Harlem Renaissance-Inspired Harlem Perfume Co. Brings Cultural Storytelling to Sephora’s Fragrance Assortment

Harlem Perfume Co., a brand inspired by the Harlem Renaissance that was a member of Sephora’s 2024 Accelerate cohort, is joining the beauty specialty retailer’s fragrance assortment at a strong moment for the category.

Sephora is kicking off the partnership on its app Monday and website a day later with the brand’s unisex fragrance Langston and two new fragrances, Showgirl and Golden Muse in .3-oz. eau de parfum travel sprays for $32 and full-sized 1.7-oz. eau de parfum bottles for $140. A $30 Discovery Set online at Sephora includes the new scents along with the brand’s other bestsellers Langston, Billie, Josephine and Speakeasy.

Harlem Perfume Co.’s full-size bottles are priced at the premium end of Sephora’s range, matching designer fragrances from brands like Valentino, Dior and Yves Saint Laurent. They reflect the chain experimenting with upscale offerings to grow its reach as fragrance enthusiasts accelerate category sales. In the first quarter of this year, market research firm Circana estimates that fragrance was the fastest growing beauty category, with sales up 4% in the prestige channel and 8% in the mass market on a dollar basis.

Harlem Perfume Co.’s sweet and spicy gourmand Langston, concocted by DSM-Firmenich principal perfumer Hamid Merati-Kashani, has notes of chocolate, orange brandy and jasmine, while Showgirl, crafted by DSM-Firmenich master perfumer Honorine Blanc, is a floral scent with notes of fizzy mandarin, lavender diva and golden amber. Harlem Perfume Co. founder Teri Johnson explains Showgirl is meant to embody the allure and confidence of 1920s and 1930s showgirls. She says, “It has a level of sophistication and elegance that you don’t find with a lot of the sweeter fragrances that are out there.”

Golden Muse, devised by DSM-Firmenich perfumer Bérénice Watteau, is a fresh solar scent with notes of sea salt, Tahitian moon and vanilla caviar. Harlem Perfume Co. chief brand officer Amber Williams says, “Golden Muse really embodies the now, this new era of creatives and artists who are in their own way echoing those same styles from the ’20s and the ’30s and making waves around Harlem and around the world.”

With its Sephora launch, Harlem Perfume Co. is embarking on a campaign entitled Behind The Lines paying homage to the Harlem Renaissance’s poetic traditions. Across email and social media, it’s digging into the inspiration behind each scent and the brand’s path to Sephora. Harlem Perfume Co. will be involved in several multi-brand partnerships on Sephora’s site in June and July. It’s also tapped actor and model Broderick Hunter to be the face of Langston and explore what it means to be a modern renaissance man.

“What we appreciate the most from the Renaissance is the sophistication, the glamour, the elegance.”

“Our customers have been following the journey of this brand, but, most importantly, they have been waiting to see a brand like Harlem Perfume Co. hit a mass retailer,” says Williams, who came on board with the brand in February this year after stints at Epi.logic and Front Row, where she was VP of brand strategy. “They’ve been waiting for a brand with a true cultural point of view that carries through from inspiration to innovation, and that fire that they have is really what’s fueling our excitement throughout this marketing process.”

Johnson began Harlem Candle Co. in 2014 after creating candles for friends and family. In 2022, Harlem Perfume Co. was born as it expanded into fine fragrance in response to customer requests. The fragrance brand is on track to generate $400,000 in sales by the end of the year and has registered 2.3X year-over-year sales growth. It has its sights set on reaching $1 million in 2026 sales.

Encompassing candles, perfumes and design goods, the company grosses $2 million in sales annually. Direct-to-consumer distribution makes up 80% of the sales, with the remainder from retail. The candles are available at Bloomingdale’s and Nordstrom. Preceding Sephora, the perfumes entered C.O. Bigelow and Saks online. Johnson anticipates the split between retail and DTC equalizing with the Sephora partnership.

She says, “What we’ve always had is customer trust and loyalty because they were always buying our candles blindly.”

Harlem Perfume Co.’s fellow cohort members at Sephora’s Accelerate mentorship program last year were Banu Skin, Sienna Naturals, Indē wild, Katini Skin, Abi Amé, Maed Beauty and Soft Rows. Johnson highlights that two takeaways from the program were to feature ingredients in lifestyle images and avoid discounts. Of the second piece of advice, she says, “Being a direct-to-consumer brand, you want to get someone in, you want to incentivize them with a discount, but I listened…If Sephora tells you to do something, just do it.”

Williams adds that Sephora emphasized the importance of a compelling brand story and not changing it with shifting trends. She says, “Staying true to the Harlem Renaissance, this incredible era of artistic excellence within our culture, we have learned to never shy away from that.” She continues that Harlem Perfume Co. is focused on fine fragrances “for every era” and its brand story connects multiple generations and cultures.

Williams says, “The Harlem Renaissance was obviously this era of Black artistry, but whatever culture you’re from, whatever ethnicity or nationality you have, what we appreciate the most from the Renaissance is the sophistication, the glamour, the elegance.”

Johnson points to the 2025 Met Gala theme celebrating Black dandyism as an example of the glamour and elegance Harlem Perfume Co. tries to evoke. “I want to get back to that,” she says. “I want people to just start to look and feel good, and if our fragrances can really be a catalyst for that, then I feel like we’re winning.”