Color in my world is of the utmost importance! Color tells you what the tone is of a moment. Blue, a soft blue, is peaceful. Blue stimulates conversation (which is why my mother painted her kitchen blue) and green is restful (which is also why she painted her bedroom green), while red stimulates hunger (and you guessed it, her dining room is red). There are studies that show why colors evoke specific reactions in people. Not everyone may be aware of how colors affect you, but whether you realize it or not, the colors do, in fact, affect you.

In the Paula Brand so much of what we want our fans and customers to experience is a feeling. We want people to feel like they are wrapped up in Paula’s warmth and love. Since Paula can’t go visit everyone and bring her warmth and style to their home, we work hard to make her products convey that feeling. Color is probably one of our most important visual tools.

Currently I’m working on a project with our candle company. We’ve had candles for a number of years now, but we’re refining and growing our selection (you may have seen our current line). To give you a little behind the scenes - our candle group sends me a variety of wax colors in petri dishes.

We use “Pantone” colors to start (not to get too techy but if you aren’t familiar with Pantones it’s a system of standardized color formulas). Since you cannot accurately predict what a Pantone color will do in wax we view the actual waxes poured into petri dishes. From there I narrow down colors that are correct for the scent and fit into a palette that is right for our brand. From scents like Sweet Tea, to Georgia Peach, to Blooming Hydrangea… I help pick the perfect color for the perfect scent. And of course we can’t use the same Pantone color twice - so we go through a whole lotta colors!

We’ve narrowed down a color palette that I think came out quite nice.

My favorites are probably the pretty blues and greens.

And the sunny warm tones.

I always like our faithful neutral. Brown is a very important color to us. Seems in the South there is so much richness in things and it’s nicely conveyed with the right brown. Getting the right brown is very important, warm and chocolatey.

Every home we moved into when I was growing up (and for a while we moved every two years) my mom revisted the colors in her home. She’d keep the ones she fell in love with (like the kitchen blue) and tweaked the ones that weren’t quite right (like the red that seemed to change in every house - Now it’s happily Benjamin Moore Cottage Red). While the studies told her the colors she wanted, she had to find the perfect hues that conveyed the feeling she wanted to live in. Years of living with her, I guess I became a bit sensitive to the color differences and how they affect the mood of a room. One day I’ll share my mom’s color chips with you! It’s quite a ziplock bag full of paint chips (and she knows what every chip is for!).

Just like my mom, Paula’s brand is always updating and revising. We’re currently rebranding a good bit of items - more to come on that in future blog posts. Would love to know what you think. Tell me what y’all like in a candle - from the scent (sweet, floral, herbal, clean..) to vessel (ceramic, glass, modern, antique… ) ... really anything you like (or don’t like)! Would love to know your thoughts!

Stay inspired!

M!