A Candle for Even the Biggest Candle Snob

I’ve made no secret of my obsession with candles and I’ve been brutally honest about the fact that I am a candle snob. I won’t bore you with a retelling. Suffice it to say, I like a good candle, a really good candle and I have just brought the best candle on the market today to Bellacara. I know, it’s a big statement. The best? Yes. The best. Cire Trudon.

Cire Trudon is a French candlemaker and the oldest wax-producing factory worldwide. Founded in 1643, it was the provider of the royal court of Louis XIV, as well as most of the great churches of France. Cire Trudon was the biggest wax-producing factory in the French Kingdom during the 17th and 18th centuries. It has survived this long due to incredible scents, burn time, and elegance.

Cire Trudon candles are so highly regarded that their empty jars command $20 – $40 on resale sites like Ebay. The list of celebrities that tout these candles as the only ones they burn in their homes is longer than I can list here. But the ones below list their reasons why they love the candles.

Ryan Seacrest

“I fell in love with a new candle. It’s the Cire Trudon Cyrnos. I do love candles. I light them as soon as I get home in the evening, and I keep them lit throughout the course of the evening. But this brand and this scent just really relaxes. It’s nice, it’s not too strong, it’s elegant, and it’s a very old candlemaker. It was founded in the 1600s, so they’ve been around for a while. In my New York apartment, they are in front of my sofa on the coffee tables. There’s two in the bedroom, there’s one in the bathroom. They’re placed strategically all over.”

Amy Sedaris

I’m really serious about lighting candles for people when they come over. And this one (Ernesto) burns really nicely.”

Jennifer Connelly

“And I love the smell of Cire Trudon’s Abd el Kader candle. That’s what I burn at home.”

As for myself, I haven’t decided which is my favorite right now. I’m torn. I keep smelling them each day and changing my mind. What I do know is that I better decide soon, because one of these is going home with me. Okay, maybe two of them are going home with me, but that’s it! For now, anyway.

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Angela Sitilides

Owner | Bellacara

http://www.bellacara.com/

info@bellacara.com

I have been a beauty junkie for what seems like forever, but before I did anything about it, I went to law school. (Yes, my life is a little like the reverse of Legally Blonde.) Then, I worked as a prosecutor in Sonoma County after which I moved to the DC area with my husband in ’97. I served as Majority Counsel to the Senate Banking Committee followed by a year-long stint at a lobbying firm. You get the picture. It was then that I decided to act on my dream of becoming an entrepreneur. Finding my favorite beauty products proved to be impossible without stepping foot in a mall–the horror. So, I decided to bring my favorites to Alexandria. A few trips to New York and a flight to France and Bellacara was born in March 2000.

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Located in historic Old Town Alexandria, for more than 17 years Bellacara has been Northern Virginia's preeminent boutique for high end cosmetic, skincare and haircare products. At Bellacara you will find premiere beauty products that have been carefully edited by the store’s owner, Angela Sitilides, who personally tests all the products sold in store. The boutique carries only the best product lines – Kiehl’s, Jouer, Dr. Dennis Gross, Christophe Robin, Moroccan Oil, Bumble & Bumble, Fresh, Molton Brown, Skinceuticals, Smashbox, Stila, Mario Badescu, Clarins, Dermalogica, Kevyn Aucoin, Kai, Child, St. Tropez, Smith and Cult, and many more.

www.bellacara.com

1000 King Street
Alexandria, VA 22314

703.299.9652