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Naked Beauty
Fragrance Stories, Perfume Chemistry, and Bar Soap Bliss ft. Asia Grant | Encore Episode
00:50:35
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- [00:02]
A
Hello. Hello, it's Brooke Devart and you're listening to the Naked Beauty Podcast. Welcome back to a brand new episode. And today I am having the fragrance nerd conversation that I've been wanting to have for so long on this podcast. This is really like the first scent focused topic, and there's really no one better to talk to about this than my girl Asia. She's the founder of Redo, which is an incredible brand. But the way that she talks about fragrance and breaks it down is. Is fascinating to me. I honestly could have gone longer. In fact, we did go on longer. We have a whole bonus episode coming about how to create your own essential oils at home. Because that is something that I really like to do. And I'm also finding that since moving to the west coast, things are slower, nights are ending earlier. I. I have less running around to do, and I'm actually able to get more into my DIY practice. I actually just took out a bunch of essential oils and. And I've just been like, adding them to little things here and there, and it's bringing me a lot of joy. Scent is a very powerful thing, and that's one of the things that we explore in today's conversation. Other than that, all has been well. We've had like torrential downpours day after day after day here in la, but thankfully everything is fine. We had like a small leak. Umu got on the roof, fixed it, patched it all up, and now I'm happy because the sun is shining today. I was able to go on a little hike. And with Mavi, which was really fun, we loved just doing like, long walks and looking at all the trees and I'm like, oh, my gosh, you're like a little nature boy. But you know what, to be fair, in New York, we had a lot of nature too. I mean, one of the best things about raising a kid in New York City is every single three or four blocks there is a new playground to discover. You know, New York and LA are great. They're different. They're different in different ways. I actually just did a TikTok on, like, my observations as a New York transplant a few weeks into living in la. And most people agreed with me, but I was basically saying people are much chattier and friendlier at places like grocery stores. Just like strangers striking up conversation in grocery stores in New York. That was not something I experienced. People generally wake up much earlier on the west coast and go to bed much earlier here. But that's because, like, all of the Bars and clubs and stuff. They close at 2am not that I'm going to bars or clubs anyway, but there's just like a much earlier, earlier culture here, which is. I like it. It's aspirational. As you guys know, I'm aspiring to become a morning person. I hope everyone is easing into the new year, giving yourself grace and taking this time to really think about how you want to set the tone for the year. I hope my routines episode was helpful this week. I've been much more cognizant of my routine since doing that episode and really thinking about how much time I need to complete each task. So thank you also for the. The people that wrote to me and said that the episode was helpful for them. I love that. Oh, and I got to do a live podcast with Elise from Cool Moms. It was such a fun conversation. It was so cool to meet so many people in person, so many LA moms. It was a really fun experience and I'm definitely going to have Elise on the podcast so you all can get to know her as well. If you're not already familiar. She is definitely a cool mom and artist and thinker and also a podcaster here in la. So we have a lot in common and I'm excited to get to know her better. This conversation with Asia, let's get into it. If you love fragrance, you're going to love this combo. But if you don't know a lot about fragrance, you're also going to love it. We also hear what it was like for her to create her brand. And then of course, we hear some of the beauty products she's loving. All right, without further ado, let's get into our episode. All right. I am so excited for today's guest, Asia Grant, the founder of Redo, which creates just incredible. You're so proud of. Products are truly phenomenal. I want everyone to try them. But you are also the person that I need to have this conversation about scent and fragrance and body care that I've just been craving, honestly, forever with, like, we just need to have the conversation. Asia, welcome to the podcast.
- [03:49]
B
Thank you for having me, Brooke. I feel like it was just yesterday when we first started talking about scents at your live podcast.
- [03:56]
A
Yes.
- [03:56]
B
So I feel like this has been a nice full circle experience from our first conversation together.
- [04:02]
A
Absolutely. I mean, I've always loved making my own fragrances. I make these little kind of like essential oil rollerball things. Like I pick a carrier and then I do usually like three different essential oils max to create my own Kind of custom blend. But I remember, I remember you actually came to my office one day after work early on, like 2018, 2019, and you were like, I'm working on this brand. It's about to launch. And now here we are. How do you describe Redo and the products that you make?
- [04:30]
B
So the way I describe Redo is as a fragrance brand, and that's through any medium of fragrance, whether it's soap, which is what we're best known for, candles. And right now we're actually working on proper, actual fragrances, since that's been something people have been asking for for the last three years since we've launched. But we look at fragrance more as a means of storytelling around collective experiences tied to emotions. So you know what it feels like to fall in love. I know what it feels like to fall in love. Is there a way that we can capture that through scent and visual storytelling? So everyone just has the same emotions and feelings when they're smelling a reduced scent.
- [05:07]
A
I love that. And I think you've been so intentional about all aspects of bringing this product to life. What has it been like in the past kind of few years as a black founder in the beauty space? There's been so much attention around black founders and a lot of conversation about how we uplift black founders. But I'm curious what your experience has been.
- [05:26]
B
It's been a whirlwind. So we launched the brand in July 2019, when I still had my full time job and my co founder was getting his Ph.D. and we were like, okay, we're going to do this as a side project just so we can get an understanding of what business is. And we're both very type A, so we're like, okay, business needs to be this linear thing. You put it in a business plan and you do the plan and then you make the money and it makes sense. Which is completely not what happened. Even more so for a black owned brand going into 2020, we were like, okay, like, let's look at our goals, the things that we did. Great. And then the murder of George Floyd kind of like threw a wrench. Was one of those like black swan events where it's like, okay, now we're in a state of mourning, but we're also in a state of like expansive and explosive growth because there was just so much coverage on black owned brands. Just like a monolith. It's like, here is a brand owned by a black person. You should support it because you are black. And just like the black experience, like black owned Businesses are not a monolith. And it's. Yes, it's been really interesting since 2020 because even when we've spoken with, you know, investors or like potential backers, they're like, oh, like, do you see this thing called Black Lives Matter? Like, being a means of really propelling your business forward forever? It's weird having that conversation because it's like, okay, like my blackness is not like a token of why this is a good idea. It's a good idea because it's a good idea. So as a black owned business, as a black woman founder, it's been a very interesting dance to have. A fun dance, a challenging dance, like a bachata, if you will. Not the easiest thing to pick up in the beginning, but something, as you know, we grow and learn over time has been, I think, important for us just developing as a company.
- [07:13]
A
Yes. Also, I want to commend you for taking the leap. You had a very kind of corporate background, corporate finance. You studied marketing. And it was always this thing that you go to college and you work at a company that's going to pay you a great salary and you build from there. And for you to say, okay, I actually want to create a brand. Why was scent something that was important to you? What meaning does scent and fragrance have to you?
- [07:36]
B
So. So I'll give you the hot take, Brooke. I don't think I've ever said this publicly to anyone.
- [07:41]
A
Honored.
- [07:42]
B
When my co founder and I first started, we were like, okay, what could we do that would be really interesting? Just like within the market? Because that's what they teach my school. They're like, look at the market. Where is there a gap in the market? Tailor something to that gap. And we originally were going to do cbd and then we were doing more research into it, and every day ended up being like a long, drawn out, exhausting process. Being like, where would we source it? Who do we partner? And we got so bored with the business before it even started. And a lot of our meetings turned into being like, oh, do you remember this time in college when we did this? Oh, do you remember this meal that we had when we did this? Oh, do you remember this tea we drank when we were wherever? And it just became these moments of like, reminiscent joy and memories, but specifically around like food and places and what we were doing. There was one conversation where we were just talking about this tea that my co founder brought back from Paraguay, which is where he's from. We were talking about like the notes in this tea and like, what it Was like, drinking it in the dorms, and we're like, oh, my gosh. Like, this scent. We've talked about this scent for, like, 45 minutes, and we're like, you know what? We don't even like cbd, so let's just do it around scent.
- [08:46]
A
Yes. Okay. I love that. And, you know, they always say that you're going to find the most success in life by following the thing that you actually care about, because that's going to get you motivated to do it when the work is getting overwhelming and burnout is real. And, of course, as an entrepreneur, it's probably something that you've had to overcome, but I am grateful that you chose to follow that passion. So scent profiles, scent families for people that are curious about just understanding scents they like. I think that's a question that I think some of it is getting older and figuring out what you like or what you don't like. But I think a lot of it is education, learning. What are different types of scents? Could you break down for me, like, what are different scent families?
- [09:27]
B
I'm not a traditionally trained perfumer, which I think is to my advantage.
- [09:32]
A
I agree.
- [09:32]
B
Just like the best chefs I've ever, like, talked to or had food from, like, they're like, we didn't go to culinary school. Like, we figured it out at home with my grandmother. Blah, blah, blah, blah. So the same for me, context for you, around scent families and whoever is listening, it's just categories of scents that go together. Very simple ones that people would understand is, like, citrus. Within the citrus family, there's lemon, lime, orange, bergamot, pomelo. List goes on. There's also florals, like jasmine rose. There's like, a thousand different types of rose. You know, the Turkish husband rose is this coveted thing.
- [10:06]
A
Yes. Turkish rose, English rose. Yes. And rose oil is so expensive. Let me tell you, as someone who tried to source pure rose oil. Oh, my God, is this like, a street drug? It's, like, so expensive.
- [10:19]
B
Oh, yes. And they're like, you can have three drops of rose oil for $600, and to have, like, a micron pen to just get, like, just a drip of it into your fragrance. And I was like, but I don't even smell anything. But scent families, like, the big ones that everyone is familiar with. Citrus, florals, woods. Then there's things like animalic, which are, like, a little bit more nuanced kind of wood. So there'll be things like an ood, which I'm sure you're, like, familiar with, or, like, your Musks. It's essentially what scent families are. It's just how you combine different varieties of similar scents into one grouping. But it doesn't mean that you like all of those scents within that family. It just might be somewhere that you personally lean or gravitate more towards based on your preference.
- [11:06]
A
So it was citrus, floral and what was the last one?
- [11:09]
B
Citrus florals and woods.
- [11:12]
A
Citrus florals and woods. Okay, so when I am doing neroli and sandalwood, I'm doing woods and citrus. Correct.
- [11:20]
B
You're actually.
- [11:20]
A
Neroli is floral. Right.
- [11:22]
B
You're actually doing all three.
- [11:24]
A
All three. Which is maybe why I love that compound.
- [11:27]
B
Yes. Citrus florals, I think are really beautiful, like neroli's and orange blossoms, because they come from the citrus tree. But since it's coming more from like the soft, delicate, floral nature of it, you get those like beautiful undertones of like citrus notes without it being so sharp as citrus normally is.
- [11:45]
A
Right. And where does peppercorn fit in?
- [11:48]
B
So peppercorn that gets a little bit more into like the nuances of, I think the woods or like the herbs. Like, there's also herbal type things like medicinal type scents like Rosemary's this, Clary sages. Like, yes, categorize that as herbal. I didn't give those as like the top regular three, because normally people aren't like, I want to smell like rosemary or I want to smell like peppercorn.
- [12:10]
A
But you know what? I love a Clary sage. It's one of my favorites. But okay, so yeah, then there's that kind of like herbal category. And you know, to our earlier conversation about rose oil being so expensive, another thing that I learned is extremely expensive when I was making body scrubs like two years ago. Pure, like actually pure true vanilla oil.
- [12:28]
B
Extremely expensive pure vanilla oil. Also pure sandalwood. Which is funny because everyone's like, I want a sandalwood scent. I was like, I promise you, you just want to go buy some sandalwood or some palo Santos somewhere and like burn that. Because when people ask for like a true sandalwood scent, whenever they come to me and like, want to commission a scent, I'm like, okay, let's like explore. What are the elements that you actually like in sandalwood? Is it like a dry wood note? Is it kind of like that low key, like burning bonfire on the beach type of vibe? Because if you actually come to me and say, I want sandalwood, I'm like, okay, well, the budget has to go up at least like thousand dollars.
- [13:07]
A
Because you know what? I didn't know you created custom scents for people. I feel like that is so fun. Maybe we could do like a live, like, I tell you what I want, and then that would be like a cool, content idea. But talk to me about your relationship with scent growing. Where were you going to high school? Were you dipping into the bath and body works? Were you spraying on Victoria's Secret? Like, growing up, how did you come to understand fragrance as part of your self care ritual?
- [13:34]
B
So context. I'm biracial. My father is Jamaican. My mother is Filipino. Filipino. We come from a very, very communal family around food. So my 1% actually developed in the kitchen more than anything with my father because he had a garden when we were growing up, and he would go to the garden whenever he was cooking and hold herbs in his hand and crush them in his hand, and he would just give them to me and ask what I smelled. It's like, what dishes does it remind you of? Give me, like, the memories you have around it. What does it feel like? And then he'd be like, okay, this is thyme. And like, we use thyme in these types of dishes. Or this is lemon balm. We use it in these types of teas.
- [14:15]
A
What age did he start doing this? Because I'm like, let me start doing this with my son now.
- [14:19]
B
Yes, yes, yes, yes. As early as I can remember, probably four or five. But I grew up pretty much in the kitchen because that's just how our house was set up. Like the communal space where everyone comes together and spends most time and shares all of our stories and shares about our day was in the kitchen. And so that's really how I first developed my love for just scent in general. But my father was also kind of my gateway into, like, proper, proper fragrance. My mother is very utilitarian. My mother is very simple. She's like, no fragrance, no makeup, just moisturizer, just sunscreen. Like, very simple things. My father is super bougie. My father's like our daddy. Daughter dates growing up was, okay, we're gonna go look at, like, multimillion dollar houses, and then we're gonna go to, like, Saks Fifth Avenue, and we're going to smell everything at the fragrance counter.
- [15:08]
A
I love that.
- [15:09]
B
All the men's fragrances, we would never smell women's fragrances. He's like, we're only going to smell like Jean Paul Gaultier. We're going to smell like Prada, Luna, Rosa, like, all of these types of things. So it was very much just bonding time with my dad and, like, getting My father's perspective of like, okay, this is what a clean scent smells like, or this is what, like, a fruit scent smells like. My dad is the reason I know anything about fragrance, but not because I wore anything. Because my father also was very much like, you know, don't grow up too fast. Like, I couldn't wear makeup to school, so I didn't wear, like, fragrances or anything to school. It was just like, you need to, like, develop taste, but you're going to develop taste from, like, the men's department, not the women's department. And I was like, that's fine, dad. All good.
- [15:54]
A
Interesting. I will say that I find that I'm very drawn to men's fragrances. Not traditional men's fragrances. But a lot of times when I've found a fragrance that I love, it's because I've smelled it on a man and I've been like, oh, my gosh, what are you wearing? And then I go and buy it and I love it on me. A lot of women's fragrances, I think we all have that experience of putting on a fragrance that's very, like, sweet or cloying, and it actually makes you physically ill. Do you know what I'm talking about?
- [16:19]
B
Deathly, physically ill. Like, I had to unlearn my hatred for vanilla because I have this, like, deep stomach, visceral, like, illness when I smell like a bath and body works Vanilla.
- [16:30]
A
Right.
- [16:31]
B
I completely agree. I think just from, like, the history of how fragrance has been sold and how fragrance has been developed and how you kind of communicate what fragrance is. It's very binary in terms of gender. What I love now and also what I try to do with Ryu, I'm like, there's a fluidity between, like, genders. Like, I always grew up loving to wear male scents. Like, I love an Ood, I love a musk, and then I love putting, like, smaller pieces of, like, a jasmine or a rose, or like, these more delicate, feminine leaning scents to just create a more complex and interesting scent experience versus being like, I'm a woman, I wear rose, vanilla, and that's it. And I was like, not what a woman is. And just like, a man isn't like, I smell like cypress and cedar.
- [17:19]
A
Yeah. Or like tobacco leather.
- [17:22]
B
Exactly. Like my co founder, when I made him a fragrance, it has rose, neroli, sandalwood, juniper. It's like a very complex, bright whisk, like tea notes in it as well. But it's mostly floral with just like some really strong, high quality wood notes. It's Fantastic. People are like. And I was like, if you put this on the market with its fragrances, people would think it's a women's fragrance. But it smells phenomenal on a man.
- [17:49]
A
Yes. The binary. It's really like, again, of course, we see this all the time in beauty. They're always trying to separate, like, men's products from women's products, and it's totally unnecessary. So your father teaches you the kind of the finer things in life. Do you have early memories of fragrances you purchased for yourself when you were maybe out of school and, like, ready to buy a fragrance?
- [18:11]
B
So my first fragrance memory was actually a gift. It was Calvin Klein Eternity. It was like a small, like, vial. Got it for Christmas. And I was like, this is interesting. It was the first time I couldn't tell if a scent was feminine or masculine. It was just very clean and very sophisticated. Tried wearing that maybe through high school, but I was like, this is definitely too old for me. Like, we're just going to put this in the back corner for now. The first fragrance I ever purchased was a blind purchase at Costco because Costco. Shout out. If the Costco buyer is listening to the Naked Beauty podcast, which would be the most serendipitous thing. Kudos to you. Tell your boss you deserve a raise. Because if you want Costco.com or if you go to the Costco store, depending on where you are, you can buy Tom Ford, you can buy La Mer, you can buy Chanel, you can buy Le Labo, you can buy Creed.
- [19:00]
A
What? You can buy Le Labo at Costco on Costco.com.
- [19:05]
B
you can buy Santal 33 and you can buy another 13. I am probably shooting myself in the
- [19:10]
A
foot, but sharing is caring. 2023. We're not gatekeep. Never. We're putting all the girls on. So you heard it here first.
- [19:18]
B
Yes. Costco and TJ Maxx. That's the only place you need to go to buy most things, in my opinion.
- [19:24]
A
Okay.
- [19:25]
B
My first blind purchase was from Costco in person, and it was Tom Ford Black orchid back in 2015.
- [19:31]
A
Okay. I had this fragrance as well. Let's talk about Black Orchid. How do you feel about the fragrance now? What did you feel about it then? What are the different notes and experience of wearing this fragrance?
- [19:41]
B
Buying Black Orchid. The time in my life was highly transformative. I broke up with my boyfriend of the man. I was like, I'm going to marry him. And I was like, I'm breaking up with you. And I was deciding to study abroad. To study menswear design in Italy. So I was like, I need to change my whole life. I'm only going to wear black turtlenecks and wear red lipstick and live in Italy and drink wine and eat pizza. What does that smell like? And it was Tom Ford Black Orchid. To me it smells like an off duty Naomi Campbell. It's very look but don't touch. I'm extremely expensive. I don't need to speak for you to understand that I'm a presence in the room. But if you do talk to me, I'm going to be able to quote things like Karl Marx or Nietzsche or like any type of like American historical fiction. I can talk very eloquently about art. It doesn't mean I went to college. I know the best restaurants that will get a Michelin star next year. But I don't need to say anything to you because, you know, I'm minding my business and I'm very comfortable in my own skin.
- [20:38]
A
That is perfect.
- [20:40]
B
Black Orchid. Do you agree?
- [20:42]
A
Perfect and spot on. Especially the like look but don't touch part. You know, I feel like there are certain sense that you wear on like a first date or like a party when you're single. And then there are sense when like you actually want someone to come, like physically close to you or like cuddle or kiss. And Black Orchid is not like a come in and cuddle. It's like I just walked in the room and you're 20ft away and you're experiencing like my aura and my scent.
- [21:06]
B
It's like a.
- [21:07]
A
You smell good, but it's not to come closer.
- [21:09]
B
I feel, observe me. Like art.
- [21:10]
A
Yes, yes.
- [21:11]
B
Tom Ford Black Orchid. So I wore it pretty much every single day and I was like, this is a magical scent. I wish I could write Tom Ford a letter because it helped me sneak into the Givenchy after party in Milan where we saw like Nicki Mina because the bouncer said, you smell fantastic. And I said something, something, something, something. And he said, you can come in.
- [21:30]
A
Grazie mille. Yes. So, yeah, just as you were talking about it, I pulled up the main Accords are so it's warm, spicy, earthy, woody, sweet. I definitely do think it is sweet. Amber, patchouli, chocolate, floral, fruity and balsamic. And this is from, I should say the source Fragrantica. I will say if you do want to educate yourself on fragrance, either this website or Base notes or Lucky Scent also where you can get samples are incredible resources where there's like a whole fragrance world where people leave like, incredibly unhinged, like, psychotic reviews, but, like, I literally obsessed with them. People leave are hilarious. So the top notes are gardenia, black currant truffle. Interesting. Ylang, ylang. Do you pronounce the l in ylang? Ylang?
- [22:15]
B
I say ylang. Ylang. I know some people say ylang ylang. It's one of those.
- [22:18]
A
Ylang, ylang. Ooh. Okay, the middle notes, orchid spices. And then the base notes are Mexican chocolate, patchouli, vanilla incense, amber sandalwood, white musk. So there's a lot in this fragrance. What do you think makes more of an impact? Top notes or base notes? I know the middle notes. Not necessarily.
- [22:39]
B
So the middle notes, unfortunately, like, middle children, kind of get, like, ignored. But the beautiful thing of middle notes, it's that it blends the top notes down to the base note. Okay, so just chemistry, one on one. And when it comes to perfumes, when you spray a perfume in the air, the first thing that you're going to get are the top notes. That's the thing that people fall in love with first, but it's the first thing to evaporate. And what allows the top notes to then sink into your skin are the middle notes. And what you'll really get at the end of the day that, like, reacts with your chemistry most is your base notes. So for me, it's hard to answer that question because I think it also just depends on your body chemistry when it comes to black orchid. That base note of Mexican chocolate is, I think, the reason I stuck to this for so long. So personally, I think base notes are most important because they are the things that hold on to your skin and keep the scent living on you with you. The sillage. Sillage is just a fancy term of, like, that scent cloud that comes around you that makes you fall in love with a fragrance. And your top note is like, you know, your cute first date, like, eye contact, like, ooh, this could be cute and fun. But, you know, your base note is the relationship that you really get married to.
- [23:49]
A
Yes. That is such a great way to explain the kind of difference between the top, middle and bass notes. And that thing about sillage, the cloud kind of around you, like, kind of how far the scent projects. And I do think it's an interesting thing to look at because some there's a category of kind of what they call skin scents, scents that are more like for you to experience. And then there are scents that are very much for 20ft around you, people are going to smell you and you know, sometimes you're in an elevator with someone and you're like, oh, my God, this is like a very strong fragrance. Like, well, how do you personally tend to buy or how do you like to think about how far the scent goes?
- [24:24]
B
I buy sense in terms of situation, like time and place, people that will be there, time of year, how I want to be perceived. But I'll always wear something. So if it's just like, I'm going out, I'm going grocery shopping, I want to mind my own business, but I want to smell good. And maybe someone, maybe, maybe someone will smell me. I'll wear like Birado Gypsy Water because it's nice, it's close, it's warm, it's cozy. If I end up talking to someone, they might smell me and be like, oh, you smell fresh and clean and warm and cozy. But it's not like I'm going to make a statement versus if I wanted to go out and I was like, I need to go meet investors or I need to like go to this social outing and I need to be seen as like confident, put together, thoughtful. Then I'll wear something a little bit bigger. Not like super, super loud, but something like. Moderately embarrassed to say this because I hated rose for so long, but Frederic Mall's portrait of a lady, exceptional for just a nice get together, but you also need to come off, like, fairly smart and intelligent. It's gotten me a lot of like, compliments where people are like, wait, I think it's you. Maybe that's you. And I'm like, this definitely is me. It is this. And they're like, great, I'm going to go buy it.
- [25:41]
A
Yes. I love a compliment from a stranger on your fragrance. That's one of the best compliments that you can receive by Rado Gypsy Water. One of the ways that I've used this scent, so I have the regular perfume, which I don't wear all the time, but I have the hair. Have you tried the hair perfumes from Byredo?
- [25:58]
B
I have not, but I've in store. I'm like, okay. But I've never, like taken it home and like, got to use it over time.
- [26:06]
A
I love it. Like, I'll use it on my box braids, you know, like when I have like a protective style in for a while, you know, obviously I'm keeping like my roots and my scalp clean, but I'll like spray that kind of like in my hair and it's just, it's like a lasting fragrance that it's just like a cool Way to lay a fragrance. Now. Part of me, of course, thinks like, oh, why can't I just put the regular fragrance in my hair? Why do I need the special hair formulated version? So I'm sure you could do that as well. What other Byredo scents do you like? I love Belle Deafric. I think that's one of my favorites.
- [26:36]
B
I love that one. It doesn't sit well nor stay on my skin. So for me personally, it doesn't. I need a little bit, like, heavier notes. I have a lot of birado fragrances. Like, I love Byredo. Like, when we started or when we won the glossier grant, we had like, 20 minutes with Emily Weiss and everyone was asking for, like, fundraising company, whatever. I was like, hi, Emily, I need you to introduce me to Ben Gorham, because I know you guys are friends, and I need to talk to his things. And she's like, okay. But my favorite Byredo scents, Open sky, which was inspired off of, like, travel. It was a limited edition scent. I think they don't have it anymore.
- [27:08]
A
Yeah, I haven't tried that one.
- [27:09]
B
It's great. It's like papyrus, pomelo, and cannabis leaves. But it doesn't smell like weed. It just smells like a really interesting library. But it's not like leather bound book. It's just like if there was a library outside where none of the books got damaged from the environment. But that's why I really like it. Gypsy Water, Open Sky. I also have 11th hour, which is fig, carrot seed, and rum. Beautiful. I think for just kind of like fall, winter time at night.
- [27:40]
A
What do you think of 1996? That's a scent that I thought was so unique and I loved it so much. Do you know 1996, you're like the
- [27:47]
B
third person this month to bring the scent up to me.
- [27:49]
A
It's like one of those steps that's like, you feel very sophisticated because it almost smells like lipstick and, I don't know, vinyl. It's not necessarily the most beautiful scent. I was like, you know, I feel very cool and different wearing this. But then I smelled it recently, and I was like, I don't like this. I've kind of put it in the back of my fragrance. That's also the thing that you find that sometimes you really like a scent. And that same exact scent, you'll experience it six months later and you'll be
- [28:12]
B
like, I don't like this often, very often. Which is bad for being addicted to purchasing new fragrances. But 1996, I'm like, when I Read about it. So interesting. When I hear about, like, the thought process behind it. So interesting. I think I'm in the same place as you right now, where whatever. My palette just cannot really digest it. I'm like, this tastes kind of gross. Yes, sure, I'll like it later. But right now, I'm just like, no. I like things that are a little bit more sexy and hot and not as intellectual. Yeah, not as intellectual. I want, like, a baccarat rouge. I don't want something that is like, look, I can write, like, a thesis.
- [28:52]
A
Totally understand that. I mean, and there's a time and a place. As we've said before, we have to get into bar soaps. And I want to hear the kind of two new soaps that you've just released with redo and the scents. Because, one, it's not just the fragrance, but it's also the materials that you use, adding things like turmeric to address things like hyperpigmentation. But I also want you to advocate for bar soaps, because I have been, like, on a campaign to get more people into bar soaps. Bath gel, shower gel, whatever you want to call it, it's very nice. It's essentially watered down. Like you are buying a lot of water. It's not great for the environment. And I have shower gel. I use shower gel. I just bought a new shower gel from Le Labo. The matcha tea, my favorite scent that I went and just got the shower gel to. Shower gel has a time and a place. I do truly think bar soaps are such a luxury, especially when you find a great one. So tell us about your new soaps and then also why you like using bar soap.
- [29:44]
B
You brought up a fantastic point where you bought the Taimacho from Le Labo for the scent. That's all that shower gel is good for.
- [29:52]
A
Yes.
- [29:53]
B
Is the scent like, you want the scent. It doesn't really do anything for your skin. You're just like, wow, I'm kind of dry and flaky, but I smell fantastic. And I'm like, let me just bring this over to a bar soap, because I feel exactly the same way. There is no luxury like a bar. So when it's done well with, like, oils and super fatted at the right consistency and, like, cured for the right amount of time, you don't even need to lotion yourself because you're like, I just, like, lathered lotion and cleanse all over my body. And now I smell phenomenal. So everyone, Dove is not bar soap. Dr. Bronner's. Is not bar soap. These are not bar soaps that we want to experience. We want some redo bar soap. So I'll give you some context about the two that we just came out with. It was this exploration that I wanted to go down around how you can take one note of a fragrance and do two different interpretations of it. And I was really interested of, you know, like the feminine versus the masculine. And again, since we've already mentioned rito isn't very binary in a sense. I was like, okay, what does this look like from like a feminine leaning perspective and a masculine leaning perspective in a scent that's been used both in feminine and masculine perfumes, which is patchouli, which I think is one of those like classic ambiguous, non binary sense. Can we tell a story around seduction from the male perspective and the female perspective and use patchouli as the through line of both of those scents? So the two scents that we came out with, there was a red bar which is called room 621, and there was a blue bar called Don't Think. And internally the whole joke was like the storyline or the vignette of the movie would be like, don't think about room 621. And it's about how this woman seduces this man and he has all of this internal conflict and then it's just at the end of it it's like, okay, he can't think and he's just going to like, you know, fall into submission of this woman. That was the whole scent story around it. Which kind of then led to my scent development of each of the two fragrances. So the red one was Patchouli, Labdanum Rose, Roman Chamomile inspired off of. I did a lot of scent research with Frederick Mall and like Baccarat Rouge because those were the two fragrances I was most interested in. So it was Frederic Mall Portrait of a Lady, which when I went to the Frederick Mall store in the West Village, I went to the perfumer there. I was like, I want this scent to smell like making eye contact with someone that you find super attractive for way too long. And the first time you have an open mouth kiss with something or someone that you're very, very attracted to. He's like, perfect, I have the here. And I was like, thank you. And then the other one, don't think. I was like, okay, what would James Bond wear when he was seducing Halle Berry? And I forget what movie that was, but I was like, what would seduce Halle Berry to be interested in James Bond in that scene where he has, like, the diamonds in her belly or whatnot. Do you know what I'm talking about?
- [32:48]
A
Yes, yes, yes.
- [32:49]
B
So I was like, okay, I wanted to smell like that. And I also wanted to smell like Hannibal. Did you see Mad Milkinson in Hannibal when there was like that? It was like a TV series. No, about, like, Hannibal Lecter, but he's like this magnificent chef and, like, hyper intellectualized man. But I was like, okay, I don't like the cannibalism part, but it was. It felt like chef's table when he would, like, cut all of this food and make these, like, grandiose dinners. And I was like, okay, I love a man that's, like, passionate about something to the point where he's, like, super focused within it. So I was like, okay, how do I design a scent around that? With patchouli. And it was cypress and juniper berries and patchouli. And I was like, okay, these two things kind of like coming together when you smell them together, it's meant to be kind of like rush and like quickened heart rate and like goosebumps, but also like a flushed cheek.
- [33:38]
A
Yes. Okay. I see the vision of all of that. Can you talk about the bathhouse spirulina cleansing bar?
- [33:46]
B
Yes.
- [33:46]
A
And also the spirulina and rice milk base. Because it's like, there's the scent, but then also, like, how you're formulating the soaps.
- [33:53]
B
Yes. I'm like, I'm terribly sorry, because I'm like, let's go down this whole scent route. We do the same process when we're thinking about additives and then we're more thinking about the actual fragrance. So Bath House, the scent was inspired off of Korean bath culture. So, like, collective bathing rituals and how those span within Asia, Africa, South America, North America, Europe. Like, it's this thing that just brings people together and creates, like, a clear mind and community. And since my first experience with bathhouse culture was in Korea, I wanted to kind of pick pieces from. From that experience that I think resonated with me. And Korean people love cleansing their body with rice milk. And it was crazy. Washing their hair with rice milk, which, if you have Asian hair, which I do, makes your hair grow so much, it leaves your skin so soft. And they kind of call it like a milk. So it's like hyper moisturizing, I think
- [34:46]
A
also black hair though, too. Right? I mean, I see so many natural hair girls doing rice water cleanses for their hair, and their hair is growing crazy, crazy fast.
- [34:54]
B
I Think it's something with, like the enzyme.
- [34:56]
A
Yeah.
- [34:57]
B
In it that just makes your hair so happy. And then spirulina from just like, I was always eating, like, weird things in Korea. They're like, here, have this, like medicinal tea with these different types of herbs and this different type of algae. And I was like, okay. Spirulina was something that I tried there for the first time. So I was like, okay, let me take these two elements that were meant to be very like, rejuvenating skin, balancing, softening, and put them in this soap and then tie in the scent that goes with it as well.
- [35:24]
A
I love that. And I love the way that you describe each of the scents on the site as well. Like your smells like section. So for the five to nine turmeric cleansing bar, which, by the way, each of these soaps is $16, I feel like I should just. I listen to beauty podcasts and people talk about products and I'm like, how much is it? Just like, give me a ballpark. So each month is $16. But you can also build a bunch. I feel like if you're on the Reedy website, you might as well just get three. Build your bundle. I think it's like, what, $40, $42 for your bundle. But the one that I Love, the 529 turmeric cleansing bar, it smells like section says balmy nights, joyful mischief, and Afrobeats. And I just love that description so much.
- [36:00]
B
Yes. It was inspired off of New York in summertime.
- [36:03]
A
Yes.
- [36:04]
B
So I think there's no place like New York in summertime. The way that your day can take a one hole, like 180 degree turn by just like a weird series of events in New York, I think is something that I wanted to capture in a scent the first time. So I was like, it's hyper mischievous, but also super fun, super carefree, but, like, kind of warm and sultry and seductive. I was spending a lot of time in the Lower east side when I first made this. It was like that very. I don't know if you remember, what was it called. I went to Hotel Chantal a lot. Not proud of that. And then there was another place. There was a bar on Orchard that got closed down that used to have like a supreme pinball machine in it that would play like dance hall music basement.
- [36:48]
A
I don't know. But I have the visual.
- [36:49]
B
The visual. So that was the inspiration of five to nine.
- [36:52]
A
Love it. It's Italian bergamot and Egyptian geranium and ginger. And I love the Lather that it creates. I think a lot of people feel that if they get a bar soap because they're used to the, like, awful hotel bar soap or the dial soaps that we mentioned earlier, they don't know how, like, truly, like, rich and like the lather that can be created from a bar soap is wonderful as well.
- [37:13]
B
Yes. So that actually comes from two different chemical processes of how you make soap. There's like the dial soaps and the bar soaps at a hotel, they go through kind of like this tube that kind of makes like this putty and paste and stretches out like a whole bunch of the oils and like detergents and whatnot, which is what makes your skin feel gross. It's not like the oils, the natural oils. It's like these detergents to like push dirt away and then it comes out essentially like a toothpaste tube. They cut it and they let it cure. And that's how they're able to make soap very quickly versus the way we do it, which is the traditional means of soap making. We take raw oils, we melt all of them down to a certain temperature, we take lye, we do a whole bunch of chemistry. We make sure that everything reacts properly. And there's no, like, artificial detergents in it at all. So you can get that, like, really rich, creamy, like big bubbly lather that makes your skin feel good from bar. So.
- [38:05]
A
Oh, I love it. Well, I did say I was going to ask you your favorite fragrances that are available on the market now. So give it to me in two categories. So what are your favorite indie fragrance brands that you feel like people should just know about? One of them. For me that I always recommend everyone who visits New York, I'm like, go to DS and Durga. Like, just walk in, walk in and have a ball. Like, walk in and enjoy yourself. Because I think they're doing really sophisticated scents and I think the in store experience is wonderful. So I'd love to hear your favorite indies. And then if you're at a big department store or maybe you're shopping on Costco.com for your next fragrance. What are your favorite fragrances that are just kind of really widely available, so
- [38:42]
B
context, because everyone has different preferences when it comes to fragrances. I love things that are niche. I love things that are kind of ambiguous. I don't lean feminine nor masculine in
- [38:53]
A
terms that I have.
- [38:54]
B
I like brands that have range, so I'm able to kind of get an understanding. I don't like anything too, too niche because they get like, really complex. And I'm like, all right, these might smell a little bit weird. And I don't like anything that's like, too, you know, high level. Like, I would never do like a YSL or a Dior or Gucci.
- [39:12]
A
Okay, so why don't you like the ysl, Dior and Gucci?
- [39:15]
B
Since just to the point, like, they do have different categories within, like the lines that are a little bit more sophisticated and chic, but it just comes back to that very binary type. Like, like the ones that I would say my favorite niche brand also is DS and Durga. I will give you another one because I think it's. It deserves being said. But Frederic Mall isn't as mainstream as other fragrances. But it's interesting because most people think, like, when you see Tom Ford Beauty, you think Tom Ford was the perfumer that made all of those things.
- [39:49]
A
No, that's not true.
- [39:51]
B
The way Frederick Mall, he has his brand, Frederick Mall, but he has on each of his perfumes the actual perfumer that he worked with Individ on the
- [39:59]
A
fragrances, the nose behind the fragrance, the
- [40:02]
B
actual nose that is doing the chemistry and, you know, doing the research and whatnot, which I think is really, really beautiful. And those scents are elaborate and like, bring you to a whole nother world. Like you can read a book while smelling these fragrances to get all of the nuances of them. So DS and Durga, 100%, I think it's in the same realm. They're a little bit heavier for Frederick Mall, I think Dias and Durga scents are relatively light, but if you like that kind of complexity and depth of scent from DS and Durga, you would also like Frederick Mall. And they have a store in the West Village in the in person experience is fantastic, mainstream department store type stuff. Tom Ford, if you're ready to drop like 2$300, which I highly recommend.
- [40:43]
A
I do love. Tom, what are your favorite Tom Ford fragrances?
- [40:47]
B
Tuscan Leather, I think is crazy. I can never wear it. I wish I could. But Tom Ford Tuscan Leather, exceptional. Also Tom Ford Neroli Portofino. Fantastic. Really, really great. Also great for layering. It smells like a sea breeze and like you're drinking wine and eating bronzino while you're looking over the Amalfi coast. Unbelievable. And then also Soleil Blanc.
- [41:13]
A
Yes, I love Soleil Blanc. It's like very addictive. I like, wore it for a whole summer and I just have great memories of that scent.
- [41:21]
B
Yeah, it's so simple and so understated. But once it's on your skin, and especially in summer, if you start to sweat and your skin chemistry works with it. Well, just beautiful.
- [41:33]
A
Yes. It's like a powdery. It's like a coconut. Right. But I've also realized I do love, like a powder. One of my through lines between a lot of the scents that I like. And I'm thinking about everything from like the Donna Karen, cashmere, Misty, or which I'm addicted to. And I know it's very toxic and blah, blah, blah. I like powdery ness in sense. How do people achieve that, like powder, like when people are creating fragrance, what makes it powdery?
- [41:55]
B
Certain varieties of amber creates like a powdery scent we actually have. Right. That's the type of amber I prefer to have versus kind of like that deep, kind of, you know, caramelly amber. But you can get that, like, softness, kind of fluffy airiness from amber. And I was just looking at the scent profile. I think you would. If you're looking for amber type scents and just knowing the things that you like in general, you should look for anything with amber in it.
- [42:19]
A
Amber. And I love. And this is in the Soleil Blanche. Cardamom.
- [42:23]
B
Cardamom, yes.
- [42:25]
A
Like, things that I feel like would be like nice drinks, like nice latte flavors. That's like as gourmand as I can get with my fragrances. Now, the difference between eau de toilette and eau de parfum, from what I understand, the toilette is a little lighter, a little bit less heavy duty. It's kind of more. I don't want to say watered down, but it's watered down. Okay.
- [42:44]
B
Yeah, it's diluted, if you will. Toilet is the lightest, and then parfum is a little bit higher, and then X ray is a little bit higher. So it's just the actual perfume amount with. In the bottle, the perfume oil. So I think a toilet is maybe like 1 to 3% and then is like 3 to. I think it's a wider range. Maybe like 3 to 15 and then everything.
- [43:06]
A
Oh, interesting.
- [43:07]
B
Because it's not like a true oil. Like, when you get a perfume oil, it's probably in like a half ounce vial and you only one drop of it and it lasts days.
- [43:17]
A
Yes. Now, the kind of fragrances that I make for myself are the essential oil ones that I make for myself, or I'm using a carrier oil, like an argan oil or a jojoba oil. Is the idea that things like that are not like perfumes because they don't have like, the added alcohol in it. That makes them shelf stable.
- [43:33]
B
Technically, yes. But essentially it's the same thing of what a base of a perfume is. There's like a little bit more complex chemistry that can go into making a perfume. Like, you know of eccentric molecules, Correct?
- [43:45]
A
Yes. Yes. They're super ISO E Fragrance. Yeah, yeah.
- [43:48]
B
This is for ISO E. And all of those types of things, like when a perfumer is in a lab, they can like, pretty much differentiate between each of those molecules and they're like, we want this molecule. So there can be hardcore chemistry in it. But at the end of the day, it's that concentrated oil, which is the same thing that you are getting out of your rollers with your carrier oil. You just can't get, like, as scientifically nuanced. But at its core, it's the same thing.
- [44:09]
A
Interesting. I've spent a lot of time talking about fragrance faves, but I do want to know, are there any beauty products that you've just purchased lately? Skin care, hair care, body care that you are just like, obsessed with?
- [44:20]
B
Yes, very much so. So I have now found. I think we talked about this before also. I'm obsessed with YouTube. Like, everyone's like, tick tock, tick tock. I am obsessed with YouTube.
- [44:32]
A
Okay.
- [44:33]
B
So much.
- [44:33]
A
What do you watch on YouTube?
- [44:35]
B
So my best friend just got married this past weekend. So for the last three weeks, I've been watching clean girl makeup routines in women that's the same skin tone as me. And I've been watching how to perfect the 90s blowout because I just got layered into my hair and I was like, how do I get the thing? You know what I'm talking about?
- [44:55]
A
The volume.
- [44:55]
B
Yeah. This.
- [44:56]
A
Yeah.
- [44:57]
B
Makes my hair look huge and fun. Because I was like, I got this custom dress made because I was like, I love formal events. Let me get this dress made for your wedding and let me do the hair and whatnot. So my. My new favorite beauty product, which I will master before summertime. So my hair is perfect for summer, is hair rollers, like the Velcro rollers. And I look crazy, but I was like, I guess this is how you achieve the look. And I felt very, like, peak feminine, like three days ago because I had the hair rollers in.
- [45:26]
A
I had her eye, like the patches. Yeah, we love it.
- [45:30]
B
Mask. I had the lip mask. I was like, filing my nails to put on, like, my nail tips and all of these things. And I was like, wow. And then when I took them out, the way that my hair just fell.
- [45:41]
A
Yes. You know, I'm developing hair rollers.
- [45:44]
B
Are you?
- [45:44]
A
Yes. Retro hair rollers. I posted about them this weekend. I'm still now in the phase of working on, like, the branding and the E commerce, but it's just like, one of these things that without heat, with the right roller, you can create incredible volume in your hair. So I'm excited that you're a fan because I can. I'll send you my prototypes before they're branded so you can try them.
- [46:01]
B
I will do whatever content you need because this is a personal goal of mine. Like the way that my hair came out because I hate using a straightener now. My friend was like, you can my Dyson, you know, blow dryer, which I also need to spend, like $600 on, because I was like, wow, I need a vacuum cleaner to blow dry my hair. But those are my two favorite things. Hair rollers and the Dyson blow dryer, which I did not want to fall in love with, but I absolutely did.
- [46:26]
A
But you did. But you did. What are the beauty mistakes or a beauty mistake that, as you look back on, you think like, wow, this is a mistake that other people can learn from. We have these moments where we make a misstep, and they're teachable moments. It could be not speaking up at the hair salon and getting heat damage. One of my biggest beauty mistakes I've ever made in my entire life. Because the level of acne I got after this, and it's insane that I did this, but I tested skin care at, like, an airport duty free in, like, the look on your faces at all. It was like 2014. And wow, why would I do that?
- [47:01]
B
I'm sorry.
- [47:02]
A
I wasn't thinking that sleep deprivation and, like, flying, like, affected my brain and I was just crazy. So, yeah, that was a huge mistake. So what about for you?
- [47:12]
B
So I grew up again. I'm biracial, but I grew up in a predominantly white area. And this is a high school mistake. I'm like, I vet everything I see on the Internet now or any trends with multiple people. Because this mistake destroyed me school. But all of the girls, all my friends were, like, blonde or whatever. They had, like, you know, they would do the lemon and hydrogen peroxide in their hair.
- [47:36]
A
Oh, wow.
- [47:37]
B
So I said, you know what? Me too. And I like, me too. My girlies are doing it. I have to do it too. Lemon, hydrogen peroxide. The underneath part of my hair, I wanted kind of like, you know that 2010s, kind of like top hair, dark underneath hair, blonde type look. And I did that. Just put on the underneath side of my hair, went outside, hot day. Laid face down on the deck with my hair flipped up so the sun would make my hair change color faster. Destroyed it. Like, I don't even think that a straightener could do that amount of heat damage. I don't know what happened to my hair. I had to cut it all off. Like, put black women, anyone, please just don't put hydrogen.
- [48:18]
A
Don't be your hair, anyone.
- [48:20]
B
That was really terrible. Very, very bad. So that's a big beauty mistake. And I know some people are like, that's a hack. I'm like, that is not. If you want to change your hair color, unfortunately, you have to pay the hundreds of dollars to a professional stylist and colorist to do it.
- [48:35]
A
You can do henna, but the hydrogen peroxide in the lemon, that's a scary one. Well, Asia, I've had so much fun talking to you about the birth of Redo. Different scent families and why bar soaps are just like elite elite or the
- [48:51]
B
elite and elite themselves the best.
- [48:53]
A
Well, and I have to ask you the question I ask everyone who comes on Naked Beauty, which is, when do you feel most beautiful?
- [48:58]
B
Honestly, I feel most beaut straight out of the shower. The feeling of being clean, I think is unparalleled, especially after, like a long day of work or even a day of nothing. Just being fresh, clean and not needing to do anything and having no expectations for yourself is when I feel most beautiful. And then I just put on lotion and then I just read a book and I'm like, wow, life is phenomenal.
- [49:20]
A
Sometimes self care really is that simple. Thank you so much. I will link to all of the places that you can follow Asia and get to to know all of the fabulous Redo products. But thank you so much for coming on the pod and educating us.
- [49:33]
B
Yes, I had so much fun.
- [49:34]
A
Thank you. Thank you. All right, beauties. That was my conversation with Asia. Isn't she just so fun and funny and entertaining? And don't you just love fragrance and the way that she looks at fragrance? Definitely treat yourself to some amazing products from Redo. I'm about to do a restock order right now and she's going to be back. We're having more conversation about how to create essential oils, so look forward to that. All right, thanks so much. If you love the podcast, please take the time to leave a little rating on Apple podcasts or, you know, rate me on Spotify. I really, really appreciate it and it helps other people find the show and join the naked beauty community. We're Naked Beauty Planet on Instagram. Love talking to you all and I'll be back next week.
- [50:38]
B
Lunch was great, but this traffic is awful. Can we stop at a bathroom?
- [50:43]
A
Are you all right?
- [50:43]
B
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- [51:07]
C
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- [51:35]
B
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D
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A
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