Gloss Angeles: From Rhode to Lore – Melanie Bender on Reinventing Fragrance

Podcast: Gloss Angeles
Hosts: Kirbie Johnson & Sara Tan
Guest: Melanie Bender (Founder of Lore, Former CEO of Rhode)
Date: October 14, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode features beauty industry leader Melanie Bender, founder of the new fragrance brand Lore and former CEO at Rhode. Kirbie and Sara—longtime beauty journalists—dive deep with Melanie on her leap from scaling powerhouse skincare brands (Versed, Rhode) to creating her own multidimensional fragrance label. The conversation explores the emotional potential of scent, the creative process behind Lore’s launch, and why Melanie is challenging the “rules” of the fragrance world.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Melanie’s Beauty Essentials & Daily Routine (02:23–05:23)

• High Beauty Standards: Melanie reveals her personal must-haves after a decade in beauty, prioritizing practical efficacy and skin health.
  • Brows: “Love the Refy Brow Sculpt and Clear—...I do laminate and stain but like that needs a good little touch up and hold. So I swear by that product.” (02:56)
  • Brow Lamination: Gets her brows done by Jenny from Katie Brows; credits brow stain (henna) for regrowth after over-tweezing.
  • SPF: Devoted to Eltamd (“Super, super important.” 03:24)
  • Eye Cream Convert: Used to believe eye creams were unnecessary until trying Naked Beauty’s eye treatment: “Man, like, such a convert. Really like noticed and felt a difference in like the quality of the skin around my eyes.” (03:42)
  • Glazing Milk (Rhode): Still uses as moisturizer replacement.
  • Acne-friendly Base: Merit Complexion Stick for sensitive, breakout-prone skin.

The Science and Storytelling of Lore (06:12–12:47)

• Melanie views Lore not just as a scent brand, but as an immersive “world.”
  • Vision: “The brands that I’ve loved...they’ve created a world. They have a different point of view, a different lens...they’ve actually thought about what they want to be true...I call it like, it's bending reality a little bit.” (06:27)
  • Focus on Community: Melanie emphasizes the “we” in brand building: “It's such a we to a brand. So definitely...when it becomes a world, of course there’s other people there with you.” (07:39)
• Role of Co-Founders:
  • Lore co-founded with Joe and Greg of Youth to the People—partners with a similar ethos and mutual admiration (08:20–10:34).
  • Recalls meeting on Clubhouse and becoming friends through “immediate respect and just kind of like joy being around each other.” (09:38)

Why Fragrance? Shifting from Skincare to Emotion (11:26–12:47)

• Fatigue with “Appearance” Focus: “I was really tired of talking about how people look as a woman of a certain age...I couldn’t do another moisturizer.”
• Attraction to Scent: Fascinated by the science and emotionality of fragrance: “It has much more of this immediate emotional component to it which I found so beautiful and exciting.”
• Intentional Category Move: Chose fragrance as it’s “a really fast growing category,” but most importantly, allows for deep emotional storytelling.

The Lore Fragrances – Melanie’s Descriptions (15:30–22:11)

1. Sublimity (15:30)

• “It’s the story of growing up in Hawaii...The beach being your playground...and in Hawaii, the white florals, they grow right up to the beach and it just fragrances the air with this sweetness that’s also a little bit salty and just like wraps you in warmth.” (15:43)
• Scent Profile: Sheer solar musk, ylang-ylang, coconut nectar, sandalwood—wraps you “in the close kiss of full sun.”
• “With this one, if I close my eyes, it takes me there [to the beach in Hawaii].” (17:37)

2. Somewhere but Nowhere (17:50)

• “It’s an ode to Americana...such grit and such individualism, but there’s also such a grace to it.”
• Story: The scent of a man’s cedarwood cabin after decades of solitude.
• Notes: American cedarwood, cardamom, carrot seeds, vanilla cream, wildflower honey.
• “It’s a wood scent, but it’s a really balanced, a really beautiful, really layered wood scent.” (18:46)

3. Disfruta (19:05)

• “Good time in a bottle...Disfruta was the last scent that we added to the launch assortment and really was inspired by Greg and wanting to cocktail something to build around this note of mezcal that’s smoky, that’s sexy, that’s just a little bit dangerous.”
• Notes: Mezcal, passion fruit pulp, neroli, white cedarwood, agave nectar, coal (“sensation of sparkling celebration”).
• “It’s believing that sleep is for people with less to feel.” (19:54)

4. Lovely and a Little Twisted (20:42)

• Melanie’s favorite: “It’s this world rooted in Versailles, but it’s Versailles stuck through the looking glass, where you can never quite get it to sit still.”
• Notes: Rose milk, candied pistachio (“lovely”), oud, amber, patchouli (“twisted”).
• Vibe: “There’s a little bit of tension. You’re pulled in these different directions. It’s sweet, but a little bit strange.” (21:23)

Naming, Interpreting, and Selling Lore (22:11–27:46)

• Subjectivity of Scent: Lore’s names and stories are intentionally open-ended. “I want to start a sentence and invite you to finish it.” (23:58)
• Retail Experience at Sephora: Collaboration on how to display and describe scents for customers while maintaining Lore’s identity. Noted challenge of condensing rich stories and moods into keynotes while letting the in-store experience encourage discovery (25:09–27:46).

Design & Branding: The Lore Bottle and the “Rope” (27:57–29:20)

• Design Intent: Lore bottles are art objects—intentionally tactile, elevated, but also accessible.
• The Rope: “I loved the tactileness...the craftness of it, but also kind of the messiness...something about tying something in rope felt a little haphazard and different. There’s something brutalist and cool about it.” (28:16)
• Master Brand vs Worlds: Lore’s “Italian luxury” minimalism paired with unique visual styles for each fragrance “world.”

Lessons from Rhode and Breaking the Fragrance “Rules” (29:20–34:04)

• Brand-First Mentality: Learning from Hailey Bieber’s approach at Rhode—“She wanted to love what she made...that was her North Star...running it like a fashion brand...obsessing about creative identity.” (29:32)
• Rules to Bend/Break:
  • Melanie lists the core beliefs for Lore (31:09):
    • “Reality is not fixed”
    • “Luxury is an emotion”
    • “Our story is not determined”
    • “We’re all invisibly connected”
  • Lore’s stance: Genderless scents; accessible price point (“a middle finger to the industry”; aiming for luxury that isn’t exclusionary). (34:04)
  • “There’s no joy in making something for an elite few.” – Melanie (34:10)
• American Fragrance Habits: Melanie wants to make fragrance part of the everyday, not just a precious, special-occasion item.

Fast Favorites: Melanie’s Fragrance Memories & Preferences (35:31–38:11)

• Biggest Impact Scent Growing Up: Victoria’s Secret Love Spell (“That is the scent of my teenagehood...I actually briefed that today...the OG love spell is just so perfect.” 35:49)
• Beloved Bottle: Bottega Banana (37:13)
• Scent Season: Does not identify with seasons—“Where what your mood is. Sometimes you might feel like a winter in July and go for it.” (37:28)
• Favorite Note: “It’s never about one note...it’s always about how the notes work together.” (37:48)

Notable Quotes

• On Fragrance Storytelling:
  “To me, there’s such beauty in being able to bring your kind of personal feelings and emotions and kind of dreams.” – Melanie (23:58)
• On Brand-building:
  “I just want to do cool shit that I love, and I want that to be enough.” – Melanie (30:17)
• On Accessibility:
  “To me, there’s no joy in making something for an elite few...The goal is that we create this wardrobe of fragrances that unlocks different moods...they can make it a part of their everyday life.” – Melanie (34:10)

Timestamps of Important Segments

• Products on Melanie’s Face/Bathroom Counter: 02:23–04:46
• Lore’s Creation, Brand Philosophy: 06:12–08:20
• Co-Founders & Origin Story: 08:20–10:34
• Choosing Fragrance Over Skincare: 11:26–12:47
• Lore Fragrance Descriptions: 15:30–22:11
• Retail & Sephora Experience: 24:47–27:46
• Bottle Design & Brand Elements: 27:57–29:20
• Lessons from Rhode: 29:20–30:43
• Breaking Fragrance Rules/Core Beliefs: 30:51–34:04
• Fast Favorites: 35:31–38:11

Memorable Moments

• The hosts and Melanie sharing memories and humor about early-2000s scents like Love Spell and Britney Spears perfumes (35:44–36:44).
• Melanie’s personal story of Hawaii childhood influencing Sublimity’s creation (15:43–17:05).
• LK (hosts) trying (and failing) to identify fragrance notes, reflecting the challenge and joy of subjective scent discovery (01:00, 22:43).

Where to Find Lore

• Website: loreworld.com
• Instagram: @melzybender, @loreworld
• Stockists: Lore World site and select Sephora locations (store finder available on website).

This comprehensive conversation showcases Melanie’s philosophy of brand storytelling, collective creativity, and the re-imagining of the modern fragrance experience—rooted in emotion, memory, and accessibility.