Women With GRITT: SŚAINT Founders Ciara Mahoney and Elle Wallace On Being Best Friends And Business Partners And The Power Of A Really Good Fragrance
“For us, it was super important for SŚAINT to have a really strong identity, which has been at the heart of every business decision we have made. From the packaging to where we are stocked and even the imagery we use on our social media.”
Welcome to Women with GRITT: a series where we interview the resilient, hardworking women who have kicked in the glass ceiling and inspire us to do the same.
It’s no secret that the fragrance category is the most personal and individualised in the beauty industry. No matter if you’re a signature scent person or love to delve into an extensive collection to find a fragrance for every mood or occasion, we can all agree that no two people have the exact same taste in scent. Which is why launching an innovative and unique fragrance brand is not for the faint of heart.
But Ciara Mahoney and Elle Wallace, the founders of SŚAINT Parfum, have made creating a perfume business look like light work. Inspired by their world travels, the duo have created a line of six scents to capture the hearts (and nostrils) of even the toughest fragrance critics. Whether you’re after a woody scent to amp up the sensuality of an evening occasion or a floral-filled iteration for a bright summer day, SŚAINT have something for everyone.
In this interview, Mahoney and Wallace sit down with Gritty Pretty to chat combining friendship and business, the inspiration behind their fragrances, how they scaled their business and what we can expect from them next.
Hi ladies! First things first, how did you both meet initially? And what was the conversation like when you realised you want to go into business together?
We met in high school on the Central Coast and have been best friends ever since. We have a mutual passion for all things fragrance. We had both always dreamt of creating our own signature fragrance as we were always playing around with and laying our perfume collections. From there, SŚAINT was born.
After you came up with the initial ideas for SŚAINT, what were the practical steps you put in place to bring the business idea to fruition?
From what was first just a fun idea, we researched extensively and went through rounds and rounds of sampling and iterations of perfecting each scent. For us, it was super important for SŚAINT to have a really strong identity, which has been at the heart of every business decision we have made. From the packaging to where we are stocked and even the imagery we use on our social media. Finding a manufacturer who aligned with our vision for SŚAINT, in terms of being a clean, sustainable and cruelty-free brand, was also super important to us.
In terms of your own roles within the business, how do you split up the co-founder responsibilities? How did you play on each other’s strengths when planning out the business concept?
Ciara has a background in advertising and marketing which has certainly assisted with getting the brand off the ground. We’re fortunate as we have been completely on the same page with every major business decision. We work closely together on every facet of the business, which has made this journey even more special.
Scent is something that is incredible personal and sensorial. Where do you find the inspiration for your fragrances and how do you go about coming up with ideas for new scents?
We have travelled the world extensively as we both worked together as international flight attendants. The four fragrances we launched with represent a culminated influence drawn from our natural and far stretching surroundings. From traditional Asian markets to the depths of middle eastern souks and across the sun-stricken beauty of our Australian outback. With our second launch, we have grown to know our customer really well. So, we have chanelled their needs into the two new fragrances. We worked with our perfumer, selecting key notes and scent profiles that will compliment and seamlessly slot into the existing range.
What does formulating a fragrance look like?
We always start by thinking about the scent profile, considering what notes we want to make up the fragrance. We work with our perfumer and look at the fragrance wheel, which is a circular diagram representing every scent that is divided into four main olfactory families–oriental, woody, fresh and floral–and the subfamilies within them. Perfumers know the relationship between each of the main families. As a starting point, when curating a scent profile, it’s best to look at the neighbouring families on the fragrance wheel, as scents close by on the wheel will blend harmoniously. We go through several rounds of sampling and wear each new fragrance for months, ensuring it will be the right fit for the brand and our customers.
In terms of expansion, scaling a small business can be really challenging. Especially in a post-pandemic world. How did you guys go about expanding in a way that was not only viable for the culture of the business but also financially responsible?
It’s been a pretty organic trajectory. For us, it has always been more important to stay true to the SŚAINT brand, rather than mass scaling. Initially, we reached out to a number of boutiques that we felt aligned really well with SŚAINT and fortunately, after sampling our fragrances, 90 per cent of them agreed to showcase our brand in their stores. Within six months, we had been noticed by Sephora, which has been a pretty incredible experience.
You are also passionate about creating fragrance formulas that are vegan and cruelty-free. Why is this so important to the ethos of the company?
Sustainable, cruelty-free and vegan formulas have always been at the core of SŚAINT. Our customers are conscious consumers and so are we. We want to make a positive impact, meetings our own needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs. We have partnered with i=change, as a way to do good by giving back from every sale.
What can we look forward to next from SŚAINT?
We just launched our fifth and sixth fragrances–Velvet Bloom & No Vacancy. We are also working on some new exciting products that will allow our customers to use and love our signature fragrances in a different way.
Hi ladies! First things first, how did you both meet initially? And what was the conversation like when you realised you want to go into business together?
We met in high school on the Central Coast and have been best friends ever since. We have a mutual passion for all things fragrance. We had both always dreamt of creating our own signature fragrance as we were always playing around with and laying our perfume collections. From there, SŚAINT was born.
After you came up with the initial ideas for SŚAINT, what were the practical steps you put in place to bring the business idea to fruition?
From what was first just a fun idea, we researched extensively and went through rounds and rounds of sampling and iterations of perfecting each scent. For us, it was super important for SŚAINT to have a really strong identity, which has been at the heart of every business decision we have made. From the packaging to where we are stocked and even the imagery we use on our social media. Finding a manufacturer who aligned with our vision for SŚAINT, in terms of being a clean, sustainable and cruelty-free brand, was also super important to us.
In terms of your own roles within the business, how do you split up the co-founder responsibilities? How did you play on each other’s strengths when planning out the business concept?
Ciara has a background in advertising and marketing which has certainly assisted with getting the brand off the ground. We’re fortunate as we have been completely on the same page with every major business decision. We work closely together on every facet of the business, which has made this journey even more special.
Scent is something that is incredible personal and sensorial. Where do you find the inspiration for your fragrances and how do you go about coming up with ideas for new scents?
We have travelled the world extensively as we both worked together as international flight attendants. The four fragrances we launched with represent a culminated influence drawn from our natural and far stretching surroundings. From traditional Asian markets to the depths of middle eastern souks and across the sun-stricken beauty of our Australian outback. With our second launch, we have grown to know our customer really well. So, we have chanelled their needs into the two new fragrances. We worked with our perfumer, selecting key notes and scent profiles that will compliment and seamlessly slot into the existing range.
What does formulating a fragrance look like?
We always start by thinking about the scent profile, considering what notes we want to make up the fragrance. We work with our perfumer and look at the fragrance wheel, which is a circular diagram representing every scent that is divided into four main olfactory families–oriental, woody, fresh and floral–and the subfamilies within them. Perfumers know the relationship between each of the main families. As a starting point, when curating a scent profile, it’s best to look at the neighbouring families on the fragrance wheel, as scents close by on the wheel will blend harmoniously. We go through several rounds of sampling and wear each new fragrance for months, ensuring it will be the right fit for the brand and our customers.
In terms of expansion, scaling a small business can be really challenging. Especially in a post-pandemic world. How did you guys go about expanding in a way that was not only viable for the culture of the business but also financially responsible?
It’s been a pretty organic trajectory. For us, it has always been more important to stay true to the SŚAINT brand, rather than mass scaling. Initially, we reached out to a number of boutiques that we felt aligned really well with SŚAINT and fortunately, after sampling our fragrances, 90 per cent of them agreed to showcase our brand in their stores. Within six months, we had been noticed by Sephora, which has been a pretty incredible experience.
You are also passionate about creating fragrance formulas that are vegan and cruelty-free. Why is this so important to the ethos of the company?
Sustainable, cruelty-free and vegan formulas have always been at the core of SŚAINT. Our customers are conscious consumers and so are we. We want to make a positive impact, meetings our own needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs. We have partnered with i=change, as a way to do good by giving back from every sale.
What can we look forward to next from SŚAINT?
We just launched our fifth and sixth fragrances–Velvet Bloom & No Vacancy. We are also working on some new exciting products that will allow our customers to use and love our signature fragrances in a different way.
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