Behind-The-Scenes Of Candlemaking: Can I request a fragrance?

"You know what would be a great fragrance?"

"Can you make a candle that smells like _____?" 

"I smelled a candle by ____ brand and loved it. Can you make it?" 

We get these questions a lot and the answer is YES you can always *request* a fragrance, but know that it's just that - a request. Here's some behind-the-scenes info on how we come up with new candle fragrances and why it's not always possible to give you your dream scent:  

1. I am a one-woman team. I do all of the product development, recipe testing, product creation, popups, shipping, customer service, community engagement, social media, email marketing, paid search, SEO, event planning, partnerships, wholesale, and more. 
2. Formulating new candle fragrances is expensive. Samples of high-quality fragrances are $5 each and, because it's a liquid in a glass bottle, they're expensive to ship. A typical fragrance sample order from a distributor is about $65. We typically source samples from 3-4 distributors before landing on a scent we like. Sometimes we go through the whole effort and don't find anything we like. It's part of the process, but it stinks (literally and figuratively) to spend $200 on product research (not including the cost of purchasing enough of the fragrance oil to actually make candles to sell) and not have a new product to show for it. 
3. It's time consuming. If we find a fragrance we like, we have to purchase it and test it (and test it and test it). Finding the right amount of fragrance to use so the candle is just right takes several tests and the wax we use needs 1-2 weeks to cure. We've found efficiencies to reduce the time it takes between testing and launch, but it's still a process.
4. The candle world does NOT operate like Amazon - there is no free or two-day shipping. It can take three to four weeks between purchasing and receiving samples. Then three to four weeks again between purchasing and receiving the fragrance oil to use in tests and finished products. 
5.  It's a risk. We never know if a new scent is going to be a hit. Just because you like it or we like it doesn't mean that it's going to have universal appeal.
6. We kind of have a good thing going here. We've carefully curated our scent collection to stuff that - selfishly - we like. Sometimes suggested scents don't work with our existing assortment. Think of it this way - you like wearing neutral colors so your wardrobe is made up of neutrals and then someone wants you to add something that's hot pink and leopard. It just doesn't really work with what you already have. 

Know that if you've requested a scent, we L O V E you for thinking of us. We love that you want your favorite candle to be one that we make. We want that, too!