National Black Business Month: Engraving Black Luxury Fragrances
August is National Black Business Month!
This weekβs post will cover the importance we can ascribe to fragrance as well as introduce a few, Black luxury fragrance brands and some resources for learning more about them.
Whether we love it or hate it, we all have a history with fragrance. As a child, I romanticized fragrances for years because when I was growing up, I attended a church where the pastor talked about the fragrance his wife wore. Back then, I had no idea how my relationship with fragrances would change so drastically over time.
I hung on my pastorβs every word when he talked about his wifeβs fragrance. How it lingered in the air when she left the roomβ¦How he could still smell it on a pillow when she had long been goneβ¦How even when she wasnβt there, she was at the fore of his thoughts because he could still smell her fragrance in the atmosphere around him.
This man was in love with his wifeβ¦and a ten-year old, starry-eyed Stacey drank ALL that Kool-aid, okay?
A Brief Timeline
Fast forward to my young adult years, and my signature scent in college was Jovan White Musk. My college friends always wanted to get near me to smell that fragranceβ¦It married with my late, teenage skin perfectly and I loved being known for smelling great (and having 18 different pairs of Reebokβs to match every outfit, but I digress).
As a nerd girl, a first-gen college student, very quiet, reclusive, and self-conscious about being mildly un-socialized, that scent elevated my personhoodβ¦At least if I was going to be the awkward friend with the crazy sneaker collection as my only unique identifier, I was going to smell good doing it!
In my late twenties and early thirties, my signature scent got more refined. As a new wife and mother of two, I started appreciating better quality brands of handbags and such. It was at that time I started purchasing bags like Dooney & Bourke, Coach, Michael Kors, etc. I also became an Armani Mania fanatic. It was a minor hardship to buy given I was making pennies at the time. But, I felt like it was worth it. I mean, if I had a mere penny for every compliment I got wearing that one! Chileeee!
Some years after I discovered the power of Mania, I had to switch to Armani Intense because Mania had been discontinued. Intense was a touch spicier, as was I by then, trying to mend a broken heart with a tough exterior. But the fragrance definitely had the same effect! From the babysitter to the board members, I smelled way better than I feltβ¦and, yet, smelling good was a way to uplift myself during a really hard time.
Not long after that, it too was discontinued and I remained scentless for years. I just refused to become attached to another fragrance.
Fragrance Bottle Engraving
Then, I started engraving on fragrance bottles this past Februaryβ¦and, somehow, that renewed my desire for a fragrance all over againβ¦But, at forty-something, and a lot of life lived, the desire is a little different.
Forty-something Stacey is a lot more aware of her capabilities and actual flaws to work on. Sheβs a lot stronger and wiser and able to hold her romantic views under a critical lens. This Stacey doesnβt rely on or need compliments or even a scent to know her worth, beauty or value.
This Stacey has also lived through a pandemic, wrought with violence and racial ills so damaging they could divide a country in twoβ¦and living through all of that has changed her outlook to some degree.
At this stage, I donβt want a fragrance to help define me. I want to find a fragrance that aligns with who I am and how I define myself now.
My husband has bought me many a luxury fragrance over the years and I loved engraving every one. But, in this post-pandemic, βwokeβ age, I just couldn't help wondering if there wasnβt a Black luxury fragrance creator I could try out in my search for a new fragrance.
Lo and behold, there were quite a few.
Black Luxury Fragrance Brands
A few months ago, I googled βblack luxury fragrancesβ and a few articles caught my eye. Many even listed a number of the top fragrances we should know by Black fragrance artists.
As I read through the articles, I knew there were two I wanted to try immediately.
Kimberly New York
Artsy, by Kimberly New York was a no-brainer for me. The artist behind Artsy, Kimberly Walker describes the fragrance as both, βunapologetically creativeβ and βsweet as a romantic day at the museum.β
The scent is a gourmand with top notes of red, candied apple and marshmallow fluff based in crushed violet and sandalwood. I can say itβs like no other scent Iβve ever tried before and I love it!
Another reason I had to try it came from this paragraph in The Cut:
While she likes centering her work on Blackness and the Black experience, she hopes her brand β and other Black-owned ones β can transcend being mentioned solely on the basis of race. βI want to be embraced by everyone simply because [my perfume] smells good,β she says. βI want to compete with EstΓ©e Lauder, LancΓ΄me, and Chanel.β
I really hope this for their brands too!
Artsyβs label is on the front and back. I decided to keep it simple with my initials under the label on one side. But the sides have more space and could be used as well. Iβm not promising Iβ wonβt circle back around to those later. π¬
A fellow calligrapher and member of the Calligraphers of Color, Vanisha, of Find Me Lettering, also chose Artsy as her fragrance.
Vanisha, chose the fragrance because she was curious about the marshmallow and sandalwood scents.
Engraving the words, βSβmore people like youβ with a floral design on the side, Vanisha makes excellent use of the space on the face of this bottle!
Mair
The next fragrance I had to try was the light, floral scent of Mair by Mair Emenogu.
Why?
For starters, the bottle looks amazing! Who wouldnβt want to engrave that?!
Mair started her fragrance journey after being told by a company executive that her signature looked like it could be on a fragrance bottle. That was all it took to send her to Paris a few short years later, formulating her first scent, Remember When.
You can hear her tell her own story about the evolution and making of the fragrance here.
Itβs also a bonus to me that Mair is also a blogger! ππΎ
The bottle for Mair had a great amount of space on the back, so I used it to create a floral bouquet-just like the fragrance! Mair has top notes of neroli and jasmine; middle notes of bergamot, pear and orange blossom with base notes of amber and guaiac wood.
Bfragranced
Kim, of Lettered By Lola and a member of the Calligraphers of Color, an inclusive group of calligraphers, found a fragrance to try out in Bfragranced, a brand by Chicago native, Marilyn Jones.
Kim loved the shape of the bottle she chose for this project and was drawn to the fruity notes of the fragrance, Embellish.
The fragrance artist, Ms. Jones, grew up with the power of scent on her mind due to the loss of her mother to breast cancer at an early age. Itβs no wonder this flagship fragrance is pink, no?
While she had few stories of her mother in comparison to her siblings, scents she could cherish about her mother seemed to remain with her long after loss.
The fragrances arenβt meant to always resemble what her mother smelled like, of course. Instead, they demonstrate the power of a fragrance to leave a lasting mark on the memories of those who experience your presence.
Ms. Jones challenges the wearer to be empowered through this fruity blend of βapple and peach with a splash of citron. Jasmine and honeysuckle add floral sweetness to a heady base of amber and sandalwood.β
The challenge is as beautifully bold as this βLβ for Lola!
Representation
The stories behind many of these brands struggle to get to where they are now read like a broken record when it comes to representation. Itβs difficult to gain acceptance as a creator with brown skin. When you donβt look like the mainstream audience, you can be seen as unremarkable and unmarketable. And in this economy, that perception can be the kiss of death that makes your business a pariah to investors and other would-be stakeholders in your long-term success.
βFor a long time, you didn't see Black people in fragrance ads," says Dunlap-Mwamba. "There wasn't a lot of representation in this space." From the business end, she says, "a lot boils down to lineage. If you didn't come from a family in France or Switzerland, you weren't taken seriously. And small indie brands need resources to compete with houses like Givenchy."
I can only liken their experience to growing up as the only black girl in my classes, but going home to an all black neighborhood. Too black to fit in comfortably in my classβ¦and not black enough to fit in comfortably at home. The struggle of trying to fit in and understand my identity in that space was real, as was the need to be seen and understood.
Representation is so important for obvious reasons. But, if you still need convincingβ¦
Iβll tell you, [most] are shocked when they find out Iβm the one who created the line. It reinforces the idea that representation matters. [And] in every instance, you can see the hope! Itβs like, βShe can do it!β [and then they go on to think], βMaybe itβs not perfume I want to doβ¦ maybe itβs owning a trucking company, or whatever it is. [But] I can do it!β
Representation is everything.
Support for Black Luxury Brands
Fortunately, in nearly every school I attended, I had teachers who were allies. They took great interest in me and I survived and thrived in what could have been an isolated and difficult school experience. And, eventually, I learned the greatest lesson of all-I wasnβt meant for fitting in anyway.
While these brands already have quite a following in the Black community, and select fragrance lines like Mair and Chris Collins are currently being sold in stores like Macyβs and Nordstrom, I believe sharing about these brands in this lettering and calligraphy engraving community is one way to show support and be an ally in their continued growth.
As Black businesses that exist in these in between spaces-too black to be seen as completely mainstream, yet too luxurious to be sold like bottles of oils on neighborhood corners, I really believe itβs important to preserve, treasure and value their uniqueness while at the same time including them in this art form so everyone can appreciate them for the value they bring and contributions they make to the growth of the luxury fragrance industry.
What Can You Do?
Educate yourself on Black luxury fragrance brands as well as fragrances, in general. A great place to start is Black Girls Smell Good by Maiya Nicole. Check out her explanation of the composition of a fragrance here.
You can also purchase their products. Iβve found that in order to patronize Black businesses, you have to actively seek them out. To support these brands, you can order them online. But I also encourage you to inquire about these luxury brands on your next visit to the fragrance counter. Iβm about 99.99% certain the representatives you meet will have never heard of them (at least that was my experience). But, where there is demand, there will eventually be a supplyβ¦and, if you have a moment, take the time to educate them.
You never know what changes a little awareness can bring.
In honor of National Black Business Month, Lola of Lettered by Lola in MD, Melissa of Scripted Calling in FL, Vanisha of Find Me Lettering in Canada, and Stacey of Stacey Scribbling in DE will be offering 10% off on in-studio fragrance bottle engraving on Black luxury fragrance bottles of the brands mentioned in this post. Please reach out to the calligrapher nearest you for more information on their services. Note: We have no affiliations with these brands. We merely wish to see more of them in this community-even if we are engraving them ourselves. π₯°
I also want to extend a personal thanks to all the calligraphers who took part in this post. As they say, βTeamwork makes the dream work.β Whoever βtheyβ is got it right and I so appreciate you all! π₯°
