Add springtime ambience to your north-east home with Lucent Aromas

There is nothing quite like walking into a room to be met with a desirable fragrance, which grabs your attention from the get-go.

And when it comes to springtime, Kathryn McDonald of Lucent Aromas recommends opting for fragrances that will brighten up every space within your home.

Kathryn produces an array of luxury wax melts from her humble abode in Udny. And since launching Lucent Aromas in September last year, she has released a number of popular collections.

“I like to keep the product as natural as possible and use only natural soy wax with botanicals as decoration,” Kathryn said.

“I try to come up with loosely themed fragrance collections. So since launching, we’ve had an autumnal collection that was all about cosy, fall-inspired scents – think pumpkin spice, apple and cinnamon, misty mountains and woodland walk.

“Then I launched a winter collection. This had fragrances a little different to standard Christmas scents and was a huge hit, while the New Year collection focused on well-being with fragrances such as relax, restore and revive.

“My most recent collection focused on all things earthy, natural and warm, and included vintage and vetiver, tonka and tobacco flower, and oakmoss and amber.

“So far this year, my two top sellers have been my Caim and Relax scents – both are complex woody fragrances with floral top notes. They are quite unusual and can’t really be likened to anything else.

“Going into spring, I plan to lighten things up and am looking at a collection inspired by natural crystals and warmer climates.

“I think a lot of the established favourites will carry through the seasons, but I like to keep it interesting for my customers.”

The entrepreneur, who operates as a one-woman band, has already discovered that customers often select fragrances that are “out of their scent comfort zones”.

As for her own preferences, Kathryn loves switching it up from day to evening.

“Fragrances like dark honey and tobacco have surprised so many people and I’ve had fabulous feedback on them,” she added.

“I can’t help but be inspired by other scents as there are some fabulous products out there. However, I try to steer away from all the perfume inspired fragrances and be a bit more true to what I personally find appealing.

“A huge trend is cleaning and laundry scents, specifically dupes of household brands. But I feel the market on these kinds of things is pretty saturated so you need to try and stand out by offering something a bit different.

“My inspiration is more natural and based on the natural fragrance elements themselves, rather than trying to offer a like for a fabric conditioner (for example).

“Everyone really differs with scent preference, including myself.

“At the moment, we enjoy a rich fragrance like warm leather and tobacco or The Caim in the evening, but during the day, I would go for something lighter and fresh like revive or sweater weather.

“Relax is a perfect fragrance for winding down with mid notes of wild lavender. It’s soothing without being overly floral, so would be perfect with a book in bed.

“The beauty of wax melts is that fragrance tends to fill the home, so I can have something melting downstairs but the scent will travel all through the house.”

With business booming, Kathryn is thankful for having the opportunity to connect with her creative side in lockdown, having spent more time at home with her two children.

Originally working in HR in the oil and gas sector, she has loved the process of growing her fragrance firm, which has allowed her to balance work and family life perfectly.

“I have really enjoyed the process of starting up and building the business,” she said.

“Being a small business, having lots of direct engagement with the customers is something I’ve found has helped.

“It’s a challenge finding time to do it all while trying to meet increasing demand and balance family life, but it’s all good fun.

“Things escalated so quickly after selling locally in September last year. By October, I had my own website and was taking orders from all over the UK. I still offer free local delivery in my immediate locality, and people can also arrange collection.

“There is a really supportive online community for small handmade business on platforms like Instagram and Facebook.

“There are lots of opportunities to share your business and people in the same position who help promote you. The use of social media as a supportive community has been invaluable for me.

“Looking forward, I’m hoping I continue to enjoy what I’m doing and keep growing the business. The key for me is to have something for me, but still have time for my family.”

Visit www.lucentaromas.com to place an order or find out more information.