WAITSFIELD, Vt. (WCAX) – When you walk in to this Waitsfield shop, you’re sure to be met with the smell of serenity.
“Aromatherapy is a thing that I firmly believe in,” says store owner Jennifer Whittingham. “To be able to integrate that and incorporate it and provide it to people in a safe way is really important to me.”
Whittingham describes herself as a maker. A history of working with other makers inspired her to develop her own creations. It started with candles about seven years ago. Two years later, she started branching out to botanicals, and that’s when she opened Three Buds Apothecary.
“We live in Vermont and our skin is so dry. And I saw this skin serum and I loved it but it was $198. That really frustrated me,” Whittingham recalled. “Healthy skin or just feeling comfortable in your skin shouldn’t be unaffordable.”
Working with an aesthetician to recreate the special serum, Whittingham got the cost down to $45, and expanded her line of products from there. “Botanical feel goods for body, soul, and home,” she said. “I make anywhere from topical products, room and body sprays, and soy candles.”
Her topicals took off, using organic carrier oils, and Vermont-grown hemp for CBD products. She offers skin serums with and without CBD. She also makes room and body sprays, CBD-infused bath salts, massage oils, and other specialty products. For a while, those products were her main focus. “And then from there people came back,” she said “My customers were like, where are the candles?”
Nowadays, she does it all. Though her topicals and CBD products are made off-site in a lab, Whittingham can often be found in her shop making her candles. Her candles have quite the selection of scents, from “Chill Mix” to “Beach Hair, Don’t Care.” And more recently, in-store shoppers can find a spectrum of beautiful, hand-made containers to hold the wax.
“The candles, as I started making them more, I started getting a little aware of how disposable things were becoming with them… that got me started working with independent artists from across the country who are potters or ceramic artists,” Whittingham said. She hopes that people will wash the containers once the candles are spent and re-use them as cups or mugs.
Though the scents are different and the containers come in all shapes, sizes, and colors, Whittingham has one goal. “If it can evoke nostalgia and some sort of happy memory or something that you want to cherish, that’s really cool,” she said. Whittingham adds that she believes aromatherapy has psychological benefits.
Whether you find nostalgia for the nose, or your new favorite skin serum, Three Buds Apothecary is worth the stop in. Three Buds products are available in-store at 4403 Main St. Unit 206 in Waitsfield, online, and are sold wholesale in a number of stores across the region.