Hidden Gems: Meet Sylvia Bolivar of Sassy Rituals

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sylvia Bolivar.

Hi Sylvia, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
It all started with a Paddywax candle kit during quarantine! Honestly, I wanted a hobby to do with my mom and had seen the brand on Instagram as a candle-making bar that was pivoting to offer at-home candle kits, so I gave it a go. I had all of the essentials and I fell in love with the process. Growing up, my mother would take me to the local candle outlet store in Houston and we would spend what seemed like hours smelling and combining wax melts. I’ve always had a thing for fragrance – be it eau de parfum or a home fragrance. It’s a ritual when I come home from a long day of work, cuddle the puppy, light a candle, and pour a glass of wine. As I started transitioning into a more non-toxic living, I want interested in creating clean candles. Learning what gnarly things are often used in mainstream candle brands, I wanted to craft luxurious fragrance blends that offered a clean burn. My good friend Michelle is sensitive to scents, like allergic, so it was very important to meet the needs of similar suffers and offer an alternative. Sassy Rituals uses the cleanest fragrance oils, lead-free cotton or unprocessed wooden wicks, coconut soy wax blends, zero prop-65 toxins ever to ensure that our candles burn with a test cleaner air quality. I have since graduated from that Paddywax kit to blending my own wax (thanks supply chain issues!), testing endless vessels, wicks, and fragrance oil combinations, and partnered with local women-owned businesses to create awesome small-batch candles.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Sassy Rituals is a product of COVID quarantine that has presented its own challenges. There’s a glass shortage…pivot and have your mother start making concrete vessels. The initial wax blend I tested and loved wasn’t often available, so I turned to local business (shoutout to South FL Candle Supply and Lumont Candles) to pick of supplies and start blending my own. Also, this is a product that is hard to experience through a website alone, I was so grateful that this holiday season I was able to participate in a number of pop-ups and markets to present my products. Having a candlelit at my booth and a stranger coming up saying it smells great… that is what I’ve waited to hear for months! I hope to participate in more in-person events to share my creations. And to those that are looking to sample scents, I do offer a scent sampler of tea lights to experience the fragrance blends in a smaller format.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Sassy Rituals candles are individually handcrafted to spark your olfactory senses. Made from biodegradable soybeans + coconut wax and premium phthalate-free fragrance oils to create a clean-burning experience.

Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
ALWAYS stock up. I’d rather be prepared for the worst and hope for the best.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sassyrituals.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/sassyrituals/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sassyrituals