Opening Ceremony’s Former Art Director Made A Body Care Line Solely For Your Pleasure

As so many good ideas begin, Baude body care was born out of a group chat. Former Opening Ceremony art director Heather Rosenthal, along with her best friends Monica Ha and Charlotta Hellichius, have been sharing beauty-product recommendations with one another via text and over dinner conversations for years. But it wasn’t until 2020 that they realized they were all disappointed by their body care routines — and that they should do something about it. This week, the trio debuted Baude, a scent-centric body care brand, with a first collection named Darkwave Utopia.

When it came to designing Baude, the founders say they noticed that most other new body care brands were quick to copy the facial skin care model by introducing solutions to perceived flaws. “We’ve seen great progress towards body positivity, but body care as a category just didn’t seem to be keeping up,” Ha tells NYLON. So instead of honing in on criticism, Baude focuses entirely on pleasure and enjoyment with sophisticated fragrances and elegant formulas in the form of body wash and lotion (for now). Rosenthal says Baude’s unusual mindset is in part inspired by her time at Opening Ceremony. “It was formative because it was a creativity-first company that always chased audacious ideas,” she says. “It’s the same risk-taking mindset we’re going after with Baude.”

Baude’s scents are not only more nuanced and luxe than your average drugstore body products, but they’re also what the brand calls functional — they contain a patented technology that’s meant to elicit pleasure and uplift the user’s mood. (This was tested and measured by taking brain scans of people before and after smelling the scents.) The first scent release, Darkwave Utopia, is meant to boost your energy and relieve tension with green notes of fresh-cut stems and orchids, grounded with hearty pumpernickel and the surprise note of tar. But, every season, Baude plans to launch a new scent in collectible, limited-edition bottles that fragrance lovers will be clamoring to collect before they sell out.

Darkwave Utopia is available now on baudeny.com. The two-piece collection includes a body wash and lotion, available as a set for $66.