about us

What Makes us Boujee?

We are not like other candle brands - we are BOUJEE. The name means "fancy candles." Our perfumes aren't just Eau de Parfum, they are Eau de Boujee. What makes us so ritzy, luxurious, flamboyant and fabulous? Well, the answer is simple: In our world, fragrance is King (and sometimes also a Queen) and the resulting product is a vessel for telling an intriguing olfactory tale. To be Boujee is to appreciate the finest of things and to be unafraid to show off a bit – here are five reasons to be Boujee with us:

1: unique, artistic fragrances

We believe that home fragrance isn’t just a smell for your home, it’s a way of creating a vibe and a mood. Burning a candle is like dressing the set of a movie (just FYI, in this movie you are the star, so you better learn your lines) – it creates an atmosphere and a feeling to compliment the space. Our fragrances are designed to bring something new and exciting to the rooms you inhabit, from tales of apocalyptic flowers to whispered confessions in a gilded church, all to let people know that, above all else, you are boujee. Oh, and to make your home smell amazing too, of course. Our perfumes are like cinematic versions of the scene that our home fragrance sets. Instead of a still life from a film, you have the whole, complex and evolving story. With you as the Main Character, obvs. 

2: top notch quality

Each and every one of our candles is packed with a high percentage of a unique fragrance made with the very best of materials. Our perfumes have a high budget and high artistry; they set trends rather than follow them. All of our fragrances are created by our in-house perfumer in collaboration with our creative director. To be a creative team owned and directed team, we have full creative control and can give ourselves the permission to be extravagant. And because we are extra, they’re all compounded at the legendary Roudnitska estate by our partner Accords & Parfums in Grasse. We are the only British independent lab with this prestigious partnership. 

3: 100% natural wax

We could wax lyrical about how good our wax is and in fact, we are going to, so get ready to be hit with some wax facts. Our wax is 100% natural and it’s a unique blend of rapeseed, soy and beeswax, which leads to a perfectly clean and wonderfully even burn. You’d expect us to have fancy wax, right? Exactly, we don’t disappoint.

4: boujee packaging

Candles that smell great and are made with a fancy wax blend need to look good, we know that and that’s why we’ve worked really hard to ensure our bougies look boujee. We use black internal coat glass (which looks shiny and sleek). Each candle is beautifully boxed. They look great, if we do say so ourselves. The perfume bottles have a classic, elegant shape and a sleek, colour-coded outer.

5: teamwork

At Boujee Bougies, we believe that teamwork makes the dream work, and we’ve pooled together the minds, experience and creative talent of our team members to create a unique and beautiful brand that is unlike any other. As the famous saying goes, many boujee brains are better than one. 

Pia Long - Perfumer, writer
Nick Gilbert - Creative director, writer

This is an Olfiction Project

Olfiction are a privately owned fragrance house and consultancy, founded by perfumer Pia Long and creative director, Nick Gilbert in 2016, after spending decades working for well-known brands and suppliers. Olfiction’s multi-award winning team members form a fragrance trade powerhouse whose skills supply the vital secret ingredient for many large and small businesses alike. Telling stories through fragrance and about fragrance is what we do.

Nick Gilbert is our brand manager, creative director and writer. He graduated in psychology and psychopharmacology, then went on to make his real passion his profession and progressed from a Boots fragrance sales assistant to a regional fragrance trainer, then headed off to London and Les Senteurs where he became a store manager and retail buyer. Penhaligon's and L'Artisan Parfumeur snapped him up and he became a marketer, part of the fragrance development team and a global training manager. Working directly with the perfumery team, he picked up skills that would later serve him well when setting up a fragrance lab with Pia. He was also the co-host of the Jasmine Award-winning fragrance podcast Fume Chat, and is an Associate Member of the British Society of Perfumers. Nick is a visiting lecturer on marketing at Notthingham Trent University. 

Pia Long is our perfumer, and a writer, too. She has been writing all her life, first in Finnish, and these days "in perfume" (to Pia, creating a story using fragrant molecules feels a lot like writing). She graduated from London College of Fashion in 1996 and went on to become a training manager for Fragrance Factory, then a junior perfumer at Lush cosmetics. She then worked consecutively at two small independent fragrance businesses (in quality control, regulatory, training and perfumery). She is the co-author of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists Perfumery module on Diploma in Cosmetics Science course, a member of the Société Internationale des Parfumeurs-Créateurs (International Society of Perfumer-Creators), and sits on the IFRA-ISPC subcommittee. She was a British Society of Perfumers council member for 10 years and has recently been presented with the Institute for Art and Olfaction discretionary Septimus Piesse Award for Exceptional Vision. Pia has created hundreds of fragrances in multiple categories over her 15+ year perfumery career to date and Boujee Bougies/Eau de Boujee is the first brand in which she has co-ownership.