Capturing California in a Candle
LÜM Founder Kianna Adler’s Debut Candles
Draw Inspiration from Two California Places Close to Her Heart
By Tiana Molony | September 3, 2026
Read more Home & Garden Fall 2026 stories here.
When I walked into my house on a recent afternoon, I was immediately hit with the unmistakable scent of orange blossoms and transported back in time to a childhood memory of my sister and me running through the orange groves on the ranch where we grew up.
An hour earlier, I had burned a candle from small-batch candle company LÜM, sent to me by founder Kianna Adler. The scent I burned was the Ojai candle, inspired by the town. With top notes of mandarin leaf and floral gardens; middle notes of heart ylang-ylang, gilded amber, and orange flower; and base notes of cashmere musk and modern woods, it brought up memories I didn’t even know I had.
That ability to evoke a place through scent is at the heart of LÜM — along with Adler’s love of California’s coastal towns and the memories and feelings associated with them.
It all started during the pandemic. Stuck indoors, Adler was burning candles constantly, leading her to question what exactly she was releasing into the air. She started turning labels around and looking more closely at what was inside them. She didn’t love what she found: parabens, sulfates, phthalates, and paraffin wax.
That’s when the idea began to crystallize: What if she created a candle that captured the comfort and ritual she loved, but with cleaner ingredients and a more intentional approach to fragrance?
In February of this year, she officially launched LÜM with just two scents: Ojai and Montecito. Both fragrances are inspired by California places that hold deep personal resonance. Rather than rushing to build a huge collection, she wanted to start small, move slowly, and pour meaning into each candle.
That intentionality extends to what goes into the candles themselves. They have a 48-hour burn time and are paraben-free, sulfate-free, and phthalate-free. Adler does not use paraffin wax; instead, she uses a blend of beeswax, coconut wax, and soy wax.
To perfect her first two fragrances, Adler spent ample time in each place. For her Montecito candle, which has top notes of jasmine, lemon, and muguet; middle notes of heart bourbon and washed wood; and base notes of smoked woodland and tobacco leaf, she frequently took walks along Channel Drive, often passing the Four Seasons where she and her husband were married. Eucalyptus naturally stood out, but she noted that everywhere in Montecito “has a little bit of a different fragrance,” so she wanted to create a scent that captured them all.
“To me,” she said, “[the candle] kind of smells like when the fog is lifting.”
Though she’s originally from Philadelphia, Adler grew up in Los Angeles and remembers weekend trips to Santa Barbara, where she spent days on the wharf with her mom. Now living in Los Angeles, Santa Barbara is her and her family’s second home. They spend at least one or two weekends a month here, going to the zoo with her son, walking the beaches, and soaking up the slower pace.
I ask her about a possible Santa Barbara–scented candle, which she says is certainly on the list. But, as with her debut candles, she doesn’t want to rush into it. Instead, she wants to take her time walking around Santa Barbara, taking in the sights and smells associated with the city.
“It kind of has to bring something to me,” she said. “I don’t just want to be making fragrances in a vacuum.”
LÜM candles are $48 each and are sold online at lum-candles.myshopify.com or at The Livery in Ventura.
Adler is working on expanding to locations in Santa Barbara County.
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