Maiya Nicole While the beauty industry has an amazing concentrate on makeup, skincare, and haircare, there’s another lane that usually 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, founding father of the net platform Black Girls Smell Good, is the fragrance connoisseur you must 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 eye of her viral celebrity scents thread, dishing the secrets of our favourite superstar’s go-to perfumes, from Ari Lennox loving Chanel Likelihood Eau Tendre ($146) and Marc Jacobs Perfect ($107) to Chlöe Bailey all the time having Tom Ford Eau De Soleil Blanc ($100) or Christian Louboutin Loubidoo ($300) close by.

Unlike fashion and wonder, it’s difficult finding what scent someone is wearing, so how does she do it? Dedication to investigating beauty journalism.

“In the case of perfume, no one can capture that on camera,” Nicole tells ESSENCE. “Anytime I’m celebrities, I all the time zoom in because I’m interested to see what decisions they make after they have access to all the pieces. For Ari Lennox, I saw she had Marc Jacobs Perfect, and I shared that with the community in order that they can see that even their favorite celebrity isn’t going out and paying for a $900 fragrance.”

Instagram/@blackgirlssmellgood

Perfumery has all the time been an element 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. With the ability to train and work closely with brands she admired, she was capable of learn the behind-the-scenes of perfumers, expanding her love and expertise. In 2020, the pandemic had a significant 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 10, to 10K in under a 12 months.

“I wanted an area for Black women,” Nicole said. “Working in beauty, I never had a manager or director that looked like me. It’s all the time them and that one Black girl, and I didn’t feel prefer it needed to be that. With makeup, if they can’t make your shade and also you’re robotically excluded, but with fragrance, should you can smell, you’ll be able to participate.”

In line with Forbes, Black shoppers represent $151 million out of its $679 million industry, yet, it’s not as inclusively aligned as we predict. Nicole discloses that some higher-end businesses specifically train their beauticians to “talk above the patron” and develop into the expert within the room, referring to fragrances with unfamiliar terminology to widen the gap. This cycle continues with brands missing out on an enormous untapped market and consumers not knowing what purchases, or fragrances, they’re best suited to. “Persons are enthusiastic about fragrance, so my goal is to interrupt it down in order that it’s just regular for us to find a way to see ourselves in it.”

Nicole attributes her community to pushing her to use for the 2022 Sephora Squad, a year-long mentorship offering beauty enthusiasts the possibility to learn more concerning the industry through exclusive partnerships, networking, and skilled coaching. Her supportive online family aided in her acceptance, noting she received between 600-700 testimonials, a surreal moment in her profession.

“My followers type of bullied me into it because I’m the queen of pessimism,” Nicole laughs. “They were like, ‘well, should you do it, we’ll pull up,’ and imagine me, they pulled up.”

Instagram/@blackgirlssmellgood

As we proceed to regulate to our chilly season, identical to our clothes, our fragrances must be swapped. When looking 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 should you’re still unsure about what to purchase, dating a fragrance sample is best before committing to its fuller size, and relating to smell, there aren’t any rules.

“Discover for yourself what you want, even when it’s not the preferred,” Nicole advises. “Wear what you wish to when you wish to, as much as you wish to.”