Latest / Skin Anarchy / How Clean Beauty Collective is Transforming Fragrance with Simplicity and Transparency

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How Clean Beauty Collective is Transforming Fragrance with Simplicity and Transparency · Skin Anarchy

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Hey guys, welcome back to Screen Train Anerky.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_01: This is the Fragrance Friday episode.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_01: I am super super excited about the brand that I'm going to be introducing you guys to.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_01: I don't think any introduction is really necessary because everyone has seen this brand everywhere, and rightfully so because it's amazing.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_01: So without further ado, I want to introduce you guys to the CEO of Clean Beauty Collective, Greg Black.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the show, Greg.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_01: I'm so honored to host you and to chat about the wonderful brand.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, thank you so much.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so excited to be here.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I you know, I really love like learning about fragrance.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna lie, I'm I don't pretend to be a fragrance expert in any way.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_01: So there's a lot of it is gonna be me asking you questions, you know, because your fragrances are very unique to me.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_01: You know, the whole line is I think it really speaks in various ways to me as a consumer, you know, in terms of what I'm looking for from a day-to-day.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_01: But before we get into that, Greg, if you could tell us a little bit about your journey in the fragrance world, what got you involved with, you know, Clean Beauty Collective and just fragrance overall?
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I started my career a little over 25 years ago at Reblon in their personal care division.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I was the brand in marketing.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: So I was the brand manager of Mitchum and Lady Mitchum, antiperspirants and deodorants.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: So obviously, that was my first introduction into launching new fragrance variants every year for the years that I was there across different antiperspirant and deodorant formats.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: But from there, I was recruited away to go to Cody, which is where I really got my hands involved with fine fragrance.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I really worked across their large, more mass market fragrance brands like Stetson, Preferred Stock, Aspen, Colognes, and really got into fragrance development and fragrance advertising with Cody.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: And after Cody moved into the Beauty and Fashion Group, where I launched their mass market fragrance division in the United States with Antonio Benderas seductive fragrance franchise.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: He was one of the first male celebrity fragrance entries into the United States and was quite successful back in the early 2000s.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: And after that, I joined Fusion Brands America, which is now called Clean Beauty Collective, as I changed the company kind of positioning and mission in 2018 after you know bringing the clean fragrance really to the forefront here in North America and also around the world.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_01: That's so fascinating that you have this incredible background because I feel like when I look at the fragrance industry, it's it really overlaps a lot with beauty, but there's a lot of things that I think consumers just don't know because a lot happens behind the scenes, you know, in terms of like make not only creating the fragrance, but then marketing it, you know, and finding like a niche demographic that's going to love it or or whatever that process is, you know.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: And so I'm very curious about that in terms of how the the whole journey of growing this brand has been.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: Because I mean, for me, it came onto my radar, you know, I think a couple of years ago, and I've I mean I fell in love organically with the brand, but it wasn't through marketing.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: So, how was that, you know, with joining this brand and and trying to grow it, you know, in that way?
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: Was it always organic that you wanted it to be like, you know, something people discover?
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_01: How how has that been?
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's super interesting.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I I I always say to my team that this brand is kind of an anomaly in the fragrance category, almost the non-fragrance fragrance back with our first collection that was launched in 2003.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: The first clean classic scent was in 2003, and it was really inspired by a bar of soap, literally a bar of dove soap.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: The name was scratched off it, it was brought to a fragrance house to make a fine fragrance out of it.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: And it was really born from a non-perfume wearer.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: So this was really meant to be really a direct translation of soap, one that didn't have a lot of movement, so it didn't cause headaches or or didn't, you know, leave a giant seaage when you walk down a hall or or into an elevator.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: And that's really that's really what started it off because it wasn't a fragrance necessarily for some to wear for somebody else.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: It was a fragrance that you wear for yourself, and that's really been the DNA of of clean fragrances since 2003, 20 plus years now.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um Wow, that's that's really cool.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: I I was gonna say, like, it is so unique in that sense.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_01: You know, the brand is really unique because every single scent that I've fallen in love with is very, it's very unique.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: Don't get me wrong, you know, it's unique in the sense of like you know that when you wear it, your heads are gonna turn because it really fits well into your, you know, what you imagine your fragrance wardrobe to be like and your you know profile to be like.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: However, it's not like intensely complicated, you know, it's like you smell the fragrance and you fall in love with it.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: That's kind of the that's kind of the you know steps, I guess, that for me as a consumer.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, true, that's the essence.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's simplicity is one of our you know key core values for how we define clean beauty at Queen Beauty Collective.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: And and that's really what it was.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's more of a minimalist scent, so it's understated, and it's really to evoke the same fresh feeling of of towels being pulled out of the dryer.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not really, again, not really made to make a statement when you walk into a room, but more to you know, revitalize yourself.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's almost as a wellness kind of you know routine throughout the day if you spray your warm cotton on and so forth.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, no, it's all about simplicity.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: And because the fragrances don't have a lot of movement from the top mid to the base, they're very linear.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: You're able to layer them so you can be your own smoke perfumer in essence, because you can layer uh each of the fragrances in our collection with each of the other fragrances.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: Now, what I want to learn about there's a distinction, you know, in the overall line.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: There's clean reserve and then there's clean classic.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_01: Can you explain that to us?
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_01: The differences absolutely.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: So classic really came from a bar of soap, inspired by a bar of soap, and and many of the fragrances in the collection were different variations on on soapies on soapy scents.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: When classic was born, clean had a different definition than the everyday vernacular.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: And by 2014, 2015, we decided it was time, especially in light of the niche fragrance boom in in North America, with the likes of Valais Labo and Bayredo, that we needed to redefine or you know what clean meant to us and express that in a fragrance collection.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: So working with our fragrance houses, we we briefed them on the new clean sense and this new concept of clean reserve, which was incorporating the perfumer's reserve of raw materials that are sustainable into our fragrances.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: So clean by 2015 had evolved into more of a lifestyle.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not just the state of being clean by removing impurities from your skin, it's also living clean, it's eating clean, it's dressing clean, you know, things that are eco-conscious and you know, don't are cruelty-free.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: Clean Classic, our original collection was always that we just never told the story as strong.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: We thought that we could tell the story stronger through another collection that really highlights the artisanal nature of the fragrances themselves, but also holds true to the original collection, which was very simple, minimalist, linear sense that actually give back to local farmers and communities indirectly by working with our fragrance houses, that we select certain ingredients that have these give back components.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: But then on top of that, we as a company could give directly to a couple different organizations.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: And that has been going on for you know since the beginning of Clean Reserve.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_01: That's so cool.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, I do have a question for you, and I this is a little, I think it's more of your opinion that I want, you know, about this because I get very confused, right?
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: I think we live in a world right now where in the beauty industry, the wellness industry, it's everywhere.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_01: The word clean has become so hard to understand, you know, like what does that mean?
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_01: And in relation to fragrance, you know, what are some of the pillars like as consumers we should look for?
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_01: Like if we think a brand is truly falling into the clean category, you know, like what are some things that you guys kept in mind?
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: For example, yeah, yeah.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: No, it's a great question because it is it is a bit confusing.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: And the Clean Beauty Movement kind of took us, you know, kind of really barreled through the last several years.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why it was important to us at Clean Beauty Collective to define what our definition of clean was.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: So our definition, when it applies to all the products that we make, is they're simple, trusted, and conscious.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: So simple is everything you need and nothing more, no filler ingredients.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's minimalist, our scents are in a lot of ways minimalist, trusted.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we were the first.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: We were pioneers in the clean beauty movement in 2003 with the first clean fragrance.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: We felt that that our strong foundation and history in this field would give consumers the trust.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: And also there's a transparency factor that that has become super popular that we we believe in and have on our website, which is inside the fragrance oil itself are a whole whole host of ingredients, but those are never disclosed, nor are they, nor are they allowed really, they're allowed to be disclosed, but they aren't, it's not necessary as per the FDA.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: So fragrance oil, you'll see on your ingredient list on the back of the box.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, there's this big thought out there that the consumers, that the manufacturers are able to kind of hide unsafe ingredients within that fragrance oil.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: So it became important to us to not only list out on our website all the ingredients within our fragrance oil, but also we have a a software that when the consumer highlights each individual fragrance ingredient, it will it will explain what the fragrance is used for and how safe it is.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: So that's that's really so this notion of formula safety within in the clean beauty world is super important.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: And with fragrance, it's a bit different because there's all that whole notion of the fragrance oil, which makes up a big part of the fragrance formulation.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to disclose it on the packaging, but in the clean world, we feel that it's it's an absolute and necessary to share what's in there and also list what we don't put in our formulas.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: So we have you know a list of over 1400 ingredients that we do not use, of course, the big ones being parabens and sulfates and phthalates, and obviously not everything is vegan and not tested on animals in any way.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: So that to us, and then the conscious piece, you know, simple, trusted, and now conscious is really our effort to give back to the planet and and not deplete the planet of its natural resources.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: So we have solar-powered manufacturing, all of our cardboard used is FSC certified, even the cap on clean reserve is sustainable wood from Spain, and of course the glass is recyclable.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: Our our cellophane is corn derived, so it's compostable.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: So that doesn't end up in a landfill forever.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: So we try we're trying our best to be as careful to the planet and conscious of the planet as we can.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_01: That's really cool.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_01: And I thank you for that explanation because I think a lot of times many consumers, including myself, we get lost, you know what I mean, in this whole like terminology and and all the hype, right?
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: The marketing and stuff.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it people love kind of plastering that everywhere that we're clean, we're you know, we're sustainable, but then it's like you have so many questions, right?
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: At the end of the day, as a consumer, like what does that even mean?
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_01: You know, but that could I could say tomorrow I made a brand and it's clean, it's sustainable, but then I have no you know explanation for it.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: So that's why I asked you that, because you guys are literally like you know, the poster child.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we have to walk the walk, right?
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: And we have all the certifications, you know, from all of our suppliers to to back up, you know, our claims it's super important to us because that comes part of the trust, right?
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: And that's part of our platform in definition.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: No, I want to ask you, you know, because there are so many fragrances in the collection.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's really awesome because there's something here for everybody, and I really mean that towards our listeners, especially because a lot of people do struggle with finding that one scent.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_01: Because, you know, right now we live in this really strange limbo period where I feel like there's so many recommendations on TikTok, on social media.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody everywhere is talking about this is my favorite scent and this is mine.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_01: But many times I found that it's difficult to go off of those kind of recommendations because you don't smell anything, you know, and you have to really kind of find your own way through the fragrance world, no matter how much you love social media.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_01: But I really enjoy that clean, you know, has this beautiful array of fragrances.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_01: For example, sparkling sugar is probably one of my favorite gourmand uh fragrances I've ever used.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_01: It's literally amazing.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm curious, like how you guys approach these categories, because that's what I'm seeing a lot of, you know, in the social media realm.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, oh yeah, this is you know, this is very citrusy or this is very gourmand or this is spicy.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm always like, I don't know what that means.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I don't, I don't know what you're talking about, you know.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_01: So when you're creating something, say, like, for example, sparkling sugar, the family and on the bottle is listed, fresh gourmand.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_01: Like, how do you guys approach that?
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like yours is a lot more easier to understand than most fragrances, you know, in terms of these categories.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: So when you're a collection brand, you want to make sure that your your offering, each scent in the collection is is is offering something for everybody.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: That's the that's a benefit of being a collection on the shelf.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: But obviously, we we want to, you know, we have data that shows where the the most popular scent, you know, olfactive families are, which could be your, you know, your warm florals or watery florals or fresh or whatever it may be.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: So we want to make sure that we have something for everybody.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: But one area that we have not focused on in the past, which we did last year with the introduction of sparkling sugar, was the gourmand, as you as you mentioned.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: And that is really trending and has been trending since the pandemic.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: Because everybody wants that almost vanilla, sugary comfort feel.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: And that's it's it's super popular now, and I think it's here to stay for a while.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: But that's what we look at.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: We look at where all of our fragrances and our collections lie on the on the old fact of mapping, and then we try and and find one that space that's we know is quite popular, but that one that we can add our kind of clean signature to and make it clean, but still be very familiar and and very comforting.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_01: That's really interesting.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_01: No, one follow-up question to that is like, are there certain families that are maybe harder to formulate or to, you know, kind of bring to where you want, depending on like, you know, whether the ingredients are truly sustainable or they match your qualifications?
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, have you guys ever come across those kind of situations where you wanted to create something, but it didn't fit into that?
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I don't know if it there's any particular family of fragrance that we can't get into.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: I I will say it does make it harder for our perfumers when they have less of a palette to work with to create a a stable and long-wearing fragrance.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: Some of the preservative systems used in in fine fragrance aren't necessarily the best for you.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, we don't use those.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: So that you know makes it hard to have a you know a long shelf life on on our sense, but we're able to do it.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: We we always test to have at least three years to three to five years of shelf life after opening for all of our products.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: So, but no, I mean, there's not, I mean, because we're clean and and the notion, although it's changed quite a bit over the years of of clean, tends to on the more light, fruity, watery, floral end of the spectrum.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: We're now moving more into the you know, the the gourmand area, the little bit more musky, the super spicy, although we do have under clean reserve an ood.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's our version of an ood, and it's it's still, you know, it's a light oud, I would say.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't compare with some of your very intense Middle Eastern scents or Middle Eastern ouds that are super popular and trending throughout North America today.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: But it is a it's a it's a great alternative, and it's also really good for layering.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: But I wouldn't say that there's any one area that the perfumers can't address.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: I would say though that yeah, yes, it is it is getting harder and harder, particularly as we identify more ingredients that we add to our no-to list.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: And and actually we work closely with Sephora as they also have their you know their qualifications that need to be adhered to as well in order to be clean.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: So we work with them and we have a we identify our own from our partners around the world.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we do have a large distribution network of clean in in other areas of the world.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: You wouldn't be surprised to hear that we're in Northeast Asia and very strong in northern Europe.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: So the Nordic region where I think our sense really aligns quite well with the minimalist sensibility, the cultural sensibility of the Northeast Asians and Korea and Japan and even parts of China, but also in Germany, Poland, places like that.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry, I I I kept going.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_01: No, I love it.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_01: No, that's so cool to me.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: It actually made me think of I had somebody come on the other month and they were talking about an Indian-inspired fragrance that they created.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_01: And they were like, you know, I found this oil on my trip to India, and you know, I wanted to recreate that somehow because it's very hard to recreate.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I was thinking about India when you were talking about the geographical locations because I feel like you'd be a hit in like Delhi or something because every time we go to the We just shipped them last the end of last year, so we're just getting our business started there with a partner in department stores and that's awesome.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_01: That's really cool.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, I figured because Delhi is interesting because all of the scents and fragrances in like North India are very like they remind me of what you guys are doing.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_01: They're very linear, like you said.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_01: You know, they're it it is what it is, and it it leaves a lasting impression.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_01: So I don't know, I feel like you guys that would be a great market for you because I've smelled a lot of really interesting like oils just from like the marketplaces, you know, like the open markets there.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: Sure, sure.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of things.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: No, we're excited.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: We do have we are very unique in our and old fact of direction.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: So the I'm interested to see how the the Indian consumer responds.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: I know when we launched China in 2022, you know, the emergency in Sephora and and all their stores, you know, we were curious.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: The the ones that sold the most actually are are those the spicier ones, the suede ood that I was talking about.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's interesting how the Chin the younger Chinese consumer really is going after these niche uh in different fragrance styles.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, definitely.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_01: No, I want to actually ask you a little bit about your the spokespeople that you guys have chosen.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: I know Tia Blanco and Dr.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_01: Michelle Henry are there.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: So why did you why did you pick them specifically?
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that those are two we wanted to partner with because of our new H2O collection launch, which happened at the end of 2023 and into 2024.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: H2O is a brand new collection that's water-based.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: So it does not contain alcohol, and it has a special technology that we have in a proprietary manner with one of our fragrance houses that it that enables the essentially the homogenous kind of mixturing or blending of oil and water.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: And through a special pump that we use to spray this, we're able to get a fine fragrance experience that is long-lasting, but also not uh not tacky, doesn't have a very sticky that the challenges of the past for water-based has always been that they don't last very long and that they're they're very tacky upon application.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: So we were able to overcome that and we and we have a ton of consumer data that supported a major initiative, which you know launched this year.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: And Tia Blanco and Dr.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: Michelle Henry were really there to, they are lovers of the brand, but also obviously our water-based blue bottle and and tea and all that all has to do with wellness and being a surfer.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: We thought she would be a great uh kind of spokesperson as she evokes that that wellness lifestyle through you know her through her social media posts and and how she lives and so forth.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: And and Dr.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: Michelle Henry, we wanted we wanted her to speak about the the skin sensitivities that people can have to to alcohol-based fragrances and how H2O being water-based is is ideal for sensitive skin.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_01: That makes sense.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_01: No, I love Dr.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_01: Michelle Henry actually.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_01: I I've spoken to her and I'm gonna interview her.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm really excited that you guys have her on board because she's the phenomenal, you know, and it's really cool to see like a dermatologist because fragrance is one of those areas where people do have a lot of allergic reactions, you know, and it does fall into that realm of like, you know, dermatology, where if you pick the wrong scent or if you're picking up, you know, just something that isn't gonna vibe with your your skin and the natural, you know, physiology, you're gonna have some sort of a reaction.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_01: So this is really, really novel what you're doing is putting this out there that you know there needs to be you we need to address skin sensitivity.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_01: It definitely, you know.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was clear through the research that there are there's a big pool of lapsed perfume users that stopped using fragrance because of a sensitivity, whether it be it dry skin or something else.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: And and this became a really nice alternative, we realized.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: So we expanded, we actually expanded it.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: First, it was just sensitive skin users that we tested against and it had an overwhelming appeal.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: Then we decided, hey, you know, maybe this will appeal to you know normal fragrance users or designer fragrance users.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: And we expanded the study, and that's what you know, a one or two product line extension turned into a whole collection because the the response was so overwhelmingly strong.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: So we're so pleased with the results now.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's been out for a few months, and yeah, we think it's a nice alternative for those looking to still have a nice scent, but they don't want to, you know, the harshness of alcohol on their skin.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_01: No, well, I'm a huge, huge fan of the brand.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I think that everyone needs at least one of your fragrances in their collection.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_01: I really urge everyone listening, like, you guys gotta check it out.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_01: For me personally, I can tell you two of my favorites.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_01: One of them I mentioned was the sparkling sugar.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_01: If you're into, you know, the sweeter scents, this is really nice because it's very refreshing.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_01: It's not like in your face gonna give you like I think what you were saying earlier, Greg, that headache.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_01: You're not gonna get a headache.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_01: I get headaches from like really sweet scents, but this is very unique for me and it fits so beautifully.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_01: And the other one is waterfall.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_01: Waterfall is amazing.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's a good one.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_00: That that Yes, that's a that's that's one of our more genderless fragrances out of H2O.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_00: And it's it's actually the number one seller in Japan, believe it or not.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: I can definitely see why I know I love waterfall so much, it's so good.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_01: And I love aquatic fragrances.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_01: So anyone who does also love aquatic, like the this is a really, really nice one, you know, and it's very easy to layer with as well.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_01: That's I think across the board.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, all of your fragrances are like that, where the you know, aspect of allowing that flexibility for consumers, I mean, that's huge that you guys have incorporated that in your DNA, where we can layer a lot of different scents with anything, you know, in the collection.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_01: So it's really cool.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_01: And I love them.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_01: So I encourage everybody listening, make sure you check them out.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_01: I'll link everything in the episode.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_01: But I want to ask before we go, Greg, is there anything with the horizon that you can tell us about?
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_01: You know, anything new coming up?
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, well, that's we alluded it to it earlier.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: Because of Queen's kind of history, we started with very light soapy scents and evolved into the more fruity, floral, you know, citrus areas with our reserve line and with our H2O collection that just came out.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: We are embarking on a new collection that will take advantage, I think, of what's going on globally in the fragrance industry, which is this appeal for these heavier Arabic style scents.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_00: And one thing that we're working on is a collection of super intense, highly concentrated, clean perfumes.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: Because just because you're clean doesn't mean you can't have high-quality, long-lasting perfumes like it, like everybody else.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_00: We can still do that and accomplish that, but within our clean kind of realm.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: So we're excited to get this.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_00: There's also this emergence, I think, around the world of this luxury niche collection, you know, of for for fragrance in in all parts of the world.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I think this this newest collection that's in development will will appeal quite nicely to those that are looking for a clean alternative to super fine fragrance.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_01: That's so cool.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_01: Well, that's very exciting, and you know, I know I'm gonna love it.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_01: I love everything you guys create.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm really excited.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_01: Well, thank you so much, Greg.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_01: This has been so great.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_01: And I, you know, I'm really always rooting for the brand.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_01: I I really love it.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_01: And for everyone listening, again, if you guys are curious, definitely check it out.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_01: We will have the link in the show notes.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_01: And if you have any questions at all for the brand, we can definitely pass it along to their team and see if we can get you an answer.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_01: But if you guys have not subscribed already, please do so on Apple Podcasts or Spotify Podcasts.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_01: We upload almost every single day.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_01: So thank you for tuning in.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks, Greg.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you very much.
• 24:33
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• 25:40
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