Creative Lauren finds her mojo in making candles

Few things add value and tranquility to one’s life as the simple act of lighting a candle.

Candles restore the calm and enhance the reflective quiet of nighttime. This is what inspires candle maestro Lauren Dely.

Today she’s settled on candle making, with a dollop of artistic painting as a hobby and a passion to turn her Covid lockdown creation, Nude Home Fragrances, into a success.

Lauren kissed the corporate world goodbye in 2016 when the demands of juggling motherhood and her career came knocking harder than she’d have liked.

Pregnant with her second son at the time, Lauren said she had a bit more time on her hands.

“I was able to rekindle my love for oil painting, something I had not done since school, and that really fueled my creative fire,” she said.

In 2020 she was driven to introspection while navigating divorce and the pandemic. It was time for change, so she decided to start a business which allowed her the freedom and flexibility she needed as a single mom to two boys.

“I began experimenting with essential oil blends to calm my own anxiety during that time and I fell in love with scent and natural ingredients.”

At this point Nude Home Fragrances, a natural and eco-conscious take on luxury candles, was born.

“A few ‘million’ YouTube tutorials later and I was fully addicted to the art of soy candle making. I kept researching, crafting and testing until I had a beautiful product which I could put out into the world,” said Lauren.

About five years ago she toured a perfumery in Grasse, France, where she learned about fragrances, specifically top, heart and base notes for perfume. She believes this is what sowed the seed of the idea behind her candle making.

Today, Lauren produces more than 100 candles a week.

“So much love and care goes into each candle. I try to source most of the essential oils from local farms,” she said, highlighting that the name Nude was inspired by the use of natural ingredients.

The process normally sees Lauren prepare glasses and wick them while the wax melts. She said soy wax is notoriously fickle, and the temperature must be exactly right at the stage at when oils are added and blended.

Candles are then left to cure for two days before being wiped clean, labelled and packaged. From this point on, they are again cured, this time for two weeks.

“I work in small batches of about 20 at a time. It may be labour intensive, but it’s so worth it to create a great candle.”

Her favourite blend remains her first, ‘Cabin Fever’. And as the name suggests it was created during hard lockdown – it is a cozy blend of vanilla, sweet orange, cardamom and clove.

Check out Nude Home Fragrances on Instagram at @nudehomefragrances.

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