Vegas, Vodka and Vulgarity 

Disclaimer: Lacie wrote and emailed her submittal this week a tad intoxicated. We (James & Beni) edited it...just a little. We did leave most of the F-Bombs in there! :) Enjoy drunk Lacie! 

So I’m sitting here by the pool, enjoying what can only be described as a vat size Lemon Drop Martini, it’s like a trough of martini. It’s as if I was a farm animal, very thirsty, and ordered some water and instead, they brought Vodka and lemon. The weather can only be described as glorious. Living in Washington, we have been frozen since I would say last October. frozen and wet and moldy. I have literally grown mold between my toes. I touchdown in Nevada and the sun has shown upon my body for the first time in who knows how long. I don’t understand how much vitamin D affects my mood, but I have not felt this great in forever! I’ve checked in with my team, this incredibly incredible, capable, beautiful, wonderfully talented team and they have all assured me to close my email. They said that there is no need for me to be involved in anything and I agree with that. The National Candle Association has been an adventure I cannot be distracted from. I have met some friends. I have also been forced by our new social media gal Beni, to try and document my days. 

So fun fact, I had a Fragrance oil supplier who switched out some of my ingredients from grade one to grade three. The candles went rancid which in turn turned into a formal complaint. That candle supplier told me that we (my wonderful team and I) were lying, he said I was lying in front of two of my amazing employees, Katie and Saida, who literally had proof that the oil was rancid.

Fast forward to today, I just got to walk arm and arm with Stephanie, an ex-employee of theirs,  who was fired from this company for basically calling out the quality issues. She’s basically the whistleblower at Boeing right (but still alive)? We walked past. Looked at them, made direct eye contact and non-verbally said fuck you, you just lost out on your 15,000 pound order year. So I’m sitting by the pool reveling in the fact that I got to finally say my nonverbal fuck you to this company that tried to degrade my candle quality to save money. OK, good luck! You’re gonna find some shit kitchen counter candle companies that don’t know quality, they don’t know supplier quality, and they don’t know the different grades of OIL. and you’re gonna sell them some shit Fragrance.  A fragrance that will not light up a room. It’ll end up in TJ Maxx. It’ll end up in Target and it’ll end up exploding. I will never use subpar fragrance oil, I will pay triple the cost for the bio-grade fragrance oil. Safe for skin, safe for bath bombs, safe for pets, and just overall safe for your home, rather than compromise and use your shit fucking Fragrance. I hope to the goddesses you’re reading this blog. Fuck you’re fucking bro code, fuck men only at the conference table, fuck your golf tournaments that I don’t give a shit about. Fuck your $ 30-a-pound bullshit will never compete with women, owned women-operated, and women-marketed Fragrance oil companies!

 Now let’s talk wicksl.

I refuse to use a limp wick. I refuse to use a wick that needs support. I refuse to use a wick that needs pharmaceutical intervention. I will never use zinc. That shit is toxic as fuck. I will only use a stable cotton wick with braided paper, paper, core, and these fucking manufacturers that are trying to tell me that the toxic zinc in wicks is what everyone’s using and I’m like missing the boat. Fuck you, so tired of tall white males telling me what the fuck to do with my Candles. You know what you can burn my candles around birds you can burn my candles around cats. I mean provided they don’t like their tails on fire but that’s out of my control, but you can use my candles around dogs. Our candles are furbaby-safe. This one company tried to tell me that hot glue was the only way to attach wicks to jars. Like I am some 80’s mom hot gluing rhinestones onto a denim jacket. WTF? 

So I also went to many seminars this week * Drinks More Margarita* about AI and Fragrance blending so the future of Fragrance blending apparently is two opposing scents so like sweetcorn and sour lemon or another disgusting combo would be Nag Champa and red raspberry. 

The fuck. 

Now, I am all about blending scents that no one else would think about. Everyone told me cotton candy and pine do not belong together, but I was like who doesn’t love a glitter-covered forest?? That is what cotton candy is about. It is now literally my best-selling scent. 

But to combine completely polar opposite, top middle, and bottom notes is stupid, and to trust this to AI?? I literally side-eyed the presenter the entire time are you fucking absolutely insane? There’s one thing about being different and there’s one thing about being stupid and sir sir. You are stupid. if I blended the scents together, I would have an overstock and waste so much of everything, and believe me, I’m open to new ideas. I really am, but if you trust AI over the human nose, over nostalgia, over the gloriousness that is scent inspiration, and trust a computer? OK Bath and Body Works! Let’s do some more Sweet Pea. Let’s do some more fucking sugarcane. so stupid. I’m so fucking mad right now. I feel like this fucking conference was about promoting corporate bullshit scents instead of the custom blended rightness that is small business. Our team sits with scents for hours, we test, we blend, and we do ratios until we find the perfect fragrance oil. For this fucking AI-generated bullshit to come at me and say that I’m not doing it right: Fuck you. Here we are, I am going to make you a promise right the fuck now I will never use AI to bring out new fragrance oils. I am going to blend what I think you want. I’m gonna blend for that hot throw when it is burning and filling your house with fragrant memories. I am going to always always, choose originality. I will never choose mainstream.

You are a true ride-or-die if you’ve made it this far! I wrote this over voice text after vats of margaritas poolside in Vegas and I might be a little intoxicated.

Oh, and I got my nose pierced!