Hand-poured on Commercial Drive · East Van
Cedar, moss, kelp, sea salt, rose hip. Little things that make a rainy February in Vancouver feel, honestly, kind of lovely.
The Collection
Poured, milled and blended in our studio on Commercial Drive. Botanicals sourced from the BC coast wherever we can possibly manage it.
Western red cedar essential oil, damp moss, a whisper of black pepper. 55-hour burn in a hand-cast concrete vessel — keep it, plant a succulent in it later. 240g.
Cold-pressed sweet almond oil, coarse BC sea salt, lemongrass. For rough elbows and rougher Vancouver winters. Rinses clean, smells like a day at Jericho. 180g.
Cold-process with olive, coconut and shea. Scented with fir needle, eucalyptus and garden sage. It smells like Stanley Park after the rain. 120g.
Conifer-forward, alcohol-free. For pillows, linens, a rental-car interior, a room that needs to feel like the Sunshine Coast for a minute. 100ml.
Organic fair-trade cocoa, coconut sugar and a pinch of Jervis Inlet sea salt. Add to whole milk, steam, drink on the chairlift or the couch. 250g.
Rose hip, jojoba and argan with a bright citrus finish. Light enough for summer, enough oomph for a damp November. Dropper-top glass. 100ml.
Made on Commercial Drive
We work out of a narrow second-floor studio on Commercial Drive, between a Portuguese bakery and a tattoo parlour. The windows leak a little in March. A neighbour's dog, a shepherd mix called Biscuit, visits on Thursdays.
Every candle is poured by hand, one at a time, into concrete vessels we cast on Mondays. Soap cures on cedar racks for six weeks. Body oil is blended in small 40-bottle runs, because that's how many fit under our fume hood without someone getting cranky.
It is not, by any stretch, an efficient way to make things. It does let us put our hands on every item before it leaves the door, tie a little raffia bow around it, and mean it when we say hi.
Our Story
Sage Chen was born in East Vancouver in 1988, the daughter of a second-generation Cantonese jeweller and a Montreal-born mother who moved west for the light. She grew up on Victoria Drive, spent her teens reading at the Britannia branch of the VPL, studied design at Emily Carr, and then, like most ambitious twenty-two-year-olds in 2011, moved to New York.
She spent a decade working in-house at a downtown interior-design firm — the kind that outfits Tribeca lofts and Greenpoint restaurants — and she was very good at it. She also, over those ten years, became the kind of Vancouverite who talks about Lonsdale Quay on long train rides out to Far Rockaway and Googles ferry times to Bowen Island at 1am. In 2022 she came home.
Vancouver XOXO was started out of her apartment that winter with twelve concrete vessels, a secondhand pouring pot, and a suspicion that the candles she could buy in New York were beautiful but didn't actually smell like the place she'd been missing — which was damp cedar, wet moss, and the particular blue-green funk of kelp drying on English Bay after a low tide.
The studio on Commercial Drive opened in early 2023. Everything is still made by Sage, two friends from Emily Carr, and a scheduling system that involves sticky notes. We're small on purpose. The goal is not to scale — the goal is to put something lovely in the mail, with a note on the back that says "hope your Tuesday is soft."
Sage Chen
Founder & Chief Pourer, Vancouver XOXO
Sourced from the Coast
We buy BC-first whenever a supplier exists. These are the people and places behind the bottles.
Western Red Cedar
Sunshine Coast · Powell River
Ethically pruned by a small family operation up the coast from Gibsons. Steam-distilled in Sechelt.
Douglas Fir
Squamish · Howe Sound
Tips collected in spring. A single tree supplies several hundred bottles of room spray, and we pay more than market rate.
Sea Salt
Jervis Inlet · Sunshine Coast
Sun-evaporated in small ceramic pans by a couple who also run a kayak lodge. Tastes faintly of eelgrass.
Kelp
Tofino · West Coast Vancouver Island
Sustainably-wild-harvested bull kelp, slow-dried and cold-infused into our body oils for trace minerals.
Rose Hip
Okanagan · Keremeos
From a small organic orchard inland. Cold-pressed in October, bottled within a week, kept in amber glass.
Moss & Lichen Notes
Stanley Park · Pacific Spirit
We don't harvest from the parks — the notes are built with ethically-sourced oakmoss absolute to evoke the feeling.
Love Notes
From our inbox, Instagram DMs and the odd Commercial Drive sidewalk conversation.
"Bought the cedar candle for my partner who grew up in North Van. He opened the box and went completely quiet for a minute. Then he said it smelled like his dad's truck. 11/10."
Priya R.
Mount Pleasant, Vancouver
Cedar & Moss Soy Candle
"I moved from Vancouver to Toronto and shipped the Douglas fir spray to my new apartment. Spritzed the pillow. Immediately homesick. Absolutely worth it."
Daniela K.
Leslieville, Toronto
Douglas Fir Room Spray
"The rain forest soap is the first bar I've bought in years that my husband actually compliments, unprompted, in the shower. That is a real sentence I'm writing to you."
Moira S.
Kitsilano, Vancouver
Rain Forest Soap Bar
One email a month. New scents, studio days open to visitors, the odd recipe. No spam, we promise — we also hate clutter.
We've sent a confirmation to your email. Orders ship from the East Van studio within two working days, hand-packed with a little note.
Vancouver XOXO Studio Inc. ("we", "us") operates vancouverxoxo.com from 1427 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. We take privacy seriously and comply with Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). Visitors from California and other US states are protected under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA/CPRA) as described below.
vanxoxo_cart_v1. This never leaves your device.To pack and ship your order, to respond to "hey, is this in stock?" emails, and to occasionally write you a studio newsletter if you ask to be on it. We do not sell, rent or trade your information, full stop.
You may request access to, correction of, or deletion of your personal information at any time. Email privacy@vancouverxoxo.com and we'll respond within 30 days. You may complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada if you disagree with how we've handled your information.
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Last updated: April 2026.
Vancouver XOXO products are cosmetic and personal-care goods intended for external use on healthy skin. They are not medicines, are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any condition, and have not been reviewed by Health Canada or the US FDA for therapeutic claims.
Our products contain botanical ingredients and essential oils. Known potential allergens may include:
We recommend a 24-hour patch test on the inside of your forearm before first use. Discontinue use if irritation occurs and contact your doctor.
Never leave a burning candle unattended. Trim the wick to 5mm before each light. Burn on a heat-safe surface, away from drafts, children and pets. Concrete vessels can get hot — let them cool fully before moving.
Personal-care products cannot be returned once opened or used, for health and hygiene reasons. This is consistent with Canadian consumer-protection guidance for cosmetic goods. Unopened items in original packaging may be returned within 14 days of delivery for a full refund (less return shipping). Faulty or damaged items will be replaced or refunded in full — email hello@vancouverxoxo.com with a photo within 7 days of delivery.
We ship from Vancouver, BC, via Canada Post, UPS and DHL. Canada: C$6.95 (free over C$60). USA: C$14.95. UK/EU: C$29.95. Rest of world: C$39.95. Duties and taxes on international orders are the recipient's responsibility.
These terms are governed by the laws of British Columbia and applicable federal laws of Canada. Any dispute shall be resolved in the courts of British Columbia.
Last updated: April 2026.