One of my main priorities as the owner of Keap is ensuring that our subscribers are well looked after.

Unfortunately I had to report a delay in shipping our Limited Edition Seasonal Library candles to any subscribers who ordered on or after January 24th. 

We are offering various options to make sure they are well looked after, and anticipate shipping out these Library candles the week of Feb 8th-12th. Below I’ve wanted to share some more details about the delay. (Update as of 2/3: we can now more accurately estimate shipping between Feb 9th-11th).

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How did this candle-making delay happen?

In short, it is a result of the challenges of ordering small amounts of complex fragrance oils, exacerbated by the challenges of COVID-19. Limited edition fragrance orders are particularly hard to forecast, and with a welcome increase in subscribers in November and December, we had to order some extra fragrance beyond our initial planned stock. However it is yet to arrive at our studio or be tested by us, which adds a few weeks of anticipated delays.

All told, it typically takes anywhere between 2 and 8 weeks for us to receive a fragrance order after placing it. This wide range mostly reflects the incredible complexity fragrance houses face in sourcing thousands of (often uncommon) ingredients from all parts of the world.

In this particular instance, we thought we still had a comfortable cushion, but that extra order has not arrived in time for us to keep seamlessly pouring.

We have learned over the years that each new batch of fragrance has its own unique characteristics. As a result we put candles through a thorough quality control process we call Burn Testing. This helps ensure that every candle that leaves our studio burns brightly. It also adds about a week of testing before we ever put a fragrance into production.

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I hope that’s useful context as to why there’s a wait time here. We’re always working to improve our purchasing planning and production processes, and have learned a few lessons here with this delay that will help us avoid another situation like this in future.

As always, I am incredibly grateful for our subscribers' understanding and patience.

Thanks and keep the fire burning!

Stephen