Media personality and ZAlebs fave Boity Thulo has launched her first scent, Boity Pink Sapphire.
Read more: Boity Launches Her Own Fragrance - Boity Pink Sapphire
Read more: Boity Launches Her Own Fragrance - Boity Pink Sapphire
The Eau De Parfum, which was created in collaboration with Hailo Heritage, is a poetic, modern fragrance created to express the perfect harmony of sensuality and strength. It's the first of its kind for Halo Heritage, a brand dedicated to creating luxury beauty ranges for Africans by Africans.
Ahead of the fragrance's launch, ZAlebs caught up with the media personality to find out more about her latest venture that sees her stepping into new territory with the likes of Connie Ferguson, Gert-Johan Coetzee and Zodwa Wabantu.
For the bottle’s vibrant, multifaceted jewel shape and packaging, Boity felt that the colour turquoise perfectly encapsulated the serenity and sensuality that Pink Sapphire represents.
The colour turquoise is one that is the star's favourite and one she has previously used when it comes to her business ventures, her toning supplements were also turquoise.
Boity Pink Sapphire has a personal touch of the star with a representation of a necklace she is always wearing. Boity explains that the necklace is something she is always wearing and literally is like an extension of her.
"We just thought felt like it would be a fun catch to the packaging to add such a personal touch of me," says Boity.
For the fragrance, Boity and Halo Heritage worked with French perfumer, Emilie Bouge, who has over 22 years of experience in the art of perfumery.
Halo Heritage handled communication with Emilie, and they made sure to get Boity's wishes across in terms of what she wanted the fragrance to smell like and the kind of feelings she wanted to evoke.
"I think them (Halo Heritage) communicating with Emile was perfect cause she knew exactly what to do and put together and what kind of notes and oil bases to put together in order to create what she felt is what I actually anticipating in terms of what I wanted it to smell like, "explains Boity.
When it came to deciding whether to work with Halo Heritage, Boity says it all started with the energy, as to her "energies speak much louder than the ideas that are put on the table."
"The first thing was the energy was fantastic but more than anything it was about what Halo Heritage stands for, they are all about empowering African women, they all about celebrating African black women."
Boity further explains that Halo Heritage was in par with what she stands for and that made trusting them with the collaboration easy and she hasn't regretted it once since they began their journey.
"I’m very grateful that I took the plunge to go ahead with them because they have taught me so much but also they have shown me so much love and care in the creation process that I cannot wait to work with them for an even longer process because they are just fantastic"
With the fragrance, Boity is stepping into new waters, a whole new market but she has no reservations about this boss move she is making and in terms of what she wants to achieve Boity explains.
"What I hope to achieve is that I hope to inspire more black African women to realise that there is so much potential to tap into within themselves and there are such incredible opportunities that they can create or are there. But also, to show the possibilities of what can be done. I hope to inspire the next great thing that will be done by another African woman."
When it comes to making business moves, Boity has learnt her fair share of lessons but they have not stopped her from continuing her entrepreneurship journey.
"I’ve learnt so much. Firstly, with entrepreneurship, you are going to encounter a lot of failures. You are going to fail, and I think for me the thing is to keep going to try the next thing. Don’t give up the first time just because it failed the first time and it always going the be the case, as the saying says Rome was not built in one day," says Boity.
When it comes to business, Boity says that she has also learnt not to take anything personally and she shares that along the way you lose friends as she says.
"There is no friendship in business. It’s been a very rough lesson but again business is business. If one idea does not work, don’t get married it and so attached to it that if it doesn’t work you feel like it’s the end of the world. Move on and continue.
I think it's more about getting married to the journey of entrepreneurship as opposed to one idea because there will be billions of ideas and it’s okay to keep trying"
Boity is one woman who has a full plate of activities, but she does not feel like is juggling too much or losing parts of herself.
"I’m doing things that I enjoy things that are fulfilling. Nothing that I decide to put on my plate is draining or makes me feel like why am I doing this? That’s when it feels like you are juggling a lot. I’m enjoying every single part of the plate and everything is appetizing, everything is enjoyable, everything is what I love".
The media personality recently announced that she would be launching her own foundation, which she says is a steppingstone in formalizing what she usually does on social media.
"I felt like that maybe I should put this on a formal platform so that I can get proper assistance in making a difference in people’s lives and it's still something I am figuring out and putting together because it’s something I intend to have for the rest of my life."
The star still has a few things to do in terms of getting her foundation up and running and making it work but she cannot wait for things to get moving.
When it comes to social media Boity is one person who does not hold back when it comes to sharing what is on her mind.
"I try and be authentic and honest on social media. Whatever I put out is an authentic view and I hope that now that I’m posting about Boity Pink Sapphire people are going to be as involved and I hope people buy it. That is all that matters."
Boity is not only a businesswoman, but she is also a rapper and her fans have been eager for her to release more music and she assures us that is more on the way.
"I’m almost done with my full body of work, I’m dropping an EP sometime this year that’s really exciting, "says Boity.
Boity cannot wait for people to hear a full body of work from herself, "it's kind of overdue," she adds.
South Africa for the past five months has been under lockdown and whilst restrictions have eased up Boity is still sceptical about going out to perform and isn't making plans to do so anytime soon.
During the lockdown period, Boity has been able to take a break one that she didn't even realize she needed until the country went into lockdown.
"I felt like it was the break I needed mentally, spiritually, emotionally. I needed this time out and it's been more positive than negative and I'm truly grateful because I know it's not the same for a lot of people, it's been really harsh on a lot of families, business etc"
Boity Pink Sapphire is exclusively sold on www.haloheritage.com for now and when it comes to the fragrance's price Boity says for its fair pricing.
"Eau de parfum, I hope people understand that it’s the highest form of concentration when it comes to fragrance, so in terms of the pricing and the effort that we put in from the packaging to most importantly it being an actual perfume".