Creator partnerships have become an increasingly visible part of fragrance innovation strategies, raising questions for manufacturers, ingredient suppliers and production partners about how these collaborations are structured behind the scenes. For brands, the challenge lies in scaling a social media persona into a commercially viable fragrance while maintaining brand standards.
In this Q&A, Ines Guien, COO and head of the creative lab, and Elsa Levy, CMO at Dossier, discuss how the company approaches creator-led fragrance development, using its latest collaboration with Lauren Giraldo as a reference point.
The conversation explores Dossier’s end-to-end process, offering insight into what this collaboration model means for partners across the fragrance value chain.
CDU: From a product development standpoint, how does Dossier structure the collaboration process with a creator, from initial concepting through final fragrance approval, to ensure the scent aligns with both the creator’s personal narrative and Dossier’s brand standards?
Guien and Levy: We view the creators we work with as true partners throughout the process. Once we sign a partner, we kick off with a conversation where my product development team can learn more about them.
We ask questions about their scent likes and dislikes – if there are any notes in particular they like along with more general questions about their lives such as their favorite places to visit or favorite foods. All of these questions help us establish the creator’s scent profile.
Once we have a good idea of the direction we’re going in, we get to work mixing up a few different variations that we think will be a hit. From there we usually do about 2 or 3 rounds of edits to the initial fragrance before finalizing.
We’ve been so lucky to work with partners who trust our expertise in bringing their ideas to life.
CDU: How are creators like Lauren Giraldo involved in olfactive decision-making, and what frameworks or guardrails does Dossier use to translate a creator’s lifestyle, audience, and emotional cues into a commercially viable fragrance brief?
Guien and Levy: Our partners are truly partners throughout the entire process and are fully integrated into the process. All of our partners were Dossier fans before we entered into a formal partnership, so they understand the brand – our ethos, our commitment to quality, our vision, etc. – from the beginning making for a smooth collaboration process.
When we work with a creator, we start the perfume-making process by hosting what we call “sniff-session”. During this meeting we work with the creator to understand their fragrance likes and dislikes, while having them experience different perfume notes to get a better understanding of who they are and what type of perfume they’d like to create with us.
It all comes together to create a perfume that captures the essence of the creator. Sometimes we’re looking to capture a specific moment in time or memory, and other times we’re trying to capture a mood. As we get into the visual components for the perfume, we also work with our partners to ensure the packaging captures the vibe they’re after.
CDU: Can you walk us through how Dossier balances creative input with technical considerations such as ingredient selection, IFRA compliance, cost targets, and scalability when developing a creator-led fragrance?
Guien and Levy: At Dossier, creative freedom never comes at the expense of quality or technical rigor; the two are designed to work together from day one.
When it comes to ingredient selection, our standard is non-negotiable. Whether we are developing a Dossier Original, Impression or a creator-led fragrance, we always work with the highest-quality ingredients available.
We collaborate closely with top perfumers and creators, but the quality bar at Dossier remains exactly the same across all projects. That consistency is part of our DNA and never changes.
IFRA compliance is equally important. Every fragrance we develop is fully IFRA-compliant and adheres to our internal quality charter. This is not a constraint we work around; it’s a framework we design within from the very beginning of the creative process.
On cost targets and scalability, our approach is intentionally holistic. One of the ways we enable both creativity and scale is through a highly standardized component ecosystem.
Across our fragrances, we use the same core elements: the same bottle, cap, and pump, which allows us to focus our creative and technical efforts where they truly matter: the juice, the label, and the packaging design. This structure gives us operational efficiency while preserving full creative expression.
From there, we continuously optimize. Our goal is always to create fragrances with strong commercial potential while improving cost efficiency over time as volumes scale.
Cost targets, scalability, and supply chain considerations are fully embedded in our development process, but they have never limited creativity. Instead, they allow us to bring high-quality, creator-led fragrances to market in a way that is sustainable, repeatable, and accessible.
In short, at Dossier, creativity and execution are not trade-offs; they are built to scale together.
CDU: What role does consumer insight or data, such as audience demographics, usage occasions, or purchasing behavior, play in shaping the fragrance profile and positioning of a creator collaboration like Dulce Flor?
Guien and Levy: For creator-led collaborations like Sweet Flowerwe take a slightly different approach to consumer insight. One that is deeply rooted in authenticity rather than traditional top-down data alone.
While we of course understand audience demographics and purchasing behaviors at a macro level, we place a great deal of trust in the creator’s own taste, intuition, and relationship with their community. Our belief is simple: if a fragrance genuinely resonates with the creator, it will naturally resonate with their audience.
That emotional alignment is incredibly powerful and difficult to replicate.
Creators like Lauren Girlado, who we collaborated with for Sweet Flower, have built a strong sense of authority and credibility with their audience over time. They understand not only what their community likes, but also how they live, how they express themselves, and when fragrance fits into their daily rituals.
That insight becomes a guiding force throughout the development process—from the olfactive direction to the positioning of the fragrance.
CDU: From a supply chain and manufacturing perspective, what additional planning or flexibility is required for creator collaborations compared to core fragrance launches, particularly in terms of forecasting, sourcing, and speed to market?
Guien and Levy: From a process standpoint, creator collaborations follow the same operational framework as our core fragrance launches. We deliberately designed our supply chain to be robust and repeatable, so we don’t reinvent the wheel for each project. That consistency is key to maintaining quality, reliability, and speed as we scale.
Where creator collaborations differ is primarily in volume expectations and responsiveness. These launches often generate higher initial demand and stronger momentum, so forecasting requires closer monitoring, especially in the early weeks post-launch.
Rather than overproducing upfront, we focus on building flexibility into the system and staying extremely reactive on replenishment once we see how the fragrance performs in the market.
Our ability to do this comes from two main strengths.
First, we operate with a highly standardized component ecosystem—shared bottles, caps, and pumps across most of our assortment—which significantly reduces sourcing complexity and lead times. Second, our innovation and production cycles are intentionally fast, allowing us to scale volumes quickly when demand accelerates.
CDU: Looking ahead, how do you see creator partnerships influencing fragrance innovation pipelines, and what should ingredient suppliers and manufacturing partners understand about supporting this growing collaboration model?
Guien and Levy: Creator partnerships are one important pillar of our fragrance innovation strategy, alongside our own original collections and our core impressions.
They are not the only way we innovate, but when there is a strong creative and cultural fit, they are incredibly exciting for us and can bring something truly distinctive to the brand.
