The owner of Koukla’s Korner, Alexis, reached out to us through our site in late spring this year. She wanted to give us a couple candles to try, and if we liked them, we’d blog about them. We are all about supporting local DC entrepreneurs, and of course girl bosses, so it was an easy yes!
We had no idea it would be one of our favorite collaboration to date. Alexis and her twin sister, Samantha, insisted on personally delivering the products to us instead of shipping them. We felt honored that a company would want to give us that much of their time and it was a great way to connect. We met up in Old Town, Alexandria and all ended up having a matcha together.
Alexis and Samantha walked in with gorgeous personalized packages that included Koukla’s Korner candles, matches, a delicious Butter & Blade blueberry pastry and a note for each for us. All of this was wrapped up with a beautiful bow and romantic calligraphy that was the cherry on top. The attention to detail, and work put into just this presentation shows their attention to detail and thoughtfulness. You can tell how much they love what they do just by the pure and perfect scents of Alexis’ candles and the perfect amount of sweet in Samantha’s pastry.
During our conversation we learned the backstories for their businesses – both were inspired by their Greek heritage and grandmother.
Koukla’s Korner was born from wanting to create a candle Alexis’ grandmother would love. It’s name means ‘doll’ in Greek and is a nickname their family patriarch gave the sisters.
Butter & Blade’s food is based off of Samantha’s grandmother’s cherished recipes. Samantha is a personal chef and focuses on events and personalized meals.
We were so thrilled to meet such nice people and hear the story of how their businesses came to life. We highly recommend each of them for any gift or event.
The candles are all hand-poured soy and burn incredibly well. You know we love a good scented candle and these do not disappoint. The larger candles are advertised with an 11-hour burn, but we swear these seemed to last forever. Also, the fragrance was strong but not overpowering at all and we loved the different scent combinations.
While available on a seasonal basis, Mila’s favorite scent was definitely OASIS – so clean and crisp. On the other hand Bex’s favorite scent was APRIL SHOWERS – it smelled identical to spring flowers. For the price, these candles are well worth it and honestly, it’s awesome to support a local women-owned small business!
Since this collaboration we have talked so many times about how great these candles smell. Also the Butter & Blade blueberry pastry makes us want to throw a huge party just so we can eat them over and over.
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