Fragrance has a direct and powerful link to memories. You can close your eyes, take a single whiff of perfume, and allow yourself to be whisked away to faraway places.
House of Bō, in essence, is a love letter to Mexico. Founder Bernardo Möller tells Bustle that the scents are deeply personal to his own core memories — yet each bottle of luxe juice goes much further than just himself.
“In perfumery, it’s usually Europeans who [do the] storytelling — but it’s never Mexicans,” Möller shares via Zoom. “Every single perfume is inspired by something from my childhood in Mexico. Not only do we try to use ingredients that are endemic to Mexico, but everything is related to my memories [and] we celebrate Mexican craftsmanship.”
Below, Möller shares more about House of Bō’s perfumes, the ways in which the brand is challenging the industry, and the scent that he considers his “soul fragrance.”
House of Bō Is Liquid Nostalgia
House of Bō is only a few years old, though in many ways, the indie brand is leaving its mark on the industry. “We launched in 2021 [and] we’ve been very lucky with the way people have received [our scents]. I think it’s because people recognize that [House of Bō] is a brand with a lot of intention and purpose,” says Möller. “The thread between all of our fragrances is ‘nature’ — [they all] smell very natural and are transportive.”
Explaining the origin of the brand’s name, Möller goes on to say that “Bō is the phonetic sound for ‘beautiful’ [in French] and is a word I’ve always loved. [Bō epitomizes] ‘quiet luxury’ as our scents are luxurious, but not ostentatious.”
La Mar Eau De Parfum — which is filled with notes like Mexican gardenia and seawater — is currently the brand’s most popular. Though Möller’s “soul fragrance” is something entirely different.
“They’re all my babies, so it’s hard to choose [a favorite],” says Möller. “Right now, I’m loving the new concentration of Espíritu with the tiger’s eye cap. It’s this woody musk with a touch of floral, and it evokes a nostalgic feeling. It’s an homage to my father, so it’s a very special scent to me.”
Mexican Artisans Handcraft Each Cap
Aside from purposeful inspiration taken from Mexican culture and fragrance notes, House of Bō also celebrates his home country’s artisanship.
“Our caps are hand-sculpted one by one by local Mexican artisans, so you’ll never see two bottles that are the same,” Möller shares. “The bottles are also hand-polished, so they almost look like crystal. It really makes us unique.”
Möller explains that House of Bō initially launched to market with three eau de parfums ($290 each) and a parfum primer ($65), the former with beige travertine marble stone caps.
More recently, the brand has released six parfums with higher concentration formulas ($365 each), all possessing a unique crystal cap that embodies the energy of the aroma.
La Mar Parfum, for example, has a milky white quartz cap that nods to its white floral, cool coconut, and creamy almond milk signature. Romantic and rose-filled Rosario Parfum, on the other hand, has a light pink rose quartz cap to coincide with the scent.
Bō’s Perfume Primer
When it comes to perfume application, it’s no secret that moisturized skin allows for a longer lasting scent. (It’s a big reason why many popular scents are often paired with a lotion of the same aroma).
House of Bō, however, has created a perfume primer that preps skin for fragrance — much like an eyeshadow primer creates the ideal base for eyeshadow pigments to really pop (and stay put) on one’s lids.
Formulated with key ingredients like hyaluronic acid, vitamin E, and aloe vera, the Nourishing Parfum Primer is meant to be applied wherever one spritzes on perfume.
As a bonus, Möller explains that it’s not just for Bō scents. The primer is compatible with your entire perfume collection as it’s entirely fragrance-free.
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