Cult candle brand Boy Smells is releasing its first collection of fine fragrances—and continuing to blur gender lines while they're at it.
The New Boy Smells Fragrance Collection Sends a Powerful Gender-Fluid Message
Thanks to the perfect storm of social media hype, a global pandemic that forced us to spend more time in our homes, and a little help from superstar Kacey Musgraves, [Boy Smells](https://www.vogue.com/article/kacey-musgraves-boy-smells-slow-burn-candle-collaboration) has gone from a small queer-owned candle company to one of the biggest names in home fragrance in just a few short years. Now the cult candle brand, which has found its way into the living rooms of casual scent lovers and the fragrance-obsessed alike, is poised to make their biggest move yet. Launching tomorrow, Boy Smells is releasing its first collection of fine fragrances, [Cologne de Parfum](https://boysmells.com/collections/cologne-de-parfum)—and continuing to blur gender lines while they're at it.
Historically, fragrances have been strictly gendered “for men” and “for women,” with everything from the campaigns, to the bottles, and the scents themselves being created within the strict confines of traditional gender roles. And while the past decade has seen brands evolving beyond gendering their scents, shirking the idea altogether and deeming their fragrances “genderless,” Boy Smells is taking a slightly different route. With the arrival of Cologne de Parfum, Boy Smells aims to embrace all parts of the gender spectrum with a phrase they coined “genderful.”
“Gone are the days of ‘Oh, buy this fragrance and you're going to attract a really beautiful woman,’ or 'buy this fragrance and you'll have a sports car,’" explains creator and co-founder of Boy Smells Matthew Herman. “We really want to create scents that mix masculine and feminine together, that are as complex and layered as the identities of our customers and reflect modern identity through olfactive structures.”
Many queer millennials that grew up in the late ‘90s and early aughts have, at one point or another, wrestled with how their self-expression might hold them back in the workplace or in life. These very same feelings once threatened to stunt the growth of Boy Smells. “When we created the brand, my partner David asked, 'What should we call it?' And I was like, 'Let's call it Boy Smells and put it in a pink box.' I think we felt, 'This is great, but there will be a limit on how far a product with this kind of branding will be able to go.'”
But the very thing they thought might hold them back became what set them apart. Candles like [Kush](https://boysmells.com/products/k), [Redhead](https://boysmells.com/products/redhead?_pos=1&_sid=dca421887&_ss=r), and [Slow Burn](https://boysmells.com/products/slow-burn?_pos=1&_sid=9053a4e41&_ss=r) became the scent of home for many people across diverse demographics. Boy Smells created a universe unique to them with their core collection, and has explored and expanded upon it with each seasonal launch. One might think that they’d take their best-selling candles and interpret them into fine fragrances, but Herman had something different in mind.
This story originally appeared on: Vogue - Author:Tynan Sinks
