Hello! I’m Melissa and you may remember me from my in-depth reportage on what it's like to go off anti-perspirant. (Smelly!) I'm also Glossier’s product developer for skincare and what we call “emerging categories”—so everything that’s not makeup. But today I’m just a girl, standing in front of the Into The Gloss readership, asking them about their favorite candles because…

We’re kicking off work on our very own Glossier candle! [The crowd goes wild] Right now! Really, I’m writing the brief for the fragrance this week and I thought I’d open up the floor for some discussion. Because if anyone knows anything about candles, it’s ITG. The now iconic Diptyque candle as both home scent and brush holder has appeared in more articles than I can count (actually I did—it’s 80 to be exact). Even beyond candles, whenever I start work on a new product, reading up on Into The Gloss is step 1. My reading list right now is a combination of this, a little of this, and heavily influenced by this. Plus all the comments. But let’s cut to the chase:

What should the Glossier candle smell like?

Don’t worry so much about top notes and bases and any technical jargon (unless you’re into it, in which case, flaunt your accord knowledge by all means); I want to talk about vibe. When you fire up this baby, what mood are you looking to set? Where do you want the scent to take you? You can’t afford a Swiss Alps vacation, but maybe a candle is a good compromise for a ski chalet. Or maybe it’s more personal than that (I’m looking at you LB—sometimes you just want a candle to make it seem like you cleaned your apartment).

The thing about scent development is that you don’t even need to reference specific notes. In fact, I’d prefer if you didn’t—I usually leave that up to the perfumers. It’s my job to tell the fragrance house our vision, our dream, our collective fragrance fantasy in a way that makes sense. So right now, lay your feelings, layman's terms, and emotions on me. Then I’ll do my very best to turn your abstract descriptions into something contained in a soy-paraffin wax blend.

Expect to hear more from me very soon,

—Melissa Souto

Speaking of Glossier, have you heard the news? Read about it here.