Recently, I decided to digress from my usual foodie pursuits and try my hand at a workshop instead. I attended a Aromatherapy Candle making workshop by Scott’s Apothecary, organised by Love Pop Ups London. This was my second experience with LPUL after Banya.

Scott’s Apothecary was set up by sisters-in-law Alice and Toni. Alice, who runs these workshops, is a registered nutritional practitioner and chef.

For our workshop, we all gathered at Alice’s office in Battersea, welcomed by a glass of fizz and a table full of tiny bottles of all the essential oils you can think of.

Around us were shelves full of aromatherapy candles and scents. This was probably the sweetest smelling meeting room I have ever been to.

The two hour workshop started with Alice explaining about the health benefits of various essential oils and how to use them for different ailments. I also learnt that not all essential oils should be applied directly on the skin and some need a carry oil (like almond or olive oil) or else they will burn.

We each had our own workstation to work from.

What was also fascinating to note was that smelling coffee beans acts as palate cleanser for the nose so we all had our own personal dinky jar of beans that we sniffed between smelling each essential oil.

We then went around sniffing and smelling each oil to identify the ones that resonated with us the most. The combination of four or five oils would eventually go into making our signature blend for the candle.

There were loads and loads of essential oils to smell and it was a hard choice to make. After much deliberation, I settled for a combination of Lavender, Neroli, Rose, Rosewood, Rosemary and Jasmine.

Once chosen, we were advised by Alice on the relative amounts that will go into our signature blend in terms of number of drops of each oil. It is a delicate balance, as you don’t want one oil to overpower the whole mixture.

We then proceeded to carefully add each essential oil, drop by drop, into our personal mini beakers.

Alice had already pre-melted the wax in her burners for us to use; at home you can use a double-boiler. We used soya wax so the candle was vegan friendly.

We then added the essential oil mix to the hot wax and gave it a quick stir before finally pouring it into our very personalised candle jar, ready to cool down and solidify. We left the wax and oil mix at room temperature for about 20-30 minutes.

Meanwhile, we also made our own therapeutic roller ball perfume. For this one, I chose a combination of Lavender, Sandalwood and Chamomile for calmness.

And so by the end of our workshop, this is what I made.

I thought it was a really fun, informative and hands-on workshop. You do not need to bring anything to the workshop, but helps to know what your favourite smells are or be prepared to discover a new fragrance.

They have a collection of over 40 essential oils, so there are endless possibilities for the fragrances you can create at the workshop!

If you are into essential oils, aromatherapy, DIY then this aromatherapy candle making workshop is just right for you. This could even be a start of a new hobby/side hustle, a bit of ‘me’ time or gifting an experience for birthdays/Christmas.

More information can be found here.

N.B. My workshop was gifted but all photos and opinion are mine.