long burning candle. I spent 4 months testing different wicks and percentages of fragrance oil. Ready to pull my hair out and give up, I took the courage and posted on one of my Facebook groups and asked for help. Everyone was so encouraging and said I had my formula, and the wick was right. This was an AMAZING feeling. I needed this confidence boost and to finalise my products.
In between curing and burning I would be contacting various local or small businesses designing my logo, boxes, stickers, matches everything from scratch, ordering samples to make sure they were perfect. I really wanted a brand, to make it look professional and something people would love, classy and sophisticated. Slowly but surely Fragranced by Ella May took shape…
Here are my beautiful Designed & Hand Poured Soy Candles below, and the story behind how Fragranced by Ella May began.
I can honestly say that every detail and product has been designed, tested, or sampled by myself and I love them!
I hope you do too 🤍
