Brown Girl Jane and Barbie Return With Encore, a Second Limited-Edition Fragrance
Updated: 5 days ago
Malaika and Nia Jones follow HALO with a richer gourmand, now available at Sephora.
By Black Beauty Founders Staff
Brown Girl Jane is heading back to the ballet. Less than two months after HALO introduced the brand's first fragrance with Barbie, the Black-owned fragrance house is following up with Encore, a second limited-edition eau de parfum inspired by Barbie in The Nutcracker.
Encore landed first in the Sephora app on October 22, followed by Sephora.com on October 23. It is a Sephora exclusive, sold online only, in a $102 full size and a $30 mini.
Round two goes richer
Where HALO played bright and fruity, Encore leans into dessert. The scent opens on spiced biscuit and caramelized sugar, settles into vanilla, praline and coconut crème brûlée, and finishes on tonka, ambrox and musk, which keep the sweetness from tipping over. Sephora files it under warm and spicy gourmands, a natural fit for the holiday season the Nutcracker story belongs to.
The campaign carries the theme all the way through. A pink vintage convertible wears an ENCORE license plate, satin pointe shoes swing from a model's hand, and still lifes set the frosted bottle into crème brûlée, whipped cream and spiced biscuits, so the dessert notes land before you ever smell them.
HALO set the stage. Created for the 25th anniversary of Barbie in the Nutcracker, it arrived September 1 as a Sephora exclusive, pairing blackberry and coconut water with vanilla orchid and golden amber in a soft blush bottle. A second drop this quickly is a strong signal for the partnership.
The founders behind the bottle
Brown Girl Jane is led by Founder and CEO Malaika Jones and co-founder Nia Jones. The brand was the first winner of the Sephora Beauty Grant with The 15 Percent Pledge, and in 2024 it became the first Black woman-owned fine fragrance line sold on Sephora.com. Its Sephora assortment now spans full sizes, travel sprays and gift sets.
Mattel is marking the Nutcracker anniversary with a year-long celebration that includes a new animated special on Netflix, a picture book and a slate of consumer product partners such as Funko, Hallmark, Loungefly and Crayola. In that lineup, Brown Girl Jane holds the fragrance seat, and now it has filled it twice.
The founder takeaway
A collaboration that earns a second drop is no longer a one-off. It is a partnership. The founders were trusted with one of the most recognized names in the world and asked to build the actual product, and the follow-up shows that trust paid off on both sides.
For emerging founders, the lesson is to look beyond other beauty companies. Entertainment, sports, travel, hospitality, food, music and licensed characters are all on the table when the fit makes sense for the product and introduces you to a meaningful new customer. Start a list of the worlds your customer already loves. That list is your partnership pipeline.
Encore is available now in the Sephora app and on Sephora.com, while supplies last.
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