While the beauty industry has a great focus on makeup, skincare, and haircare, there is one more lane that often gets the underrated treatment – fragrance. The $8.15 billion market continues to expand with brands and celebrities alike dabbling into perfumery, and one social media savvy woman from Los Angeles is breaking down its doors, educating the masses. Maiya Nicole, founder of the online platform Black Girls Smell Good, is the fragrance connoisseur you need to follow.
With 53K followers on Instagram and 40.5K on Twitter, Nicole has created a community built upon her knowledge of all things beauty. ESSENCE caught the attention of her viral celebrity scents thread, dishing the secrets of our favorite superstar’s go-to perfumes, from Ari Lennox loving Chanel Chance Eau Tendre ($146) and Marc Jacobs Perfect ($107) to Chlöe Bailey always having Tom Ford Eau De Soleil Blanc ($100) or Christian Louboutin Loubidoo ($300) close by.
Unlike fashion and beauty, it’s not easy finding what scent someone is wearing, so how does she do it? Dedication to investigating beauty journalism.
“When it comes to perfume, nobody can capture that on camera,” Nicole tells ESSENCE. “Anytime I’m looking at celebrities, I always zoom in because I’m interested to see what choices they make when they have access to everything. For Ari Lennox, I saw she had Marc Jacobs Perfect, and I shared that with the community so they can see that even their favorite celebrity isn’t going out and paying for a $900 fragrance.”
Perfumery has always been a part of Nicole’s life. The newly 26-year-old revealed that her mom introduced her to the fragrance world at eight years old, gifting her Ocean by Carol’s Daughter, and at 18, she decided to pursue beauty education working in major retailers like Saks Fifth Avenue and Nordstrom. Being able to train and work closely with brands she admired, she was able to learn the behind-the-scenes of perfumers, expanding her love and expertise. In 2020, the pandemic had a major effect on Nicole being separated from her job, which led to a serendipitous moment of starting Black Girls Smell Good. Originally posting collections, she admired and fragrances on her radar, she notes that her following made large jumps from one follower to ten, to 10K in under a year.
“I wanted a space for Black women,” Nicole said. “Working in beauty, I never had a manager or director that looked like me. It’s always them and that one Black girl, and I didn’t feel like it had to be that. With makeup, if they cannot make your shade and you’re automatically excluded, but with fragrance, if you can smell, you can participate.”
According to Forbes, Black shoppers represent $151 million out of its $679 million industry, yet, it’s not as inclusively aligned as we think. Nicole discloses that some higher-end businesses specifically train their beauticians to “talk above the consumer” and become the expert in the room, referring to fragrances with unfamiliar terminology to widen the gap. This cycle continues with brands missing out on a huge untapped market and consumers not knowing what purchases, or fragrances, they’re best suited for. “People are interested in fragrance, so my goal is to break it down so that it’s just regular for us to be able to see ourselves in it.”
Nicole attributes her community to pushing her to apply for the 2022 Sephora Squad, a year-long mentorship offering beauty enthusiasts the chance to learn more about the industry through exclusive partnerships, networking, and professional coaching. Her supportive online family aided in her acceptance, noting she received between 600-700 testimonials, a surreal moment in her career.
“My followers kind of bullied me into it because I’m the queen of pessimism,” Nicole laughs. “They were like, ‘well, if you do it, we’ll pull up,’ and believe me, they pulled up.”
As we continue to adjust to our chilly season, just like our clothes, our fragrances need to be swapped. When searching for your fall scent, Nicole suggests aiming for warmer tones that feature notes of amber, heavier ouids, sandalwood, vanilla, and anything leaning to the spicy side. Even if you’re still unsure about what to buy, dating a fragrance sample is best before committing to its fuller size, and when it comes to smell, there are no rules.
“Find out for yourself what you like, even if it’s not the most popular,” Nicole advises. “Wear what you want to when you want to, as much as you want to.”
