ABOUT US
Photo credit: Kamshuka Photography
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Valerie Augustine is the Founder, Chief Executive Officer & Chief Creative Officer of Lite It Up Candles, Body & Spa. In 2000, Valerie tried her hand at making candles for a friend who wanted candles as her wedding gifts for her guests. Valerie’s candles turned out so great, she started making candles in her home for family and friends for all kinds of celebrations.
Through word-of-mouth, she was creating unique paraffin and gel candles for weddings, christenings, birthdays and even memorial candles for funerals. She soon recognized ONE - that her homemade business was getting too big for her home; TWO - she wanted to make candles full time and THREE - she knew she wanted to open her own business. Valerie quit her lucrative job at a Fortune 100 company located in downtown Toronto in 2004 and opened Lite It Up Candles in a 2,400 sq ft warehouse in Mississauga, ON, Canada.
Valerie now had a new candle creative space and she started manufacturing candles in numerous shapes and sizes ranging from tea-lights and votives to 2x4 to 4-foot tall pillar candles in over 250+ fragrances for both her retail and wholesale clients. At this new warehouse space, she continued making her signature triple-scented, hand-poured candles but now, she made them in tempered glass vases, fish tanks, large glass containers and jars of all kinds. In addition, she added soy and beeswax to her line up of paraffin and gel candles.
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In 2008, she decided to expand her candle line into complimentary body and spa products, so a new sister company Lite It Up Body & Spa was born. Lite It Up Body & Spa is where Valerie creates handmade, deliciously smelling, creamy body butters, shea butters, elegant hand-poured soaps with goat milk shavings, luxurious body & massage oils, lip smoothing lip balms, house fragrance oils, exfoliating body scrubs and hand-dipped incense.
In 2010, Valerie merged the two companies and renamed it Lite It Up Candles, Body & Spa. Lite It Up Candles, Body & Spa products are sold in over 40 stores across Canada (mainly in Ontario and British Columbia) and have been sent to customers all over the USA, the United Kingdom, Caribbean, South America, Africa and Asia.
Valerie is a true Candle Expert who designs and makes her own candles and body products for her retail and wholesale clients. Moreover, she creates corporate gift baskets for that executive ‘who has everything’ and uniquely designs centerpieces for weddings or events - she has been involved in the planning of 75+ weddings and special events to date. She currently faciliates workshops, demonstrations and teaches candle, soap & skincare making program at the Jean Augustine Centre for Young Women's Empowerment, which is powered by PACT in South Etobicoke.
Valerie ‘private labels’ some of her products and will even create that very unique special gift for your guests to enjoy. Just imagine YOUR OWN scent and name on a specially made Lite It Up product!?! Awesome!…We say!
