“An abstraction and curiosity. Is the candle snuffed out, or burning? Schrödinger’s thought experiment suggests that both can be true, until observed. Molten pools of wax, trails of white smoke, and flickering flames coalesce – the truth will out.
Top Notes: Wax, Peach Skin
Heart Notes: Silver Smoke, Incense
Base Notes: Candle Wicks, Musk”
When we started Boujee Bougies, the name came first, and everything followed – what does it mean to make the Boujee candle? How to subvert. How to create the kind of candle we wish we could buy. How to make a candle that was not just another fragrance done by numbers, based on a commercial hedging of bets.
First, we went surreal, and let our imagination run wild to fully embrace the creative playground phase. We started talking about a candle that smells like an extinguished candle (the Schrödinger’s candle – what if when you lit it, you’d smell a freshly blown out one?), and Pia created such a bizarre fragrance that when the candle was lit, the experience was pure uncanny valley. Was there a candle burning? Had it just been snuffed out? Were wisps of white smoke coming off someone’s blown out birthday cake candles?
It was far too bizarre, but it helped us refine what was essential about the brand: to always start from a place of creative joy.
We decided to make a one-off batch of this fragrance in perfume form. It is safe to wear on skin (and you could try to layer it with Gilded, for example) – but in itself it’s a bottled smell, not a fully-fledged perfume.
Enjoy the uncanny valley.
