Boy Smells
Boy Smells is a Los Angeles-based DTC fragrance brand selling gender-neutral scented candles, perfumes, body mists, and diffusers via e-commerce, a NYC flagship store, and wholesale stockists, serving premium and LGBTQ+ consumers.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded-
- HeadquartersLos Angeles, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingHardware or Manufacturing
What Boy Smells does
Boy Smells is a privately held, Los Angeles-based direct-to-consumer fragrance brand that designs and sells gender-neutral scented candles, eau de parfum, body mists, and home diffusers under signature scent lines including Kush, Ash, Peachy Oudy, Violet Ends, and Citrush. Founded by Matthew Herman (Co-Founder and Creator), the brand operates a flagship retail store at 268 Elizabeth Street in New York City's NoLita neighborhood alongside its e-commerce storefront at boysmells.com, and serves premium fragrance consumers and the LGBTQ+ community with identity-driven positioning and clean formulations.
The business runs on a unit-pricing model with perfumes at $78 (50ml), travel sprays at $30 (10ml), body mists at $25-$45, candles at $38-$44, and an Exploratory Set at $42. Distribution spans DTC e-commerce (with free shipping over $50), a single physical retail location, and a wholesale stockist network managed via a dedicated wholesale inquiry page. Supporting platform features include the BSFF rewards program for retention and a Bundle Builder tool for customized multi-product purchases. Marketing relies on Instagram organic content, TikTok creator collaborations (notably with Vanillamace, who has 5M+ followers), email, and earned media in publications such as Rolling Stone and Mashable.
In May 2025, an unnamed investor group completed a takeover of the company, triggering an archive clearance that produced the brand's best sales week in four years. Recent strategic activity includes a flagship BRATZ collaboration (Doll Mist) and product line extensions into body mists and travel sprays. The company has 1-10 employees and operates a single-country footprint concentrated in North America.
Boy Smells firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Boy Smells
- Legal name
- Boy Smells, Inc.
- Website
- https://boysmells.com
- Company type
- Private
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Boy Smells is a Los Angeles-based DTC fragrance brand selling gender-neutral scented candles, perfumes, body mists, and diffusers via e-commerce, a NYC flagship store, and wholesale stockists, serving premium and LGBTQ+ consumers.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Where Boy Smells is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Los Angeles
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Boy Smells business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Hardware or Manufacturing
- Cost components
- Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Personnel, Others
Revenue model
- E-commerce Sales: Direct-to-consumer online sales through boysmells.com, offering scented candles, perfumes, body mists, and travel sprays at various price points ($30-$78 for perfumes, body mists, and travel sizes).
- Retail Sales: In-store retail sales at flagship location 268 Elizabeth Street, NYC, with exclusive in-store only scents.
- Wholesale Distribution: Wholesale distribution through stockists, with the brand maintaining a stockists page for wholesale inquiries.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Perfumes (50ml) |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Travel Sprays (10ml) |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Body Mists |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Candles |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Exploratory Set |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels5 records
Boy Smells product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Boy Smells designs, produces, and sells gender-neutral scented candles, eau de parfum perfumes, hair and body mists, and home diffusers under proprietary fragrance names such as Kush, Ash, Peachy Oudy, Violet Ends, Coco Hinoki, and Citrush. The brand sells primarily direct-to-consumer through its e-commerce site and a single NYC flagship store, with additional wholesale distribution through approved stockists.
Product overview
Boy Smells is a fragrance brand offering a unified portfolio of scented candles, perfumes/eau de parfum, body mists, and diffusers. The core product lines include signature perfumes in 50ml bottles and travel sprays (10ml), body and hair mists in multiple sizes, and candles ranging from standard 9oz to magnum 27oz formats. Supporting offerings include the Exploratory Set for discovery, the Bundle Builder for customized multi-product purchases, and the BSFF Rewards loyalty program. The brand operates an e-commerce platform with a flagship retail location at 268 Elizabeth Street in NYC.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Boy Smells Eau de Parfum (Perfume) Signature 50ml eau de parfum line sold at $78 per bottle, featuring scents such as Peachy Oudy (peach skin, mimosa flower, white oud), Violet Ends (rhubarb, violet, incense), Red Hot (incense, raspberry, roses), Rosy Cheeks (pomegranate, roses, sandalwood), Citrush (pomelo, ripe musks, black pepper), Citrush Gold (pomelo, gold amber, black musks), Sugar Baby, Coco Cream, and Coco Hinoki. Targeted at consumers seeking distinctive, gender-neutral personal fragrance.
- Boy Smells Scented Candles Scented candles available in standard 9oz ($38-$44) and magnum 27oz formats, including Kush (cannabis, tulip, amber), Ash (charcoal, palo santo, smoked hay), Passion Pit (oranges, passion fruit, blond woods), Minty (ginger, wild mint, cedarwood), Violet Ends, Citrush, and seasonal XXMAS Tree (juniper, evergreen, winter air). Sold to consumers seeking distinctive home ambience fragrance.
- Boy Smells Hair and Body Mists Hair and body mists in 8oz (250ml) and 3oz (100ml) travel sizes, including Doll Mist (strawberry, vanilla orchid, plastic doll accord — a BRATZ collaboration), Lycheelicious (lychee, peony, sugared musks), Fruity Lips (raspberry, cherry blossom, cocoa butter), and Citrush variants. Targeted at consumers wanting lighter, all-over personal scent.
- Boy Smells Travel Sprays Compact 10ml travel spray versions of popular fragrances priced at $30 each, available in scents including Violet Ends, Red Hot, Rosy Cheeks, Citrush, Citrush Gold, Peachy Oudy, and Coco Hinoki. Targeted at consumers wanting portable fragrance formats.
- Boy Smells Diffusers Reed-style home fragrance diffusers sold alongside the candle collection under the Candles + Diffusers category, extending the brand's scent portfolio into non-flame home fragrance formats.
- Exploratory Set Curated discovery set priced at $42 that allows customers to sample multiple Boy Smells fragrances in a single purchase, designed to drive first-time trial and cross-sell into the full product line.
- Citrush Sniffer (Single and 3-Pack) Single-use and 3-pack sampler product for the Citrush fragrance featuring pomelo, menthol, and frozen mint notes, used as a low-friction trial offering for the brand's signature scent.
Quantifiable outcome
- Best sales week in four years recorded after investor takeover and archive clearance
Companies that use Boy Smells
Customer profileNamed customers1 record
Segments2 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Boy Smells technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature1 record
Boy Smells partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Two partnerships are on record, tiered core and flagship.
- Vanillamace (Emily)coreContent creator collaboration with Vanillamace (Emily), a 29-year-old creator with 5M+ TikTok followers, 1.7M YouTube subscribers, and nearly 900K Twitch followers. Vanillamace creates authentic, unfiltered content featuring Boy Smells products, including brand collaborations and fundraising support for LGBTQ causes.
- BRATZflagshipBRATZ x Boy Smells collaboration featuring Doll Mist, a body mist with strawberry, vanilla orchid, and plastic doll accord notes. The partnership brings the iconic BRATZ franchise aesthetic to Boy Smells' fragrance line.
Scale indicators1 record
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Boy Smells competitors and assessment
Company assessmentEmerging players
- Phlur: Phlur is a digitally-native fragrance brand with a gender-neutral positioning, discovery sets, and DTC-led growth. Comparable in audience, channel mix, and category overlap with Boy Smells' perfume and body mist lines.
- Snif: Snif is a digitally-native fragrance brand offering discovery sets, candles, and fine fragrance at accessible premium prices. Comparable to Boy Smells in DTC distribution, discovery product strategy, and digitally savvy target consumer.
Broad incumbents
- Le Labo: Le Labo (Estée Lauder) is a luxury fragrance and candle brand with a cult following, owned retail stores, and signature scent identity similar to Boy Smells. Comparable as a broader incumbent in the same premium niche fragrance category.
- Byredo: Byredo is a global luxury fragrance house offering candles, perfumes, and body care with a strong brand identity. Comparable as a broader incumbent operating at higher scale in overlapping product categories (candles, EDP, body).
- Diptyque: Diptyque is a globally established luxury candle and fragrance house with extensive retail and wholesale distribution. Comparable as the prestige incumbent benchmark for Boy Smells' premium candle offering and aspirational reference point.
Direct peers
- Skylar: Skylar is a clean, hypoallergenic fragrance brand covering perfume, body mist, and candles. Comparable to Boy Smells on clean-formulation positioning, category breadth, and DTC-driven sales motion.
- Nette: Nette is a direct-to-consumer clean candle brand offering subscription and one-time purchases at comparable price points to Boy Smells. Targets similar premium, design-conscious consumers via DTC e-commerce.
- Ellis Brooklyn: Ellis Brooklyn is a clean, gender-neutral fragrance and body care brand sold DTC and through prestige retailers. Comparable to Boy Smells in its premium positioning, clean formulation narrative, and category overlap across perfume and body products.
- Otherland: Otherland is a DTC premium candle brand with a similar aesthetic, price point, and target consumer (millennial/Gen-Z gift and self-purchase buyers). It is one of the closest direct comparables to Boy Smells in the DTC home fragrance space.
- D.S. & Durga: D.S. & Durga is a niche fragrance and candle house known for distinctive, unconventional scent profiles (incense, smoke, woods) — closely mirroring Boy Smells' Kush, Ash, and Violet Ends aesthetic and indie-luxury positioning.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat3 records
Key risks6 records
Customer concentration
Boy Smells social profiles
Digital presenceBoy Smells financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Boy Smells leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Boy Smells funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Boy Smells M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Boy Smells
What does Boy Smells do?
Boy Smells designs, produces, and sells gender-neutral scented candles, eau de parfum perfumes, hair and body mists, and home diffusers under proprietary fragrance names such as Kush, Ash, Peachy Oudy, Violet Ends, Coco Hinoki, and Citrush. The brand sells primarily direct-to-consumer through its e-commerce site and a single NYC flagship store, with additional wholesale distribution through approved stockists.
Is Boy Smells a public or private company?
Boy Smells is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Boy Smells founded?
Boy Smells was founded in -1. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Boy Smells based?
Boy Smells is headquartered in Los Angeles, United States, in the North America region.
How does Boy Smells make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. E-commerce Sales are the primary driver. The others are retail Sales and wholesale Distribution.
Who are Boy Smells's main competitors?
Emerging players on record are Phlur and Snif. Broad incumbents are Le Labo, Byredo and Diptyque. Direct peers are Skylar, Nette, Ellis Brooklyn, Otherland and D.S. & Durga.
Does Boy Smells have an API?
No public API is recorded for Boy Smells.