There are plenty of ways to remember a Brooklyn summer — a neighborhood barbecue, children cooling off beneath an open fire hydrant or long evenings spent chatting on the stoop. For Crown Heights entrepreneur Christine “Chriss” Starchild and her home fragrance brand, Everything Chriss, those moments can now be remembered through scent.
After years of refining the idea, she recently launched “Brooklyn Summer,” a limited-edition candle designed to capture the feeling of summertime in the borough rather than a single place or event. Available exclusively at Franklin Makers in Crown Heights and online, the collection pairs fragrance with photography, artwork, a curated Spotify playlist and a collectible bookmark to create what she described as a multi-sensory love letter to Brooklyn.
Starchild said she’s been refining this idea for years, and the work has “finally” come to fruition.Photo by Georgina Wu, Adora Creative Studio and courtesy of Chriss Starchild
“Brooklyn Summer is an idea that I’ve had for several years, and I just couldn’t materialize it,” Starchild said. “The goal was to always highlight, spotlight, what summer in Brooklyn is all about and how everyday moments can feel like a movie.”
Those everyday moments became the foundation for the children.
“When I was thinking of the vibe, it was block parties, community, neighbors and opening a fire hydrant and the kids outside,” she said.
She recalled living in a Bedford-Stuyvesant brownstone nearly a decade ago, where neighbors would gather around the grill on warm evenings.
“I remember having some elder neighbors, and I’d hear them, smell their grill, and I’d say, ‘Before you put that out, could I put some of my chicken on there for dinner?’ And they’re like, ‘Yeah, bring it,’” she said. “Those kind of moments are really what I wanted to celebrate with this candle.”
The scent behind ‘Brooklyn Summer’
Instead of recreating literal Brooklyn scents, Starchild focused on the emotions she wanted people to experience.
The candle blends cocoa butter, bergamot and musk — a combination chosen to evoke warmth, sunshine and lingering evenings outdoors.
The candle combines elements of cocoa butter, bergamot and musk.Photo by Jae Grumulaitis for Made in NYC / Pratt Center
“The cocoa butter is the dominant scent, so it’s warm, it’s creamy, it’s buttery,” she said. “The bergamot is a citrus, so it’s very light but also bright. And then the musk, to me, is the note that just stays underneath the whole scent.”
She said the fragrance was carefully balanced to feel comforting while still reflecting the energy of summer.
A multi-sensory approach
But the experience doesn’t stop when the candle is lit.
A QR code links buyers to a nearly four-hour Spotify playlist featuring everything from disco and house music to Afrobeats, classic R&B and ‘90s hip-hop — the kind of soundtrack heard drifting through neighborhood block parties.
The candle comes with a themed Spotify playlist and commemorative bookmark.Photo by Jae Grumulaitis for Made in NYC / Pratt Center
“I wanted ‘Brooklyn Summer’ to be multi-sensory, not just in smell but also visual,” the candle maker said.
She added that the goal was to create “something for everyone” that reflects the way generations come together during Brooklyn summers.
A personal love letter to the borough
Although originally from Queens and raised in Florida, Starchild said Brooklyn is the place where she truly built her life.
“Brooklyn made me a woman,” she said.
After moving back to the New York area as an adult, she settled in the borough, where she met her husband, started a family and built her business.
Starchild moved to Brooklyn permanently a decade ago and said it was the place that “made her a woman.”Photo by Jae Grumulaitis for Made in NYC / Pratt Center
“I knew there was nowhere else that I wanted to live,” Starchild said. “There were so many pivotal and developmental things that happened to me here. I’ve lived in a lot of places, and nothing compares to a summer in Brooklyn.
She hopes future collaborations could celebrate the distinct personalities of neighborhoods across the borough, from Williamsburg and Greenpoint to South Brooklyn and Coney Island.
“I would love to collaborate and have someone in another part of Brooklyn share their image of what their Brooklyn summer is like and convey that through scent,” she said. “I specialize in helping people bring scents to life.”
“Brooklyn Summer” retails for $36 on the Everything Chriss website and in stores.Photo by Georgina Wu, Adora Creative Studio
For now, though, “Brooklyn Summer” serves as a reminder that the most memorable moments aren’t always the biggest ones.
“ Brooklyn is just so special and so important to me, and that I wanted to highlight and share it through these scents,” she said.