Locals and tourists alike often hear about the sights and sounds of Santa Monica, but what about the smells? The scents of the city may be different for everyone, and now everyone has the chance to show others what that scent is like at the area’s first custom candle bar.
The latest addition to the Third Street Promenade is Candles on Tap, a hands-on experience where anyone can craft a candle catering their nose needs. Located between Arizona Ave. and Wilshire Blvd. next to the 1212 restaurant, the enticing "bar" setup has about 85 fragrances to choose from, uncovering a world of perfume possibilities. Open for about a month now, owner Chantel Briann brings the bar to the Promenade after a successful run in San Diego.
When a customer comes in, he or she can peruse a catalog of single-scented notes, writing down their favorites on a worksheet. Then, as Briann explained, a "candle vessel" is selected, with different price points depending on the size and style of the jar.
"After they go through the fragrance walls [and] pick their candle vessel, then they come to us at the bar, and we have our scent stylists who will go through all of their fragrances with them to help create their perfect, one-of-a-kind scent blend," Briann said.
Briann said she’s always "loved and dabbled" with scents, before beginning to make her own candles on the kitchen stove in 2018. While things were getting "a little bit more serious" for her in the industry, she saw the custom candle bar idea taking off in Ohio and sought out the creators. Paying a fee to train in the custom arts to "see if it was a good fit," Briann was eventually able to purchase her first set of orders from Ohio for her first Candles on Tap location in San Diego.
Knowing she wanted to "share the craft" with the San Diego area, she unknowingly picked the wrong time to do so, opening the store just before the COVID-19 pandemic.
"When I opened the store, there were obviously some difficulties, there were shipment delays and all of that, and people [were] concerned with scent when COVID was a smelling issue," Briann said. "But people were still able to come in with their masks and do it all safely, so once that kind of settled down, the community already got wind of us and everyone was super excited."
The San Diego success "got the ball rolling" on potential for a second store, with Briann searching both in Los Angeles and Orange County for a successor location. Initially approaching Montana Ave. about a space, she eventually pivoted to the Promenade due to the foot traffic opportunities. Much like her unfortunate timing in San Diego, Briann also ran into hiccups with Santa Monica’s permitting process, stating it was "kind of a struggle" in the six months she had to wait to open.
"It was a big bummer to have to pay rent with no additional revenue flowing in from this location," Briann said. "We were relying on our first location, it’s behind us now but it was a bummer with how long it did take to open these doors."
With the spot being fully functional, a host of audiences have taken in the scents, with Briann marketing for date nights, girls trips and holidays like Christmas and Mother’s Day. Much like San Diego, the beach-themed fragrances have proven popular, such as Sea Foam, Santorini, Gardenia and a special Santa Monica Pier fragrance that smells "like all the sweet scents on the Pier."
Noting that there’s a "scent for everyone who comes in the door," Briann adds that her passion for candles has not burnt out despite handling the day-to-day of the unique concept.
"Even with wearing all the hats I have to wear as a business owner, I still get to work with customers here to create their scent, [and] it’s really fun to be able to see both sides of the business aspect with customers [and] behind the scenes," she said.
Reservations for Candles on Tap can be made by searching for the location on Yelp, as well as visiting candlesontap.com
thomas@smdp.com
