Mr. Hyde Soy Candle (toasted almond and cherry)

Fragrance notes: toasted almond and cherry

This fragrance is inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson's 1886 gothic horror novel the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The overarching concept behind Old Soul Artisan's dark fragrance themes is the exploration of man's duality and how this has influenced the stories we love. Within each of us is the collision of good and evil, light and dark qualities which create a human experience along a spectrum of gray. And in the shadows so lived Dr. Jekyll. Already feeling like he was living a double life, Jekyll tortured himself reconciling his respectable public persona with his shameful secret indulgences. The exhaustion of concealing those vices led to the endeavor to separate himself into two. Jekyll believed man's dual nature was in a continuous struggle with itself, teetering on the scale of good and evil. With two separate identities he could explore pleasure with one and avoid disgrace of breaking society's moral code with the other. Jekyll creates a mysterious potion that allows him to do just that.

When Mr. Hyde was released into the world, he was wild and free to the delight of Dr. Jekyll. The fun only lasted a short while before Jekyll began to lose control of the physical transformations into Hyde as well as his increasingly violent actions. While Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde had separate and distinct identities, they were still one and the same. Jekyll felt shame for Hyde's actions and in the end realized that by allowing his dark side to have free reign in the form of Mr. Hyde that he inevitably destroyed them both. Jekyll determined that the duality of human nature required the struggle between good and evil, despite the inner-turmoil caused by it, otherwise evil would consume us. We cannot escape it; it is part of the human experience. Mr. Hyde represents the ability to examine one's own dark side. Unlike Dr. Jekyll, we cannot separate these two sides of our personalities but must learn to live with both.

Inspired by the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, an incredibly thought-provoking Victorian horror novella, this bold fragrance balances the acidity and tartness of cherries against the sweet and buttery aroma of toasted almonds. The yin and yang combination of cherry and almond has long thought to be a perfect match. A balanced pairing of opposites. The perfect aroma for examining your shadow side. We've all got a bit of Mr. Hyde inside of us… are you ready to meet the monster lurking within you?