Making Scents Makes Perfect Sense

When you have a dream of entrepreneurship in your heart involving a hobby that you dearly love, there’s only one thing you can do: go for it.

And that’s just what Elisabeth Mills is doing. Mills is a wife, mother and works full-time at the School of Accountancy on the Ole Miss campus. She started her own candle and wax tarts business: Making Scents in 2004, and while over the years she’s taken a brief hiatus here and there, she’s never forgotten or given up on her dream of making her business successful.

“I started making my candles in 2004,” Mills said, “basically, because my husband, Robert, loves scented candles. He enjoys our home being filled with fragrances of all scents. So, rather than buying them, I decided I’d start making my own. And once I started, I found out that I not only loved it; I had a definite knack for choosing the right scents.”

From fall fragrances like candy corn to spring scents like Sweet Pea, Mills makes an assortment of scents that are as beautiful as their smell is divine.

The business is a family-inspired one, since her brother and sister-in-law were also a part of the initial start-up back in 2004, only they make scented soaps and lotions, but like Mills, they have taken the occasional break here and there from the business.

“I had the idea of making candles back in 2004,” Mills said. “Then my brother, Ken and his wife, Leah, came up with their bath soaps and lotions and before you knew it Making Scents had more than just the candle line.”

In the past, Mills has sold her candles and wax tarts at S&J Art Gallery on the Square, Vintage Village in Ecru and at a Christmas Open House in Abbeville. Today, she sells them via Etsy and Making Scents’ Facebook page, where she can receive orders through FB messenger or just by customer’s posting on the page. Prices are $5 and up.

“I have a lot of new fragrances that I’m making now,” Mills said, “such as a scent called “Best Friends” which smells so wonderful. And I do a sinus relief candle that is amazing. The fragrance oil is a cool, crisp blend of camphor, eucalyptus, and mint. It’s great for stuffed up noses. It really opens you up. At Christmastime, I did peppermint-scented candles and a toasted marshmallow that smells as good as it sounds.”

Her advice to any working moms out there who have a bit of the entrepreneur in their souls too:

“Never give up on your dreams and always give it a try,” Mills said. “If you don’t try, you’ll never know if you could have done it or not. And it always helps to have good friends and great family to support you. And thank God, I have both.”

To order, visit Etsy or Facebook.

Angela Rogalski is a HottyToddy.com staff reporter and can be reached at angela.rogalski@hottytoddy.com.