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.

“Inspiration can stem from so many different places” explains Juliet Falchi, Director of Global Product Innovation for Mac Cosmetic. As an art history major, Juliet was encouraged to stay in touch with what’s trending in the world of art, design, and technology. Given that she works in the beauty industry currently, staying in touch with the competitive landscape and beauty trends is absolutely crucial.

While working at La Mer, Juliet did exploratory research for a lifting and firming serum by attending a 3D printing fair. “[We] spoke to people there and came up with this whole new angle of how to talk about shapeshifting,” she exclaims. “Some of the best ideas come from things that are completely unrelated to exactly what you’re working on.”

Out of the box thinking can play a key role in branding and growth. Strategizing new ways to tackle the same market can become mundane if you are brainstorming in the same environment. Getting out of your office and finding inspiration on the streets, at the movies, in museums, events, moreover through other brands–within and outside your market–can really pay off.

It also pays off to have a mentor. Mentorship can contribute to the creation process in ways you never thought possible, as it offers the opportunity to connect with someone who has a diverse perspective and can give constructive feedback. Juliet suggests that a mentor “doesn’t necessarily have to be your direct boss or someone you currently work with.” Working with people from different departments can offer a mutually beneficial relationship where collaboration becomes more unique due to your different backgrounds. Unparalleled ideas will flourish organically.

Juliet’s mentor, Jennifer Balbier, is Senior Vice President in Product Development and Artistry Brands. According to Juliet, Jennifer is “well-known in our company as being someone who really loves to take on young talent and foster them.” It’s important to shop around to make sure whoever ends up being your mentor is in it for the long haul; they should want to help you succeed.

Furthermore, it’s never too late to find a mentor. If you are looking to expand your horizons and take your career up a notch, start reaching out to former employers or other people in your network at different companies. Find people that are willing to keep the door open for you (and help you open doors). It can make all the difference in your career.

How does a color consultant find the best colors for a client? First, you look for relationships, colors that relate favorably to your client’s skin tone, hair, and eye color.

You’ll go through a series of comparisons using drapes, makeup, or other diagnostic tools. To get the best results, your client usually is wearing no makeup and is under daylight balanced conditions.

You’re looking at the value and the brightness level of the coloring, the undertone of warm or cool, and the contrast level between hair and skin. The goal is to select colors that favorably enhance your client.

Colors in skin tones can be described as warm or cool. Warm colors are those with yellow in them and cool colors have blue in them. A person’s skin has a yellow undertone or a blue undertone, a cool or warm temperature – they’re interchangeable.

You’ll look at how light or dark your client’s skin tone and hair value are. People with lighter coloring look better in lighter colors, and those with deeper tones favor deeper shades. Also, consider if they have brighter or more muted coloring.

The result – your client knows which color palette is best for them and can use that palette to guide them. Everything will mix and match easily because it has natural harmony. This palette also applies to makeup and hair color.

In summary, you observe the value level – the degree of light or darkness in the skin/hair; the undertone – how warm or cool the skin/hair is; the chroma level – how bright or soft the person is; and the contrast level – the degree of contrast between hair and skin.

Like enhances like. People with warm skin tone and hair wear best warm colors, and those with cooler undertones will look better in colors that have more blues, lilacs, or rose in them. Most color consultants are entrepreneurs. If you want your own business, many people could benefit from a color analysis.

In the beauty business, it’s important to find a way to differentiate yourself. At some point you will get recognized and move up the ladder in your beauty career. Try to learn and listen as much the beauty professionals around you and really observe.

At some point in your career, you’ll get to a place where it’s not only about what you do but also the other people around you. Once you start managing people, it can be a very difficult transition. When you go from producing things yourself to having to step back and kind of set the stage of what needs to happen, but not do it yourself, it’s a challenge.

Empower other people to do the work and educate them on how to do it. Try to expose your teams to as much online beauty education and information as possible. Great companies have to set a culture and then attract people who are fully engaged and comfortable with that culture. This culture then nurtures the employees and is so symbiotic with their own personal beliefs that they feel fully realized in their roles.

Having enough industry information and beauty education to be empowered to make your own informed decisions is key. If you don’t have full information, it thwarts you from being able to think fully about a situation. Try and make sure your beauty team has exposure to as many things as possible in the company. Full view of what the financials are, full understanding of who the retail partners are, and an understanding of what the three-year vision is for the company. Make sure people have the ability to see all of this information to make the best decisions for the company, team, and themselves with that context in mind.

I worked for L’Oreal, where I began my career, and Estee Lauder, where I completed my “big company” phase. Working at a large corporation is, in my opinion, priceless. For me, it was like getting a second MBA. It was in an MBA program tailored to working in the beauty industry.

I was also gaining exposure to global markets and working with some of the best tangential organizations in the industry. I worked with the best:
* Manufacturers
* Fragrance houses
* Consulting organizations
* Digital agencies
* Strategy agencies

These opportunities provide a well-established framework for considering everything from business planning to management. How do you get a product to market, and how do you get the most out of your partners, whether they’re PR firms or creative firms?

Then there’s the strategy aspect, which involves exposing yourself to the industry’s best and brightest minds, both within your own organization and with your strategic partners.

I can’t emphasize enough how much I believe that background prepared me to work in smaller organizations later on. Discipline and strategic thinking are two things I attempt to impart to smaller businesses.

Take the best of what you’ve learned in larger companies and apply it to a smaller setting. Flex the structure as needed, but also be adaptable where necessary. You’ll need to consider the limited resources in a smaller workplace, the potential need to react quickly or function without comprehensive knowledge. I’d argue that all of my big-company experience prepared me for working in a smaller company.

Beauty companies have a choice when it comes to formulating. Here’s an inside look on the different processes beauty companies can take in the beauty business.
The formulation can be a stressful journey for a founder because there are so many different logical paths that you can take to get there. You can be as extreme as doing it completely in-house, purchasing a lab, hiring a chemist, purchasing all the material, doing it yourself, or self-production.

The other extreme is white labeling something that exists. Which for some brands that work, for other brands it doesn’t. You’re pre-purchasing a formula that already exists, slapping your logo onto it and then you are bringing it into your distribution channel. FACULTY is in the middle.

What we do at FACULTY is work with some of the best suppliers and formulators in the industry to put together custom formulas. Have them tailored to how we want them in a way that we believe is going to add value to the customer.

Now, what does that mean?

That means working with our advisors who have spent almost 30 years at some of the biggest makeup brands, who have created some of the makeup brands and skincare brands you probably use today, and determining what makes sense for the skin type we’re going after.

When we think about the differences, the male skin type is much more porous, which means that grime, dirt, dust, debris get into your pores, clog them, and give you acne and all other skin problems that come from that. What we’ve realized is that the makeup products that exist on the market, do the same thing because they’re made with comedogenic ingredients and comedogenic ingredients clogs your pores.

What we’ve said at FACULTY is whenever we get the chance, we will always make it with non-comedogenic ingredients. This means the products are better for your skin chemically, and leave you feeling good about what’s on your face and not worried about getting acne or any other skincare, irritations, and problems.

We take all these design principles from trying to build a premium formula to thinking about the skin type we’re going after to the experience of pumping a product into your hand or taking it out of a bottle.

We triangulate all of those together to come to a formula that we believe works for the market and our customers.

At Givaudan, we work with several different clients, including fashion brands, celebrities, and haircare brands that want to create a fragrance or fragrance that goes into a shampoo. For example, a celebrity asked for a fragrance that smelled like her baby.
The Brief of a Celebrity Baby
We agreed and set up a brief to understand what her baby smells like. When we asked what her baby smelled like, she replied, “Well, my baby smells like my baby.” The brief is used to obtain the specs for the fragrance.
However, it was tough to obtain the specs because we had no idea what her baby smelled like, nor would we likely meet her baby. We began pulling information from a client that wants a brief that smells like a baby.
How does the celebrity want to use this? Is this fragrance in a bottle? Or a lotion?
The Process of Cruelty-Free Beauty
How our perfumer builds that product will depend if the product is going to be a body lotion, which requires less amount of fragrance that must be mixed differently than a product in a bottle.
Typically, products in a bottle have an alcohol base, which requires a different concentration and different amounts of ingredients. She wanted the fragrance inside of a bottle, but she wants it to be very safe and very soft, stating, “You know, I want it to be cruelty-free.”
We went back and we pow-wowed. We figured what the baby smelled like by the only evidence she provided: it’s how it comes out of the bath. We made sure the norms or regulations went through the regulatory department that tells us what ingredients we can use to make the product cruelty-free.
By the way, all our ingredients are cruelty-free. Just to put that out there.
We considered that she may want it made vegan. Most ingredients in fragrance are vegan, but there are a couple that isn’t because, believe it or not, you can’t use beeswax. Beeswax isn’t vegan, right?
For example, many people say, “I want a honey fragrance, but I want it to be vegan.” To honor their requests—we use our pow-wow. For our celebrity, we found the regulatory pieces we want to hit, the ingredients that smelled like a baby coming out of the bathtub.
We also had to ask ourselves how much did she want to spend? How much fragrance do they want to put into the product and all the other regulator pieces? From there, our evaluator and our perfumer get together and talk about how they are going to build the fragrance. It is usually made through the computer.