In a country where luxury fragrances often feel out of reach, Olamide and Ayodeji are rewriting the rules of scent indulgence. As the co-founders of FORVR MURR, they’ve crafted a community for scent lovers who crave sophistication without the steep price tag. They’ve gone from late-night brainstorming sessions to curating over 200 niche and designer fragrances.
In this interview, they share how a chance gift sparked a shared obsession, the challenges of building a luxury brand in Nigeria, and their mission to make the world of fine fragrance accessible, one 8ml decant at a time.
Hello, how are you doing today?
Hello! We’re doing well today, excited but a little sleep-deprived (startup life is no joke!). Being here and sharing FORVR MURR with your audience feels like a full-circle moment. Thank you for having us!
What sparked your shared love for perfumes and inspired you to build a luxury perfume house?
It started with a gift from a man, no card, no message, just a bottle of this amazing perfume sent to me after two years of silence from someone I thought I’d never hear from again. The scent was that good.
Ayodeji and I bonded over our shared obsession. We were those friends who always noticed what each other was wearing, constantly talking about scents and sampling perfumes together. But we kept complaining about how difficult it was to experience luxury fragrances in Nigeria without spending our rent money. That frustration became FORVR MURR.
We wanted to build something fun, something with a feeling that was deeply intentional, a perfume house for scent lovers who want more for less and want to experience and try everything along the way.
Tell us about the journey from ideation to a fully operational business.
Let’s just say ChatGPT saw things!
It started with one phone call and lots of questions: why isn’t anyone doing this here? Once we locked in on the concept, offering 8ml decants of luxury and niche perfumes in beautiful packaging, we spent months designing our systems, analyzing samples, and building our operational backbone.
The process took months: researching, testing over 200 fragrances, fighting over logo designs, and crying real tears over trademark rejection (we were forced to pivot, but the new logo absolutely slaps).
We self-funded everything, picked our bottles ourselves, sampled all our packaging. We had a vision and just had to get it right. We officially launched in May 2025 with a fun night of scent experiences for our earliest supporters, and we’ve been growing steadily since, both online and in concept stores.
What you’re seeing now is the result of months of chaos, late-night calls, trial orders, custom packaging drama, and real community love. We’re still learning every day, but we built this thing from scratch to last.
What challenges have you faced doing business in Nigeria, and how did you navigate them? What have been the highlights?
Running a business in Nigeria will humble you, period!
We’ve dealt with everything: production agents telling you to “just manage” subpar work, POS machines refusing to connect on launch day, vendors changing their agreed prices right when they’re supposed to start delivering.
The biggest challenge? Doing things properly in a system that rewards shortcuts. We were determined to get our branding right, register everything correctly, and deliver a luxury experience, sometimes that means spending more, waiting longer, and pushing harder than planned.
On the flip side? The love has been incredible. Customers placing four orders in our first week, friends cheering us on, strangers sending DMs that made us emotional. That look on someone’s face when they discover a scent they fall in love with without spending a fortune, that’s what keeps us going.
You’ve built your own fragrance line over the years. What inspired your creations and how did you choose the notes?
Actually, we haven’t released our own fragrance yet, but trust us, the dream is there.
Right now, FORVR MURR is all about curation. We obsess over notes, stories, and how a scent makes you feel. Our collection features 8ml portions of niche, hard-to-find fragrances that are on your wishlist.
When it’s time to create our own, the notes will come from real experiences:
- The softness of a mother’s hug
- The chaos of Lagos traffic on a first date, but you still show up looking effortless
- That quiet moment after a win you fought hard for
We don’t just want you smelling nice, we want you smelling unforgettable.
How do you approach understanding customer preferences and recommending suitable perfumes, especially when they might not know what they’re looking for?
We start with open-ended questions about their current favorites, their style, and how they’d like to feel when wearing perfume. Do you want to smell like power? Softness? Like money or mystery?
Most people don’t know perfume names or technical notes, but they know they want to turn heads, feel feminine, or leave an ex confused. That’s where we come in.
We’ve studied scent profiles, skin chemistry, and real-life reactions. If you tell me you want to smell like a “boss babe at brunch,” I’ll suggest something light and airy but potent like Matiere Premiere’s Crystal Saffron, or maybe a warm, confident, long-lasting option like MFK’s Grand Soir.
For someone just starting their perfume collection, what’s your first piece of advice?
Don’t chase hype or viral scents, chase how you want to feel. Start with three core scents: One that makes you feel powerful, one that makes you feel soft and irresistible, one that just makes you happy
Forget what’s trending on TikTok. The best perfume is the one that feels like YOU! Start small, sample widely, decants are the best way to do this. FORVR MURR exists for this exact reason.
How can someone figure out what kind of scents they actually like? Any tricks for finding a “signature” scent?
Start with your vibe, not the bottle or marketing copy.
Ask yourself: do I love fresh and clean? Warm and spicy? Sweet and cozy? Think about scents you already love, your body lotion, favorite candle, even how someone smelled when they hugged you. That’s your scent memory talking.
An easy trick? When you spray something, don’t sniff immediately. Let it settle on your skin, walk around. If you keep catching whiffs of yourself and smiling, that might be the one.
Don’t stress about finding one “signature scent.” Sometimes your scent changes with your mood, era, or season, and that’s the beauty of life. You can be a walking plot twist.
How should someone choose the right perfume for different occasions?
Think of perfume like an outfit, what are you stepping into and who do you want to be?
Work or School? Keep it clean and soft with pleasant but not overwhelming scents. Go for musks, airy florals, or gentle woods like Amouage Reflection, Khamrah Qahwa, or PDM’s Valaya.
Parties or Date Nights? Time to have fun and go bold with spice, oud, amber, or boozy notes. Think Initio Side Effect, Maison Margiela Jazz Club, or Rifaaqat.
Casual Events or Brunch? Something flirty and playful, a little fruit, a little vanilla, something that says “I didn’t try hard, I just smell like this.” Reach for Liquid Brun, Baccarat Rouge Extrait, or French Avenue Cocoa Morado.
Weddings? Go romantic and elegant with soft florals and warm bases that leave a trail. Try Maison Crivelli Tubereuse Astrale or Amouage Existence.
Interesting. So, what would you say are some common mistakes people make when buying or wearing perfume?
Well, we’ve all been there so no judgment, just love. Some common slip ups include spraying and sniffing immediately? Guilty. But here’s the thing: that first sniff is mostly alcohol, which is why it burns your nose or makes you cough. Give it a minute. Let it settle. Let the actual scent come through. Also, testing only on paper strips? Nope. Paper doesn’t have skin, hormones, or sweat. What smells heavenly on a card might smell meh on you. Always test on your skin.
Finally, dry skin and perfume? They don’t mix. Perfume fades faster on dry skin. So moisturize, shea butter, body oil, whatever your skin loves. It gives your scent something to hold on to and helps it last all day.
Great tips. Speaking of long lasting scents, how can I make my perfume last longer on my skin without reapplying all the time? How can we ensure we don’t have to spend a lot of money to smell nice?
Everyone wants to smell unforgettable, like, “Who just walked in?”, but without spending the kind of money that keeps your landlord awake at night. But it’s easy if you know just what to do. First, right after your shower, lock in moisture. Hydrated skin holds fragrance better, so reach for your favorite unscented or scented lotion, oil, or body butter, whatever makes your skin feel soft and juicy. I personally love adding a complementary body mist before my actual perfume. It gives the scent extra depth, smells richer, lasts longer.
Secondly, don’t just spray and run, be strategic! Hit your pulse points,wrists, neck, behind the ears, inner elbows, basically anywhere that gets a little warm. That body heat naturally amplifies the perfume’s projection and longevity, which is exactly what we want. And if you’re extra like some of us, extend the spritz to your ankles, behind the knees, and even on your clothes, just be kind to fabrics, especially silks and whites.
Finally, the real flex is layering, this is your fragrance cheat code. Stacking body oils, mists, and using 2-3 perfumes that blend well together doesn’t just extend the wear; it makes your scent feel like a signature. That blend belongs to you and you alone. It also saves you from reapplying multiple times a day if done right.
Talking about budget, you don’t have to go broke to smell elite. That’s literally why FORVR MURR exists. Our 8ml decants start from ₦8,500 for prime picks and ₦34,000 for our premium range, so you can experience multiple luxury and niche fragrances you’ve been manifesting without sacrificing your financial peace
It’s been lovely having you both. Now, If you could only wear one perfume for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?
Olamide: That’s a tough one, but right now Amouage Guidance 46 has me in a serious chokehold. It’s one of those rare fragrances with a depth that’s soft and feminine with a “don’t mess with me” edge. It feels like soft power, she doesn’t chase attention, keeps her circle small and close, and doesn’t ask to be remembered yet remains unforgettable. A timeless kinda vibe!
Ayodeji: This is a very hard choice… but the first two on my mind are MFK Grand Soir and Maison Crivelli Tubéreuse Astrale. They’re completely different, but both smell like me, not just how I want to smell, but how I want to be remembered. Grand Soir is rich, warm, and golden. It smells like elegance, I always feel grown, powerful, and grounded. Tubéreuse Astrale is radiant and addictive, feminine in a way that’s not trying too hard, just confident, soft yet self-assured.
Thank you so much for your time.
Thank you so much for having us. This was such a fun conversation. We’re excited to keep spreading the gospel of accessible luxury, one 8ml decant at a time, now and forever, FORVR MURR.
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