Award-winning perfumer Catherine Omai, owner of Catherine Omai Fragrances, has spoken about her journey into the world of fragrance.
Ms. Omai, an internationally renowned perfumer, began creating perfumes in 2009, inspired by African culture, landscape and traditions.
Speaking at an event in Lagos on Friday in the presence of PREMIUM TIMES, Ms Omai said she fell in love with perfume when she was a teenager.
She said: “I have always been plus-sized and heavyset. In primary and secondary school, it was always about heavyset people smelling a specific way. So, subconsciously, I was determined not to fall into that category. So I would go to my father’s table, as he had a collection of perfumes, and also my mother’s. So I would bring a small bottle to school to use. I wasn’t allowed to spray perfume in the house. One day, I got into trouble with the CRK teacher, who said I was trying to attract boys with perfume.
“They took the little bottle and told me I shouldn’t wear perfume anymore. But it’s always been in my subconscious to constantly smell nice because I didn’t want that narrative to be in my narrative. I was very playful and rough around the edges, and the tendency for that to happen was slightly high. So when I moved to the UK to study, I decided to always smell nice. As a student, my money was limited. I still try to buy a few perfumes and then wear them. It got to a point where I started to get bored of people telling me what perfumes they wore. So I buy three or four different perfumes and layer them.”
Passion
She also said her passion for fragrances led her to earn a certificate in perfumery from a school in France.
She said she started going to fragrance companies to learn how to create perfumes while studying for a master's degree in Oil and Gas Management and Renewable Energy.
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Ms. Omai further stated that she did not fall in love with perfume creation as a business, but rather her inability to find work in Nigeria led her to start creating and selling perfumes.
“I was doing a Masters in Oil and Gas Management, Renewable Energy, hoping to come back to Nigeria to change the way things are done, but I didn’t get a job when I came back to Nigeria. I kept looking for a job in the oil and gas sector for a year. There was nothing. Later, I got a job as a receptionist. Today, it’s a different story. I went back to what I always loved – perfumes. I started this journey about 14 years ago.
“When I first started fragrances, I came back from the UK thinking I could come and sell my brand to people and say I am a Nigerian with UK experience, but I was met with a lot of resistance. A lot of people asked me why they should buy my perfumes when there are other well-known brands. Also, I am not a celebrity or a social media influencer. So I decided that instead of trying to sell fragrances to people, I needed to offer them the experience of creating their own. So we started the business and the name of the brand at the beginning was Mystique Bespoke Perfumery,” she said.
Challenges
Furthermore, Ms. Omai, who said that creating fragrances was not a rosy project for her at first, pointed out that Nigeria lacks the raw materials needed to create fragrances.
She said the lack of necessary materials made her dependent on getting them from abroad, but customs duties and other challenges made that more difficult.
She noted, “However, now there is a mass market to buy oil and other raw materials. Because back then, the quality available was not what I could use. I went to a perfumery school in France and I knew the quality and smell that fragrances should have. There was a time when I ran out of sandalwood and decided to contact a local seller. When they brought the sandalwood, it didn’t smell like it should. I just knew that buying from the Nigerian market was not an option for my brand.”
“The challenges involved in bringing things in, NAFDAC, customs and the rest were complicated. Sometimes, customs would confiscate the materials and we would have to pay more to get them back. While Nigeria was a big challenge, it helped me in some ways to restructure my knowledge of perfume creation.”
International
She noted that she entered the competitive international fragrance market due to the lack of competition in Nigeria and her dreams of testing herself in the global market.
She stated that she did not enter the international market as a commercial fragrance person because of its niche and competitive nature, but to create a fragrance that would appeal to everyone.
“In Nigeria, I am a pioneer in creating perfumes. No one was challenging me and I was getting a bit bored. I wanted to test myself by entering the international market, talking to perfumers and knowing what they were saying,” she said.
He further argued that the type of materials available in the Nigerian market changed his creative DNA from what he had learned to what suited the Nigerian market.
She added that this helped her international career.
He noted: “After doing this for about ten years, I needed to spread my wings beyond the Nigerian market. I wanted to do this because when you go to France, Italy and other countries that are into fragrances, there is a history of them being perfumers. The House of Creed has been there for about 100 years. These people know and appreciate fragrance materials and can see the creation of fragrances.
“If I can’t work in that environment and get the thumbs up, I don’t feel like I’ve done it right. The perfume industry doesn’t have any accreditation or certification that makes you a master perfumer. What makes you a master perfumer is the skill you bring to your creation and the years of experience you have with the people who know it.”
Ms Omai revealed that she first appeared internationally as the first West African perfumer to exhibit at Pitti Fragranze in Italy in 2019.
“I was the only Black person at that show in 2019, right before COVID, and I’ve remained the only Black person since. They do it every year, so COVID hit, and for two years straight there was no show. Everyone comes to that show, from all over the world. It’s like New York Fashion Week for fragrances. Everyone comes there, from journalists to buyers to shop owners, and that’s how we got into certain countries.”
“We are present in Australia, France, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, the US and Germany. Entering the US market is a big step. I didn’t even lobby for it. I wasn’t even looking to enter the US market. They contacted me based on the reviews they had heard about my business. This was in 2021. It took them about a year to finalise it. This happened after my exposure. So, the wave and the noise within the fragrance industry of my work attracted that,” Ms Omai noted.