With wellbeing a big focus for many of us these days, we’re demanding more from our candles and home fragrances.
It’s not enough for them to simply look pretty and smell nice, we’re tapping into the power of essential oils, and hoping, if not downright expecting, them to have an effect on our moods too. From diffusing a lavender scent to calm a whirring mind in the evening to lighting a lemongrass candle to help with focus as we work from our spare rooms, fragrance is more important than ever.
Lucy Hagerty, founder of Kinsale candle brand La Bougie has made this the focus of a new wellbeing brand, Bare + Botanical, which teams fragrance with the power of aromatherapy.

The candles and essential oils, made with individually sourced absolutes, botanicals and resins, have been created to enhance wellbeing. While smelling incredible too, thanks in no small part to Hagerty being a perfumer.
“Just because a fragrance has therapeutic qualities, it does not have to smell medicinal," she explains. ”As a perfumer, I know how to add supporting notes, often in microscopic amounts, to turn an aromatherapy blend into something exquisite.”

There are five scent pillars in the range and each one is focused on a specific wellbeing goal, taking the hard work out of it for you. (And if you check out the website bareandbotanical.com there are curated playlists for each scent too!)
Quiet: lavender, frankincense and star anise
Play: ylang-ylang, sandalwood and patchouli
Clarity: ginger, lemongrass and elemi
Comfort: mimosa absolute, galbanum and rosewood
Courage: jasmine absolute, cedarwood and lemon
Each fragrance comes in an essential oil blend (€25) and a candle (€40). There’s also a sleek electronic diffuser (€99).
Bare + Botanical is available at BrownThomas.com and Arnotts.ie and there are more products on the way in summer 2021.
For more see BareandBotanical.com
Main image by Monika Coghlan