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Noyz launched exclusively at Ulta in June 2024 with four scents, each priced $85 for a full-sized bottle and composed by master perfumer Jérôme Epinette. In the 14 months since, the brand has already launched three more perfumes, three hair and body fragrance mists, and solid versions of its perfumes.
Now, the brand is gearing up to launch what it believes will be its most commercial and bestselling scent yet: “Only Human,” also created by Epinette.
When Malena Higuera, Noyz’s CEO, first encountered the scent, it was just a juice and a name.
At the time, she said, AI was becoming more a part of daily conversation. “[We were like,] ‘The one thing that we can really rely on is our sense of humanity and our sense that AI cannot create a juice.'” It’s worth noting that AI in perfumery is very much already on the rise, but also hotly contested. “We said, ‘We cannot forget who we are and what we stand for,'” Higuera said.
There was not yet a campaign, and the team struggled to figure out what kind of imagery may go with a name like Only Human. Ultimately, it worked with the artist Thomas Lélu to create a text-based back label, stating, “So what if I am?”
Over the past couple of years, “community” has become a buzzword. Still, it’s easy to forget that it really is important — not just for sales, but also for a brand’s reputation. “You can buy impressions and you can buy reach, but engagement really shows the true value of a brand,” Higuera said.
To that point, Noyz has decided to focus on its community to launch Only Human.
To begin to build buzz, on September 2, the brand asked its community a simple question. How would they finish that phrase: “So what if I am?” To date, it has received 4,000 responses via email, its website, Instagram and Snapchat. On Instagram, Noyz has 80,000 followers, and on Snapchat, it has accumulated 120,000 since becoming active three months ago. Answers to this prompt thus far include: “Over the hill? I’m still climbing!” “Finally looking out for me – it’s about time!” and “Dancing, why aren’t you?”
In the lead-up to today’s official direct-to-consumer launch of Only Human, Noyz cleared its Instagram grid. “It’s a way of world-building for a moment,” Higuera said, regarding the strategy, noting that it also helps get people to pay attention. The scent will launch on September 21 at Ulta Beauty.
Beyond asking the question digitally, Noyz knew it wanted to stage an IRL activation for its seventh scent — a product it is confident in.
The team decided that hosting an activation at New York Fashion Week felt true to its ethos of putting the customer first — ensuring that they feel like a “founding principle” of the brand. “New York Fashion Week is when New York is at its buzziest, and arguably at its bougiest, right? The runways are for the select few, invite-only, which is important for that vibe. Our [event is] more about [being] open [to everyone],” Higuera said.
When Noyz launched its sixth scent, Detour, in April, it hosted 15 community events in 45 days and engaged with 6,000 customers. “This is about a reputation we’re trying to build,” Higuera said, adding that, in less than a year and a half, the brand’s fan base is already somewhat “feral.”
“It’s because we are responding to them in real time,” she said. “We’re including them, we’re responsive to them. I’m not naive enough to say that free product doesn’t help, but it’s more about being drawn into a world that you want to see yourself in. … And that’s why we wanted to give [our community members] the runway [during NYFW].”
Via Partiful, the brand has invited its community to an activation in New York City’s Meatpacking District, specifically Chelsea Triangle — the space outside the Gansevoort Hotel — happening on Friday. Three thousand have RSVPed. Noyz is expecting at least 1,000 people to actually show up and is prepared to gift the first 1,000 in line the $38 .5 fluid-ounce, travel-size bottle of Only Human.
But they will not only be waiting for free perfume. They will also be waiting to have their photograph taken by fashion photographer Ryan Murray, who has lensed campaigns for brands including Anine Bing and Oakley. These photographs will then, in real time, become part of a wild posting campaign set to run at Chelsea Triangle and on Lafayette Street. Participants will also receive a Dropbox with their photos so they can post them on social. This, of course, will also allow the brand to collect participants’ email addresses and other valuable data.
Alongside their faces, their answer to the “So what if I am?” prompt will also be featured. Noyz will rotate the faces featured in the wild posting campaign 15 times over 24 hours. Following this, the final 25 faces will remain on display on the streets of New York for one week, providing every participant with the opportunity to claim they were part of an official Noyz brand campaign. The brand’s official campaign, which features more traditional models, will live on digital billboards at New York City bus stops during the same week.
This is Noyz’s largest investment in a product launch to date, and it is already paying off. Noyz opened an early-access pre-sale on September 10 and saw its biggest-ever day of DTC sales.
Shaun Neff, co-founder of Beach House Group, the incubator that built Noyz, as well as Shay Mitchell’s Beis and Tracee Ellis Ross’s Pattern, said that when the brand shared early samples of Only Human with trusted fragrance experts in its community, it was unanimously popular. “We were like, ‘Wow, we think we have a winner here,'” Neff said — and that became even more apparent as the campaign began to take shape.
Noyz is calling Only Human a “skin-hugging gourmand” — it features top notes of pink pepper, Italian bergamot, mid-notes of waterlily and bamboo, and a base of Moroccan cedarwood, vanilla bean and ambroxan. To date, Unmute has been Noyz’s bestselling scent. In fact, the brand sells a bottle every six minutes. “They’re both a vanilla base, … but this one is, hands down, a wider-loved scent. … We can comfortably say it will be the [new] hero, based on the feedback we’re getting and the excitement from the retailers,” Neff said.
The brand, unabashedly, wanted to make a crowdpleaser, “It needs to be loved by everyone, right? The brief to Jerome was like, ‘Hey, imagine you just had 100 people in the room and all 100 liked this scent. What would that be?'” Neff said. Whereas, he said, a scent named Sh**ty Day, one of the brand’s initial four, may be a little more polarizing, even if only in name.
Of people’s willingness to wait in line for today’s activation, Higuera said, “If there is a willingness to participate in your brand, it’s like: How honored are we? How humbled are we? We want them to feel like we’re just a stage for them to walk on and be a part of and to feel included in — and what better time to deliver that message [than] when your product’s name is Only Human?”
Collab of the week: Zales x Togethxr
The intersection of sports and fashion is showing no signs of slowing down, and the latest entrant is a new collaboration between Zales and Togethxr, the media and commerce company focused on women’s sports. The collection, which is made from 14-karat-plated sterling silver and lab-grown diamonds, includes a $249 necklace, a $99 ring and a $199 bracelet. One piece features Togethxr’s iconic tagline: “Everyone watches women’s sports.”
“This collaboration with Togethxr and [college basketball player and rapper] Flau’jae Johnson represents a bold new chapter for Zales — one where cultural relevance, purpose and self-expression intersect,” said Adele Weber, Zales parent company Signet Jewelers’s svp of brand marketing. “Unlike past partnerships, this capsule speaks directly to a movement, not just a moment in time. We’re amplifying a conversation around equity in women’s sports. … This [collaboration] is a clear signal of where we’re headed: partnering with changemakers who are reshaping culture.”
“Jewelry, like all fashion, is an extension of self-expression. This collection celebrates and showcases the multidimensionality of women athletes while championing how they move culture forward. That shift is what Togethxr is focused on leading,” said Jessica Robertson, Togethxr’s co-founder and chief brand officer.
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