They say the most difficult roads lead to the most beautiful destinations.

So was the narrative with budding fragrance entrepreneur Fancy Acholonu.

The former L’Oréal model was going through what she called a dark time in her life, having trudged through a breakup and losing her mother, when she found the light at the end of the tunnel. While enrolled at a perfume school in her native Los Angeles, she used scent as a means to cope with her losses. Scent became her winding, flower-lined path to healing and acceptance. There, she was trained by instructors who walked her through the various scent categories and taught her how to formulate, but it was through this self-love journey that helped her bottle up something beautiful.

Scent of a Woman

The awakening aroma of Moroccan orange blossom, the serenity of lavender, the sweetness of vanilla, the sophistication of rose and the grounded Mother Earth charm of jasmine and cedarwood would make up what she called the “Simply Fancy” woman.

Channeling the dichotomy of a bougie girl in the “no-makeup” makeup look in the daytime and the fanciest woman in the room in the evening, the scent marries the vulnerability and prowess of a real woman having real experiences, she said.

After encouragement from family, friends and classmates, Acholonu’s scent-making proved not only a redemptive experience, but one of alchemy as she turned this period of self-reflection into a lucrative business that bore fruit, or in the case, blooms of flowers.

As Happi previously reported, Simply Fancy launched in May 2023 with a modest, palm-sized bottle lined with delicate flowers and a gold cap. Fifteen months later, Acholonu did the intoxicating floral justice with a bold rebrand housed in a larger, vanity-worthy bottle. The fragrance now contains rose extract to give the juice a hint of pink to match the cap; the glass bottle is bedecked in gold with “SF” in 3D lettering.

The rebrand is a reflection of the fragrance’s growth in the last year just as much as Acholonu’s personal evolution into womanhood.

“I really wanted to relay the message, which is women empowerment, femininity, sexy and feeling beautiful,” she told Happi. “As women nowadays, we’re working a lot more than we used to. We’re so busy. When you spray this, it just reminds you of this soft pink self of yours that I want people to embrace. This rebrand represents me today: the new and improved Fancy. The Fancy that is aware of life and really stops and smells the roses.”

The Simply Fancy fragrance can be shopped at simplyfancy.co and Etsy. Follow the brand on Instagram @simplyfancy.co.

Listen to The Happi Podcast with Fancy Acholonu.