I find it really interesting hearing about how people came to have the careers and businesses that they do, especially if they’re a bit unconventional. So this week I thought I’d share a little with you all about my background and the winding path that led me to Sparkle Town.
So I started out in business many years ago as a candle maker. I’ve always loved beautiful scented candles, so I began to learn the craft myself while I was on maternity leave. I decided to take the big step of turning it into a business, branching out to include wax melts, reed diffusers and other home fragrance products. I loved making gorgeous waxy goodies, but what I really enjoyed was designing my own fragrances, so I started working with a couple of big fragrance houses to create some of my own designs, destashing the excess in order to justify the much larger quantities I was required to buy. Very quickly, this over took my little candle making business as my fellow chandlers loved the original scents I was creating.
So Zen Fragrances was born, a boutique fragrance house that focused on bringing something a bit different to the marketplace. As I grew Zen, I began to add other products to my store, such as mica and glitter, finding things that my lovely customers, small wax melt and candle businesses themselves, would like to add to their lovely products. Being eco friendly has always been an important part of my life and I LOVE a bit of sparkle, so as you can imagine, biodegradable glitter was right up my street! I mean who wouldn’t want to cover themselves and everything they’re making in guilt free sparkles?!
I was enjoying the sparkles so much, that in 2019 I set up Sparkle Town, as a way of bringing these gorgeous biodegradable goodies into the limelight across a broader range of crafts. Sparkle Town quickly became a favourite for makers of a wide variety, from wax melts to resin art, card making, home crafters, schools, festivals, events, we even supplied the glitter for Manchester Pride.
At the same time, as I continued to work with the fragrances, I was finding the concentrated aroma chemicals that were used to make fragrance oils were starting to impact my health, so I made the decision in early 2021 to retire Zen Fragrances. Although sad that one chapter was coming to an end, this left me in an exciting position to develop and nurture my growing glitter business and the opportunity to turn it into something wonderful!
I love the ethical side of Sparkle Town, working only with products that are kind to our planet and it’s inhabitants is a good place to be. And spending my days playing with sparkles and colours is, well, brilliant. I’m absolutely bursting full of plans for Sparkle Town and looking forward to implementing them and watching my little business grow. Bioglitter is definitely the way forward as we all move away from plastics and look for a more planet friendly option, and I’m so excited to be a part of it!
So it’s been quite a journey, spanning almost 8 years so far. I’ve learnt a lot along the way, I’ve had lots of fun playing with glitter and fragrances and wax, and I’ve found myself with a lovely, sustainable, happy, sparkly little business that is Sparkle Town.
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my story, I’m always happy to share anything so do ask if there’s anything at all you’d like to know.
