When Amanda Pinkham started Kindred Glow & Co in 2020, it was a way to spread some joy amongst her friends with little luxurious gifts — namely candles. But candle-making is a saturated market (check out any upcoming market, or your local Winners, and you’ll see the options are endless.) Luckily, Pinkham found what really brought her joy was the scent-blending process. “Scent has such a powerful memory connection,” she says. Pinkham created a couple of roll-on scents to sell at various Christmas markets and, when she noticed those outsold her candles, she pivoted head-first into perfumes.
No.3 Bisous Parfum was part of Pinkham’s first scent collection, released in January 2022. Bisous is the French word for “kisses” — Pinkham is bilingual and most of her scents are named en français — and her vision was a fresh scent with some warmth and a bit of a floral touch that could be worn daytime to nighttime. The result brings together notes of sandalwood, amber, lemon zest, yellow dahlia petals and vanilla.
Two years later, No.3 is still Pinkham’s top seller across her growing collection of 19 scents. “I think it’s got that je ne sais quoi,” she says. “A lot of people tell me it smells nostalgic to something, and they can’t put their finger on it.”
Kindred Glow & Co’s product line (retailing between $25 and $125) includes home fragrances, and car and reed diffusers in all 19 scents. All products are phthalate-, paraben- and cruelty-free, and made with sustainable ingredients that support ethical and eco-friendly practices. No.3 comes in a 30-ml bottle, a 10-ml perfume oil, a 110-ml reed diffuser and a 100-ml parfum.
For a list of Alberta retailers, go to kindredglowandco.com.