Before she became a fragrance founder, Funmi Monet was a Nigerian-American graduate student training to become a licensed therapist, while working part-time at the perfume counter at Dillard’s. It was behind that counter that she first developed an interest in fragrance, years before she started posting about perfumes online in 2018. Those posts eventually grew into a following of nearly a million people across Instagram and TikTok, making Monet one of the breakout voices of what would become known as Perfume TikTok. In July 2026, she took that online community into the world of fine fragrance with the launch of Influxious, her own fragrance brand, which debuted exclusively at Sephora.
When it came time to create Influxious, Monet wanted to be involved in making the fragrances herself. She joined the Sephora Accelerate program and, in 2025, earned an Art of Perfumery certification from ISIPCA in Versailles, France. She then worked directly with Mane perfumer Gino Percontino to develop Influxious’s first four eaux de parfum. Nigerian ginger became the one note that tied the collection together, giving each fragrance a connection to Monet’s heritage while still allowing each one to have its own character.
That difference comes through in the four scents. Gold Standard is a warm, spicy caramel fragrance built around blood orange, bergamot and the signature ginger note, which Monet has described as smelling like confidence itself. Magic Hour is fruitier and more playful, combining dragon fruit and watermelon with coconut milk, jasmine and chili pepper. Monet calls it her “ankle-approved” scent, her own term for a fragrance so good that she wants to spray it all the way down. High Life draws most directly from Monet’s Nigerian background. Inspired by Detty December and the energy of Lagos at night, it uses raspberry and frankincense and pays tribute to Fela Kuti’s role in creating Afrobeat. Then there is Well Loved, Monet’s take on the skin-scent category. Instead of using the soapy and powdery notes often associated with skin scents, she built it around shea butter and cashmeran, drawing on childhood memories of her mother rubbing cocoa butter and shea butter into her skin.
Those Nigerian influences are part of a bigger idea behind Influxious. Monet has said she wants to challenge the belief that French perfumery has to set the standard for the industry. She also wants African-based fragrance brands to have the chance to grow into major global businesses rather than remain small niche brands. With Influxious now being sold at Sephora, she has taken that idea into one of the biggest beauty retailers in the United States, joining a small group of African-founded fragrance brands that have secured mainstream U.S. retail space.
