Case study · my own brand

Pearled wax is new to most people. The store had to explain it fast, then make building a set feel like fun, not a form.

Type
Shopify store, designed from scratch
Market
United Kingdom
Role
Strategy, design, copy, build, photography, film
Status
Live and trading
Live: emiliecandle.com
A hand placing a wick into a bowl of pearled wax
The brief

Emilie is my own brand, run with my partner. The product is refillable pearled wax: you pour the pearls into any bowl, add a wick, light it, and refill instead of replacing. Beautiful, but unfamiliar. Most visitors have never seen it. The store had to do three things in the first ten seconds: show what it is, show why it's better, and make the first purchase obvious.

What made it hard
  1. 01Explaining a new product category without a wall of text
  2. 02Selling sets (wax + bowl + accessories) rather than single bags, without a confusing configurator
  3. 03Photography and film that make a bowl of pearls look like a ritual, not a craft kit
  4. 04Gifting, seasonal sets and refills in one coherent catalogue
The signature: the set builder

Pearled wax is new to most people, so the store sells a system in calm steps. Below is the real builder, running right here.

emiliecandle.com/pages/buildLive code
Loading the builder…
What I built

  1. 01
    A home page that teaches in one scroll

    Pour, wick, light: the mechanism shown before the pitch. The hero is a hand placing a wick, not a logo.

  2. 02
    The five-step set builder

    Wax, bowl, add-ons, extras, review. Each step is one decision with a price that updates. Set pricing beats single pricing on every line, visibly.

  3. 03
    Product pages written to sell

    Every page answers the questions a gift buyer actually has: how long does it burn, is it really refillable, will it arrive by Friday.

  4. 04
    Gift sets and seasonal collections

    Autumn and Christmas sets with their own pages, built to be shared, not searched for.

  5. 05
    Photography and film

    Shot to show the ritual: dinner tables, bath time, garden evenings. Film for the home page and ads.

emiliecandle.comThe Emilie Pearled Candle home page, scrolling
The Emilie home page on a phone
The live home page, scrolling on its own. Hover to pause.
Shot to show the ritual

Sunday lunch
Sunday lunch
The Signature set
The Signature set
Cashmere bowl, Smoky Mocha
Cashmere bowl, Smoky Mocha
The Autumn Ritual set
The Autumn Ritual set
Trays sanded by hand
Trays sanded by hand
Gift sets
Gift sets
The set builder is the whole business.

Pearled wax is new to most people, so the store sells a system, not a candle: wax, bowl, add-ons, extras, in five calm steps.

emiliecandle.comThe Emilie set builder, step one: choose your wax
The Emilie set builder on a phone
  • Five steps, one decision eachWax, bowl, add-ons, extras, review. Never a wall of options.
  • The basket follows youA live summary says what's next, so nobody gets lost.
  • Explained before it's soldA short film right where a first-timer needs it.
Where it stands

  • Live and trading in the UK with free delivery over £49
  • The set builder is the main path to purchase; singles are the exception
  • Every lesson from running it feeds the stores I build for clients: what people click, where they hesitate, what they ask before they pay
Built withShopifyCustom theme, no page builderLiquid + JavaScriptKlaviyo email
Next case studyVincenzo AtelierPet portraits sold like jewellery, to the US.Read it
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