About Bewilderment
SHOP SMALL, NOT BILLIONAIRE
(…and smell fucking amazing while fighting the good fight.)
We’re Bewilderment, a fragrance studio for the loud, the exhausted, the hopeful, and the DONE-with-this-shit.
We’re here to fight fascism, support mutual aid, and make sure you smell like the divine, unbothered, badass that you are.
We’re a small business with a big mouth. We speak up. We donate. We fight for what matters. And we’ve been doing it long before it was trendy.
If you believe that billionaires shouldn’t exist, that housing, food, water, and electricity are human rights, that real mental health care looks like a world worth living in—you’re in the right place.
If you think slapping a rainbow on a logo once a year counts as activism, congrats—you just won a lifetime supply of corporate gaslighting. Collect your prize in the ‘We Don’t Actually Care’ aisle.
OUR STORY: SURVIVAL IN EVERY SENSE OF THE WORD
Bewilderment isn’t just a business.
It’s proof that you can come back from the darkest places.
At 18, I didn’t think I’d make it to 19.
After years in an abusive relationship, I reached my breaking point. In the aftermath of a suicide attempt, a friend gave me one piece of advice:
“Keep your hands busy, and your mind will follow.”
So I did.
I turned to the family trade—candle making—something passed down from my great-grandmother, who made them with us until she was 92. I started pouring wax melts, not as a business, but as a way to keep myself here.
And somehow, people connected with it. Not just with the scents, but with the story.
By 19, I was running Bewilderment full-time. By 20, we made our first million dollars. But success doesn’t make you invincible.
In December 2020, my world fell apart.
I lost my birth parents. I lost my grandmother. I lost my adopted father. My mother fell ill.
For years, Bewilderment had been unstoppable because it wasn’t just mine—it was ours. It was family. And then, in the span of a few months, that foundation was gone. The weight of grief crushed me. And for the first time in my life, I lost the business I had built from nothing.
So I walked away. For two years, I let myself grieve. I had no idea if I’d ever come back.
But in 2023, I made a choice. To rebuild.
To do it my way. To come back louder, stronger, and completely unapologetic.
To make my family proud.
To show up even better for the people who had connected so deeply with Bewilderment over the years.
This time, Bewilderment wasn’t just about wax melts. It was about building something bigger.
Something that fought back. That protected. That created a safe space for the people who needed it most.
And that’s exactly what we did.
We relaunched without investors, without corporate oversight, without any billionaire overlords calling the shots. (Yeah, we turned down a major buyout from a brand that would have erased everything we stand for.)
Instead, we built The Bewilderment Collective—a growing network of nonprofits funded by every single purchase.
A business that refuses to exist without purpose.
A company that doesn’t just sell candles, but funds real mental health efforts, supports real mutual aid, and stands up when it counts—which is every damn day.
And at the heart of it all? Our community.
Back when I started, I knew mental health was more than a hotline. That’s why we built the BewilderBuds Mental Health Hangout—a 60,000+ strong online support network, long before big platforms cared about “community.”
It’s still here. We’re still here.
And now? We’re stronger than ever.
So if you’ve ever felt like the world was too heavy,
Like no one was listening,
Like you just needed one place where you could breathe—
Welcome to Bewilderment.
Oh, and while you’re here? Join the BewilderBuds Mental Health Hangout on Facebook. Duh.
WHAT WE STAND FOR: NO ROOM FOR COWARDS
Listen, we don’t do lukewarm here. If you’re looking for some gentle brand statement about "being inclusive" and "supporting change", keep it moving and find a corporate board room - because we're way scrappier than that.
We’re not just here to make you feel warm and fuzzy (though, try our best selling ‘Fuck Anxiety’ wax melts for that lol). We’re here to tell you the truth:
🔥 Billionaires shouldn’t exist.
🔥 Capitalism is broken AF.
🔥 Suicide prevention is more than a hotline—it’s universal healthcare, housing, and a TRULY livable wage.
🔥 You can’t claim to support human rights while standing with an apartheid state. FREE PALESTINE.
🔥 Mental health matters, but it doesn’t exist in a vacuum. The system is killing us, and we’re done pretending it’s fine while we fall behind in every first world metric but number of Billionaires - which as a country should bring us shame.
And because words mean nothing without action, we back it up. We’ve been donating to and working with organizations since 2015/2016 like:
✅ Black Voters Matter
✅ Jewish Voice for Peace
✅ Planned Parenthood
✅ Trevor Project
✅ Rainbow Alliance
✅ Brain & Behavior Research Foundation
✅ Have A Gay Day
✅ Innocence Project
✅ Wounded Warrior Project
✅ Rise Up Art Alliance
& More ~
We shut down our entire store for 24 hours in solidarity with People’s Unions USA’s Economic Blackout in 2025. We built a 60,000-member mental health community when that kind of thing just… didn’t exist yet. And when Nazis in Ohio tried to shut us down, we fought back so hard that the FBI started watching them (sick, right??).
We don’t just say we’re here for change. We burn the house down and build something better.
Did this fire you up!? Then BAY-BEE you're in the right place, make sure to join our FB group, BewilderBuds Mental Health Hangout.
OUR PRODUCTS; AKA WHY WE’RE BETTER THAN BACK & BODY HURTS & SNOTSY...
Do we make the best-smelling shit you’ll ever put in your home? Yes.
Are we also radically different from every big-box, soulless, private-equity-owned brand out there? Alsooo yes.
Our wax melts, perfumes, and body care are:
Soy-based and phthalate-free. No shady ingredients, no mystery chemicals—just safe, high-quality scents you can trust.
Handmade in small batches. Because we actually give a damn about what goes into your home (and mass production is for soulless corporations).
Scent with attitude and purpose. Where else are you getting a wax melt called ‘Sexy Lumberjack’ or ‘Fuck Depression’—packed by fairly paid humans, not faceless factories?
Built for nostalgia, comfort, and rebellion. Because scent isn’t just memory—it’s a mood, a statement, and sometimes, a middle finger to the status quo.
Also, unlike Stankee Candle etc., we don’t donate to Republicans. So, like, das a win.
THE BOYCOTT THAT MADE US LOUDER
We never set out to be that brand—the one people boycotted, the one that made headlines.
But the moment we opened our boutique, Lancaster, Ohio’s far-right decided to come for us.
And they didn’t just come for us. They came for our community.
They launched an all-out assault on our local Pride Fest and drag scene—spreading hateful flyers, storming town hall meetings, demanding laws be changed to block queer people from hosting city events. They plastered doors with propaganda, littered the town with bigoted posters, and did everything they could to erase us - including invading our safe spaces and marching with weapons paired with threats.
But they forgot one thing: we don’t go quietly, silly goose!
So we did what we always do—we got loud, stood up, and fought back.
And when we shined a spotlight on them? The world listened. Millions watched.
🔥 200+ articles and news features
🔥 Nationwide attention
🔥 Many bigots lost their jobs
🔥 Their movement shrank
🔥 And most importantly? They failed baby cakes.
Pride Fest still happens. Local nonprofits raised tens of thousands of dollars. Our community grew stronger. Hell, our business even grew in size. ;)
That’s what we do here at Bewilderment.
We defend. We expose. We win.
WHO WE’RE FOR (AND WHO WE’RE NOT)
As if it was still a Q, but just to be sure...
Bewilderment is for:
✔️ The politically engaged, the exhausted but still fighting.
✔️ The queer, the leftists, the neurodivergent, the black sheep.
✔️ The ones who want their home to smell like joy, rage, and resistance - depending on the day...
Bewilderment is NOT for:
❌ Republicans, full-stop.
❌ “All lives matter” people, gross.
❌ Trump supporters, Elon Musk fanboys, anyone who thinks "free speech" means "consequence-free hate."
❌ People who claim to be allies but only showed up in 2020, mhm you know who you are. Bet you're still sipping StarFucks coffee, too...
❌ Zionists & genocide apologists - we're a Queer Jewish owned business, and fully stand behind "NEVER AGAIN" and all that truly entails.
If that offends you… that’s fine. There’s a chemical shitstorm of scents at the mall waiting for you. Have fun toots.
JOIN THE MOVEMENT: HOW TO SUPPORT US
We are independent as hell—no investors, no franchise, no billionaire overlords.
The best way to support us? Shop small, not billionaire.
1️⃣ Subscribe to Melt Mail. Get exclusive, rebellious, top-tier scents delivered to your door every month. Cancel anytime (you won't tho tbh).
2️⃣ Join our mailing list. No spam, just updates, activism, and deals you actually care about.
3️⃣ Tell the world. Buy our products, share our posts, send a wax melt to your least favorite Republican relative. It's so fun, you gotta try it. Seeing Aunt Brenda open up a Fuck Trump wax melt with her stank face on, ugh, priceless.
Aight. We've made it to the end. You know who we are now and if you're still reading I imagine you're right on board with us OR just weirdly obsessed and fuming at the screen lol. Womp womp.
We’re not going anywhere. And neither is this fight.
Let’s raise hell, shake some ass and smell amazing while we do it. ~
xoxo
Brandon Love
Founder & Owner
And the entire Bewilderment crew