Custom Fragrance: Thinking Outside the Box with Cartel Coffee Lab

Custom Fragrance: Thinking Outside the Box with Cartel Coffee Lab

Today I'm excited to share a super fun private label project that's been in the works for *quite* some time now.

Behold: The new "Black Market" candle from Cartel Coffee Lab.

I've been drinking Cartel's coffee for about ten years now. When I learned I had a pretty intense sensitivity to caffeine, I was stoked to learn that Cartel has some of the most delicious decaf I'd tasted (bonus points when I wasn't shamed for ordering decaf, too).

It should go without saying that I was stoked when Cartel reached out about creating a custom candle to sell at their cafes and on their website. Our initial direction was a coffee-scented candle (duh) but I was pleasantly surprised when they came back with an entirely new idea. They wanted to create a candle that spoke to their brand - their roots and their values - and didn't just scream COFFEE when you lit it.

Challenge. Accepted. 

And they didn't just supply any old creative direction for the scent development. They supplied THIS:

"It is early spring in Tucson, Arizona. A late winter-pattern rainstorm has managed to ravage the dry desert floor and inspire impossible green explosions from Ocotillos and various opportunistic grasses. The road is finally dry and the sun is about to set underneath the blankets of clouds directing sunlight into two orange beams stretching across the topaz sky. The beams are pointing East, and my 1983 Honda Shadow and I are following them like a compass toward the other side of an unoccupied mountain range. My nostrils are filled with a combination of minimalism, adventure, and creosote."

Now, if that's not something you're excited to smell, I don't know if we can stay friends. The final fragrance is warm and spicy, with ginger, teakwood and notes of fresh earth.

 standard wax custom candles

Need one for yourself? You can find them at any of Cartel's locations in Arizona, Texas or California (and hopefully online soon?!).

Ready to get started on your own custom candle project? Maybe you create a custom fragrance? Let's chat! >> Email Me

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