Candle business born out of ‘simple curiosity’

By CANDICE N. HALE

Retired homemaker and mother Sydney Nicole never knew that the pandemic would change her life in the best way, by motivating her to pick up a new project: the art of candle making.

“Someone had given me a candle one day that smelled like the cereal brand Fruit Loops, and I wanted to learn how to make it,” said Nicole, who prefers to use her business’s name rather than her own. “Just a simple curiosity.”

She chose to name the company Sydney Nicole because Sydney, Australia, is a destination spot where her family hopes to visit, and Nicole is the name of a girl that her son was smitten with during the time she began making the candles.

Like most people in isolation during the height of the pandemic, she and her children needed something to keep them busy and occupied. While her oldest daughter Katelyn (24) worked full-time at Children’s of Alabama and attended college, her youngest children, Ashlyn (15) and Kayden (9), were in virtual school during the time and motivated their mother to start the business.

The family began learning the process behind candle making and started giving out candles to friends and family. When their local pharmacist suggested that she should not keep giving these candles away, it became Nicole’s first business opportunity and a chance to learn how to package and process a large order.

“My first mass wholesale order really surprised me and snowballed after that. I published my company on May 30, 2021, and here we are at our two-year anniversary,” she said.

Although her hobby has turned into a bustling business venture, Nicole doesn’t forget in the process that she is still a mother and teacher to her youngest children, too. She made sure they were included in the candle-making business and they also help with business events at times.

“My kids soon found out more than they wanted to know about candles, vessels, wicks and fragrance oils,” she said. “They also found out that you need math percentages, conversion of units and volume weight.”

Sydney Nicole Candle Co. is currently a onewoman business with a studio at Red Mountain Makers, located in the heart of downtown Birmingham. In addition to hand-poured soy wax candles, other items available include room sprays, wax melts, vessels for wax melts and candle warmers.

She said she prefers not having a storefront and enjoys working out of her warehouse space in order to make and ship the orders and let the stores sell them for her.

Nicole does storefront sales at businesses including Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Rejuvenation and West Elm. She is also a wholesaler for University Pickers and Lifestyles, Golden Temple, White Flower Gallery and Flipsy’s.

From start to finish, a batch of candles (usually around 150) takes five to seven days to prepare. With the equipment and supplies available in her studio, she is able to manufacture her candles by hand.

“My candles are different from the competitors because they are hand-poured and made with love,” she said. “They are clean, 100% cotton wick, phthalate-free, with no toxins, and my vessels are reusable.”

The website features over 10 different signature scents in the Sydney Nicole Candle Co. line, but the best-selling fragrance is Grey Vetiver (a Tom Ford designer cologne), which is a clean, masculine scent, she said.

As for Nicole, her favorite scent from the candle line is Cashmere.

Nicole is excited about future growth and opportunities with her company and has expanded her businesses to other states, including Georgia and Tennessee.

“In three years, I plan to open up a 2,500-square-foot warehouse to further my business and to set up jobs for people in the area,” Sydney said. “Locally, I am doing philanthropic work with the Jimmie Hale Mission for the homeless as well.”

Items from Sydney Nicole Candle Co. can be purchased at sydneynicolecandleco.com. She also regularly posts storefront sales and events on her Facebook and Instagram pages.