Echelon Fragrances: Where Luxury Scents Meet Affordability
Photo Courtesy of Joèe Visuals
Janine De Castro, founder of Echelon Fragrances, first started creating perfumes as gifts for family and friends. What started as a fun present idea eventually transformed into a small business, and now Echelon has 11 different scents—each appropriate for anyone and any occasion. She believes that perfume can be really powerful in terms of capturing memories and displaying your feelings.
“I want to evoke every emotion. Obviously, I’d want the good emotions, but I think that the main feeling that I want people to get from my brand is confidence,” she explains. “Nothing feels better than when someone tells you, ‘You smell good.’”
Based in Calgary, Echelon is bringing enrichment to the city’s creative landscape one bottle at a time. After gathering all necessary items and teaching herself how to create perfume, De Castro landed her first market in May and has since attended many more across Calgary and Toronto. From marketing to packaging orders, she is in charge of every role, which is no easy task.
However, the young business owner has collaborated with other creatives to help her perfumery reach a broader scope of customers. As a result of networking with models and photographers, she also became the creative director behind a shoot designed to further promote her brand; an amazing experience for her.
De Castro finds that taking the time to create handcrafted products is special because she knows the time and love that went into each scent, ensuring that the quality is up to her own personal standards.
Photo Courtesy of Joèe Visuals
“The name Echelon comes from the saying ‘upper echelon.’ Usually, people associate that with upper ranking and higher levels of society, but I wanted to create my brand so that any person can wear something that feels luxurious even though it’s affordable.”
As a current full-time university student, De Castro plans to continue growing Echelon across platforms such as TikTok and Instagram but would love expanding to storefronts across Canada in the future.
“There aren’t enough Canadian brands, but there are so many mass-produced, big brand names, and I just recently, like a year ago, started getting into niche perfumes,” she says.
To De Castro, perfume is more than just a finishing touch to a good outfit—it’s a lifestyle. With an artistic drive and entrepreneurial mindset, she believes Echelon has a bright future ahead and is already developing at a stellar rate. She also emphasizes that anyone can pursue their dreams; they just need to make a plan and take their chance. Oftentimes, it can turn out to be one of the best decisions they’ve ever made.
Regardless of whether you’re more into sweet, spicy, musky, or fresh, she has a perfume for everyone. Echelon’s mission is about creating classic, rich, and clean scents that will leave meaningful impressions on those around you.
“I use the highest level of perfume oil content to perfumer’s alcohol because I want to make sure that my products are good quality and good performance.”
Author: Daria Orth
