What does lounging on a sun-drenched Caribbean island smell like?
Coco House Candles conjures that scene for its popular Sel de Mer fragrance, a fresh beachy scent that combines coconut milk, sea salt, sandalwood, cedar and jasmine to evoke a warm, sandy paradise.
The Rockville-based business owned and operated by Jess Calloway, 37, aims to take customers on a scent-inspired journey with every lit candle or spray of room and linen mist. Coco House Candles also sells wax melts, reed diffusers and accessories.
“People get really excited when they smell something that either smells really good to them or it reminds them of a memory—a good memory—and they want their home to smell like that,” Calloway says.
The company name, Coco House Candles, is a nod to the products’ coconut wax blend and Calloway’s hometown of Cocoa, Florida. It’s a busy side hustle for Calloway, who works full time during the day as a hospital-based radiation therapist for cancer patients.
“It’s very stressful, very emotionally draining, sometimes physically draining, so I come home and [this is] my creative outlet,” says Calloway, who started the company in 2021. “Creating the blends and the smells and how they interact with my mental health really is what started it for me.”
Calloway dreams up what she wants her products to smell like and experiments by mixing a variety of fragrance oils. She says there is plenty of creativity in the task, but also a lot of math and chemistry—which she enjoys.
Coco House Candle products are created in Calloway’s home, which she shares with her husband, TJ, and their cats, Peanut and Minnie. Customers seek out her wares on Etsy, at Gaithersburg’s Locally Crafted store, in several Frederick stores and on the company website, cocohousecandles.com.
“People appreciate the simplicity and the cleanness of her line,” says Locally Crafted co-owner Heather Luxenberg. “She creates a collection; if you like a scent, you can have it in a candle, you can have it in a reed diffuser, or in wax melts, or in room spray—if a customer is drawn to a scent, they can have it in many different forms.”
Calloway says the business sells about 800 candles annually. She creates her products by hand-pouring small batches of a proprietary coconut-apricot wax blend for an aesthetically pleasing, slow-burning product that leaves no soot. Calloway says her candles are scented with custom-blended fragrances and toxin-free oils. Striking the perfect balance for just the right scent is no simple task.
“I’ve been working on a vanilla candle that has gotten the better of me—so far I’ve been working on it for six months,” Calloway says. “If you grew up in the ’80s and ’90s like I did, Bath & Body Works really ruined vanilla for some people. I want to make it upscale—I want to take it to the next level.”
LaDonna Williams, of Germantown, worked with Calloway in health care in 2021 and embraced being a product tester for the fledgling enterprise. She went on to become a loyal customer.
“She would bring in samples of scents and little candles for us to smell and see how we liked them,” Williams says. “That’s how I got addicted.”
In addition to Sel de Mer, Coco House’s most popular signature candle scents are Serenity and Forbidden, Calloway says. Serenity infuses lavender with bergamot for a citrus touch, sugar plum for a dash of sweetness and vetiver for a fresh, earthy note. Forbidden evokes a sultry mood, Calloway says, combining amber, milky coconut, nectarine, night-blooming jasmine and sugar. Seasonal scents are also popular choices—winter-themed Spice Berry, Holiday Vacay and Fireside are just a few of the get-’em-while-you-can scents available now.
Travel candles are $12 each, and larger glass-encased candles range from $24 to $40. Though Calloway wants to maintain consistent sales, she says she doesn’t want to grow too large too fast.
“I would want to be in a few more stores, but I wouldn’t want to go nationwide,” she says. “I feel like I would lose some control with quality if I were mass-producing.”
For now, customers say the candles are a form of therapy.
“It just gives a soothing environment around you,” says longtime customer Yunnetta Porter-Aeo of Laurel. “It’s just an experience—it’s like perfection.”
This story appears in the January/February issue of Bethesda Magazine.