An Introduction to... Daisy Blue Candles

My name is Lorraine Forsyth and for the last 20 years (cannot believe it has been that long!) I have worked as a Chartered Occupational Psychologist. My work centered mainly around recruitment and talent & management development and I loved my job very much. I worked for the Scottish Fire & Rescue Service for 7 years during this time and I can honestly say that they were the best years of my professional life as a psychologist. However, although I am a very organised and structured person, I felt more and more that there was a creative side to my personality that had been contained for too long. As my eldest child went to High School, I began to feel more discontented with my life and felt that I needed something to nourish and grow and develop for myself.

So Daisy Blue Candles was born in late October 2014 and it has been a whirlwind ever since. It was very much a ‘let’s just do this’ situation – I literally jumped in without thinking. That is my personality type though. I am one of those people who buys furniture from Ikea and immediately starts building without looking at the instructions. I need to fish them out of the bin 2 hours later when I eventually admit defeat! I have written some blogs on the website over the last 12 months about taking chances and following your dream. If I had really analysed the pros and cons and truly known how challenging it would be to make this business successful I probably wouldn’t have done it. But I jumped in all guns blazing and it’s been the best thing I could have done.

I still do consultancy work as a psychologist but the majority of my time is now hand making luxury candles and reed diffusers. I am often asked how the name Daisy Blue came about and my husband likes to take credit for it. We sat for many hours as a family sounding words and phrases together, seeing if anything felt right. I wanted Daisy in it somewhere because when I was pregnant with my second child I was sure it would be a girl and we were going to call her Daisy. However, my little boy appeared so no Daisy for me - at that time. My husband is a huge music fan and has thousands of old vinyl records. He listens to a lot of jazz and blues but the only jazz album I like is ‘Kind Of Blue’ by Miles Davis. So one night, during another brainstorming session, Jim put Daisy and Blue together and that was that.

The other thing that I am always asked is if I make the candles by myself which I do. People often seem surprised by this but I make them all individually and to order and that way I am able to guarantee the quality and standard of all of Daisy Blue’s products. Whether this changes or not in the future remains to be seen but at the moment everything is handmade.

I started with 3 scents in glass jars, then quickly added a fourth and some silver tins. I wanted to consolidate and see how they sold for a while but within 4 months, due to customer and stockist demands, the range had grown to 12 fragrances in the candles, and 4 for reed diffusers. I added another 2 at Christmas time 2015, but to be honest, the original fragrances actually were more popular with my customers. My design has always been classic and simple, a clear glass in a white gloss box or a silver tin. The label is black and white, with a hint of blue in the little flower to symbolise the brand. I wanted the product to fit seamlessly into any home and not clash with other décor. Very chic and timeless.

Daisy Blue products are now sold in 22 stockists across the country from Kent to Insch and we sell online through the Daisy Blue website and through facebook. In addition to our signature range, we will design bespoke candle labels for a client. Over the last 12 months we have designed unique labels for birthdays, weddings, thank you presents and wedding anniversaries. Customer service is our number one priority at Daisy Blue so whatever the customer wants, we will find a way to get it to them.

I also write a blog on the Daisy Blue website and try to post some new content and detail every 2 days. There is always something happening so it’s not that difficult to find something to write about. I have a passion for fashion and homewares so sometimes the posts are not always about candles! I hope by doing this that our customers and potential new customers will get to know me and feel more confident about buying some of the Daisy Blue products.

It has been a huge learning curve, not only about how to make good quality luxury candles but how to establish a viable business, social media, marketing and PR – the list is endless. The challenge is huge but completely worthwhile. It is exciting and terrifying all at the same time. If you would like to find out more about Daisy Blue you can:

For the next 2 weeks we have a special offer for all of our new ScotBloggers friends – 20% off all products purchased through the website with the code Daisy01.

Please get in touch if you want to design any of your own candle labels for a particular occasion, or want wedding favours made up to reflect your special day – whatever you want, we are here to deliver.

Many thanks for reading,
Lorraine xx

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