Brown Sugar Babe’s Essence of Alchemy Is Here: 10 Scents Inspired by Ex Nihilo
Maekaeda Gibbons reimagines ten Paris niche perfumes as Brown Sugar Babe fragrance body oils, starting at $65.
By Black Beauty Founders Staff
Brown Sugar Babe just stepped into niche perfume territory, and it brought ten bottles with it.
Essence of Alchemy, the new collection from founder Maekaeda Gibbons, launches today, October 23, with ten fragrances inspired by Ex Nihilo, the Paris perfume house known for its rare, high-concentration scents. Each one comes as a Brown Sugar Babe fragrance body oil in a 4-ounce spray bottle with a gold cap, in plastic or glass.
Alchemy, not imitation
Brown Sugar Babe is clear about the intent. On its collection page, the brand says plainly, “This isn’t a dupe collection.” Instead, each scent takes what makes the original special and translates it into Brown Sugar Babe’s own voice: wearable, layerable and honest about what is in the bottle.
The price gap is part of the story. At Harrods, Ex Nihilo’s Fleur Narcotique eau de parfum sells for £260 a bottle. Every scent in Essence of Alchemy sits between $65 and $97.
Meet the ten scents
Rebellious
Inspired by The Irreverents. A spiced gourmand made for after dark. A flash of pink pepper warms into saffron, then settles into a smooth caramel glow over vanilla and ambergris.
Notes: saffron, pink pepper, caramel, jasmine, tonka bean, vanilla, ambergris. $75 plastic, $77 glass.
Forbidden Flower
Inspired by Fleur Narcotique. Fresh enough to feel innocent at first spray, with litchi, osmanthus and bergamot, before jasmine and musk turn it soft and intimate.
Notes: litchi, osmanthus, bergamot, peony, orange blossom, freesia, jasmine, musk, sandalwood, moss. $75 plastic, $77 glass.
Wonder of the World
Inspired by 10019 Wonders. Dessert, dressed for evening. Creamy almond, dates and caramel sink into cacao and dark vanilla, the kind of scent that makes people lean in and ask.
Notes: almond, dates, caramel, orange blossom, cacao pod, dark vanilla. $65 plastic, $67 glass.
Painkiller
Inspired by My Sweetest Morphine. Clean, powdery and easy to wear all day. Lilac and mimosa float over a soft musk and vetiver base, like fresh sheets and an open window.
Notes: lilac, ozonic notes, bergamot, mimosa, solar notes, rose, musk, patchouli, vetiver. $65 plastic, $67 glass.
Jagged Edge
Inspired by Spiky Muse. Rose with a little attitude. Strawberry and pink pepper sweeten the top, a pistachio heart keeps it interesting, and tonka and cedarwood keep it from ever reading soft.
Notes: bergamot, pink pepper, strawberry, rose, pistachio, akigalawood, Ambrofix, cedarwood, tonka bean. $65 plastic, $67 glass.
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Crimson Desert
Inspired by Scarlet Sands. The last hour of daylight, bottled. Raspberry and orange blossom glow over warm amber and vanilla, built for a big night out.
Notes: raspberry, mandarin, orange blossom, jasmine, freesia, amber, akigalawood, vanilla. $75 plastic, $77 glass.
Glitterati
Inspired by Vesper Glitz. A floral that comes alive by candlelight. Neroli and ylang-ylang lead, with vanilla and musk underneath so it stays warm, never sugary.
Notes: neroli, mandarin orange, pink pepper, ylang-ylang, mimosa, jasmine, vanilla, tonka bean, musk, cedar. $65 plastic, $67 glass.
Ecstasy
Inspired by Lust in Paradise Extrait. Fruit, spice and petals in balance. Blackcurrant, ginger and rose settle into musk and cedarwood, and it wears close enough to pull people in.
Notes: rosyfolia, blackcurrant, pink pepper, ginger, rose, petalia, jasmine sambac, musk, Ambrofix, akigalawood, cedarwood. $95 plastic, $97 glass.
Epicurean
Inspired by The Hedonist Extrait. The most versatile bottle in the lineup. Grapefruit and ginger keep it bright up top, while amberwood and vetiver hold it steady from morning to late night.
Notes: grapefruit, bergamot, ginger, akigalawood, cedarwood, lychee, amberwood, vetiver, tonka bean, patchouli. $65 plastic, $67 glass.
London Legend
Inspired by Brompton Immortals Extrait. The deepest, most resinous scent of the ten. A plush rose softened by vanilla and warmed with saffron, finished with frankincense and white musk.
Notes: saffron, pink pepper, lysylang, jasmine, Bulgarian rose, patchouli, vanilla, olibanum, white musk. $75 plastic, $77 glass.
The founder behind the formula
Gibbons never set out to become a fragrance founder. She was a loan officer at Bank of America, mixing scents to manage stress, when coworkers started asking what she was wearing. As she put it on The Fashionista Network, “Fragrance isn’t something that you can contain into your cubicles.”
She launched Brown Sugar Babe in 2018 with $300 from her kitchen, naming it after D’Angelo’s “Brown Sugar.” By 2025 the brand had passed $20 million in sales without outside investment, opened its first flagship store in Atlanta, and sold out at Sephora on day one.
A lesson in launching with a map
For founders, the smartest part of this launch may be how it is merchandised. Ten new scents can overwhelm a shopper, so Brown Sugar Babe built a discovery page around them: a five-question quiz, an edit by occasion, and a layering guide that pairs each new bottle with oils already in the catalog, from Rich Aunty to Crème de la Crème.
The result is a launch that sells more than itself. Every new bottle points shoppers back to the products they already love.
Where to shop
Essence of Alchemy is available now at brownsugarbabe.net. Each scent comes in a 4-ounce plastic or glass bottle, with glass running $2 more. Building a full fragrance wardrobe? See our Fragrance by Mood edit for more Black-owned scents.
Paris inspired it. Brown Sugar Babe made it hers.
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