Our candles are hand-poured in small batches in Toronto in collaboration with Verre Lune. They are made with all-natural soy wax, and phthalate and paraben-free fragrance oils. Plus, they come in a beautiful, reusable ceramic vase.
Our Founder, Andrea, spoke to Sarah and Lauren, the creators behind Verre Lune to learn more about their hand-made natural candles and the story behind them.
Andrea: Hi, guys. Nice to be here in your space.
Lauren: Yeah, thank you for coming.
Andrea: My pleasure. I wanted to introduce our community to the wonderful Sarah and Lauren from Verre Lune. I pronounce it with that French accent. I don't know if you guys pronounce it that way.
Lauren: We don't, but we really appreciate the authenticity.
Andrea: Okay, we'll roll with it. So tell us about your amazing brand, offering, and what inspired you to launch this business.
Lauren: We are best friends from university. We always knew we wanted to do something together. We took all the same classes. We lived together. We did all the same extracurriculars.
So we knew eventually we'd run a business together. It was born in the pandemic. We were burning a lot of candles, as a lot of people were—trying to get any sense of normalcy and self-care throughout the day. We learned about the toxins that are in a lot of our favorite candles. Which included paraffin wax, parabens, and phthalates. We started looking around and we found our options were either beautiful luxury candles that were not made responsibly and were made with toxic ingredients or there were a few cleaner options, but they weren't as design-forward and high quality as we would have liked.
So, we decided to create Verre Lune and we started making really beautifully designed aesthetic candles that were also made with clean ingredients and with responsible practices.
Andrea: So much passion and integrity. I love it. Besties turned business partners, which is a very cool story.
The moment I saw your product through a third party, I was buying some health foods and this business was offering your product. I was like, oh my gosh, I must try this, and here we are. Now we have a collaboration together where we've created a b, halfmoon candle, actually two candles, which I'm just thrilled to introduce to the market.
Our values are very important to us internally in the business, as well as in everything we do externally with our community. They're really rooted in wellness, of course, making an impact, connection, and integrity. Does this speak to you and your brand purpose as well?
Sarah: Yeah, absolutely.
Our values definitely align with those of b, halfmoon. That's actually one of the reasons why we were so excited to do this collaboration. If we speak in terms of wellness, that could mean a lot of different things for different people, whether that's practicing yoga or lighting a candle as part of your evening ritual.
That's something we really push towards our community and our customers as well, just to take time for yourself, because it is really important. We know that you know that's something that we have also shared with the community as well. Then in terms of impact, that's also something at the forefront of our business.
I remember when me and Sarah first started Verre Lune, we always wanted to put out a product that would make a positive impact on our customers but minimize the impact on the environment. That's something that's really important to both of us, and we do so in ways such as pouring small batches just the two of us or making sure all of our packaging is 100% recyclable or made with post-consumer materials. Then, of course, planting a tree with every purchase as well.
Andrea: So wonderful and just this is showcasing one of the many reasons we're so aligned as brands which is key for us as we embark on more collaborations and build out our brand evolution.
So we've developed two products. Do you guys have a favorite?
Sarah: My favorite is play, just because it's so citrusy and beautiful. The scent is all around orange and spearmint. I feel like it really awakens my senses. It's definitely one that I would personally be lighting every morning as part of my morning routine.
Just cause it's so, you know, fun and fresh and it really would set the tone for my day. So that's my personal favorite.
Lauren: The eucalyptus and the peppermint is just so soothing and fresh. I think it's the perfect scent for all of your daily rituals, whether it's yoga, meditation, or just taking five minutes to yourself.
It really makes you alert, but also relaxed at the same time. So yeah, I will be lighting that. A lot.
Andrea: I honestly can't pick a favorite. I'm obsessed with anything citrus. But also eucalyptus. Yeah, I will say that play, the scents within play, those are, that's our signature scent. It’s in our prop spray, it's something we developed in-house probably seven years ago. So there's a special spot in my heart for that scent because there's so much heritage behind it and so many memories and nostalgia for me. Obviously, we love them both. That's why we're sharing them.
That's the thing about scent too, is it has so much nostalgia attached to it. So, hopefully, the b, halfmoon community can get that from it too. If they have a memory of orange, spearmint, or eucalyptus it's the nostalgia is the best part of the scent.
Our brand manifesto, which I've shared with you both, is deeply rooted in nature and being inspired by nature, recognizing that nature is truth. Nature cannot lie. Does that speak to you both on a personal or on a brand level?
Lauren: I think on a brand level, of course, nature is a big inspiration for us. We use the most naturally derived ingredients that we can, like our 100% soy wax. Those are things that are important to us. From a material level, the first collection that we ever launched back in 2021 was actually called the natural’s collection. Obviously, it was inspired by nature, but the vessels that we ultimately went with, which we felt just mimic the unique form and clean lines of nature. Nature is huge for us.
Andrea: I think that's one reason why I was super drawn to your product and we developed a collaboration it just has that very innate essence of nature. You can just see it with the product. Another element of our brand is inspiring people and supporting people to live their truth.
It's really important to me on a personal level. And I'd love to know how you guys live your truth once again, either personally or through the brand and the business.
Lauren: I think personally, I know living your truth can be so different to so many people, but for me, it's just about constantly checking in with myself. My day-to-day actions align with my values and who I want to be or aspire to be. I think when you bring it back to the business as well, we try to do the same thing. As a small business, you can get opportunities that seem really new and exciting, we kind of like put blinders on, and then we take a step back and think, does this align with our core values as a brand? Is this the brand we want to be moving forward? Constantly checking in and making sure that we're aligned in that way.
Sarah: Just to add, I think also just being okay with changing your truth, and knowing that as long as we do those gut checks regularly with what we're trying to achieve and constantly evolving and growing with that change is also important.
Andrea: That also correlates beautifully to our brand manifesto in the sense that we're huge believers in and supporters of growth. We talked about this earlier before we went live about the fact that we're always learning, whether you're in your twenties, thirties, forties, or beyond. That's my personal goal is to learn something new daily to try things that may be uncomfortable, but that will allow me to grow.
I do think that to your point, there's an element of your truth that is evolving as you grow. Fully aligned with that as well. Wellness is a very broad topic, which I love. Wellness can mean so many things to so many different people. I'd love to know from you both, what are some wellness rituals or elements that are important to you in your daily lives?
Lauren: I love my five-minute journal. I know a lot of people use it. But for me, it's one of those easy things that you can work into your routine that has such a big impact. I think writing down three things every day that you're grateful for, which is included in that, really sets the tone for your day. Especially for me, I'm a little grumpy in the morning. I could definitely start off with a pessimistic view of the day. But by having that routine, sipping my coffee, it shifts my mood for the day. That's something I love doing, journaling.
Sarah: It is definitely a big one for me too, but something new that I've partaken in recently is running and that's a big one. I've never been a runner before, it is something that's brand new—I just started a couple of months ago, but I just love being able to kind of tune out everything from the day. I feel like it releases all my stress and anxiety from whatever I'm going through that week or that day.
Andrea: To me, running can be meditation in movement. It's not conscious, it's not deliberate, but it's that moment to disconnect and just hit the pavement. With regard to the five-minute journal, I'm a huge believer in micro-moments and that they're valuable and they add up and they compound and not to discredit those. So I think it's brilliant that you do that, especially as a mom. If I can even just take 10 minutes to flow through a yoga routine, that's better than nothing. It does have a really positive impact. Another element of our manifesto is finding the light in every day, making room for play, hence one of our candle names, creating space in your life for moments that bring you joy. I think that that's so important and I'd love to know how you guys create space for play, and find the light in the day.
Lauren: I mean, I think for us. It's really easy because we work with our best friend all day, I think we're really lucky in that aspect.
Sarah: I definitely think we're super fortunate that we can come together to work every day to work with your best friend. Whether it's doing kind of menial tasks like production or fulfillment, we often try to find the light in that by, you know, playing music, putting on a podcast, and talking one-on-one with each other.
Not that we need that extra time at all, but you know, we'll take it where we can get it.
Lauren: Because we all see each other outside of work. I was going to say with the music thing like we were producing the b, halfmoon candles the other week, Breathe and Play, and we went through Taylor Swift's entire discography while doing that.
Andrea: Yes! There's Taylor Swift in our candles. There is Taylor.
Lauren: Swift literally in these candles, Taylor Swift energy. She was playing the entire time we started from the first album and went all the way to the last one while we were making these, so just little things like that. I think in your personal life, I mean, we're talking about work because it's such a big part of our daily lives, but in your personal life, just carving out those moments.
Even if your day is so busy and you don't feel like you have the time, make sure those five minutes are the ones that bring you joy. I love that.
Andrea: You guys are so fortunate to be best friends, working together, doing something that you're passionate about, leaving your corporate lives, and embarking on this incredible journey.
So community, keep an eye on these two. Before we close, I would love to just remind everyone and myself of the inspiration behind the brand name.
Lauren: Something I feel like we don't talk about enough, but Verre Lune is a play on our mother's maiden names. My mom's maiden name is Verrière, which is ‘glassmaker’ in French.
Andrea: So pretty.
Lauren: I know. She should have kept it, right?
Sara: And my mom's maiden name is ‘Moon’, which we translated to French ‘Lune’.
Andrea: We didn’t talk about it, but that's another reason I saw it and I was like, are you kidding me? First of all, it's French and there's a lot of French influence in our business and passion for French and then Lune/Moon. I mean, it's all just like this undeniable collab.
Lauren: For us, we realized the Moon thing earlier, but it was really just inspired by our moms who always just brought so much joy into our lives, and like the design is based on them. They always had beautiful designs and made our homes beautiful, but also filled them with so much warmth and light. I'm gonna get misty-eyed.
Andrea: It's just an undeniable name. It's so beautiful. I'm sure once you guys said it out loud, you just couldn't forget it. You were like, this is it. You’re very lucky with that serendipity.
Well, thank you both. I'm so excited to bring this to the world and, uh, stay tuned everyone.
Lauren: Thank you. We're so excited for you guys to see it.
Discover the art of scent and breathe in the good karma, because one tree is planted with every candle purchase.
Shop b, halfmoon candles here
