Ever heard of a candle so popular it has its own Whatsapp group for people trying to find out where to buy it?
That’s exactly what happened with La Bougie – an Irish-based, mother-daughter-made brand that has gone from kitchen table to social-media darling.
In 2012, having moved to Ireland, perfumer Lucy Hagerty sensed an opportunity: “There wasn’t really any brand in Ireland with true perfumery candles,” she recalls. “Every day, there seemed to be a new candle brand, but most companies are buying fragrance off the shelf from a very limited supply. The result: five different brands in one store, all using the same fragrance oil under different names.”
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Determined to create something truly unique, Hagerty wanted to approach candles (and now diffusers and perfumes too) with the precision of a master perfumer, so each product could be a carefully composed olfactory experience. The result was La Bougie, a niche fragrance brand, built on carefully selected, high-quality aromatics and botanical oils from around the world.
La Bougie’s first collection launched with just three scents, including Honeysuckle Sea Salt, which is a homage to West Cork, where the brand was founded. The fresh, airy candle became an instant bestseller, but it was Mission Fig – with its addictive woody, earthy aroma – that would go on to achieve iconic cult-like status in Ireland.
“One of the most amazing things was that during lockdown, we discovered that there was an actual Whatsapp group made up of customers tracking where Mission Fig was in stock in Dublin. The demand has been incredible! That is something I’m really proud of,” says Hagerty.
Best of all, that pivotal ‘viral’ moment was achieved without spending millions on advertising or celebrity endorsements. In fact, La Bougie relies almost solely on word-of-mouth and organic social growth. “You just have to make a really good fragrance,” Hagerty believes.
Lucy Hagerty and her daughter Tabitha Kennedy run La Bougie together.
Another secret behind the brand’s success? From the beginning, La Bougie has been a family affair in the truest sense.
“I started La Bougie at my kitchen table while my children were teenagers still at school and built it up while trying to fit in the school run,” explains Hagerty – something many busy working mums will instantly relate to. Her daughter Tabitha Kennedy’s involvement was organic and immediate, and she’s now an integral part of the company.
“I always preferred helping mommy than being at school,” reveals Kennedy with a laugh, reminiscing about the beginnings of what would become a powerful mother-daughter partnership. “As a teenager, I was always helping, especially during school holidays and during my Transition Year [a year out in industry which is offered to students at 15 or 16 in Ireland]. Then, I never really left.”
Nowadays their working relationship is seamless yet efficient. “Our meetings are quite short – we either agree or agree to disagree,” Kennedy explains. Working with her mother also offers her the flexibility she craves: “If I work slightly longer on a Sunday evening, I can work slightly less on a Monday,” – and that keeps both mother and daughter’s entrepreneurial spirit alive.
Hagerty is even zooming into our discussion from a boat in the Caribbean (where she is soaking up plenty of fragrant inspiration), while her daughter is – if you’ll pardon the pun – steadying the ship back home. “I know it’s in safe hands,” the perfumer says with confidence.
Kennedy, now 26, builds on her mother’s perfumery expertise with her own skills in digital marketing, which have propelled La Bougie into new territory. A prime example is the recent viral Fir Baby Christmas candle campaign. It featured a mysterious woman preparing for a date with an unexpected twist at the end (the date was with her puppy!) – and such was the response that the limited edition fir resin candle sold out in just three and a half weeks. “We went quite sexy with that marketing campaign,” Hagerty laughs. “It was definitely out of our comfort zone, but it worked.” Retailers were clambering to get restocks in time for Christmas.
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La Bougie’s marketing whizz (who reveals she has over 25 fragrances in her collection) also neatly represents a new generation of fragrance enthusiasts who the brand has noticed are not only buying more perfumes but spending more money on them too.
“The next generation is not interested in cheap supermarket candles that smell like bubble gum anymore,” Hagerty affirms. They value craftsmanship and storytelling. La Bougie is there to fill that void. What’s extra appealing is that La Bougie’s chic-looking burners won’t break the bank either. You can secure a candle for just £30, a diffuser for £39, and fragrances for £60 for 50ml.
And, while Brexit posed a challenge for many small Irish businesses, for La Bougie, it presented an opportunity. The pair worked hard to enter the UK market and the expansion led to the opening of their first UK boutique in Lymington. “It could have been built 200 years ago for Bougie,” Hagerty says of the elegant property that now serves as both a showcase and an office.
The mother-daughter duo is also excited about exploring new scent territories in the coming months, and a rum-inspired fragrance is already on Hagerty’s radar (courtesy of the aforementioned trip to the Caribbean). But for now, the latest Mother’s Day collection feels like an especially full-circle moment. “We’re a mother and daughter, after all, so that one has felt special,” says Hagerty.
The hand-crafted gift set includes a candle, diffuser, and linen spray in the brand’s gorgeously romantic Desert Rose scent. The aroma was inspired by Hagerty’s experience harvesting roses in the Atlas Mountains: “I will always remember being allowed into this secretive world, watching how the women pick the roses at dawn,” she reflects. But, perhaps best of all, the scent even played a special role in her daughter’s wedding in Tuscany.
“The sky was slightly pink, there was just this dead calm across the valley and we had beautiful Desert Rose candles all over the hillside,” Hagerty remembers.
It’s a story that serves to further remind you that La Bougie is a celebration not only of fragrance as an experience but also of connection, crafted with love by a remarkable mother-daughter team. That’s not bad for £30 a candle.
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Lead image credit: La Bougie
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