EXCLUSIVE: RMS Beauty, Heretic Parfum Team Up on ‘Hauntingly Beautiful’ Fragrance

RMS Beauty has tapped a clean fragrance veteran for its first fragrance collaboration.

The beauty brand founded by Rose-Marie Swift has joined forces with Heretic Parfum for the launch of Scarlet Moon, the former’s first fragrance. The scent retails for $150 and will debut on both brands’ websites Tuesday.

Although it’s Swift’s first fragrance, she came to the table with strong opinions of what the fragrance should be — and what it shouldn’t. “I’m really sick of perfume invading your space,” she said. “I’ve been studying what’s in clean fragrances, and they’re no cleaner than half the ones out there. I got together with Douglas [Little, Heretic’s founder] and learned so much more.”

Scarlet Moon, which has 100 percent natural ingredients, features top notes of blood orange, petitgrain heart and Italian mandarin; heart notes of violet leaf absolute, galbanum, black pepper and fir needle, and base notes of hinoki, cedar leaf and Virginia cedarwood.

The idea, Swift said, was to encapsulate Savannah, Ga., where she lives — combined with aromatherapeutic ingredients.

“Rose-Marie wanted this fragrance to embody aspects of Savannah, and we got into this adjective play — she uses the term ‘hauntingly beautiful’ to describe the place,” Little said. “I spent a week with her, and that was a turning point for the development.”

It’s the latest in a slew of category expansions for RMS, which recently went bigger on skin care and introduced a tinted SPF last year.

The fragrance took a year to bring to fruition, Little said, adding that the idea was to carry Swift’s less-is-more ethos into a perfume. “Rose-Marie’s theory on makeup is about creating products that still allow a person to come through, and it’s not about putting a mask on someone,” he said. “I never wanted to make big, powerhouse fragrances. I wanted to make fragrances that allow the wearer to be a part of them.”