Customer Spotlight: O'Soy Candles

Meet O’Soy Candles, a clean fragrance line that includes candles, wax melts, and room sprays. Founded by Justine, and based out of her home in Costa Mesa, California. Justine is passionate about offering toxin-free products that are safe to enjoy without any harsh chemicals. She is also passionate about helping other small makers get connected with resources to help grow the candle-making community. Read more about our Customer Spotlight, O’Soy, how the business started, and why they use Avery labels.

What has been your biggest success?

One of my biggest successes for O’Soy was Covid. It was a blessing in disguise, believe it or not. I was a dog groomer before Covid and that was back-breaking work. I also sold candles on the side and I definitely was a lot more passionate about candle making.

When Covid hit I was actually too slow because my dog grooming job was closed so I had no option, I couldn’t work. I decided to put out some batches of candles. It was springtime and I was a little concerned people wouldn’t want candles during the spring but every time I made a batch of candles, they just flew off the shelves. So, I just continued to restock and sellout, restock and sellout and now we’re in 2024 and that still continues to happen to this day. So, I’m full-time now, and I’m no longer a dog groomer.

What are your plans for the future?

One of my big goals for the future is to have a workspace that is used as a storefront. For now, I work out of my house and I’m super content with it. I love making do with what I have.

I know the space that I do have, like a room full of inventory as well as my garage that has giant work tables and it’s a big place for me to work out of. So, I try to be conscious of what I do currently while working toward my future goal of having a bigger workspace, a few employees and just having a place for people to come in and shop.

What labels did you use when you started?

In the beginning of candle making, I just started off slow. Eventually prioritized things such as better labels, better jars, and better products. I used a different label brand, and one of the problems or issues I had was a lot of smudging on the labels. And they just looked and felt very cheap because they were store bought.

I decided to try Avery and I won’t lie; I did go to Staples and I think I bought some labels that are meant for mailing packages or something. I didn’t know what I was doing but I loved that they had templates on the website that were super easy to use. Going on the Avery website, I discovered they actually had labels that are intended for products! So, I ordered a few packages of those and noticed a substantial difference in quality and I haven’t gone back to the old labels I used to use.

Why do you love Avery Products?

I love Avery products because they offer two different options. First, I can print from home on my printer, on demand when I’m working on projects like wholesale orders or just a quick candle I need to get to a friend.

I tend to make memorial candles, so it’s just easy to be able to print from home on my printer when I want to do it. The other option is the WePrint option for custom printing. I love that option because I don’t have to talk to or email anybody. I can just log onto the website and design a label right then and there and get it printed and it shows up in like two or three days.

Do you have any special labeling tips?

One of the best tips that I have for consistent labeling is to lay your jar flat down on a folded towel. This will prevent it from rolling around and then I just place the label on the jar from the center and kind of push outward on the label to push any air pockets out.

What else are you working on?

Something I’m super excited about, that is going to benefit me in the future, is monthly subscription boxes. I just came out with those a few months ago, only allowing about 30 people to subscribe because I’m still learning the ins and outs of it. It’s actually a lot more complicated than you might think.

My goal is to build this subscription box to be something great by the end of the year. I love watching each month as my subscription boxes grow. Initially, I only let 10 people subscribe, then the next month there were like 19, and now I think I’m up at about 35 which is where I maxed out. I can’t wait to see that grow more and more. It feels like a bonus check to me because I am releasing seasonal collections in addition to subscription boxes that go out on the 28th of each month. So that’s been super fun.

If you want to follow along on my socials, I’m very active on Instagram! My handle is @O’SoyCandles ! I post tons of fun content like reels, behind the scenes showing what I’m up to, what’s new and what’s coming next.