The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
Nathalie Benareau created Seja Como Flor in 2018, building it around a deceptively simple combination: jasmine, rose, and cacao. The name translates to 'Be Like a Flower', a phrase that carries real weight in Brazilian culture, evoking the idea that growth and transformation happen on one's own terms. That spirit lives in the fragrance. It's a white floral that doesn't apologize for its warmth, a rose that refuses to stay delicate, and a cacao that grounds everything in something unexpectedly dark. Together, these notes strike a balance that feels both familiar and unfamiliar at once, as if you've smelled something like it before but never quite this way.
The jasmine here carries weight, not just the pretty top note of so many florals, but something with presence, a slight indolic push that gives the opening character. Rose absolute does what it does best: adds warmth and a romantic softness that makes the jasmine easier to love. But the real story is what happens when cacao enters. It doesn't behave like dessert. It brings a darker, more complex warmth that creates an unexpected tension with the florals above. It's this push and pull, floral brightness against chocolate depth, that makes Seja Como Flor interesting rather than simply pretty.
The evolution
Jasmine hits first, bold and indolic. It's the main event in the opening, bright, slightly animal, unapologetically floral. Then the rose arrives. Not to take over, but to soften. It rounds the jasmine's edges, adds warmth, creates the bridge between the opening and what comes next. The cacao begins to show itself not as a dessert note, but as something earthier, almost powdery. It grounds the florals in a way that feels more sensual than sweet. As the fragrance develops, the jasmine quiets and the drydown settles into warm cacao and something close, intimate, almost skin-like. The sillage shifts from moderate to intimate, the kind of projection that requires someone to lean in. The drydown clings closest to the skin through the later hours. On fabric, the jasmine and rose can linger longer, giving you flashes of the opening hours well into the next day.
Cultural impact
Since its launch, Seja Como Flor has found its people, those who want something warmer than a typical white floral, more interesting than a standard rose. The jasmine-cacao pairing isn't common in Western perfumery, which makes it divisive and distinctive in equal measure. For those willing to try something that doesn't follow the expected floral playbook, it rewards. Its boldness invites curiosity, its warmth invites lingering, and its originality invites conversation.
