Duncans Mills Candle Co.

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Duncans Mills Candle Co. Candles and fragrance on the Sonoma Coast and Russian River, founded by Stephanie Culen, Certified Sommelier & Independent Fragrance Designer.

Home of L'Atelier Fragrance Bar, with guided blending experiences in Duncans Mills. Small-batch hand-poured candles made in Sonoma County.
100% natural soy wax, premium fragrance oils, and cotton wicks. Duncans Mills Candle Co is dedicated to creating handcrafted vegan-friendly candles that
offer tribute to the peace, rejuvenation, and rustic charm of small-town coastal living. Each candle and its unique scent is reminiscent of a time and place where the majestic redwoods meet the Sonoma Coast alongside the beauty of the Russian River.

This Sunday the clocks fall back. By next week it will be dark in Duncans Mills before dinner is on the stove.Don't spen...
10/28/2026

This Sunday the clocks fall back. By next week it will be dark in Duncans Mills before dinner is on the stove.

Don't spend the extra hour. Light a candle at the window just before dusk and let the evening come in slowly. No screen. No list. One flame.

Not the end of the day — the start of the evening.

Midnight Coast for this one. Cedar and vetiver, the place where the redwoods meet the Pacific, by moonlight. It smells like the drive home on Highway 1 after dark.

What will you do with your hour?

🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 5 star review from Anonymous: Incredible scents!! Incredible shop and customer service!!!The email I sent to t...
10/28/2026

🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 5 star review from Anonymous: Incredible scents!! Incredible shop and customer service!!!

The email I sent to the shop yesterday is pasted below:
Hello! I wanted to let you know that my shipment arrived yesterday and I am so delighted because these fragrances capture that feeling I had when I was at Bodega Bay and in West Sonoma. That feeling of freedom and the Sea and the mountains and the Redwoods is something you can't explain but you've captured it in fragrances!! You're an artist!
Fragrance transforms me more than any other sense.
I opened Marine layer first and I wasn't happy but gosh it's grown on me and I love it. I'm delighted that I got it because it captures certain moments of my trip.

Thank you so much and although Bodega Bay and Redwood kiss are my favorites - and I'll be ordering candles soon - I so enjoy exploring what you have. I wish I lived there and I could do a fragrance tasting, if you will.

I'm so thrilled that I peeked into your shop!!!! By the way my hostess is hooked on your fragrances too.

Thank you thank you thank you thank you!

Ps Even the shipping Box smells delicious

https://www.duncansmillscandleco.com

10/27/2026

WITH GRATITUDE
This week, I’m celebrating Tracy Koch of Sonoma County Tourism.

Tracy is one of those extraordinary people who seems to carry an endless supply of energy, ideas, resources and encouragement—and then generously shares all of it.

She helped me begin looking beyond the four walls of my shop and see the possibilities for sharing my creativity, experience and vision more broadly throughout Sonoma County.

Introductions became conversations. Conversations became collaborations. And ideas that once felt very small suddenly had somewhere larger to go.

Tracy helped me spread my wings.

I am enormously grateful for the connections she has made, the encouragement she has offered and the way she champions people who are trying to create something meaningful here.

Thank you, Tracy. 🤍koch37

WITH GRATITUDE
A weekly tribute from Duncans Mills Candle Co. + Après Fragrance, celebrating the women whose generosity, encouragement, friendship and example help shape the lives around them.

In Duncans Mills it's the first woodstove of the year, and then the damp in the redwoods behind it.The season turns by s...
10/24/2026

In Duncans Mills it's the first woodstove of the year, and then the damp in the redwoods behind it.

The season turns by smell before it turns by calendar.

What's the smell that tells you it has turned?

10/22/2026

DAY 30 OF 30 | STRENGTH + GRACE
Thirty days. Twenty minutes of movement every day. And a whole lot of life in between.

I started this with one intention: to ground myself in a daily habit. In the last week, my morning strength routine became yoga at night. I adjusted, kept going, and completed my 30 days. I’m proud of that.

Looking back, it really was a full month:
• 6 wholesale orders
• 3 white label bespoke orders
• 3 custom orders
• 3 fragrance blending experiences
• The Wedding Expo—2 wedding bookings and 9 fragrances sold that day
• MINI Takes the States
• Sponsoring Sonoma County Tourism’s Network Hour
• Osmosis Locals Night and a whole lot more!

I also moved my mom into her tiny home on our property and sold the storefront of to a good friend who will take it forward in Duncans Mills. I will continue making candles and fragrances next door in town .

Through all of it, these little check-ins gave me a place to return to. Thank you for being here. And watch for the cats making their appearance—my support team takes its work very seriously. 🐾

I’m still missing Bianca. She was my heartbeat. “Small but mighty” was what I always said about her and the bookshop, and it still feels exactly right.

Poet’s Corner Bookshop continues online in her memory:
https://bookshop.org/shop/poetscornerbookshop

I feel engaged again and ready for the next integration of Strength + Grace. Thirty days complete. A new chapter beginning. 🤍

There's a week every October when the river changes its mind.The mornings go cold. The redwoods hold the damp a little l...
10/21/2026

There's a week every October when the river changes its mind.

The mornings go cold. The redwoods hold the damp a little longer. Somebody down the road lights the first woodstove of the year, and the whole area smells like it.

Mint for the cold air. Sage for the green that stays. Spice for the smoke coming through the trees.

Not a pumpkin — a forest, turning.

That's the week I light Spiced Redwoods.

10/20/2026

WITH GRATITUDE
This week, I’m celebrating Nancy Ferreira of Christopher Queen Galleries.

Nancy and her mother, Alfhild Wallen, founded Christopher Queen Galleries in Duncans Mills in 1976, creating something that would become part of the beauty, history and character of this extraordinary little village.

Decades later, Nancy is still very much part of its heart.

When I arrived in Duncans Mills as a shop owner, Nancy welcomed me with encouragement, generosity and trust. She believed there was room here for my ideas—and ultimately enough room for me to imagine another shop and another chapter.

That kind of welcome matters.

Nancy has spent a lifetime creating beauty, preserving history, supporting community and making people feel that they belong here.

I am deeply grateful that some of that generosity was extended to me.

Thank you, Nancy. 🤍


WITH GRATITUDE
A weekly tribute from Duncans Mills Candle Co. + Après Fragrance, celebrating the women whose generosity, encouragement, friendship and example help shape the lives around them.

The fog gets a letter of its own.Eight small pages, for the quiet part of the afternoon.Where do you watch the fog come ...
10/15/2026

The fog gets a letter of its own.

Eight small pages, for the quiet part of the afternoon.

Where do you watch the fog come in?

Some afternoons the fog settles into the trees so thick the redwoods seem to disappear, slowly.The village goes soft at ...
10/14/2026

Some afternoons the fog settles into the trees so thick the redwoods seem to disappear, slowly.

The village goes soft at the edges. Sound carries differently. You sense something changing before you see it.

Summer visitors ask about the sun. The ones who stay ask about the fog.

Not weather — company.

Marine Layer was poured for afternoons like this. Bergamot for the light still behind the grey. Moss for the ground it settles into.

What does your weather smell like this week?

10/13/2026

WITH GRATITUDE
This week, I’m celebrating Alison Hatcher of Events Uncorked. Events Uncorked

Alison was one of the first women in Sonoma County who really saw me.

We met when she was working at Farmhouse Inn and I was looking for ways to find my place in the w**e and yoga world. From there came w**e experiences, travel, golf, plenty of laughter—and a friendship that continued through Covid, changing careers and all the chapters that followed.

There is something very special about the people who recognize something in you before you quite know what you’re building yourself.

Alison was one of those people for me.

Thank you, Alison, for seeing me early—and for staying along for the adventure. 🤍


WITH GRATITUDE
A weekly tribute from Duncans Mills Candle Co. + Après Fragrance, celebrating the women whose generosity, encouragement, friendship and example help shape the lives around them.

Address

25171 CA-116, Studio 2
Duncans Mills, CA
95430

Opening Hours

Monday 11am - 5pm
Tuesday 11am - 5pm
Wednesday 11am - 5pm
Thursday 11am - 5pm
Friday 11am - 5pm
Saturday 11am - 5pm
Sunday 11am - 5pm

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