Van Dang Fragrances is gearing up for retail in tandem with a new category expansion.

Coinciding with the launch of seven extraits de parfum priced at $225 each, the brand is launching into Neiman Marcus in select doors and online in late April. Kim-Van Dang, who founded the brand, said she is also evaluating opportunities in international markets.

“When we first launched Van Dang, we were planning to launch with fine fragrance,” she said. “The pandemic happened, we had to pivot and that’s why home fragrance came first. But initially, we started by working on the fine fragrance juice.”

The category was always in the cards for Dang, who sees personal fragrance as a way to carry her brand’s mindful ethos outside of living spaces. Pointing to the scented crystal meditation sets she launched the brand with, “every time you get a whiff of that scent, it’s going to trigger a meditative memory,” Dang said. “The perfumes take that ball and keep running with it. It’s now on your skin and with you all day long.”

The juices for personal wear are a bit more nuanced with added notes from the originals in the home fragrances. “There is an intention behind every scent,” Dang said. Each of them has above 20 percent concentration of fragrance oils, and they feature name like Buddhapada, Rosa Luna, Solaire and Acid Washed Dream.

Buddhapada, for example, opens with top notes of cardamom, nutmeg and black pepper, highlights heart notes of cypriol and myrrh, and dries down to base notes of sandalwood and olibanum hyper-absolute.

The packaging took cues from both the home fragrance line, including a coral-inspired texture of the cap that mirrors Van Dang Fragrance’s reed diffusers, which draws its cantilevered shape from midcentury modern design.

The products will be merchandised alongside the home fragrance offering at Neiman Marcus. “It’s huge for us to showcase the entire collection together on the beauty floor,” Dang said.

“We work directly with the farmers to source fragrance oils globally. There’s no middle man, the farmers are vetted and they have to sign a pledge to never use pesticides and practice sustainable cultivation methods,” Dang said of the raw materials sourcing. “In exchange, we offer them fair trade pricing. We’re here to support each other.”