Sand + Fog’s Remarkably Unconventional Rise

Ten years, 33 million units, and more than 6,000 retail doors later, the three founders behind Sand + Fog are proving that tremendous scale can still be built through retail instinct, independence, and products people genuinely love.

Ten years ago, Jill Petroff, Elisa Larson, and Kristi Weissinger were unloading their first shipping container while their children played nearby. At the time, the three friends were not imagining international expansion or tens of millions of products sold in a single year. They were simply hoping people would love their candles as much as they did.

“Honestly, all of it still surprises me,” Elisa tells The Beauty Brief. “It’s incredibly humbling to think that something that started with three friends and a dream has become part of so many people’s routines and memories.”

Today, Sand + Fog is available in more than 6,000 retail doors across 12 countries. The brand sold 33 million units in 2025 and has expanded from candles into perfume oils, body care, laundry, home fragrance, and pet-safe products.

Its scale is significant. The way Sand + Fog reached it may be even more compelling.

The independently owned company was built without celebrity backing, venture capital, or the kind of paid-growth machine that has become synonymous with the modern beauty and fragrance industry. Instead, its founders relied on retail instinct, operational discipline, distinctive design, and an understanding of how people actually want to encounter and enjoy fragrance.

Three Founders, One Brand

Sand + Fog is the result of three founders with different backgrounds, responsibilities, and ways of seeing the world.

Jill, the brand’s Co-Founder and CEO, leads sales, creative vision, product development, and strategic growth. Her experience as both a retail buyer and interior designer gives her a perspective that moves easily between merchandising and aesthetics.

Elisa, Co-Founder and COO, oversees product design and development while driving domestic and international sales. Before Sand + Fog, she built her children’s clothing company, Sandcastle Kidswear, into every full-line Nordstrom store nationwide. She also spent years developing custom products for corporate clients, film studios, and video game companies.

Kristi, Co-Founder and Chief Logistics Officer, brings an operational mind and a strong aesthetic eye to the business. Her transition into design began after remodeling her own home, eventually leading to an interior design and home-staging business with Jill.

It was during that time that they noticed a seemingly small but persistent problem. The candles available to complete a beautifully staged room might look appealing from the outside, only to reveal bright orange wax that disrupted the entire aesthetic. That frustration became the inspiration for the original Sand + Fog candle: fragrance designed to live cohesively within the home.

The founders’ differences have continued to shape the company as it has grown.

“We’ve always brought three different perspectives to the table, and that balance has been one of Sand + Fog’s greatest strengths,” Elisa explains. “One of us might be thinking about the fragrance and how it makes you feel, another about the design and how it lives in someone’s home, and another about the customer, what feels exciting, accessible, and worth coming back for.”

They do not always agree, which Kristi sees as an advantage rather than an obstacle. Differing opinions force the founders to examine ideas from multiple angles and ultimately make stronger decisions.

“We’re not designing from just one point of view,” Jill adds. “I think our customers can feel that.”

Building Without Outside Pressure

Remaining bootstrapped was not necessarily a declaration the founders made at the beginning. It was simply how Sand + Fog started. As the business grew; however, the value of maintaining that independence became increasingly clear.

“We realized how valuable it was to be able to make decisions based on what we believed was right for the brand rather than outside expectations,” Jill says.

That freedom allowed the founders to reinvest in the company, respond to customers, and grow according to the opportunities they believed made sense for Sand + Fog. It also helped the brand resist some of the pressures that can accompany rapid expansion, particularly the expectation to produce more, move faster, or chase whatever happens to be performing online.

Sand + Fog is not disconnected from cultural momentum. Products including Marshmallow Skies can sell out within minutes, and the team pays attention when a fragrance resonates at that level. But it does not allow a viral moment to become the brand’s entire direction.

“We’ve never wanted to build the brand around chasing virality,” Jill says. “Trends come and go, but building a brand people trust has always been our priority.”

The Power of Being Discovered

While much of the industry spent the past decade prioritizing direct-to-consumer acquisition, Sand + Fog built much of its business through physical retail. That choice feels especially relevant in fragrance, where discovery is difficult to replicate through a screen. A customer can pick up a candle or perfume oil, smell it for the first time, and form an immediate emotional response without having previously encountered the brand online.

“Many of our customers find us unexpectedly while shopping, and that moment of discovery has been incredibly important to our growth,” Elisa says.

Retail has also played naturally to the founders’ strengths. Their collective experience in buying, merchandising, product development, design, sales, and logistics helped Sand + Fog understand what a product needs to communicate both on the shelf and once it enters someone’s home.

Growth at this scale, of course, requires far more than a product that catches someone’s attention in a store. Selling 33 million units in one year requires coordination across product development, sourcing, customer service, logistics, and planning that begins months or even years before a product reaches the floor.

“There’s so much that happens behind the scenes that most people never think about,” Kristi says. “Growth at this level takes a tremendous amount of collaboration.”

From Candles to a Fragrance Lifestyle

Sand + Fog’s evolution beyond candles happened gradually. As the founders worked more deeply in fragrance, they recognized that customers trusted their ability to create scents they genuinely wanted to experience. That trust created room for the brand to move into perfume oils, body care, laundry, and pet-safe fragrance products without feeling disconnected from its origins.

For the founders, the throughline is not a particular format. It is the role fragrance can play across a person’s day.

“It’s part of how you experience your home, how you begin your day, how you unwind at night, and even how you express yourself,” Elisa explains.

Before entering a new category, the team asks whether it feels like a natural extension of the Sand + Fog lifestyle and whether it can meaningfully enhance the customer’s everyday experience with fragrance.

This larger vision also reflects a broader change in how people relate to scent. Fragrance is no longer reserved for special occasions, nor are customers necessarily searching for the single signature perfume they will wear for years.

Instead, people are building what Jill calls “fragrance wardrobes.” They are changing scents according to their moods, layering multiple fragrances, rotating with the seasons, and exploring formats beyond traditional eau de parfum.

Sand + Fog is also seeing continued enthusiasm for gourmands and fragrances that feel playful, comforting, or emotionally familiar. Scent has become less prescriptive and more personal.

“It’s become another form of self-expression,” Jill says. “People are much more willing to experiment.”

Accessible Luxury That Still Feels Special

Having experienced Sand + Fog ourselves, we understand why discovery has remained so central to the brand’s appeal.

The products are approachable and genuinely fun without sacrificing the sense of aspiration people still want from fragrance. There is pleasure in finding a new scent, deciding how and when to wear it, and discovering unexpected combinations through layering. Sand + Fog allows customers to participate in that world without positioning fragrance as something they must study, understand, or spend hundreds of dollars to access.

“We believe fragrance should be exciting and luxurious, but it shouldn’t feel intimidating or out of reach,” Jill says.

That balance has become increasingly meaningful as fragrance culture expands. Customers want products that look beautiful on a vanity or within a home, but they also want the freedom to experiment without every discovery becoming a major financial commitment.

“We want someone to pick up one of our products and feel like they’re treating themselves to something special without having to think twice about the price,” Jill adds. “Beautiful fragrance and beautiful design shouldn’t have to feel out of reach.”

The founders know when a fragrance belongs within that world largely through instinct. The Sand + Fog office is close-knit, highly opinionated, and deeply involved in the smelling process. A fragrance must feel memorable without trying too hard, current without being driven entirely by trends, and special while remaining approachable.

“When everyone keeps coming back to smell it again, we know we have something that’s very Sand + Fog,” Jill says.

Scenting What Comes Next

After ten years, Sand + Fog is still deeply influenced by the California lifestyle from which it emerged.

The natural colors behind the brand’s name, the closeness to the coast, and the balance between ease and understated beauty continue to inform its packaging, fragrance, and overall sensibility. The founders want each product to feel transportive but effortless, elevated but reachable.

The company now has the scale to enter more categories and reach more customers around the world. Yet its definition of meaningful growth remains grounded in the same emotional territory that inspired its earliest candles.

“For us, growth has never been just about selling more products or entering more markets,” Jill says. “It’s about continuing to create products that people genuinely love and making Sand + Fog part of even more everyday moments.”

Sand + Fog may have become much bigger than the company its founders imagined while unloading that first container, but its appeal continues to rest on something intimate: the ability of a scent to alter the feeling of a room, accompany a routine, or become attached to a memory.

The scale is impressive. The fact that Sand + Fog can reach that scale while still making discovery feel personal is what makes its first ten years worth paying attention to.

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