At Mid City’s new addition, The Bougie Bar, candle-making brings friends and family together.
Owners Rusty and Jamie Phillips got their start in the world of fragrances through their candle company Bourbon Royalty, which they founded in 2013. This experience, as well as Jamie’s ongoing desire to open a gift shop, inspired the entrepreneurial couple to launch the first location of The Bougie Bar in Lafayette in 2019, where the team has hosted private candle-making events for every occasion, from bachelorette parties to office celebrations.
As customers started driving long distances to go to the Lafayette location, the owners knew it was time to bring The Bougie Bar to Baton Rouge, opening a location on Jefferson Highway in March of this year.
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“You name it, we have pretty much seen it,” Rusty says. “We’re not just a class where you come in and you rush through a process to make the candle and you’re out the door. You get to have an experience, which is important to us.”
Floral, holiday and other natural scents merge together, creating a sweet, yet fresh aroma that greets visitors when they walk through the doors of The Bougie Bar. Shelves are lined with candle containers and over 100 different fragrances for guests to choose from when making their own candles. Once the guest chooses two to three fragrances for their candle—the most popular being a masculine base combined with a fresh or sweet scent—the candle wax is heated and prepared by an employee at the bar area.
Rusty says guests typically enjoy the team-building and customization aspects of the process the most.
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“It allows people to come in a relaxed environment where they get to be creative relaxed, and interact on a different level,” Rusty says. “Your hands are moving, your senses are activated. You’re not thinking about everything that you’ve done today. Your focus is right here.”
Candle-making isn’t the only thing on tap at The Bougie Bar. The gift shop area is also filled with soaps, headbands and jewelry, as well as Bourbon Royalty products. The owners’ goal for the future is to make the gift shop full-service by adding more local products to the shelves.
To book a private event at The Bougie Bar, visit mybougiebar.com, or find it on Instagram at @mybougiebar for more info. The Bougie Bar is at 711 Jefferson Highway, Suite 1A.