Octavia Morgan’s lifelong love of perfume wavered once she began experiencing fragrance sensitivity in her adult years. The Los Angeles-based registered nurse weathered headaches, nausea and skin reactions while spritzing mass-market formulas and her search for non-irritating substitutes yielded no results at the time. Equipped with a working knowledge of plant extracts and fragrance oils, courtesy of her herbalist grandmother, Morgan pivoted from nursing to prestige perfumery — aiming to craft her own complex, naturally-derived scents.
“We want our fragrance to perform, we want them to last, we want them to project, we want them to do all of these things, and I was like, ‘Where is this alternative to the fragrances that they have in the market?'” Morgan tells Fashionista. “Why can’t a ‘clean’ fragrance be able to perform that way? That was the question that I answered with our brand.”
Morgan launched her eponymous, genderless fragrance brand Octavia Morgan Los Angeles in 2022 with an emphasis on going “back to basic perfuming,” or avoiding synthetics, parabens, phthalates and formaldehyde.
Photo: Courtesy of Octavia Morgan Los Angeles
“All of my fragrances always start with a story,” Morgan says. During the formulation process, she identifies key words that she’s seeking to sensorially convey and then singles out a leading ingredient to support with balancing “co-stars.” The result? Multi-layered, gender-inclusive scents spanning florals, gourmands, spices and aquatics housed in sleek, minimalist packaging. “It’s a complexity that our fragrances have — they always have a little bit of a surprise,” she notes.
Earlier this month, Octavia Morgan Los Angeles became the first Black woman-owned fragrance brand to launch at Ulta Beauty, with four of the brand’s nine scents entering 600 stores across the country: Legendary, a refreshing woody mix of vanilla, sandalwood and cardamom; Dark Rose, a sensual blend of plum, black rose and pink peppercorn; Midnight Orchard, a fruit-forward musk with a dash of Szechuan pepper; and L’Affaire, an amber-y floral grounded in cedarwood.
Priced between $45 and $150, the brand’s nine-scent lineup (available in full on its direct-to-consumer website) also includes Casablanca, a rich combination of freesia and plum; Marine Layer, a California coastline-inspired aquatic scent; Ciel, a forest-like blend of oak moss and cedarwood; Oud Noir, a versatile gourmand with raspberry, lemon zest and black pepper; and Summer Fleur, a citrusy burst of grapefruit, white lily and gardenia.
Photo: Courtesy of Octavia Morgan Los Angeles
As Morgan embarks on her brand’s “thoughtful” scaling journey, she’s searching for retail partners who take a mindful approach to product assortment, rather than an overwhelming one — or, as she puts it, those who “ground and pound the consumer.” Along with Ulta’s female-oriented leadership team, the beauty retailer reflected the thoughtfulness and collaborative element Morgan was seeking as she began scaling. But Morgan’s relationship with Ulta reaches back to the early days of her brand: In 2023, she participated in its Muse Accelerator program, which supports emerging BIPOC beauty founders through funding, brand-building curriculum and mentorship.
“Launching into Ulta Beauty gives our brand a chance to get into a space where customers can come in and they can experience it,” Morgan says. “We get into [the] hands and vision of people that would have not been able to get ahold of our brand without them.”
As Octavia Morgan Los Angeles focuses on cultivating its audience as an emerging prestige perfume brand, it’s zeroing in on educating consumers on the world of “clean” fragrance, centering its brand storytelling and fostering its community-driven ethos. “We are a grassroots brand,” Morgan says. “We were born from word of mouth, and that’s [what is] going to continue to drive us.”
Photo: Courtesy of Octavia Morgan Los Angeles
Despite Black and Hispanic consumers wearing fragrance products at a higher rate than the general U.S. population (85% compared to 78%), the noses behind the beauty industry’s top scents often do not reflect the very shoppers for whom they’re formulating. The lucrative world of prestige fragrance holds many barriers to entry for perfumers of color — especially women perfumers of color — including securing access to capital and equitable growth opportunities. However, Black women-owned fine fragrance brands are gradually gaining market share, with Brown Girl Jane, Moodeaux and now Octavia Morgan Los Angeles among the trailblazers. For Morgan, one of the biggest challenges affecting Black women founders in the fragrance space remains “being taken seriously as a perfumer of fine fragrance.”
“Not everyone, but some people are under the impression that when you’re a perfumer, and you’re [a] Black perfumer, a Black woman perfumer, you’re blending essential oils, you’re doing that type of thing, but you’re not that elevated,” says Morgan. “Sometimes it’s just really educating and just letting them know that we’re out here and we are creating and turning out this really high quality, beautiful product.”
Photo: Courtesy of Octavia Morgan Los Angeles
As Morgan looks toward the future, expanding her brand’s offerings (and product categories!) is on the horizon. “I want to just put beautiful things into the world. That’s it. I want to just make it better than when I found it,” she shares. A 10th fragrance is slated to arrive this year, along with body oil and body mist versions of the best-selling scents. Morgan is also exploring partnering with more retailers and eventually expanding outside of the U.S.
For emerging founders seeking to similarly scale their brands and break into the fragrance industry, Morgan emphasizes the importance of having “a very clear vision of who you are, what your fragrance is and who you are selling this fragrance to.”
“If you align on that vision, then you’re going to have a lot of success because it really helps you to stay more tunnel-vision and push ahead of the crowd.”
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Source: Fashionista.com
