secret d’apothicaire: a passion project of design and scents

We were so excited to include a candle from Secret d’Apothicaire in our November 2018 My Stylish French Box- here is a little backstory behind the brand!

Just up the coast from the famed Normandy beach town of Deauville sits the small fishing village of Villerville. It was here that pharmacist Frédéric Dana created his first collection of candles in 2008, in his laboratory over the pharmacy, and Secret d’Apothicaire (the Apothecary’s Secret) was born.

Frédéric and his interior designer wife Muriel decided to combine their two passions-  hers for beautiful aesthetics, his for the science behind the perfect mix of wax, scent and wick. He created the candles while she handled their presentation and publicity. In 2012, they opened their first boutique in Deauville.

The candles are made with all natural ingredients- soy wax and beeswax, cotton wicks, and perfume from Grasse, the French perfume capital in the south. Each candle comes in either a clear glass jar or candy pot, or a Victorian-style brown glass jar or apothecary pot.

Each scent is not simply named after its ingredients- there is a story behind each one. Songe d’une Nuit d’Été (Midsummer Night’s Dream) is based around the fresh summer scent of fig leaves, while the topnote of Dîner aux Chandelles (Candlelit Dinner) is the heady scent of tuberose. The candle we included in our November 2018 box was perfumed with Soirée au Château (Evening at the Castle), a smoky, woody scent based on the apothecary’s actual experience of an evening at a château in Normandy.

To get the most use out of your Secret d’Apothicaire candle, let it burn for at least an hour upon first usage, to allow the wick to begin burning evenly. After that, it’s best to let the candle burn for 2-3 hours at a time. To preserve the candle’s delicious fragrance, let it cool completely and then replace the lid after each time you burn it.

Photos courtesy of Secret d’Apothicaire