BORNTOSTANDOUT is not a fragrance brand for wallflowers or pearl clutchers—and founder Jun Lim intends to keep it that way. Launched in April 2022, the Korean company has made an impressive entry to the niche fragrance arena, jumping from $300,000 to $10 million in sales from year one to two, with $27 million in 2024. Lim self-funded the launch with “no outside capital, no safety net—just my own capital and love towards perfume.” In February 2025, the brand got a safety net closing a Series A funding round led by venture firm Touch Capital with participation from BOLD, L’Oréal’s venture capital fund.A key to that success has been a visual and creative boldness. Product names like Fig Porn, Indecent Cherry, and DGAF are printed in all capital crimson red letters across a white bottle, modeled after Joseon Dynasty porcelain designs. Scented car tags are shaped like a hand showing the middle finger, while one of the brand’s slogans is “Who Fuckin’ Cares?” (the brand even sells stationery and coffee mugs printed with the phrase). Campaign images like that for Naked Laundry, which marries the crispness of aldehydes with animalic notes of tonquitone, shows the fragrance bottle nestled in sweat-soaked sheets. But it’s not all about shock value. BORNTOSTANDOUT is also a love letter to the art of unapologetic perfumery, created by some of the industry’s most revered noses like Quentin Bisch, Frank Voelkl, and Nathalie Lorson.Scents contain unexpected notes like a nail polish note in the fruity musk Angels’ Powder and inspirations, such as the gourmand amber scent, Mud.