Our founder, Jenn Harper, has always made it her goal to uplift fellow women in business as best she can. As she is a member of the Forum, a BC based program that offers mentor/mentee initiatives, it was an absolute joy for her to join forces with Navjot Gill of Roshni Wellness, to bring our own custom collab to life.
Nav has kindly written us a blog about candle sustainability, so read on to learn more!
SUSTAINABLE BY NATURE CHEEKBONE X ROSHNI WELLNESS
What Makes a Candle Sustainable?
Have you ever wondered what’s inside the candles that you burn at home? After making my first DIY candle in 2021, I asked myself this question. I realized that I had no idea what ingredient made up the candle that I now used in my self-care routine. I went back and searched all over the packaging and order information, but found no clarity. I never thought to even ask this question in all the years that I used candles at home. But once I did, it set me down a year-long journey of exploring candle ingredients, eventually leading me to start my own candle company.
When I started Roshni Wellness, my goal was not just to create candles with grounding scents for self-care practices, but to ensure they were sustainable, clean-burning, and crafted with strong values and practices. I wanted our products to be free from harmful chemicals that I was learning about so they could ultimately be used to help prioritize our wellbeing. Early on in my journey, I quickly learned that there are no standards and regulations that require us to label our specific ingredients as there is in the beauty and skin care space. It left us feeling so lost in a world of chemicals and ingredients. We were figuring out what was truly safe, and what ingredients may be deemed safe according to regulatory thresholds, but perhaps we wanted to steer away from in our practices.
We knew we had to slowly build our own standards and build spaces for transparency with our community. As a small business with such limited resources, I struggled with navigating conflicting information from our vendors, suppliers, the research that was available to us, and what other home fragrance companies were sharing when it came to clean-burning candles. It felt like everyone had different ideas on what a clean-burning candle should look like. From what wax types were okay to use, what oils should be used for scents, to what wick types produced the cleanest candles. One brand might define clean candles as something completely different than the other.
With little to no research and development budget (asides from my personal savings), and no background in science or chemistry, we embarked on a journey of learning about all of the different ingredient combinations. I also learned to trust my intuition when I felt I was being confronted by fear-based campaigns. We’ve committed ourselves to keep our ingredient list as clean and natural as possible, while still being able to enjoy scented candles that can provide such a strong anchor into memories, healing, and wellness.
While we don't have all the answers, here's what we've anchored into when mindfully crafting our scented candles:
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Natural Coconut Soy Wax: Our coconut soy wax is natural and biodegradable, breaking down naturally compared to paraffin candles. Coconut soy candles emit less toxins and are free from harmful chemicals found in paraffin like benzene and toluene.
We find that the blend of coconut in soy waxes creates a stronger scent experience without the need to use additional additives. Plus, natural waxes like coconut soy burn slower, making candles last much longer.
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Premium Cotton Wicks: All of our candles are made with premium cotton wicks that have the slightest bit of paper weaved into the center to create a cleaner burn. We ensure that all of our wicks are lead-free (surprisingly there are plenty of wicks on the market that contain lead)
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Premium Fine Fragrances: We use only perfume-grade fine fragrances. All of our oils are paraben and phthalate free, toxins that are often used as solvents and preservatives, that have been linked to hormonal disruptions and reproductive issues.
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No Unnecessary Dyes or Additives: We keep things natural and avoid dyes and additives that might improve appearance or scent strength, but aren’t necessary. Our candles may develop cosmetic imperfections that take us longer to fix during production, or can discolor if left in the sun for too long. But we prefer this over using additional ingredients that aren’t necessary.
- Ethically Sourced: We’ve built relationships with our suppliers and work with those that ethically source ingredients. They keep unwanted substances like paraffin wax, paraben, and phthalates out of our ingredients. Everything we use is cruelty-free and vegan.
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Mindfully Developing Our Formulas: We dedicate so much time to mindfully develop our formulas. We use the lowest percentage of oil to wax in order to develop the scent experience that we aim for. We test thoroughly to select the right wick size combinations for a soot-free candle that will last you as long as it should.
Shopping for clean-burning candles can be challenging due to limited ingredient labeling. Building a relationship with brands and understanding their values can help. My advice is to lean into natural waxes and connect with local brands through their online platforms or in your community. You can feel good about what you’re using when you know who is making your products and the practices they’ve adopted for clean-burning home fragrance products.
For us, building a sustainable company starts with our ingredient list, and expands to our social and environmental impact. We’ve committed to being a plastic-free shipping company, reusing whatever we can that comes through our studio, designing vessels that promote upcycling before recycling, and implementing a community program where $1/candle goes back to local organizations in our communities. As we build efficient systems in our production and have more and more time for research and development, we continuously look into new research and trends to see where we need to dig deeper into our ingredient lists and practices.
As a new small business with extremely limited finances, time, and energy, we struggle knowing that there’s always more we can do to enhance our sustainability practices. In our first year, we were so hard on ourselves and made many mistakes along the way. But what I’ve learned from companies like Cheekbone Beauty is that creating a sustainable business is an ongoing journey and something that we get to choose every single day.
It’s more than ticking the boxes, but it’s a lifelong commitment to living in harmony and balance. There truly is no check-list that you can go through to say, “okay, we’re now sustainable.” It’s a journey that is going to keep evolving as we grow.
I hope you enjoy these custom candles in refillable Cheekbone Beauty tins - with their custom chosen scent - Sustainable by Nature. This candle contains notes of green grapes, jasmine, and faint scents of pear and apple all over an oakwood base. This candle has hints of sweetness, sophistication, and is perfectly balanced for dinners, a romantic night in, or your evening self-care routine. It was lovingly chosen from a wide array of scents by the Cheekbone Beauty team, and we all think you will absolutely love it.
Navjot Gill
Founder, Roshni Wellness
