Her Story

In 2006, New Yorker and single mum Nicole Eckels shifted base from the Big Apple down south to Australia, and the journey proved to be a beautifully scented one.

The born and bred New Yorker, began her career as a Makeup Artist in SAKS Fifth Avenue but left American life for a sea change. Today, she has been the proud matriarch of one of Australia’s leading fragrance empires for nearly ten years. Nicole’s Sapphire Group, sparked out of test batch in her bath, has skyrocketed into the hugely successful Glasshouse Fragrances.

Her work as a fragrance enthusiast began with a search for the perfect scented candle to replace a favourite from New York. The search bore no results save for high-end European brands or non-fragranced low-quality products. Although Nicole returned home disappointed and sans her dream candle, the experience proved to be just what she needed to sense a gap in the market and set about filling it.

Her fascination with fragrance arose from childhood memories of freshly cut grass, the family’s wood stove, fondue, the ocean and her mother’s favourite perfume. As an entrepreneur, she worked closely with perfumers mixing, matching and curating these scents, to bottle them up for her customers, sealed with the iconic Glasshouse logo.

However, success hardly ever comes easy and for Nicole challenging the status quo of the Australian beauty industry required a lot of behind the scenes fine-tuning.

“If you want a serious business, the first few years are the most intense. Owning a business is not for the faint- hearted, you are going to have to give it all you have and work/life balance is on the back burner. To quote Lori Greiner, Entrepreneurs are the only people that work 80 hours a week to avoid working 40 hours a week.”’

Today, Glasshouse Fragrances have risen to popularity as one of the most illustrious and reputable fragrance brands on the market and Nicole has made her business synonymous with superior quality. Perhaps the prime indicator of this is the blue ribbon status her jars of aromatic products occupy on David Jones’ cosmetic floor shelves. Her accolades do not stop there. Part of redefining the fragrance industry was Glasshouse Candle’s role in initiating industry firsts such as glass lids for candles and double wicks for an increased home experience.

Strategies for Success

  • Understand your customer needs intimately and do NOT vary your offer outside of the customer need.
  • Hire the best people you can afford with a proven track record in their area of specialty.
  • Focus on your brand first and your culture second – you need both to have a successful business.
  • Cash is king. If you aren’t great at managing money, you better have someone in the business who is.
  • Get a mentor and surround yourself with a network of people that can help you.