Our Story

MISTER BOUGIE may be a new brand, but we aren't new to the candle business. 

This is me, Alfonso G. Mister Bougie himself.

In 2019 I founded a retail store in Brooklyn, NY called One Sunday At A Time. Before it was laid to rest in 2021, our team developed a line of hand-poured candles which enjoyed a brief popularity and quickly became the store's best-selling items. 

Then the pandemic happened, and the world changed. So too did the personal lives of the One Sunday team.

All, it seemed, was lost. 

This wonderful store, to which I personally dedicated countless hours of labor and countless thousands of dollars, never got a proper eulogy, nor a proper headstone. It died in the chaos and uncertainty of a global viral threat which saw the entire world stop patronizing retail stores in-person for over a year, unceremoniously tossed aside and, it seems, forgotten. 

From decay, new life emerges. I found myself on the other coast, rebuilding first my personal life, and finally, confronted with a lot of candlemaking equipment and no idea what to do with it. For years it stared at me, a painful reminder of failure and heartbreak. 

Until one day in 2025. It occurred to me that there weren't any candle brands aimed at men like myself, who love the vibe that scented candles bring, but always noticed that candle brands target a distinctly feminine demographic. 

Men, too, need and enjoy spaces that smell great. Why not brand candles for them? But how? Do you just slap the word "Dude" in front of it and make it tactical black? I don't think so. What about the opposite - branding smells just for softer boys? Only part of the story.

I'm betting there's virtue in balance - covering the entire spectrum of what it means to be a man, and doing it in style. 

That's how I became MISTER BOUGIE. The word "bougie" might sound fancy, but in French it's just "candle".

We smell good over here.