The Botanical Candlemaker produce hand-poured, small-batch aromatherapy candles using responsibly sourced ingredients right here in Edinburgh. We caught up with Lisa, the woman behind the business, who told us about using lockdown to work with partners and taking time to breathe.
I have always lit candles at the slightest occasion and was surprised to see there were still a lot of candles using paraffin or mineral waxes. I started investigating further and became really interested in the types of waxes and oils that were available to produce a clean burning candle. Soy was the natural choice but even that has its environmental concerns.
Finally, after months of testing, I opted for an in-house blend of rapeseed and sunflower wax. I also made the decision to only use essential oils for scent and to use the most amount of essential oils I could squeeze in! So no synthetic or fragrance oils are ever used in our candles. It made our whole testing process even longer, but the effort of sticking to our principles has paid off, and it's so nice to see so many people feel the same way.
We were already an online business, but we also stock our candles with some lovely partners who own bricks-and-mortar shops. We've stepped up our social media efforts, met some lovely new people along the way, and helped our partners as much as possible by promoting their businesses, running competitions and really pushing the "shop small, shop local" message - it's so important. Since the start of lockdown, we've also offered completely free UK-wide delivery and have some great sale offers.
Community, support, family, time to breathe. Time to reassess what's important, the pleasure in small things, shopping small and discovering how much more pleasure it brings. So much actually!
We are spoilt for choice in Edinburgh with so many amazing local businesses out there who deserve a shout out. I want them all to be there when we get to go out again. Some favourites are D. Atkinson the Herbalists on Bristo Place, Biscuit Clothing, Snapdragon Flowers, Pyrus Botanicals, The Three Birds, Cafe Grande, Mellis Cheese, Hot Yoga, Calm on Canning Street, Honeycomb Cafe and Edward & Irwyn.
Jump on a ferry to Harris! It's my favourite place in the whole world and I cannot wait to be there again. Oh, and a little visit to the garden centre.
Take us with you please! You can get free nationwide delivery of Lisa's beautiful candles on her website with 20% off any purchase over £30 using the code EDLOCKDOWN. Let's keep supporting local.
Marketer, foodie, traveller, rugby geek, petter of other people's dogs.
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