Launch Date: October 2021
Geography: Newark, DE, US
Founder: Brianna Arps, Founder + CEO
Notable Investors:
2025 Full Year Projected Revenue: Under $2M, according to industry estimates.
Primary Category: Fragrance
Funding: Accelerator or Grant
Primary Distribution Channel: DTC
Other Distribution Channels:
Key Retail Partners:
2025 Projected Offline Distribution Points: 100
Fragrance is more than just a finishing touch—it's a powerful tool for taking on the world, smelling and feeling your best. Rooted in scent science, MOODEAUX transforms the act of accessorizing your mood into a ritual of boundless self-expression with easy-to-love, hard-to-forget unisex perfumes. By shifting fragrance from a tool of vanity into a powerful, meaningful statement of emotion, identity, and personal style, we foster self-confidence, creativity, and well-being in every spritz.
Insights: Brianna Arps, Founder + CEO
Why now and why you?
Fragrance is in the midst of a cultural reset—and MOODEAUX is at the forefront of that transformation. Consumers are no longer satisfied with products that prioritize prestige over purpose. They’re seeking emotional connection, inclusive design, transparent formulas, and brands that reflect the world they live in. While legacy players quietly attempt to adapt, MOODEAUX was built for this shift from the start.
Launched in 2021, MOODEAUX is part of a new wave redefining scent as a tool for identity, emotional well-being, and unapologetic self-expression. We create modern fragrance for every mood—clean, vegan, unisex perfumes that help people flaunt how they feel and show up as their most authentic selves. Our scents double as sensory rituals, designed to deepen connection to self and others through the power of mood-based perfumery. With a community 50,000+ strong and mass retail expansion on the horizon, our momentum speaks for itself.
Founder and CEO Brianna Arps—a former beauty editor turned marketer and “accidental entrepreneur”—brings a rare blend of industry insight, cultural fluency, and lived experience. The gap MOODEAUX is closing is one she knows intimately. And now, she’s rewriting the rules of fragrance—one spritz at a time.
What fuels your competitive advantage?
MOODEAUX stands apart in a crowded fragrance landscape by reimagining scent as a vehicle for bold self-expression, emotional connection, and cultural change—rather than status or vanity. What fuels our competitive advantage is a rare combination of product innovation, deep brand purpose, and lived experience. Founded by Arps, MOODEAUX was built in direct response to the exclusion, Eurocentric ideals, and opacity that have long defined the $57.4 billion global fragrance industry.
Rather than adapt to consumer shifts, we anticipated them. Our clean, vegan, unisex perfumes are rooted in scent science and designed to flaunt how you feel, offering a modern fragrance for every mood. Each scent acts as a “moody confidant,” empowering consumers to tap into their identities and rituals of wellness with transparency, sustainability, and intention.
Our inclusive marketing, refusal to rely on celebrity culture, and focus on real community voices have driven organic brand loyalty—with over 50,000 supporters and 30,000+ social followers engaging regularly. We've achieved 172% year over year growth in 2022, followed by 228% in 2023, and earned over $101 million in unpaid media value from 400+ features in top-tier publications. We’re also proud to be the first Black-owned fragrance brand at Urban Outfitters and Credo Beauty, with mass retail expansion on the horizon. Through our philanthropic arm, Black In Fragrance, we’re not only increasing representation in the industry—we’re actively redistributing resources to underrepresented founders.
At MOODEAUX, our advantage isn’t just what we make—it’s how and why we make it. We’re leading with purpose, building with intention, and earning trust by reflecting the values of a new generation of fragrance consumers.
What are you most proud of accomplishing to date?
Awards and accolades are incredibly affirming—but they’re not what keeps us going. What fills our team up with the most pride is knowing that something which started as an idea scribbled on a few sheets of paper has grown into a tangible, community-driven brand that holds meaning in the lives of thousands.
It still feels surreal to hear customers share how they’ve used our fragrances to celebrate their milestone moments—birthdays, weddings, baby showers, first dates, job interviews. That’s the real reward: knowing MOODEAUX is woven into people’s personal rituals and memories, helping them feel confident, seen, and celebrated. That’s what makes us proudest.
From a solo founder perspective, building this brand has challenged me beyond measure, but it’s also proven to me that I can do anything I put my mind to—and now, I’m committed to using that realization to inspire others. Pushing people to believe in themselves, especially those who’ve been overlooked or underestimated, is my greatest joy.
What is the one thing you wish someone had told you?
I wish someone had told me that “done” is better than “perfect.” In the early days, I spent too much time obsessing over getting every detail right the first time—when in reality, that mindset only slowed me down. Time is a founder’s most valuable commodity; it frees you up to build momentum, earn faster, and iterate as you go. There are endless versions of a business — products, processes, branding—and the only way to know what works is to get your ideas into the world, test, and learn. Market leaders aren’t just visionary; they move quickly, adapt, and improve in real time. I’ve learned that perfection is the enemy of progress—and in start-up life, progress is everything.
What would you tell your past self before starting this journey?
I’d tell my past self: Get comfortable being uncomfortable—especially when it comes to money. You’ll need to invest in your vision before others do, and that can feel terrifying. But the truth is, you have to spend money to make money—and often, a lot more than you expect. Don’t let fear of risk paralyze your progress. Learn to regulate your nervous system and protect your mental health. Burnout is real. Again, burnout is real. Delegate early, seek support often, and don’t equate asking for help with weakness. It’s actually one of the smartest, strongest things you can do as a leader. You don’t have to do it all to prove you can—you just have to do what matters most.
What does success look like in the next 3-5 years?
Success in the next 3-5 years means scaling MOODEAUX into a category-defining fragrance and wellness platform—one that transforms how people use scent to connect with themselves and each other. It means seeing our modern fragrance for every mood stocked globally through strategic retail partners, while expanding our DTC experience through tech-forward, personalized scent discovery tools. It means crossing our first $10-15 million in revenue, not as a vanity metric, but as a milestone that reflects sustainable growth and deep customer loyalty.
It also means expanding our team thoughtfully, investing in operations, creative talent, and marketing infrastructure to keep momentum strong. We’ll formalize and grow our impact arm, Black In Fragrance, to fund more entrepreneurs, deepen mentorship programs, and keep pushing the industry toward equity from the inside out.
Most of all, success means MOODEAUX continues to stand for something bigger than product. That our community sees us not just as a brand, but as a cultural force—bold, inclusive, emotionally resonant, and unapologetically built for them. We’re not here to follow industry norms. We’re here to reshape them—and redefine what fragrance can mean to a new generation.
What's one industry trend that is overhyped, and what's being overlooked?
One trend that feels increasingly overhyped is the commodification of fragrance itself—especially as legacy brands and newcomers alike latch onto it as “the moment.” As someone who deeply respects perfumery as both a science and an artform, it’s disheartening to see the rise of dupe culture reducing fragrance to a checklist of notes and price points. It strips away the emotion, the innovation, the storytelling—and robs consumers of the chance to connect with something truly novel and distinctive.
While there’s room for accessibility and variety in every category, chasing sameness for virality’s sake stifles creativity and limits how the industry evolves. What’s being overlooked is the opportunity to explore the other senses more meaningfully—touch, sound, even taste—as ways to deepen how we experience scent. When we stop copying and start imagining, we not only serve people better—we open the door to entirely new rituals, categories, and cultural impact."
How do you think the industry needs to evolve?
The industry needs to evolve by dismantling the gatekeeping that continues to stifle innovation and exclude diverse voices. That starts with creating real pipelines for talent—early, intentionally, and consistently—and not just in response to public pressure. Diversity, equity, and inclusion shouldn’t be performative or conditional; it should be embedded into the DNA of how we operate, hire, formulate, and tell stories.
We also need to stop underestimating consumers. Today’s beauty buyers are informed, values-driven, and curious. They deserve more than surface-level marketing—they deserve transparency, accountability, and meaningful education. Respecting our audiences means speaking to them with nuance, inviting them into the process, and challenging outdated assumptions about who beauty is for and what it should do.
Evolution isn’t just about what we make—it’s about how we think, who we empower, and the impact we choose to leave behind."
If you could wave a magic wand, what one wish would you make for your business?
If I could wave a magic wand, I’d accelerate MOODEAUX into its next chapter of growth—with the infrastructure, capital, and strategic partnerships already in place to match the scale of our ambition. We’re building something intentional and culture-shifting, and with the right resources, we can expand our impact even more efficiently—reaching new markets, introducing innovative scent experiences, and deepening the emotional connection we’ve cultivated with our community.
This wish isn’t about filling gaps—it’s about unlocking the full potential of a brand that was built to lead. We know where we’re going. The magic lies in moving there with even greater speed, clarity, and purpose.
