The founders of luxury skincare label African Botanics are branching into fragrance.
On Sep. 16, the husband-and-wife co-founder duo Craig and Julia Noik unveiled their new brand Osmé, which is soft-launching on its DTC site with subscribers to their skincare label African Botanics. It will roll out into Credo Beauty as its first retail partner within the next few months. Inspired by stones and elements, the brand taps into the trend of mood and energy-related scents being embraced by perfumers and brands like Vyrao.
At $185 for 30 mL, the line’s name translates to “scent” in Greek and also references the element osmium, with products named after various stones found in nature.
“We’ve got a lot of crystals at home, and we thought, how would we translate elements into fragrance? Because certain elements have energies and moods, the same way fragrance can affect us,” said Julia Noik. The brand debuts with three initial fragrances: Obsidian, with woody notes and amber, Piryte, with ylang ylang, and Turmali, a “love-inspired” scent with rose.
In order to be accepted by Credo, fragrance brands must include their full ingredients list, rather than the catchall “fragrance” that is permissible by US law. Ingredients include a combination of natural scents and what the team calls “safe synthetics,” while bottles are hand-blown glass with caps derived from rice husks.
Beyond pre-access for African Botanics customers, the brand is marketing via gifting to the skincare label’s influencer and celebrity network. Famous fans of the brand include Kate Hudson and Naomi Watts.
The Noiks plan to eventually expand the brand via more retailers and product categories. African Botanics is currently sold at Credo Beauty, as well as Revolve, Fwrd and Dermstore. Moving into fragrance “broadens the horizon and lifts the limitation where skincare was able to go,” said Craig Noik.
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