Candle-aholics, listen up. If you’ve always thought you could create a superior fragrance than what’s on the market, well, now’s your chance. Embers Candle Bar in Lee’s Summit allows you to customize your own scent on the spot. With 84 different scents to mix and match, your options are endless. “What’s cool about it is that you get to be creative. You get to take a candle home. You get to mingle,” says owner Shara Derks. “For lack of a better term, it’s an ‘IRL’ experience—’in real life.’”
Candle connoisseurs often come in knowing exactly what they want to make, newbies are a little more indecisive. Either way, Derks is there to lend a helping nose, er, hand. And she’s not shy about making subtle suggestions either. Of course, we wanted to know if she had a favorite combo. “I don’t have one. And I don’t have to have one,” she says with a laugh. “With 84 scents—that’s into the millions of permeations of scents we can do. In the spring though, it’s a lot of florals and citrus.”
The process is simple. Choose and mix your scent(s). Choose your vessel. Stir your fragrance in to the melted wax and voilà, you’re done. You can be in and out in under 30 minutes. “Girl’s night out, birthday parties, bachelorette parties, baby showers—it’s an activity that’s a little bit out of the norm,” says Derks.
The one we made, you ask? We picked lime, bergamot, and green tea. Derks, meanwhile, picked sea kelp, grapefruit and cucumber. “That’s what’s cool—is having people come up with off-the-wall combos,” says Derks. “You actually have ownership over what you do. You can say, ‘Thanks! I made that.’”
Prices start around $16. “We have a wall of jars. The price on the jar is the price you pay. And, of course, the price of the experience is included, says Derks. “It’s about the same as the price you’d pay for a high-quality candle at a boutique.”