A veteran in the game of beauty influencing, 24-year-old content creator Monet McMichael is officially bringing her know-how to the realm of product development, too.
The TikTok star has joined forces with Snif to launch a fragrance called Rose Era on June 13. Retailing for $65, the perfume features notes of damascena and centifolia roses accompanied by strawberry, pear, saffron and laundry accord.
“Fragrance is a big part of the getting ready process,” said McMichael in an exclusive interview with WWD. “It’s that final touch — you’re not complete without it.”
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It was a chance dinner in New York that brought McMichael and Snif cofounder Phil Riportella together last summer, after which the pair became friends. “I remember fangirling because I had tried [Snif’s] Crumb Couture a month earlier and was just like, ‘oh my god, you created the most special fragrance,’ and we just hit it off,” McMichael said.
Founded in 2020 by Riportella and his partner, Bryan Edwards, Snif has made a name for itself in particular among Gen Z with its lifestyle-inspired fragrances and buzzy collaborations with people and brands like Stephanie Shepherd, The Goodtime Hotel and Prince.
The result of several all-hands “smell sessions” in New York conducted over the course of nearly a year, Rose Era marks Snif’s most intricate collaboration to date — and its first-ever floral fragrance.
“This campaign, the packaging, the scent and just working with Monet — one of the best people we’ve ever partnered with and who was so highly involved — I know we’re not supposed to have favorites but it’s been amazing,” said Riportella.
“We’ve never done [a fragrance] like this before,” added Edwards. “Some of the most successful fragrances of all time are almost always florals which have some kind of fruity element to them, so when Monet described what she wanted to do as being in this perfect fresh, floral, sweet, fruity arena — it felt like the stars aligned.”
For McMichael, one of the key draws of Rose Era is the range of its composition.
“I feel like I’ve learned [Rose Era] so many different ways through spraying it every day; it’ll feel like one thing, and then I’ll take a break and smell it again and it feels like she’s reborn — there are so many amazing notes and layers to it,” said McMichael, adding “she’s very warm; the rose is definitely the heart, but there’s also this kind of fresh feeling to it where I feel like I just took a shower and I spray it on and it’s like, ‘OK — I’m brand new.’”
Ahead of launch, 20 of McMichael’s closest friends will receive a curated PR gifting of the fragrance, as will 30 fans handpicked by McMichael.
“I got to pick from my YouTube comments and people who are constantly showing up in my Instagram DMs who I’ve been back and forth with — I’m excited they get to be a part of this journey,” she said.
Last winter McMichael collaborated on a limited-edition sunglasses collection with Desi Perkins’ Dezi eyewear brand, which sold out on the day of launch (“We took note,” laughed Riportella), and before that she codesigned an apparel collection for Amazon’s “The Drop.”
“I’m always constantly learning and evolving, but I feel like I’m starting more and more to apply what I’ve learned and shift into the businesswoman aspect of it,” said McMichael. “I love being behind the scenes — I love creating something that’s bigger than me.”
