0:00

Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of

0:02

Skin Anarchy. I am so excited about the

0:04

brand new history today because it is all

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about finding beautiful niche options in luxury fragrance.

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I know so many of us are huge

0:11

enthusiasts when it comes to finding fragrance and

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really falling out in love with it over

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and over again, whether that's through pairing it

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with something else or just wearing it solo.

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It's all about that experience and that storytelling

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that draws you to something that you would...

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utilize every single day and incorporate every day

0:26

in your routine. So without me granting too

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much, I would love to introduce you guys

0:31

to the brand. Oh, so there, founded by

0:33

Tanya Gonzales and Faye Harris. So welcome Tanya

0:35

and Faye. I'm so excited to host you

0:37

both and to learn about your beautiful collection.

0:39

Thank you for having us. Yeah, thank you for having

0:41

us. Yeah, it's lovely to host you both. I can't wait

0:44

to dive into the brand. I'm a huge fan of it. I'm a

0:46

huge fan of it. I'm a huge fan of it. I'm a huge fan

0:48

of it. I'm a huge fan of it. I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm,

0:50

I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm,

0:52

I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm all that, but I'd love

0:54

to learn about both of you. I

0:56

know you both have such a unique

0:58

background in the beauty industry, and especially

1:00

business, if you would kind of walk

1:03

us down memory lane about how you

1:05

guys linked up and decided to create

1:07

a brand. Yeah, so I originally, I

1:09

mean, I've been in the beauty industry

1:11

for a really long time. I specifically

1:13

went to college for a beauty marketing.

1:15

I always knew that I wanted to

1:17

work within beauty corpora, and I started

1:19

out in beauty working for a company

1:21

for a juice beauty, which is kind

1:23

of where I learned a lot

1:25

about certifications, formulation, etc. and

1:28

obviously cruelty-free beauty as well.

1:30

And then I went on

1:32

to work for two-faced cosmetics,

1:34

which is a cruelty-free colour

1:36

cosmetics brand under the Estate

1:39

Order Company's group, who had

1:41

recently been acquired by Estate

1:43

Order when I joined, and

1:45

that's actually where I met

1:47

Tanya back in 2018 working

1:50

there. So I was working

1:52

specifically within influence marketing. So

1:54

that's kind of where I

1:56

originally built the network that we

1:58

have today for. for the brand.

2:00

And obviously I lived in the US

2:03

at the time, so I was there

2:05

for about 12 years and then moved

2:07

back to the UK sort of mid

2:09

pandemic, I would say. And so yeah,

2:11

Tanya and I, like, you know, we

2:14

would as beauty enthusiasts do always be

2:16

talking back and forth about different products,

2:18

different brands, what we enjoyed, what we

2:20

thought and felt was missing. And yeah,

2:23

we talked so often about what... we

2:25

felt specifically within within fragrance that there

2:27

was a bit of a gap there

2:29

with luxury product that could meet you

2:31

know the other the brands that we

2:34

liked on shelves that also you know

2:36

carried this clean product and yeah we

2:38

talked about you know I guess having

2:40

the opportunity to speak with creators in

2:42

that space as well and hearing what

2:45

they were missing out on and they

2:47

would say often you know there's not

2:49

enough I guess cruelty free fragrance browns

2:51

out there and that kind of started

2:53

the conversation but we talked often about

2:56

how we could kind of reimagine what

2:58

fragrance would be through this kind of

3:00

contemporary lens while maintaining this artisanal quality

3:02

and also be clean. And we knew

3:04

we wanted to build a brand from

3:07

day one that was also gender inclusive

3:09

as well. That was something that Tanya

3:11

and I talked a lot about was

3:13

like. when we were younger we'd always

3:15

wear men's fragrance because it didn't particularly

3:18

like anything that was like floral to

3:20

sweet or how we would market to.

3:22

So that was really important to us

3:24

as well was creating something that was

3:26

gender inclusive both in the formulation and

3:29

product design something that could fit into

3:31

anyone's home and you know that kind

3:33

of evolved for us in the end

3:35

where clean cruelty free practices and of

3:38

course a commitment to sustainability sort of

3:40

become table stakes and an added part

3:42

of of the DNA of the brand.

3:44

So I think since the launch, which

3:46

was in September of 2022 that we

3:49

launched over there, we've now leaned much

3:51

more into what we felt was a

3:53

bigger opportunity there to dive into more

3:55

of this cultural storytelling through. a fine

3:57

fragrance lens and generate kind of a

4:00

true human connection that we felt was

4:02

was missing from the luxury fragrance space

4:04

as well, which is now, you know,

4:06

really the essence of our brand and

4:08

connecting that to modern lifestyles and values

4:11

and sparking conversation as well within the

4:13

industry. I love that. I love that

4:15

you both come from this. I want

4:17

to give Tanya a chance for you

4:19

to chime in if you have anything

4:22

to add. Yeah, definitely. I think one

4:24

thing that people don't realize either, so.

4:26

while Fay, you know, while we met

4:28

in the US, Fay is, you know,

4:30

still in the UK and I'm based

4:33

in San Francisco, so a lot of

4:35

people don't realize that we're building the

4:37

brand from two completely different parts of

4:39

the world and have been from the

4:42

very beginning from the very beginning, but

4:44

similar to Fay, you know, my background

4:46

is an unconventional journey through beauty, I

4:48

would say, I actually thought I was

4:50

going to work in the music industry

4:53

in Los Angeles, made a move to

4:55

San Francisco, consistent across mine and phase

4:57

backgrounds is that, you know, we were

4:59

both separately before we knew each other.

5:01

We were both kind of observing this

5:04

transition of a heightened awareness of consumers.

5:06

I mean, I think a lot of

5:08

people were really interested in what they

5:10

were putting in their food or what

5:12

was in their food. And that kind

5:15

of made its way into skincare, which,

5:17

you know, I, when I was working

5:19

at Sepora, I represented several different brands

5:21

on behalf of Sepora itself, would then

5:23

eventually move to Kendo Brands, which owned

5:26

brands like benti beauty at the time,

5:28

bite beauty, Mark Jacobs beauty. So I

5:30

was seeing kind of this shift of

5:32

just wanting more transparency in ingredients, not

5:34

just in your food, not just in

5:37

skin care, but then makeup. And of

5:39

course, fragrance was kind of a category

5:41

that was slow to follow, but we

5:43

knew eventually would make its way there.

5:46

So my background had always been in

5:48

more brand and digital marketing and beauty

5:50

was really, I think. a place where

5:52

I found myself really interested in the

5:54

ever-changing landscape. And so when Fay and

5:57

I met, it was really a collection

5:59

of all of our different life experiences

6:01

up until this point and us looking

6:03

at each other and saying, Okay, everyone's

6:05

asking questions about, you know, what's in

6:08

fragrance. People are frustrated with the fact

6:10

that this term fragrance is kind of

6:12

a catch-all for several different ingredients that

6:14

may, you know, not necessarily suit a

6:16

certain person or, you know, people want

6:19

to know whether their fragrances are testing

6:21

on animals and how do you develop

6:23

a fragrance brand that is not just

6:25

claiming it but actually walking the walk

6:27

and has the proper certifications in place.

6:30

So I think our meeting was really

6:32

kind of this culmination of all of

6:34

our different life experiences and all of

6:36

the feedback we were hearing not just

6:38

from in market but the consumers and

6:41

also creators we were working with who

6:43

felt that there could be more. So

6:45

yeah. Yeah, no, that's really I love

6:47

that you guys have this like the

6:49

start of it is like this because

6:52

I feel like for a long time

6:54

fragrance was something that you know a

6:56

lot of these really large brands and

6:58

there's nothing wrong with them I'm just

7:01

saying like for me as a consumer

7:03

it seemed like large brands or these

7:05

big labels would create products right or

7:07

create sense and then just kind of

7:09

throw them out there and be like

7:12

here and you will love this you

7:14

know and it was like a lot

7:16

of times for me as a consumer

7:18

it was like I don't love it

7:20

you know I really I don't love

7:23

it because it doesn't love it you

7:25

know I really I don't love it

7:27

because it doesn't feel unique and it

7:29

doesn't feel there are a lot of

7:31

things you know a lot of aspects

7:34

you know as a consumer that I

7:36

think maybe than that consumer that a

7:38

product is really clean, you know, because

7:40

I will have that reaction, you know,

7:42

that rash or that that breakout or

7:45

something will happen. And so a lot

7:47

of times it felt as if fragrances

7:49

were kind of forced. on us in

7:51

a way of like, oh my God,

7:53

look at all this beautiful stuff around

7:56

this. And if you don't love it,

7:58

you must be crazy, you know, and

8:00

that's how it felt in the industry

8:02

for a long time. So I love

8:05

that you guys have this cool beginning

8:07

and you have this like really connected,

8:09

you're a very strong connection, you know,

8:11

in the sense of like you want

8:13

to bring something different out here and

8:16

do something different. That's very cool. Yeah,

8:18

absolutely. Yeah. So I want to ask

8:20

with that being said, with a lot

8:22

of the niche fragrance brands that I've

8:24

had the opportunity to speak to, you

8:27

know, building it can be really kind

8:29

of rough, you know, it's a big

8:31

industry and I know finding the best

8:33

perfumer and like how was that for

8:35

you guys? Like, you know, when you

8:38

decided on doing this, did you have

8:40

to go pretty far to find the

8:42

perfect fit for you as far as

8:44

who's going to actually create the perfume

8:46

and and go about it? I'll kick

8:49

off and then I'll point to fake,

8:51

because she actually is one of the

8:53

reasons why we ended up with the

8:55

fragrance house that we ended up with.

8:57

But what's interesting about our journey is

9:00

we initially set out to create this

9:02

clean fragrance brand and as we continue

9:04

in this conversation, you'll learn that we

9:06

kind of ended up in a very

9:09

different place. We do still formulate. clean

9:11

fragrances and that's really at the core

9:13

and at the center of what we

9:15

do but we like to say that

9:17

we have complex fragrances that happen to

9:20

be clean because for us it really

9:22

is table stakes. But when we were

9:24

initially searching for the right partner I

9:26

think for us really were thinking about

9:28

How can we align ourselves with a

9:31

perfumer and also with an organizing body

9:33

that is doing the due diligence that

9:35

we as two individuals who have no

9:37

connection in the fragrance base? Like we

9:39

had been working in beauty but never

9:42

had worked in fragrance before. So for

9:44

us it was really important to partner

9:46

with someone that could develop the fragrances

9:48

in the way that we wanted to

9:50

develop them. So at the time it

9:53

was credo clean. to EU standards and

9:55

Sephora Clean as well, like really checking

9:57

the boxes of sure that we were

9:59

aligning ourselves with, you know, these brands

10:01

and organizations that were doing the hard

10:04

work of creating these standards because there

10:06

is there's still no standard in fragrance

10:08

or clean fragrance I should say. So

10:10

you really have to outline what that

10:13

looks like for you. So for us,

10:15

that really was kind of the basis

10:17

and foundation for how it was that

10:19

we were going to look for a

10:21

particular partner, and we've added several different

10:24

fragrance houses, actually the original house that

10:26

we thought we were going to work

10:28

with ended up turning us down because

10:30

we were too small, we didn't have

10:32

a deal with someone say like Sepora.

10:35

And so kind of where that led

10:37

us fade, do you want to share

10:39

kind of how it came to be

10:41

that we ended up partnering with IFF?

10:43

at the right place at the right

10:46

time with with IFF. Somebody from a

10:48

different fragrance house that had actually turned

10:50

us down but really enjoyed the brand

10:52

and the brief that we had shared

10:54

had recommended you know why don't you

10:57

reach out to IFF I had heard

10:59

that they are you know launching a

11:01

new a niche department within within IFF

11:03

and perhaps like it would be a

11:05

good fit and so I of course

11:08

followed up on that and that took

11:10

a few reach outs for us to

11:12

do that and to get a call

11:14

on the calendar but we eventually met

11:16

with Pascal Garan who's our perfumer who

11:19

we worked with on our first collection

11:21

from IFF and yeah he of course

11:23

was heading up a new niche department

11:25

within that and felt really connected to

11:28

both. our brand and our debut collection

11:30

brief. And so yeah, that's kind of

11:32

what kicked off the call and what

11:34

ended up being a five fragrance collection

11:36

that we worked with him, which was

11:39

our first collection, which is all about

11:41

escapism and the people places and things

11:43

that connect us. And so in particular,

11:45

we Tanya and I. had talked about

11:47

a particular mood and feeling that we

11:50

wanted to create within one of the

11:52

sense from that collection and he recommended

11:54

vanilla as a fragrance profile that we

11:56

should look at and that's something that

11:58

we originally kind of turned our noses

12:01

up at because it's not something that

12:03

neither of us. liked, you know, we

12:05

typically stood away from from sweet fragrances

12:07

and gomons that we felt were difficult

12:09

for us to like. And he said

12:12

to us, this is a great challenge

12:14

for us all and that he really

12:16

wanted to work with us on and

12:18

knew that he could change our minds

12:20

about which he of course did. So,

12:23

you know, I think when you put

12:25

so much of yourself and your vision

12:27

into building a scent you have to

12:29

have a personal connection with the femur

12:32

and so we were we were really

12:34

really happy to to work with Pascal

12:36

on that. Yeah. Yeah, I mean that's

12:38

really cool though that you it was

12:40

kind of like you know the right

12:43

place to our time because I think

12:45

that I've heard that as well that

12:47

you have to have like gigantic budgets

12:49

you know to work with some of

12:51

these fragrance houses and I'm just like

12:54

well that doesn't leave very much room

12:56

for those people that want to really

12:58

innovate you know yeah and distribution which

13:00

was another I think it was like

13:02

a really big learning for us I

13:05

certainly learned in that moment like when

13:07

Fay reached out even though we had

13:09

no from someone else she still made

13:11

an effort to find a way to

13:13

make it happen. So you really don't

13:16

know. Like if you don't ask, the

13:18

answer is always going to be no.

13:20

So that was like our first lesson.

13:22

And then secondarily to that, I mean,

13:24

Pascal wound up being such a wonderful

13:27

partner for us. I mean, he is

13:29

someone who is very much aware of

13:31

how to develop extremely well balanced and

13:33

complex sense with a limited. palette, right?

13:36

I mean, you're just working with a

13:38

limited palette if it is going to

13:40

be vegan, cruelty free, EU certified, right?

13:42

Like there's going to be these different

13:44

elements that have to take into play.

13:47

And he is some, you know, I,

13:49

it's one of those situations where I

13:51

feel like things worked out the way

13:53

that they needed to. So it was

13:55

really great that we wound up being

13:58

paired with someone who understood the space.

14:00

we wanted to be in and develop

14:02

something really beautiful and again really well

14:04

layered for the category as is. I

14:06

love that. You mentioned something about the

14:09

vanilla scent, right? I mean I'd love

14:11

to learn more about that, how that

14:13

was for you as especially saying like

14:15

you're you don't really lean towards gormont

14:17

fragrances. I mean I feel like right

14:20

now vanilla is just the thing. You

14:22

know, it has been, I think, 2024,

14:24

it was just absolutely everywhere. Everybody had

14:26

a vanilla scent or a body mist

14:28

or something was going on, you know.

14:31

And for me, Manila, I'm the same

14:33

way. I'm not a huge vanilla person,

14:35

but I feel like there's just, sometimes

14:37

you just come across that one. fragrance

14:39

that you're like, okay, this is my

14:42

vanilla fragrance, you know, so how did

14:44

you guys approach it? You know, not

14:46

being very much leaning towards the gormon

14:48

fragrances, how is that? You know, we

14:50

almost say, we say that this vanilla

14:53

embers fragrance is an almost common because

14:55

it's not a true gomon. It's not

14:57

quite as edible and sweet as you

14:59

might think. But I think for us,

15:02

it was kind of how do we

15:04

give vanilla its moment, but kind of

15:06

shed that sweet familiarity familiarity with it.

15:08

you know have its have its comforting

15:10

aspect still very present in the fragrance

15:13

and you know we when we worked

15:15

with Pascal this he you know he's

15:17

added certain ingredients and notes like aquaflura

15:19

which makes the fragrance feel very fluid

15:21

and very light and very airy we

15:24

have orange blossom within the fragrance which

15:26

adds obviously a floral aspect and and

15:28

it makes it very light and also

15:30

suitable for the summer months too so

15:32

it's not like a typical vanilla where

15:35

you're thinking about getting cozy for the

15:37

winter and it has a cardamom on

15:39

the top too so it has a

15:41

bit of a spice to it so

15:43

it's quite unique on its take on

15:46

a vanilla fragrance I would say. Yeah

15:48

that's really cool I like that I

15:50

mean I feel like it can be

15:52

very difficult to have like I mean

15:54

I've tried vanilla sensor just like I

15:57

sprayed on and I'm like that's it

15:59

you know like I cannot layer anything

16:01

with this I can't go on anywhere

16:03

with this, this is it, but that's

16:05

really cool that you have such a

16:08

diverse, you know, way of approaching this,

16:10

that's cool. So was that the first

16:12

sentence that you guys created? What was

16:14

the first, very first one? No. Oh,

16:16

go ahead, Tanya. So I was just

16:19

gonna say, Vanilla Ebers is one of

16:21

our bus sellers, and so I think

16:23

a lot of people think that that's

16:25

kind of like the, the blueprint for

16:27

the brand, but. actually the driving force

16:30

behind the brand itself is a fragrance

16:32

called Purple Noon. And so Purple Noon

16:34

was actually the fragrance that Fay and

16:36

I intended to go out with when

16:38

we decided to build the brand. just

16:41

in general. I mean, we thought we

16:43

were only going to launch with the

16:45

single fragrance and it was going to

16:47

be Purple Noon. We were really huge

16:50

fans at the time of these solar

16:52

aquatic sense. I remember, Fay and I,

16:54

one of the first fragrances at the

16:56

time that we were like always talking

16:58

about, we loved so much, was the

17:01

Tom Ford Solé Blanc. And the one

17:03

thing again, that kind of comes back

17:05

to what we had talked about earlier

17:07

was us not really knowing like what

17:09

was in the fragrance like I love

17:12

this Tom Ford fragrance but have no

17:14

idea like what's in it and I

17:16

have very sensitive skin like what does

17:18

this look like for us so Purple

17:20

Noon is kind of like our it's

17:23

it was the brainchild behind the brand

17:25

and one that I think again had

17:27

been a culmination of like all of

17:29

our fragrance likes up until this point

17:31

but bottled in a single bottle it's

17:34

They do want to share more on

17:36

like the inspiration and kind of the

17:38

the scent profiles as well. Yeah, so

17:40

I mean. obviously not that anyone likes

17:42

to mention like the pandemic anymore but

17:45

I mean this is kind of at

17:47

the time when we were creating this

17:49

and I just moved back to the

17:51

UK and in the US things were

17:53

opening back up and I was like

17:56

very much unable to leave my house

17:58

also and you know we were both

18:00

craving the scent that mimicked this feeling

18:02

of warm skin basking under the sunshine

18:04

celebrating the art of doing nothing like

18:07

you know what we wanted to feel

18:09

and also on a personal level I

18:11

was really really missing California too which

18:13

was very much you know my home

18:15

for such a long time and that

18:18

sent kind of became a reflection of

18:20

this blend of life to between us

18:22

both now being in Europe and in

18:24

California and so that was very much.

18:26

you know, the inspiration behind it too.

18:29

And then also based on a 1960s

18:31

French movie for Plentile, which translates to

18:33

full sun, and not so much the

18:35

story behind it, but the aesthetic, which

18:38

is very much, you know, the sun

18:40

shining on on water and... and yeah

18:42

that was kind of the the idea

18:44

originally for this for this fragrance but

18:46

we wanted to do it in a

18:49

way that was a little bit unexpected

18:51

of a solar floral so with Purple

18:53

Noon it has this hint of fresh

18:55

ginger at the top which gives it

18:57

a bit of a kick in the

19:00

opening which is quite unique for for

19:02

a solar sense so it's not like

19:04

this, it's not like a creamy, sun

19:06

creamy type of solar, but much more

19:08

fluid than that. So we ended up

19:11

using coconut water instead of coconut milk,

19:13

for example, which makes it much more

19:15

lighter, more airy and smooth and truly

19:17

a eunisex fragrance. You know, my husband

19:19

actually wears this as his like signature

19:22

fragrance, so I feel like I can't

19:24

even wear this anymore. Because it's just

19:26

a nice fragrance. No, this is really

19:28

cool. I'm looking, you know, when you

19:30

look at the notes in this fragrance,

19:33

it's fragrance, it's very, it's very... I

19:35

mean, it looks like a very complex

19:37

fragrance. I mean, you have the fresh

19:39

ginger, like you said, but you have,

19:41

you know, the Tunisia Nurali and the

19:44

Italian Bergaman. I mean, it's beautiful the

19:46

way that you've crafted this. And I'm

19:48

a huge fan of all of these

19:50

like pinpoint things because I think that,

19:52

you know, when someone likes more fresh

19:55

sense, I mean, I guess you could

19:57

say that or something that's just more

19:59

floral, you kind of like, a white

20:01

floral that's super, you can tell like

20:03

it's just very very intense or you

20:06

know it just never works out the

20:08

way that I hope it would you

20:10

know what I'm trying them so this

20:12

is really cool that you brought so

20:14

many different aspects together to create a

20:17

floral scent you know I think there

20:19

needs to be a lot more variety

20:21

in this industry in this category specifically

20:23

but it's very exciting to see that.

20:26

Yeah. So I want to ask you

20:28

as this because you do have marketing

20:30

backgrounds and I'm very curious. You know,

20:32

when I see marketing for fragrance, I

20:34

always get a little confused because it's

20:37

kind of like this. It used to

20:39

be the commercials, you know, and it

20:41

used to be like these big, like,

20:43

I don't know, over-the-top kind of visuals

20:45

and now it's kind of shifted to

20:48

the social media scene. I mean, where

20:50

did... Do you guys see yourselves as

20:52

a more niche brand with your marketing

20:54

efforts? Like how does that work? Especially

20:56

because right now I feel like the

20:59

industry is very very crowded, you know,

21:01

it must be difficult to carve that

21:03

path for yourself and to carve that

21:05

space, you know, where you can just

21:07

stand uniquely. I think this in particular

21:10

as well has been an extremely humbling

21:12

experience because we both have marketing backgrounds,

21:14

but we've both represented brands that have

21:16

million dollar budgets, right? And then you

21:18

go. on the other side of things

21:21

where you're two people, I mean, two

21:23

years in, we're still, this is the

21:25

team, it's fan eye. So you go

21:27

into something where you are really challenged

21:29

in a way to make something work

21:32

with very little and very few resources.

21:34

So for us, I think. there's a

21:36

couple of things that are at play

21:38

here. One is like, I think people

21:40

really value the authenticity of the brand

21:43

and the overall, like what the brand

21:45

represents, which has been something that's been

21:47

extremely, I would say, gratifying for us

21:49

because you always hope that that would

21:51

be the case that people resonate with

21:54

your brand because of the storytelling and

21:56

the fragrances themselves, but you never know

21:58

if that's how it's going to play

22:00

out. And so I think for us,

22:02

storytelling has been at the core and

22:05

at the center of what we do

22:07

and how we've been able to do

22:09

that with like really low hang. through

22:11

is through our social channels. And actually

22:14

when we launched, when we launched the

22:16

brand itself, we thought about what is

22:18

a way that we can activate people

22:20

on a really. like on a larger

22:22

scale with a very limited budget. So

22:25

what we did was in preparation for

22:27

the launch of the brand itself, we

22:29

worked with our design firm and asked

22:31

if we could develop essentially a coffee

22:33

table book where we would ask different

22:36

creators, founders, editors to share with us

22:38

their favorite sent memory and we would

22:40

put it in this coffee table book

22:42

and launch it at the time of

22:44

releasing Osover. So what happened was we

22:47

released this coffee table book and people

22:49

were sharing because people were really excited

22:51

to have their words published in a

22:53

book. So it was a very, at

22:55

the time, low hanging fruit way of

22:58

achieving something on a grander scale without

23:00

having to have this huge budget. So

23:02

people were talking about our brand and

23:04

saying, check out Osover and here I

23:06

am published in this coffee table book

23:09

here, you can read about my favorite

23:11

scent memory. And so again, rather than

23:13

having to pay individuals thousands of dollars

23:15

to do a public post, people were

23:17

doing it organically and authentically because they

23:20

felt connected to the launch of the

23:22

brand. So that's like one example of

23:24

something. we've done for launch, but for

23:26

actual consistent marketing, I can hand off

23:28

to fake. She's really been at the

23:31

forefront of kind of handling how it

23:33

is that we market the brand as

23:35

it is today as well. Yeah, I

23:37

think having also built a network for

23:39

a long time within the beauty industry

23:42

and you know being so closely connected

23:44

with different creators like that's been a

23:46

huge part of our brand also as

23:48

being like social and digital for us

23:50

and you know we haven't done to

23:53

this day any like paid advertising we're

23:55

fully bootstrapped brand like as time you

23:57

mentioned we definitely don't have the dollars

23:59

to be spending on that but I

24:02

think you know we spend a lot

24:04

of time speaking directly with our community

24:06

on social, which has been a really

24:08

great way to make a real genuine

24:10

connection and really listen and learn what

24:13

people want and what they're into and

24:15

how they're. finding our fragrances how they're

24:17

discovering how they're speaking to them and

24:19

you know the sense stories that we

24:21

put out there are so different sometimes

24:24

to the the stories that people create

24:26

on their own of what it reminds

24:28

them of and that's been so interesting

24:30

and amazing to hear and you

24:32

know Tanya and I truly are

24:34

the ones behind. our social commenting

24:37

and speaking with folks. We don't

24:39

have somebody helping us do that.

24:41

And so we of course do

24:43

gifting as well to our community.

24:45

So sampling our fragrances and getting

24:47

folks to review those in depth

24:50

has been amazing and we're excited

24:52

about. dipping into different categories of

24:54

content as well and working with creators

24:56

on get ready with me, fragrance as

24:58

outfits or art and music and the

25:00

connection to that and even things like

25:03

architecture and travel ascent which is something

25:05

that Tanya and I we include that

25:07

within our fragrance briefs as well as

25:09

direction for each fragrance so yeah and

25:12

then obviously of course like being able

25:14

to dip into any trends that pop

25:16

up as long as they kind of

25:18

fit within our style and aesthetic you

25:20

know it's not something that we want

25:23

to do for every single trend. That's not

25:25

really what we're about. But if it fits

25:27

the, you know, the star and aesthetic of

25:29

our brand, we do. That makes sense on

25:31

the topic of. trends I would love to

25:33

get both of your takes on this because

25:35

I feel like right now the way I

25:37

see the way that fragrances are selling is

25:39

this very like hype driven very you

25:41

know like especially with something like

25:43

TikTok where there's like five influencers

25:46

that started off and then just like

25:48

snowballs and everyone's on TikTok and they're

25:50

just like buying the I don't and

25:52

I look at that and I'm like

25:55

that's not even like I never thought

25:57

fragrance would end up like that's my

25:59

opinion. is that, you know, I never

26:01

thought like this specifically this part of

26:04

the industry would would be there because

26:06

fragrance is such a personal thing and

26:08

it's so it's so important to actually

26:10

like resonate with some of the things

26:13

that I think, you know, Fay, you

26:15

mentioned this like in the storytelling aspect,

26:17

like there needs to be this connection

26:19

that you have with what you're wearing.

26:22

At least I would. imagine so. And

26:24

so when I see this happening, I'm

26:26

just like, what is going on? You

26:28

know, and then you buy these fragrances,

26:31

like I've actually from my own market

26:33

research, I've purchased some of the ones

26:35

that people are really hyping up, and

26:37

I'm like, I just don't, there's nothing

26:40

here. You know what I mean? There's

26:42

nothing here. And these are just like,

26:44

I don't know. And I feel like

26:46

a part of that, you know, it's

26:49

confusing, right? Hype, you know, so what

26:51

are your thoughts around that, that kind

26:53

of marketing and all that stuff that's

26:55

going on? This part, I think, has

26:58

been interesting because again, we come from

27:00

skin care and makeup where in makeup,

27:02

you can see the payoff of something.

27:04

You can see there's a new shade

27:07

being released, but to your point, that's

27:09

not necessarily the case for fragrance. Fragrance

27:11

is something so I mean, you really

27:13

have to experience it to believe it.

27:16

There's nothing that you can really be

27:18

marketed to initially feel that, okay, this

27:20

is like a safe blind buy, right?

27:22

But people are doing it. So I

27:25

think there's, it's interesting to see the

27:27

shift in the launch cadence that we're

27:29

seeing, the increase in launch cadence that

27:31

used to be that brands, you know,

27:34

someone like. Chanel would release a new

27:36

fragrance every couple of years. And now

27:38

it's like brands are releasing a new

27:40

fragrance every month, right? So definitely that

27:43

side of the industry that exists. And

27:45

I think for Fay and I, it's

27:47

definitely one of those things where you

27:49

never want to compare because we just,

27:52

even if we could be at that

27:54

scale. of releasing a new fragrance every

27:56

month. I truthfully don't feel that it

27:58

would be fulfilling in a way that

28:01

would align with what our intention is

28:03

for the brand. So I think we

28:05

live in a very different camp where,

28:07

yes, these There's a group of fragrance

28:10

brands or a number of fragrance brands

28:12

that are releasing new fragrances pretty consistently

28:14

and very often, but there's also this

28:16

other side where people are doing it

28:19

much more thoughtfully standing for certain ingredients.

28:21

People are highlighting certain lived in experiences,

28:23

whether it be through different cultural experiences.

28:25

So, you know, we have a fragrance

28:28

collection that we launched called Edensia, which

28:30

translates to heritage and celebrates my Latin

28:32

heritage and I've seen other. fragrance brands.

28:34

There's a Vietnamese fragrance brand that is

28:37

creating Vietnamese coffee fragrances like these type

28:39

of really unique lived in experiences that

28:41

I think consumers are also interested in

28:43

and also interested in going after versus

28:46

just constantly being on this launch train,

28:48

right, where it's an evolving door of

28:50

new fragrances that don't necessarily stand for

28:52

or mean. much of anything outside of

28:55

just a new iteration of something that

28:57

exists. So yeah, I think while that

28:59

exists, we're very much in our own

29:01

world and I would say it can

29:04

be an uncomfortable place to be because

29:06

you feel like you want to, you

29:08

know, keep up with the Joneses, but

29:10

I think it's also a very humbling

29:13

experience and just making sure that we

29:15

are fully aligned and fully aware of

29:17

what our intention is and ensuring that

29:19

we're consistent with that because I think

29:22

at the end of the day that's

29:24

really what we care about and it

29:26

shows through in the brand as well

29:28

which is why we've been able to

29:31

resonate with so many people without having

29:33

to release and launch so many fragrances

29:35

back to back. How do you feel

29:37

about it Faye? Yeah I mean I

29:40

think you know consumers are obviously seeking

29:42

brands with like transparent practices and and

29:44

genuine stories and narrative are marketing tactics

29:46

that don't feel forced. And, you know,

29:49

they are getting a lot more savvy

29:51

about fragrance composition, which is kind of

29:53

what has sparked what you were talking

29:55

about on TikTok, right? This kind of

29:58

fragmented community on social. And folks going

30:00

to detail not only reviewing sense and

30:02

ingredient makeup, but sharing like the best

30:04

way to wear them, what sense they're

30:07

collecting and truly folks are becoming true

30:09

collectors of fragrance and kind of using

30:11

that. to be a lot more experimental

30:13

with scent, you know, newcomers to fragrance

30:16

and trying scent profiles they thought they

30:18

might not like creating their own signature

30:20

fragrance through. fragrance layering combination and you

30:22

know lucky for us there's this growing

30:25

desire to explore niche fragrance brands specifically

30:27

to find something different that reflects their

30:29

individuality and expression through unique fragrance choices

30:31

is it's exciting for for a brand

30:34

like ours and you know creating personal

30:36

fragrance wardrobes that can can tell your

30:38

own story. Absolutely I think that's very

30:40

valid you know what you got said

30:43

because I look at it and I'm

30:45

just like there's no feeling of like

30:47

almost like exclusivity that you feel or

30:49

I mean for me I can only

30:52

speak for myself so for me I

30:54

know whenever I buy a fragrance or

30:56

I really invest myself into a fragrance

30:58

I spend time with it you know

31:01

in the sense of like you're wearing

31:03

it every day or you're experiencing it

31:05

regularly in your routine and so you

31:07

start to have this personal connection and

31:10

I feel like you know Tana you

31:12

were talking about this like when you're

31:14

constantly on this train of like like

31:16

okay this one today and this one

31:19

tomorrow, like it doesn't let you actually

31:21

experience the benefits of fragrance, which there

31:23

are many, you know, there are many

31:25

actual very deeply rooted in science, you

31:28

know, benefits of wearing a fragrance you

31:30

truly love. You know, there's the neurocognitive

31:32

studies that have been published about what

31:34

fragrance does for us when it comes

31:37

to certain neurotransmitter. and you know, just

31:39

feeling how we feel on a day-to-day

31:41

basis, whether that's happy or, you know,

31:43

content or whatever it might be, there's

31:46

actual research around this. So I feel

31:48

like a part of that is discovering

31:50

that fragrance. I mean, you had mentioned

31:52

the Vietnamese inspired coffee fragrances, right? I

31:55

mean, that's very special, like, as well,

31:57

because you're bringing someone to a place,

31:59

you know, and you're letting them experience

32:01

a moment in another culture. You know,

32:04

and so like it's also cultural, it's

32:06

also, it's timeless. And so that's where

32:08

I feel like fragrance is just this,

32:10

it's a place that's very sacred. and

32:13

it needs to remain that way. You

32:15

know, and that's how I feel as

32:17

a consumer. Because I mean, growing up,

32:19

I grew up in America, but I

32:22

was born in India, but I to

32:24

this day have memories, you know, of

32:26

very specific Indian oils and like, you

32:28

know, like incense, for example, like very

32:31

specific sense, that just will always be

32:33

with me my whole life. And I

32:35

know a lot of us feel that

32:37

way, you know, whether that's like the

32:40

smell of your home or the smell

32:42

of your grandmother of your grandmother. our

32:44

own cognitive understanding of the world around

32:46

us that when I see this happening

32:49

on TikTok or any social media platform

32:51

where it's really like, you know, it's

32:53

not even about, you were mentioning like

32:55

collections, right, like they're collectors now of

32:58

fragrances and that's beautiful, but I don't

33:00

even see this as like collection, you

33:02

know, I just see it as if

33:04

like, people aren't. able to find the

33:07

things that they're looking for. Because I

33:09

mean, when you really do find a

33:11

fragrance that you love and you fall

33:13

in love with it, you're not looking

33:16

for like 15 other ones that smell

33:18

like it. You know, it's like, this

33:20

is it. This is the really nice

33:22

one. And then yeah, you might expand

33:25

your collection into other things. So I

33:27

just, I don't know, it confuses me,

33:29

actually. You know, from the standpoint of

33:31

like what people really want, you know,

33:34

you know, and consumerism when it comes

33:36

to the fragrance industry now versus like

33:38

20 years ago. Yeah, I mean listen,

33:40

I think we're also on the end

33:43

where we're creating something that we want

33:45

to be special to other people. Are

33:47

we a business at the end of

33:49

the day? Yes. Do we want to

33:52

make a livable wage off of our

33:54

art? Yes. But do we want to

33:56

be in the business of developing something

33:58

as a money grab? No. I don't

34:01

think that that's that's not something that

34:03

you should ever expect from us most

34:05

certainly. And I and I do see,

34:07

you know, fragrance is a massive category

34:10

and it continues to to grow year

34:12

over year. And I think, you know,

34:14

you know, businesses see that, investors see

34:16

that. And so this launch cadence is

34:19

reflective of a money opportunity, right? So

34:21

not to make it about that, but

34:23

it's also, you know, these dopamine hits

34:25

of like something new, something fresh. And

34:28

to your point, I think there's something

34:30

really special about being able to unravel

34:32

a story of a fragrance of what

34:34

it means to you personally or what

34:37

the brand intended. There's so many different

34:39

things like we have a fragrance called

34:41

those Milanos which translates to 2000 years

34:43

and it's an homage to one of

34:46

the oldest trees in Mexico and Wajaca

34:48

and you know what it means to

34:50

its indigenous Zapote people and and actually

34:52

uses a woete which is a cypress

34:55

tree and we've had so many people

34:57

message us and say I'm from Wajaca

34:59

and thank you so much for showcasing

35:01

this. tree or this particular region within

35:04

luxury perfumery. Like that is something I

35:06

never thought that I would see when

35:08

I was younger. Like I really appreciate

35:10

you putting this on a platform and

35:13

and that to us, I mean, again,

35:15

what an incredible experience to be able

35:17

to connect with someone over these cultural

35:19

lived in experiences that don't always get

35:22

the opportunity to be amplified in a

35:24

space that has been predominantly Eurocentric. So

35:26

I think for us, again, there's so

35:28

many different things that are at play

35:31

as to why we create and we

35:33

do see what's happening on the other

35:35

end and, you know, to each his

35:37

own, but we're, I think we're really

35:40

happy in the space that we're playing

35:42

in, and it feels right and good

35:44

for us. be where we are. Absolutely.

35:46

No, I mean, I think you've created

35:49

a phenomenal line and I can't wait

35:51

to see, you know, how you expand.

35:53

I mean, what are your plans for

35:55

expansion? Is there a new furgence on

35:58

the horizon or anything new coming up?

36:00

Yeah, we are definitely exploring a couple

36:02

of new sense for I mean as

36:04

Tanya mentioned we're not on the level

36:07

where we're going to be launching a

36:09

new fragrance every month by any means

36:11

but we are looking to add to

36:13

our collection and we're exploring as much

36:16

as we might dislike them the Gomond

36:18

category and potentially a rose as well,

36:20

but you know looking to add to

36:22

the Arencia collection working with a fragrance

36:25

that would be a Mexican rose to

36:27

something a little bit different to what

36:29

I have been out there. I think

36:31

we're focused this year also on expanding

36:34

our distribution so Definitely more opportunities to

36:36

try our sense in real life. I

36:38

think as much as people are blind

36:40

buying, being able to try our fragrances

36:43

in real life is really important as

36:45

well. And then, you know, naturally a

36:47

dream of mine being in the UK

36:49

is to sell within the UK as

36:52

we currently only sell within the US.

36:54

So hoping to expand within the UK

36:56

and the EU as well is a

36:58

dream. That's really cool. It's very exciting.

37:01

Congratulations on the new steps that are

37:03

coming. I mean, I really love what

37:05

you guys are doing. And I think

37:07

that, you know, to me, like I

37:10

said, as a consumer, luxury fragrance is

37:12

really about finding what you resonate with.

37:14

And I feel like you've created a

37:16

brand that allows people to do that.

37:19

So truly hats off to both of

37:21

you for kind of sticking to that,

37:23

you know, and really kind of bringing

37:25

us quality. right? I mean that's the

37:28

bottom line. I feel like in any

37:30

industry is quality and and I would

37:32

love to see more people kind of

37:34

following those footsteps because yeah the train

37:37

and the you know what I mean

37:39

like hopping on bandwagon's I just I

37:41

wish it would stop. I'm just I

37:43

don't know maybe as a consumer maybe

37:46

I'm different but I just I'm not

37:48

the person that buys a new fragrance

37:50

every day you know what I mean?

37:52

I mean, so like it's very very

37:55

different when you do get attached, you

37:57

know, and so I love it I

37:59

love the brand and I love chatting

38:01

with both of you. Thank you so

38:04

much for your insights. Yeah, thank you

38:06

so much for having us. Thank you.

38:08

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39:16

and we'll be back next time with

39:18

another episode. Thank you.