Owner and CEO Lacie Carroll holds a “Warr;or” candle at the Malicious Women Candle Co workspace on Feb. 15 in Snohomish. The business is women run and owned. (Annie Barker / The Herald)

Owner and CEO Lacie Carroll holds a “Warr;or” candle at the Malicious Women Candle Co workspace on Feb. 15 in Snohomish. The business is women run and owned. (Annie Barker / The Herald)

Malicious Women Co: She turned Crock-Pot candles into a sassy venture

Lacie Marsh-Carroll is rekindling her Snohomish candle company with new designs and products.

SNOHOMISH — The flame is flickering.

Malicious Women Co., the candle company started by Lacie Marsh-Carroll in 2017, has rebounded from hard times before and is now dealing with inflation and copycats.

“I have the capacity to fill orders. I just don’t have the orders,” she said at the company’s warehouse in Snohomish.

Marsh-Carroll is trying new ways to survive by rebranding and expanding “gift-ability.”

No way in hell she plans to give up.

Like a Malicious candle slogan says: She is a “Boss Lady” infused with “Hustle & Caffeine.”

Marsh-Carroll went from melting wax in her Lake Stevens kitchen to running a 12,000 square foot production center and selling candles worldwide.

The company makes soy-based candles scented with custom fragrances and labeled with witticisms profane and relatable. Colorful language touches on topics such as parenthood, cancer, weddings, military and recovery.

“When I started, nobody dared put raw emotion or feeling or the real stuff on a candle,” Marsh-Carroll said.

Other sassy candle companies tried to cash in. That has hurt business as has the current economy.

Costs have shot up for shipping and supplies.

“Wax in 2019 was $75 a case. It’s $152 a case now. Everything is going up,” Marsh-Carroll said.

“We’re not able to pass that inflation to our customers by raising our prices because our customers are trying to afford eggs and bread, and this is a luxury. We have to focus hard on being that $20 affordable gift.”

Left to right, creative director Kacie Kicinski, owner and CEO Lacie Carroll, and logistics manager Joe Kicinski, pose for a photo at the Malicious Women Candle Co workspace on Feb. 15 in Snohomish. The business is women run and owned. (Annie Barker / The Herald)

Left to right, creative director Kacie Kicinski, owner and CEO Lacie Carroll, and logistics manager Joe Kicinski, pose for a photo at the Malicious Women Candle Co workspace on Feb. 15 in Snohomish. The business is women run and owned. (Annie Barker / The Herald)

Bumping up the price failed. “We raised it and pretty much sales stopped,” she said.

She at times questions why she gave up a job at Boeing to take the risk and work the long hours that come with owning a business. But she has no time or energy for regrets.

“Desperate times call for desperate measures,” Marsh-Carroll said. “I have 14 employees. This time last year I had 32. This place was bustling.”

Other than her son, Joe Kicinski, most of the workers are women. Her daughter, Kacie Kicinski, 28, a Navy veteran, is creative director and oversees social media and the retail store.

The company has 2,000 merchandise partners and sells other Malicious products such as bath bombs, wax melts and diffusers. She plans to relaunch a cosmetics line she developed before the pandemic in hopes of boosting the bottom line.

“To increase visibility, we started selling to third-party marketplaces that cater to wholesale businesses,” Marsh-Carroll said.

Owner and CEO Lacie Carroll clips wicks at the Malicious Women Candle Co workspace on Feb. 15 in Snohomish. The business is women run and owned. (Annie Barker / The Herald)

Owner and CEO Lacie Carroll clips wicks at the Malicious Women Candle Co workspace on Feb. 15 in Snohomish. The business is women run and owned. (Annie Barker / The Herald)

The candles began as a way for Marsh-Carroll, then a quality engineer at Boeing, to work through grief following the 2016 suicide of her best friend and the stress of family health issues. She melted wax in a Crock-Pot in her kitchen and put sassy labels on vintage jars for friends, who posted photos on Facebook. Other people wanted them.

After candlemaking took over her house, she opened a small shop in Lake Stevens.

She soon outgrew that space and set up a flagship retail store in Snohomish at 920 First St., where customers have the option of choosing a scent and label of their choice. More space was needed so she added a production center about a mile away, on Avenue D.

Since its founding, a portion of each candle sale is donated to The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

At the production facility, hundreds of candles in the making are laid out in neat rows on tables. It is an old-fashioned method, very hands-on. The candles are individually poured and the wicks are set by hand. Each candle is inspected to catch streaks, crinkles and globs.

A “We Are Sisters” candle at the Malicious Women Candle Co workspace on Feb. 15 in Snohomish. The business is women run and owned. (Annie Barker / The Herald)

A “We Are Sisters” candle at the Malicious Women Candle Co workspace on Feb. 15 in Snohomish. The business is women run and owned. (Annie Barker / The Herald)

An expensive labeling machine awaits repairs, so now that task is done by hand.

Scents include Cotton Candy and Pine, Frooty Loops, Lemon Drop Martini, Blueberry Cobbler, Bonfire and Rebel Rose.

New designs and scents are always being cooked up.

“One of our favorite phrases here is, ‘Let’s just try it.’ Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t,” Marsh-Carroll said.

Facebook & Instagram: @maliciouswomenco

Tiktoks: @Therealmaliciouswomenco @TheRetailiators

Andrea Brown: 425-339-3443; abrown@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @reporterbrown.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Business

A closing sign hangs above the entrance of the Big Lots at Evergreen and Madison on Monday, July 22, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Big Lots announces it will shutter Everett and Lynnwood stores

The Marysville store will remain open for now. The retailer reported declining sales in the first quarter of the year.

George Montemor poses for a photo in front of his office in Lynnwood, Washington on Tuesday, July 30, 2024.  (Annie Barker / The Herald)
Despite high mortgage rates, Snohomish County home market still competitive

Snohomish County homes priced from $550K to $850K are pulling in multiple offers and selling quickly.

Henry M. Jackson High School’s robotic team, Jack in the Bot, shake hands at the 2024 Indiana Robotics Invitational.(Henry M. Jackson High School)
Mill Creek robotics team — Jack in the Bot — wins big

Henry M. Jackson High School students took first place at the Indiana Robotic Invitational for the second year in a row.

The computer science and robotics and artificial intelligence department faculty includes (left to right) faculty department head Allison Obourn; Dean Carey Schroyer; Ishaani Priyadarshini; ROBAI department head Sirine Maalej and Charlene Lugli. PHOTO: Arutyun Sargsyan / Edmonds College.
Edmonds College to offer 2 new four-year degree programs

The college is accepting applications for bachelor programs in computer science as well as robotics and artificial intelligence.

FILE — Boeing 737 MAX8 airplanes on the assembly line at the Boeing plant in Renton, Wash., on March 27, 2019. Boeing said on Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024, that it was shaking up the leadership in its commercial airplanes unit after a harrowing incident last month during which a piece fell off a 737 Max 9 jet in flight. (Ruth Fremson/The New York Times)
Federal judge rejects Boeing’s guilty plea related to 737 Max crashes

The plea agreement included a fine of up to $487 million and three years of probation.

Neetha Hsu practices a command with Marley, left, and Andie Holsten practices with Oshie, right, during a puppy training class at The Everett Zoom Room in Everett, Washington on Wednesday, July 3, 2024. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
Tricks of the trade: New Everett dog training gym is a people-pleaser

Everett Zoom Room offers training for puppies, dogs and their owners: “We don’t train dogs, we train the people who love them.”

Andy Bronson/ The Herald 

Everett mayor Ray Stephenson looks over the city on Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2015 in Everett, Wa. Stephanson sees  Utah’s “housing first” model – dealing with homelessness first before tackling related issues – is one Everett and Snohomish County should adopt.

Local:issuesStephanson

Shot on: 1/5/16
Economic Alliance taps former Everett mayor as CEO

Ray Stephanson will serve as the interim leader of the Snohomish County group.

Molbak's Garden + Home in Woodinville, Washington will close on Jan. 28. (Photo courtesy of Molbak's)
After tumultuous year, Molbak’s is being demolished in Woodinville

The beloved garden store closed in January. And a fundraising initiative to revitalize the space fell short.

Everett Mayor Cassie Franklin, Advanced Manufacturing Skills Center executive director Larry Cluphf, Boeing Director of manufacturing and safety Cameron Myers, Edmonds College President Amit Singh, U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, and Snohomish County Executive Dave Somers participate in a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday, July 2 celebrating the opening of a new fuselage training lab at Paine Field. Credit: Arutyun Sargsyan / Edmonds College
‘Magic happens’: Paine Field aerospace center dedicates new hands-on lab

Last month, Edmonds College officials cut the ribbon on a new training lab — a section of a 12-ton Boeing 767 tanker.

Gov. Jay Inslee presents CEO Fredrik Hellstrom with the Swedish flag during a grand opening ceremony for Sweden-based Echandia on Tuesday, July 30, 2024, in Marysville, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Swedish battery maker opens first U.S. facility in Marysville

Echandia’s marine battery systems power everything from tug boats to passenger and car ferries.

Helion Energy CEO and co-founder David Kirtley talks to Governor Jay Inslee about Trenta, Helion’s 6th fusion prototype, during a tour of their facility on Tuesday, July 9, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
State grants Everett-based Helion a fusion energy license

The permit allows Helion to use radioactive materials to operate the company’s fusion generator.

People walk past the new J.sweets storefront in Alderwood Mall on Thursday, July 25, 2024, in Lynnwood, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Japanese-style sweets shop to open in Lynnwood

J. Sweets, offering traditional Japanese and western style treats opens, could open by early August at the Alderwood mall.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.