A Pivot Tale. How I went from 'oh sh*t', to a light bulb moment, to launching a luxury hand sanitiser brand within 3 weeks.

If we have worked together, if you are familiar with my work or have attended my classes, you will know that fragrance and beauty is not only my job, it’s also an obsession. I am a proud beauty and perfume geek! I love to discover and create products that are innovative and use premium ingredients, and of course they have to smell amazing.  

For the past 12 years I have created perfume for many Australian and international brands such as Cathay Pacific, Bombay Sapphire, Steven Khalil, Heartwood and GoDaddy. I have also created products for brands such as Sand&Sky and Coco and Eve and watched them disrupt the beauty industry, win awards and be stocked in world's leading retailers such as Sephora, Harvey Nichols, Selfridges, Cult Beauty, Asos and Mecca. With the onset of Covid-19, most of my NPD projects were halted, and all of my Perfume Masterclasses, private, public and corporate were cancelled. That's the 'oh sh*t' moment.

At this time, the use of hand sanitisers was being recommended so I dug out one that was given to me and was in my beauty travel bag. I hated it! It dried my hands out, was ugly plastic, and it smelled horrible. It was not something that I would buy, nor would my clients, and I certainly would never recommend it to friends.

So I made my own. I gave some to friends and they loved it, a friend who has terrible dermatitis rang to tell me that his hands were not cracking and bleeding with repeated use. Another friend told me his cuticles had started to heal, yet another friend told me that the Lemon Myrtle scent helped uplift her from the stresses of being a drug and alcohol councilor. An idea started to form in my head. Light bulb moment.

I worked with a Cosmetic Chemist, a long term collaborator to create a new kind of sanitiser, one that would hydrate the skin, not strip the hands and leave them smelling beautiful. I packaged it in a 10ml refillable perfume bottle, and sourced 50 and 100ml bottles for the refills as well as a mini funnel and a pouch to carry it in. I worked like a mad woman, I couldn't sleep, was up and in my studio quite early. If you have worked with me, you know this is not how I roll. I am a night owl, I start late, and I finish late, when most people are packing up to head home, that's when I really start to brain. The product was created, tested, formula tweaked, packaging designed and sourced, website built, (by me!) and ready to go within 3 weeks. Launch moment.

For the first time, I am excited to launch my own brand, introducing Have A Nice Day (H.A.N.D) luxury sanitising scent.

I had to pivot like mad to launch this brand in record time!

H.A.N.D Sanitising Scents are formulated with premium Australian botanicals, 70% Perfume Grade sugarcane ethanol along with Aloe Vera, plant based, palm free Glycerine, Panthenol, and Hyaluronic Acid to hydrate and soothe the skin with essential oil selected for their antibacterial and emotional benefits. 

I created the fragrances to offer emotional support during these stressful times using perfume grade raw materials such as Bulgarian Rose, Mimosa and West Australian Sandalwood. Available in three gorgeous botanical combinations:

• Rose and Kunzea is like a big hug from your favourite person. I created this fragrance to give a little comfort in stressful times.
• Mimosa and Lemon Myrtle is like sunshine in a bottle. This fragrance was created to bring joy and light into your day if you are feeling down
• West Australian Sandalwood and Cedar wood is like a long walk in the forest. With things up in the air at the moment, it will help ground you and keep you focused on what is important.

H.A.N.D has been specifically designed to add a little luxury to your everyday rituals, think of it as a fine fragrance that sanitises and hydrates your hands.

Colour is not usually my thing, but here we are!

With strikingly colourful branding and sustainable glass packaging to stand out from the crowd, it's available in 10ml, 50ml & 100ml refill bottles with atomisers. H.A.N.D is proudly natural, vegan and cruelty free, with carbon neutral shipping. Available for sale in Australia only at this stage. 

To discover more & to support a small Australian business head to www.haveanicedaygoods.co or follow us www.instagram.com/handsanitisingscent

If you would like a branded luxury hand sanitiser for your business, please contact me samantha@thepowder-room.com