Fragrance house

Água de Cheiro

Água de Cheiro was founded in September 1976 in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, by Elizabeth Pimenta, beginning as a perfume reseller. Its franchise system started in 1981, when the business already had 65 stores in Brazil, and a dedicated franchise department followed in 1988. The brand became one of Brazil’s early beauty and perfumery franchising businesses and eventually reached 900 stores. On 28 November 2016, its franchise and trademark-exploitation assets were sold at a judicial auction to Beauty Franchising, described as part of Grupo Narsana. From that year, Água de Cheiro undertook a revitalization encompassing a new visual identity, strategic repositioning, redesigned packaging and store layouts, and a modernized value proposition. In 2020, its creative direction combined nostalgia for its 1980s and 1990s peak with efforts to reach younger consumers, including through the #Self[ie] fragrance collection. In March 2024, television presenter Carlos Massa, known as Ratinho, was reported to be entering as a new partner, with the ownership stake still under negotiation. Its fragrance legacy includes Absinto, the best-selling perfume in the 1980s, and Água Fresca, identified as a Brazilian perfumery classic.