There’s a thread of wellbeing and caring about her ingredients that has always been a part of what Alice does. A registered nutritional therapist and a trained chef, the candle making was never part of the big plan. “I had an expensive candle habit. I wanted to have healthy candles, I’ve always been sensitive to smell and was interested in essential oils, so I taught myself to make my own.” In a past life she developed recipes for an organic baby food company, working with baby food guru Annabel Karmel, so when it comes to blending and creating she’s a pro. So, there she was at the kitchen table in 2016. Once she’d mastered the art, she began running workshops. She found people who came on her courses wanted candles for their yoga studios and so on. This demand, combined with the desire to work flexibly after she’d had her children, led her to set up Scott’s Apothecary. When it became tricky to do at home with a baby underfoot, she built a proper production pod, brought on a team member and started making much higher quantities.
Alice’s big thing is that she makes all her own blends, getting the raw ingredients and blending the scents. The therapeutic benefits of the oils she uses are key. And the quality of the wax. Hers is very clean burning; “it’s very clean in terms of naturalness it burns for a long time triple the time”, she explains. Cheaper factory imported made candles will typically use a top layer of fragrance ingredients and the wax is often a by-product of petroleum wax. You won’t find Alice using those.
