Fragrances were born as soon as man began walking upright and discovered fire. Logs of cedarwood and oak were thrown into the fire and fragrant smoke drifted upwards. Prehistoric man had released the beautiful scents of trees and plants. He would burn these materials and create scents that would honor his gods and protect him from evil spirits and illness.
Each geographic area has its own flora and fauna, and they produce different scents. Even in today’s world, different cultures and localities prefer different scents. And we are always challenged to produce globally-pleasing fragrances.
Fragrances are still used for spiritual and medicinal purposes, but in the beauty industry, we want to make things smell good. Fragrances mask the maladies of our world and please our sense of smell. We use fragrance to adorn our bodies and improve our surroundings. For most, their fragrance is their final accessory used to complete the way they look and feel.
The natural materials used for the creation of fragrances have remained the same for centuries. We still use all types of plants and all different parts of the plant, including flowers, roots, leaves, stems, grass, bark, wood, and seeds. We obtain their oils through a variety of methods.
Distillation: We distill the plant materials using steam and water to obtain the oils.
Extraction: We extract their precious essences using carbon dioxide or other volatile solvents.
Expression: We express the oils using abrasion and pressure. This method is especially used for citrus oils so that no heating is involved.
At one time, we used by-products from animals, such as ambergris from whales, but we no longer do that. Animal cruelty regulations and the continued decrease in animal populations stopped these practices. We have created animal-type odors using aromatic chemicals.
Organic chemistry has allowed us to create aromatic chemicals which smell similar to natural ingredients and which can be mixed and matched to take the place of natural ingredients. These chemicals are created from petroleum and turpentine. They allow us to produce much larger quantities and provide less expensive materials to work with. Perfumer has a much larger palette of individual odors to turn into beautiful fragrances.
For the perfumers, raw materials are their notes, their inspiration, their language, and the components of their olfactive memories. One thing remains the same. We identify the materials we work with to create fragrances by the way they smell. We classify them in the same way that visual artists classify colors and musicians classify sounds.

Humans possess five senses: sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell. Taste and smell are also referred to as chemical senses because they provide us with information about changes in the chemistry of our environment.
Chemical senses are the oldest of our senses and are used by all animals, including man, to survive in an environment. Our sense of smell is used for many reasons, including the following:
* Communication and recognition
Regarding communication, pheromones are scent-signals between members of the same species, while allelochemicals are scent-signals between members of different species.

Regarding recognition, a baby can recognize its mother by the way she smells, and vice versa.

* Finding food
Our sense of smell can also be used to find food and assess its quality. The chemical degradation of food produces chemicals known as amines. This is why rancid food smells bad. It is our signal not to eat that food even if it looks perfectly fine.

* Defense
Smells can also be a defense mechanism. We can smell smoke long before we can see the flames of a fire. We have also added a smelly chemical called mercaptan to natural gas so we can smell a gas leak in our home even if there is no sound or the gas is invisible to the naked eye.

* Pleasure
Studies have shown that the smell of something can produce feelings of pleasure or displeasure. This is because our sense of smell is closely related to the part of the brain that controls our feelings and emotions.

* Memory
A smell can also trigger a memory quickly and accurately. This is because the scent-signals in the brain go directly to the part of the brain that deals with memory and emotion.
Our sense of smell is particularly important to our quality of life. When choosing our fragrances for our beauty products, we want to produce feelings of pleasure on the part of the consumer.

The major categories of the beauty industry are color cosmetics, skincare, haircare, and fragrance. Expanding personal care is becoming much more important. The men’s space is booming, and wellness is having an enormous impact on beauty.
The future of beauty is bright. During the pandemic, beauty expanded into self-care and wellness. There’s a continual blurring of lines between products. For example, we call it the “skinification” of hair, the “skinification” of makeup, the “skinification” of the body. Products are getting better all the time. They not only make consumers look better, but they also make them feel better.
That will continue to be an important trend. The future of beauty has a lot to do with health and wellness, and inner and outer beauty. When you look good, you feel good. When the planet is healthy, people are healthy.
Beauty is a part of it and helps to drive that conversation. This will continue as we all celebrate the new normal, and the individuality and self-expression we cherish. Beauty is a key voice. It enables people to express how they feel and serves as a visible manifestation of personal values.
As beauty is evolving, it’s exciting to see how the industry is not only keeping up but it’s also leading the way for changes that are happening at a socio-cultural level.

The first thing to say about the mindset of a leader is there needs to be vision. A leader needs to be looking forward.

There’s one professor who talks about seeing around corners- having the ability to see what’s coming and predict that. The other part of the mindset is comfort with ambiguity and comfort with uncertainty. Some people call it agility. What I’ve heard agility defined as is ‘Knowing what to do when you don’t know what to do.’ I think that’s really important for anybody who’s leading these kinds of efforts.

It’s that spark of creativity and the ability to see themselves as an innovator, and to really motivate the team as well. To draw out the best and create the right kind of environment for their team.

There needs to be that element of empathy, first of all. To understand other people aren’t walking in their shoes and to understand what they’re going through. Leadership today isn’t about command and control. It’s about coaching and coaching people to bring them along. As a leader, you’re not so much concerned about your own creativity. It’s about drawing the creativity out of other people. It’s about setting the right kind of conditions that are going to allow people to be creative.

A concept that’s being talked about quite a bit today is the element of psychological safety. You’re going hear that term quite a bit. You’ll probably hear about it more in the future, but it is about leaders who create the right environment, the right conditions, and the right climate where people feel comfortable to bring their ideas forward. They can go to their boss or they their leader, look them in the eye, and tell them the truth without fear of reprisal.

The design process comprises many phases. It is not simply picking out a typeface and putting it on a package. It starts with phase one: take that marketing brief and turn it into a design brief. Start developing the strategy for the design of the packaging.
You might have strategy experts working on this, or people who are great at developing logos, working on illustrations, photography, symbols, graphics, or characters. All of those skills come into play during this process, and the design gets refined in each phase.
In phase four, once the client approves the design, it goes into the production phase. A beauty business production professional works on this—someone who is detail-oriented has exceptional computer skills and can work in Illustrator to create a file for production. They should understand the parameters for the project, what materials they may work with, what the printing color limitations are, and the manufacturing challenges.
Once it’s ready, it goes into production. The package design often leads the way for other aspects of brand activation. Package design on social media is a beauty business trend now. Look at the entire design process to see how the packaging reflects on social media.
Sustainability is another aspect of how the package design works in the environment. Consider it in each phase. There are lots of creative professionals who work in the beauty business in all aspects of each phase. It’s important to understand there is a clear method for package design.

The beauty business is quite competitive and fast-paced, but there are three important traits that will help you succeed. Jihan Thompson, the co-founder and CEO of Swivel Beauty, believes persistence is number one.

Persistence means not giving up, whether you’ve heard no a million times or you’ve tried and failed. Keep figuring out solutions, advance your online beauty education, hone your craft, and keep improving. This level of persistence and not taking no for an answer is incredibly important.

Number two, be a risk taker. Be willing to say yes when others say no. Be willing to put yourself out there, even if it feels a little bit scary. Your willingness to take risks helps get you to that next level in your beauty career. It will put you in a position for massive opportunities for growth. Put yourself out there.

Take those calculated risks. No matter how scary they are, those are the ones that are going to really help grow your career.

Lastly, Thompson says to focus on being business-minded. While the beauty industry can be such a creative field, it’s also super important to have business acumen. Think about how you’re going to strategically grow your business and invest in your ongoing beauty education. Contemplate how you’re going to get from where you are to where you want to go, your dreams and goals, and the steps you’ll need to take to get there.

Don’t be afraid to think about the business side of things too at the start of your beauty career. When you put all of those traits together – you’re persistent, a risk taker, and understand the business side of what you’re doing – it creates a triple threat and helps you grow in your business.

Like all other consumer-based industries in recent decades, the beauty industry has undergone an enormous change. There are a lot of reasons for this.

The internet has impacted every possible business on the globe. This is partly to blame for the changes within the beauty industry. But I think the beauty industry is also very cyclical.

It goes through periods when larger brands and corporations are very powerful. Then it switches to periods where small businesses dominate the industry.

Until around a decade ago, the beauty industry was all about the big companies. We’re all familiar with Estee Lauder, L’Oreal, Avon, and Revlon. They’re the most well-known beauty brand across the world.

But we’re now at a point in the cycle where the beauty industry is much more consumer-driven and customers are much more excited about smaller businesses. And it’s not just the beauty industry. It’s also the fashion and food industries too. The small players aren’t faced with the same challenges that they use to be.

The Internet has enabled any business, no matter how big or small, to become global. They can create a stunning website and build their social media accounts to grow an audience quickly. The internet has given businesses the chance to grow but that doesn’t necessarily mean they will have the resources to keep up with this growth.

But this is much less challenging than it used to be. It’s less expensive and requires fewer resources. The barriers to entry are much smaller but you usually need a large volume of resources to keep your business going.

The biggest shift in the industry is the move towards smaller businesses. The second biggest shift is the shift in consumerism.

The beauty industry is now more personal and consumer involvement is tenfold what it was just 15-20 years ago.

Writing a headline for digital is very different from writing a headline for print. [INSERT SPEAKER HERE] believes that was actually probably one of the hardest things about switching over to digital after about four or five years in print. “When you’re writing for the magazine, a headline needs to get your point across in two to three words. You’re looking at idioms, and song lyrics, and movie titles to find a witty, kind of fun way to express the story in such a succinct manner,” explains [INSERT SPEAKER HERE].

When it comes to digital, the headline needs to do a number of things. It needs to draw the reader in, and it needs to make it clear what they’re about to read. The story online is only as strong as the headline. No one’s going to read it if it doesn’t have a great headline. “Think about all of the things that you see on your Facebook feed or your Twitter feed daily, and what you click on. It’s the headlines that draw you in, it really is,” says INSERT SPEAKER HERE].

[SPEAKER] explains the process of choosing a headline for digital copy, “At Allure, our process for a story is we submit three headlines for each story. One that’s super straight across, saying this is what you’re about to read. Then one that’s a little more vague. It kind of leaves the reader wondering, ‘what am I about to read? This is really interesting.’ Then the third can be a little bit more fun, funny, or witty. We actually have four or five editors from the social team and the editorial team weigh in on which headline we should use.”

Choosing a headline for digital is a real process. “There was definitely a transition of before, when we used to just-the writer used to just submit a headline that’s what went up, to when we put this process in.” [SPEAKER] believes this process has really strengthened the content and traffic numbers. “I think brainstorming a couple headlines is always super helpful for me when writing one for digital. And again, think about what would make you click, and that’s what you want to write.”

 “The most important point I’m going to talk on is mastering what I like to call the new language of beauty. I say ‘new language of beauty’ because the way we used to speak about it when I started seven or eight years ago was very different than it is today- especially online. When I was an editorial assistant first starting, we wrote about beauty in a way that hit at women’s fears- especially with aging. We talked about how to fix things and what you’re doing wrong,” Says Sophia Panych

Today you can’t speak like that. It’s a very different world. You need to talk about beauty in a way that’s less scary and more celebratory and fun because beauty is fun. Makeup is fun. Perfume is fun. It’s lighthearted.

We’re also much more inclusive than we’ve ever been. Inclusivity is a huge buzzword in the beauty industry right now, and for a very important reason. Magazines left out a big group of people, cultures, and races, and that’s something that we’ve been trying to be very aware of these days.

“For example, when you’re writing about hair and curls, we used to speak about curly hair as white girls with ringlets when there’s-that’s not the case at all,” Explains Panych. “Thinking about making sure you include all cultures and all different types of hair is important.”

We want to be more aware of age positivity and talk about skin care as you would fitness or health.

Not talking about skin care like have a wrinkle, it’s awful, and your life is over. Instead, talk about it in a way that’s not so dire and scary.

When writing about beauty online, it’s really important to speak about beauty in a modern way that focuses on positivity, that doesn’t focus on fear and negativity, one that focuses on health and wellness, and one that’s inclusive of all different types of beauty.

Writing about beauty online is similar to writing about beauty in print. You never want to sound like you are regurgitating the facts laid out in a press release. It is still essential to be a strong writer, able to craft a story.

While there are many fundamental similarities, there are vital points to consider when writing for a digital publication. Much like writing in print media, sounding authentic and relatable is crucial. And as you would in writing in any medium, be sure your content is reliable and accurate.

The first key to writing for an online publication is for your words to feel natural to the reader. One way to do this is to write as though you were having a casual conversation with a friend. It can help to read each sentence aloud. You can even pretend your friend is in the room with you.

If the sentence sounds the least bit forced, cheesy, or as though you are just listing facts directly from a press release, then it’s probably time to stop and rework that sentence.

People gravitate to digital content similar to the type of beauty advice they would find on social platforms like Reddit. People today want to feel like they are getting beauty advice from real people in the same real-world situations they might find themselves in.

Thinking in these terms while writing will keep your article sounding genuine and lend to your relatability, which is the second key point to remember when writing for an online publication.

You don’t want to sound too dictatorial. Gone are the days of the royal “we” in beauty writing. Try to avoid using “beauty speak” that you would find on a press release. In digital beauty writing, you want to let your personality shine through so people can relate to you and to the story you are telling.

Still, beauty writing online is often like walking a fine line. It’s important not to sound as though you are superior to your reader. While you want to speak to your reader like a friend, be wary of using “internet speak.” It’s easy to say the latest trending phrases, to sound cool and in the moment. It’s good again to stop here and decide if what you are writing is something you would say in a real-life situation.

If you write anything that would be an actual hashtag or a trending phrase, it’s best to make the change. No one goes around saying “LOL” instead of actually laughing, right? If you suddenly realize you just wrote “all the feels” or “brows on fleek,” it’s no longer conversational; it’s just cheesy and sounds unnatural.

Writing about beauty online isn’t very different than writing for a print publication. The transition is easy if you keep these key points in mind and remember to be yourself.