About Us & FAQs
What is Nômajee?
Nômajee is a zero-waste, sustainably sourced, vegan fine fragrance and travel lifestyle brand based in London.
Our offerings are available only via nomajee.com and bedside at select UK and European boutique hotels.
“Nômajee” is the phonetic spelling of the term nomad in Brazilian Português.
Who founded the brand?
You can stick to the tourist trail of life, or you can create your own path. This is the mindset of the brand’s London based globetrotting founder, Ash Huzenlaub, who only feels settled when his triple citizen tribe is on the move.
A former global hostel hopper and free-fly skydiver, Ash has always felt at home both as an entrepreneur and explorer. He built Commodity, a recently acquired cult fragrance brand which won distribution across 30 countries and 642 retail stores, mostly under LVMH. Huzenlaub led Commodity to two finalist rankings for Fragrance of the Year and $23 million in cumulative global retail sales.
Nômajee is Ash’s next chapter in unisex fine fragrance. The brand is fully family owned serving as personal passion project - moreover a hobby, rather than a growth story.
Who is the artisan behind Nômajee’s fragrances?
Nômajee’s vegan, sustainably sourced fragrances are the exclusive creation of master perfumer Frank Voelkl of Firmenich Fine Fragrances.
Frank is German born, French trained and renowned the world over for his nose, creating some of the most iconic indie scents over the past decade.
From his earliest years, Frank has been sensitive to the olfactive world around him. He has vivid memories of his uncle's farm in the German countryside - where pungent barnyard odors like hay and fresh rain first piqued his interest in the scents of nature.
Throughout his childhood, he has strong memories of his mother's rich, warm chypre fragrances. As a teen in Paris, he remembers arresting "statement" scents of the late '80's that were everywhere as he walked down the city streets.
Appropriately, it was in Paris that Frank first considered becoming a perfumer and later graduated from the prestigious ISIPICA. Frank’s contributions to creating fragrance portfolios and therefore, growth trajectories for brands like Le Labo, Commodity, Glossier and others cannot be understated.
Who is the brand agency behind Nômajee?
Nômajee’s brand identity was the work of London design house, ICO.
ICO Design was behind the creation of numerous beloved consumer brands including Deciem, Commodity, Avestan, Snog, and Burst.
Nômajee is the result of the ICO team digging into the spirit of what makes the founder and his vision tick. Freedom, exploration, an open mind and the desire for each person that experiences Nômajee fragrances to interprit them in their own way.
What is Nômajee’s social channel?
Nômajee’s brand social media is found @nomajee and @nomajee.diaries on Instagram and the e-newsletter found at the bottom of this page.
On Instagram, we hope you will hashtag #nomajee with artisitic photos of your Nômajee offerings and experiences.
What’s on Nômajee’s brand playlist?
We are in constant rotation of all things Bon Entendeur.
What should I know before buying a fragrance from Nômajee?
At Nômajee, we ask that you not purchase any of our custom labeled larger bottles (50 - 100ml) until you have tried 2ml samples of our fragrances on your own skin first for a day and night. It is not enough to have “smelled it on a friend” as fragrances interact differently with each person’s skin.
The cost of entry to the Nômajee sample experience is £6 per 2ml travel spray available here on this site.
As Nômajee’s larger bottles (50ml and 100ml) have custom labels with your name on them, they cannot be returned. We do not offer refunds.
We are in no rush to sell you a fine fragrance and you should not be in a rush to buy one. This will be an experience that lives in your wardrobe for years to come. So buy a sample, take your time, wear it, and see how it fits you.
If our fragrance samples are to your liking, you know where to come for a larger bottle. Waste not… if you do not like the initial sample, share what is left with friends and family who may like it.
Why does Nômajee charge for samples?
We put a great deal of time and investment into creating our fine fragrances. The eau de parfum in our hand filled 2ml samples is the same exact high quality “juice” you will receive in our larger bottles.
We aim to build a waste-free consumer brand and samples represent one of the largest waste components in the beauty industry. There is value in our creation and we see no sense in littering the environment with thousands of free samples.
We are also intentionally not a mass market brand. We enjoy being hard to get, a bit out of the public eye. When you wear a Nômajee fragrance, you are likely to be the only one in the room, on a plane, in a bed …anywhere wearing our fragrance. Our fragrances become a conversation starter. There is value in being unique.
How do I wear a fragrance?
Spray fragrance on the areas of your skin that you choose… your wrists, your neck, pulse points. Let it dry down naturally. It is best not to rub your skin together as most people do because that damages the fragrance dry-down process which can eliminate top and middle notes.
We do not recommend you spray eau de parfums on clothing or textiles. Fine fragrances like those from Nômajee include essential oils which may discolour some materials.
How do I care for fine fragrance?
Keep your fine fragrances in a cool place free of sunlight. At Nômajee, we keep our most expensive fragrances in the fridge.
Why are you launching the brand with only one fragrance?
Less is more. We personally love our first fragrance, Nômajee Um and it represents our brand’s entry into the world. We hope you love it too. Over time you will find additional fragrances launched from Nômajee and announced via our e-newsletter below and social media channels.
In our previous brand lives, we created 26 different indie fragrances, each in three different sizes shipped to 30 countries and 642 retail doors. Three of the 26 fragrances represented 60% of our total sales. At Nômajee, we are focusing on offering a small selection of fine fragrances at any one time. We will likely not have more than three fragrances on offer at any given time. Some may grow to be beloved award winners, some may be retired. Some will be brought back for limited time re-releases.
How does Nômajee name its fragrances?
Each Nômajee fragrance is numbered in the order it was introduced to the world. We select the phonetic spelling for the language of the culture that inspired the fragrance and its ingredients.
For example, “Um” is the spelling for “one” in Brazilian Português. As it is our first fragrance, it is a nod to Brazil where our founder’s first two sons were born. Frank Voelkl, who travels to Brazil annually included Santos Coffee and a dark rose from Brazil as part of the ingredients when he formulated Um.
Most importantly, we do not want to influence your experience with our fragrances by giving them commercial names. The experience each individual has with our fragrances will be completely different. Memories our fragrances evoke, the joy you experience is your own. We hope you will tell us about your unique scent experiences on Instagram @nomajee.
Our next fragrances will be Nômajee Zweig (2 in German) and Nômajee Trois (3 in French). Both are the work of Frank Voelkl as well. When they are ready, they will be ready. We rush nothing, have no retailer deadlines, no seasonal launches, nothing commercial. Stay tuned to our instagram channels and enjoy the eye candy clickbait between fragrance launches.
Who can purchase Nômajee fragrances?
Our website is open to sales in the UK.
Due to increasingly challenging issues for UK based brands surrounding Brexit, Nômajee is still navigating duties being imposed on our EU customers. If you are in Europe, let’s give it a try. Should something arise with shipping, we will address it on a case by case basis.
Everyone else around the planet that wants to experience Nômajee… have a friend visiting London pick up our fragrances for you. The reason is that brands cannot post flammable fragrance via air abroad at a reasonable cost. If someone you know is visiting and staying in central London, we will courier / motoboy 50-100ml sales to them same day and they can bring Nômajee fragrances back to you in their checked luggage. Simply put their London hotel address as your shipping destination and feel free to email us at explore@nomajee.com with any questions or instructions.
What other offerings are coming from Nômajee?
As travelers can discover our Nômajee Exploration bags bedside in select UK and European boutique hotels, we will offer the same Nômajee branded rolling papers and condom pouches from those kits on this site soon as well.
We are also awaiting the arrival of our 7.5ml Nômajee travel spray case which is currently being crafted in France. This device is what the brand will center around allowing you to always be on the go with our scents.
We welcome proposals for brand collaborations at explore@nomajee.com
How is Nômajee waste-free?
You do not need to throw anything that comes from our brand away. As the “N” funnel design in our logo implies, our bottles are refillable and we have done away with what is called “secondary packaging.”
After you have used the fragrance in your 50ml or 100ml bottle, send it back to us in the recyclable box you received it in and we will clean the bottle, refill and relabel it for you. We will also welcome back your original sample sprays.
Further, every fragrance we sell is filled on order. We have no warehouses filled with finished goods that may or may not be sold waiting to ship to retailers who may or may not sell through it and send us chargebacks …which often leads to FMCG expiring and being destroyed no matter how green brands may paint themselves. Beyond a desire to be directly connected to our customer, inventory is a major reason Nômajee does not operate in traditional retail environments. This also allows us to be a family based business with no employees. We were profitable from the first sample.
Additionally, our primary packaging for our fragrances utilise only “stock” components (bottles, sprays, caps) where we can order low “moq’s” (minimum order quantities) and therefore keep production waste to an absolute minimum on primary packaging. What you want is the scent experience, not to pollute the planet. Nômajee keeps our packaging simple to consciously deliver you a guilt-free pleasure in fine fragrance.
All other products and travel accessory items we offer either under our brand or through a collaboration will be limited runs guaranteed to sell out. Here again, we do not use what we do not need in sourcing materials.
The exception on waste-free products is our condom pouches. Scientists are still working on that. We believe in safety, so that was a tradeoff.
Where is Nômajee positioned in the fragrance industry?
Nômajee is in the category of “indie” fine fragrance eau de parfums. The profile of person that enjoys our fragrances typically is not the same customer that is buying mass category fragrances in department stores.
Nômajee is in a space of the fragrance industry where founders are peers and friends, not competitors. We help each other scale our brands and work together to award the highest quality and best serving vendors (often based in France) our business in order to best serve you.
In terms of quality eau de parfums that acknowledge the true creators of their formulations, we ask that in addition to Nômajee, you support brands like Commodity and the bad boys at Etat Libre d’Orange which are both predominantly available online and fantastically led brands. We are also fans as well of some formerly niche brands that stayed true to their roots / principles like Frédéric Malle, Byredo, Le Labo, Atelier, tfk (The Fragrance Kitchen), and Avestan.
The true niche fragrance lover today has on average 7 different scents in their collection, so the above list of brands is a great pathway to begin your niche journey if you are just starting out.
Does Nômajee barter?
Yes, our founder will consider barter proposals of our offerings in retail cost for cost exchange for your fine creations whether it is lifestyle goods, fashion, artisanal foods ….or even use of your AirBnB gratis in European locations. It is indeed beautiful to own your own brand. Email us your barter proposals at explore@nomajee.com
Media inquiries?
If we have not answered your questions above, we are happy to discuss our brand and industry perspectives with you. Simply email explore@nomajee.com. Photography may be used from our gallery, though we invite you to create your own imagery when possible.
Nômajee media mentions:
The House of Smells: Nômajee is included in this September 2021 story focusing on Swiss based fragrance house Firmenich.