What Makes a Viral Perfume? Tips for Long-Lasting Scent, Perfume Layering and an In-Person, Custom Fragrance Atelier with The 7 Virtues’ Barb Stegemann

Barb Stegemann is back to inspire us once more, just in time for Mother’s Day! Also known as the “Philosopher Queen,” Barb is a longtime friend of our show and a complete force to be reckoned with in the beauty business.

Barb launched The 7 Virtues fragrance brand out of her garage in Halifax, Nova Scotia on International Women’s Day back in 2010, after her best friend, Capt. Trevor Greene, was wounded in Afghanistan by the Taliban while serving there.

Barb then sowed the seeds of what would become a historic social enterprise and commercial success story, buying fair-trade essential oils from farmers in war-torn regions to make perfumes for peace — and now The 7 Virtues is in 2,000 Sephora stores around the world.

Tune in to hear about:

• What makes a viral moment: why The 7 Virtues “Santal Vanille and “Amber Vanilla” were the clean perfumes to pop off on TikTok
• Why “Vanilla Woods,” launched in 2018, was years ahead of the gourmand trend, and what makes it the brand’s bestseller to this day
• What makes a fragrance “clean” anyway? Barb explains fragrance load, organic sugar-cane alcohol and a 24-hour wear test
• Why “Strawberry Jam” is the biggest launch in brand history, and why Barb believes everyone wants to smell like layer cake at this moment in time
• Inside The 7 Virtues Atelier on the Halifax Waterfront, and a major scoop on Barb’s expansion plans for the custom fragrance concept store
• The Sephora full-circle moment: from taking part in Sephora Accelerate in 2018 to mentoring the next class of Sephora Squad creators in 2026
• “Dragons’ Den,” redux: the original pitch that landed Brett Wilson's $125,000 investment (a reported 56-fold return), and what it felt like to return as a guest dragon for the show's 20th anniversary
• Why being underestimated is a gift, and the Marcus Aurelius wisdom Barb has repeated to her kids since they were small: “Be prepared to meet the angry, the lost, the jealous, the jaded. Now lead.”

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For any products or links mentioned in this episode, check out our website: https://breakingbeautypodcast.com/episode-recaps/

Related episodes like this:

• The 7 Virtues Founder Barb Stegemann (original airdate in 2017)
• What Bite Beauty Founder Susanne Langmuir is Banking on Next
• “Perfume Princess” Mona Kattan On Kayali’s Meteoric Rise at Sephora, The Secrets to Fragrance Layering and Is Your Signature Scent Overrated?

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