About Us

My Story

I adore beautiful fragrances. Smells that conjure a mood or a happy memory. It’s a fascinating science, the power of smell. Certain smells make us happy, others relax, some lift the spirits and inspire. It is one of the most powerful senses and I have always found this to be intoxicating.

The subtle waft of perfume as you pass a stranger in the street. The rich fragrant hit of herbs & spices wafting through an open window that make your taste buds tingle. A warm and inviting fragrance that greets you as you enter your home, embracing and enveloping you in its many layers.

I started Purbeck Candles in 2011, because I wanted to create and share this love of beautiful fragrances. Blending essential oils and melting soy wax on an old oil fuelled aga in a pretty rented cottage on top of a hill over looking Corfe Castle. Labelling jars at the kitchen table and then selling my wares at local craft fairs and Christmas markets.

I wanted the home fragrances to be natural, rounded scents which is why I chose to use only 100% essential oils in all of our products. This obviously adds to my production costs but I think it is worth it. Compare a man-made artificial fragrance with an essential oil and you will understand. I think of it as the difference between wearing cotton and polyester.

It has always been important that my products were natural & eco friendly, using sustainably sourced soy wax instead of petroleum, essential oils and keeping clear of artificial fragrances & colourings. This is a range of products of which I am very proud.

At the end of 2024 I finally took a leap of faith and opened my first store, selling all of our beautiful home fragrances along side stunning lifestyle pieces and limited edition small run essential oil blends, moving our production to a fabulous space at the back of the shop feels like the best move and we are very excited for the next few months. If you are visiting Dorsets County Town of Dorchester then please call in and say hello, House of Phaedra is at Unit 7 Antelope Walk. Creating beautiful natural essential oil blends has always lifted my spirits, I hope they lift yours. Phaedra x 


Phaedra is a trained natural perfumer with a passion for creating natural home fragrances using pure essential oils. Growing up in London her passion for candles and fragrance started from a very early age, trying to create perfume using rose petals from her grandparents garden and soaking them in water for several weeks wasn’t her greatest success but every journey starts somewhere! Today she lives and runs her business in Purbeck Dorset,  just outside the village of Corfe Castle, in the most spectacular English countryside, with her anosmic husband, Golden Retriever Luna and her two beautiful daughters.