Heritage
A house, in its own words
Bee Shapiro spent more than a decade writing beauty features for The New York Times before she turned her editorial eye toward perfume. In 2015 she launched Ellis Brooklyn from a walk‑up apartment in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, motivated by a desire to make clean fragrance accessible to a broader audience. The first launch, Florist, arrived later that year and quickly earned a reputation for its bright, garden‑inspired profile. By 2016 the brand expanded its catalogue with Salt, a mineral‑driven scent that hinted at the brand’s willingness to explore unconventional notes. In 2018 Ellis Brooklyn introduced refillable glass bottles, a move that reduced waste and set a new standard for eco‑conscious packaging in the niche market. The following year the company debuted its first rollerball, allowing customers to sample scents on the go while keeping the product travel‑friendly. 2020 marked the release of Miami Nectar, a bright, citrus‑laden fragrance that captured the spirit of a sun‑soaked city and demonstrated the brand’s growing confidence in regional storytelling. 2021 saw the brand receive a Green Beauty Award from the Sustainable Beauty Awards, confirming its leadership in environmentally responsible perfumery. The ten‑year anniversary in 2025 was celebrated with a limited‑edition batch of rollerball scents, including the fan‑favorite Lychee Milkshake and the tropical Mango Milkshake, both launched the same year. In 2026 Ellis Brooklyn introduced First Date, a fragrance designed to evoke the nervous excitement of a new romance, signaling the brand’s continued focus on everyday emotional moments. Throughout its decade, Ellis Brooklyn has remained a privately held company, reinvesting profits into sustainable sourcing and transparent ingredient disclosure, while maintaining a small, Brooklyn‑based team that handles formulation, design and customer service in‑house. Ellis Brooklyn views scent as a bridge between the ordinary and the extraordinary. The brand’s creative vision centers on translating familiar environments – a kitchen, a shoreline, a city street – into aromatic experiences that feel instantly recognizable. Bee Shapiro emphasizes ingredient transparency; every component appears on the label, and the company avoids animal‑derived materials. Sustainability guides every decision, from sourcing raw materials that meet Fair Trade standards to choosing packaging that can be recycled or refilled. The brand also believes that fragrance should be inclusive, offering a range of concentrations and formats so that anyone can experiment without feeling intimidated. By focusing on clean chemistry and thoughtful storytelling, Ellis Brooklyn aims to shift consumer expectations toward products that are both responsibly made and sensorially engaging.