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“I like to bring to the market what I feel like is missing,” Tina Chen Craig, founder of U Beauty and known as the fashion world’s “Bag Snob,” tells me over Zoom. “I started U Beauty with the Resurfacing Compound, moved to the Super Hydrator, then my next product was something for arms. We have been defying expectations of what skincare can be ever since we launched.”
Today, Craig is swerving off the traditional path again: U Beauty is launching a fragrance. “I know people are going to go, ‘Oh, it’s going to smell clean and science-y,’ because that’s what our skin care is all about,” Craig says. But don’t judge a juice by its boxy, minimalist bottle—that isn’t Proem.
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Created by master perfumer and fragrance hottie Jérôme Epinette, Proem has notes of centifolia rose (a signature for Epinette), Chinese magnolia, lychee, rhubarb, pink peppercorn, and vetiver. “This fragrance is a journey and not a boring one,” he says of the scent, noting that it evolves throughout the day. “We tried to capture a beautiful day in the fragrance, waking up and having your morning tea, going through your day as a strong person. It's about effervescence; it’s about moments of sweetness.”
With 12 different notes, it’s a complex scent—following the U Beauty tradition. “When I launched Resurfacing Compound, everybody told me I couldn’t put all of these things into one bottle, but I did!” Craig says. Sure, it may seem like a risk, but it's one she’s taken (and hit a home run on) before. “This was the same approach, I wanted an entire fragrance wardrobe in one bottle. Proem is designed for bold, unapologetic women. That's what U Beauty is about.”
