fragrance
(18)
Vacation made sunscreen worth remembering
A sunscreen that smells like a swimming pool. A perfume that smells like sunscreen. Vacation built a business by making the sensible thing feel like the fun thing.
Ellis Brooklyn: The Perfume Brand That Outgrew “Clean”
Bee Shapiro started with two scented lotions and a journalist’s eye for an omission. Her fragrance company now offers a more interesting lesson: how to change your vocabulary without losing your point of view.
BRAVO SIERRA put the bathroom through boot camp
A flimsy baby wipe helped expose a gap in personal care. BRAVO SIERRA built a business by asking service members what actually worked, then selling the answers to civilians.
Arcaea’s $78 million bet on a different kind of scent
Extinct flowers became perfume. Underarm microbes became a design problem. Arcaea is turning biology into ingredients for beauty brands - and stories for its own.
The Beauty Lab That Builds Brands, Then Lets Them Go
Ben Bennett's West Hollywood accelerator spots gaps on the shelf, hands them to founders with real equity, and points each new brand toward an exit - Naturium sold to e.l.f. Beauty for $355 million.
The $7.3 Billion Business of Selling a Feeling
Bath & Body Works turned scent into a retail operating system - part product lab, part seasonal theater, part loyalty machine. Now it is trying to carry that formula beyond the mall without losing the ritual that made it work.
How a Suburban Beauty Store Became the Place 46 Million People Shop
Ulta built a beauty empire by refusing to choose - drugstore mascara and prestige serums on the same shelf, a hair salon in the back, and a rewards program that now knows what nearly 47 million people put on their faces.
Balenciaga
Balenciaga built a global business by making silhouette feel like news. Now, under Pierpaolo Piccioli, the house is testing whether couture craft can carry the same cultural charge as provocation.
Chantecaille
Chantecaille turned a missing butterfly into a beauty business model: botanical formulas, collectible color and conservation stories sold at prestige prices. Now owned by Beiersdorf, the family-built brand is testing how far that unusually gentle formula can travel.
Sephora
Sephora took beauty out from behind the counter and turned discovery into an operating system - part store, part laboratory, part media channel. Now the LVMH-owned retailer is using loyalty, technology and global reach to decide what prestige beauty looks like next.
Scentsy, Inc. (Corporate Office)
The Idaho company turned a flameless wax warmer into a global direct-selling system. Now its real product is not just scent, but an assisted way to choose it.
Kendra Scott
Kendra Scott is an Austin-based jewelry and lifestyle brand founded in 2002 that pairs accessible, colorful, customizable designs with a mission of 'Family, Fashion, and Philanthropy.' Built from a $500 startup into a company valued at more than $1 billion, it sells fashion, demi-fine and fine jewelry - plus watches, fragrance, eyewear and home goods - through 150-plus stores, a strong e-commerce channel and wholesale partners. Its signature Color Bar lets shoppers design their own pieces, and the company has given tens of millions of dollars to causes supporting women and youth.
Michael Kors
Michael Kors is an American accessible-luxury fashion house founded in 1981 by designer Michael Kors. Known for jet-set American sportswear, its signature Saffiano-leather handbags, watches and ready-to-wear, the brand sells through hundreds of retail and outlet stores worldwide, wholesale partners and a growing e-commerce business. Now the anchor brand of parent Capri Holdings, Michael Kors accounts for roughly 70% of the group's revenue and targets style-conscious, aspirational consumers who want luxury design at a more attainable price point.
Tory Burch
Tory Burch is a New York-based luxury lifestyle brand founded in 2004 by designer Tory Burch. Blending preppy American sportswear with bohemian and eclectic details, it sells ready-to-wear, handbags, shoes, accessories, jewelry, fragrance, beauty, home decor and the Tory Sport activewear line through roughly 400 stores worldwide, wholesale partners and multi-language e-commerce. The privately held, family-run company generated an estimated $1.8 billion in retail sales in 2024. From the start the brand was built to fund a mission: the Tory Burch Foundation, launched in 2009, advances women's entrepreneurship through access to capital, education and a fellowship program.
Victoria's Secret & Co.
Victoria's Secret & Co. is a Columbus, Ohio-based specialty retailer of lingerie, intimates, beauty and fragrance, operating the Victoria's Secret, PINK and Victoria's Secret Beauty brands along with the digital-first label Adore Me. Spun off from L Brands as an independent NYSE-listed company (VSCO) in 2021, it sells bras, panties, sleepwear, activewear, body care and fragrance through roughly 1,300 retail stores, a global network of partner-operated locations and a large e-commerce operation. With about $6.55 billion in fiscal 2025 revenue and around 31,000 employees, the company is pursuing a turnaround that pairs a revived Victoria's Secret Fashion Show with a broader, more inclusive brand message.
MALIN+GOETZ
MALIN+GOETZ is a New York-founded modern apothecary that makes uncomplicated, high-performance skincare, fragrances and candles for all skin types. Started in 2004 by Matthew Malin and Andrew Goetz - a couple who met the beauty and design worlds head-on - the brand launched with six essentials gentle enough for Malin's own sensitive, reactive skin. Two decades later it is a cult grooming staple sold in dozens of countries, known for its grapefruit face cleanser, eucalyptus deodorant and its 19th-century-apothecary-inspired packaging.
Hawthorne
Hawthorne is a New York-based direct-to-consumer men's fragrance and personal care brand founded in 2016 by Brian Jeong and Phil Wong. It pairs data-driven personalization with renowned perfumers to deliver affordable, high-performance colognes and grooming products. Built around its 'Surround Scent' system of layered colognes, body sprays, soaps, deodorants, and skincare, Hawthorne has grown from an online quiz-driven storefront into a brand sold through Ulta, Nordstrom, SSENSE and 1,000+ retail doors.
Kendo Brands, Inc.
Kendo Brands is a San Francisco-based beauty brand incubator and operator owned by LVMH. Named as a play on the phrase 'can do,' Kendo creates and acquires beauty brands and scales them into global businesses, blending startup energy with the backing of the world's largest luxury group. Its portfolio includes Fenty Beauty, Fenty Skin, Fenty Hair and Fenty Fragrance by Rihanna, OLEHENRIKSEN, and Lip Lab, distributed in 60+ countries.