Sage & Salt's New Fragrances Bottle Up Magic And The Power Of The Moon

Forbes

28-03-2025

Sage & Salt Luna Absolute and Moon Ring Extrait de Parfums
Orlando Pelagio
Do you believe in magic? You might after taking a whiff of Sage & Salt's debut fine fragrances. Corbin Chamberlin, Founder of Sage & Salt, wasn't just thinking about the notes that would go into the two scents that make up the Lunale collection—he was also thinking about the stages of the moon.
'Starting with the full moon, which is Luna Absolute, this is a fragrance that smells like you stepped into some kind of temple,' Chamberlin says. 'You're going to get incense, tobacco leaf and rose, which is like an offering to the goddess and to the divine feminine. The idea behind a full moon is that we use that energy to remove, to clear, to process things that don't necessarily need to be in our life, to make way for better, which leads us to a new moon, a time of planting seeds. It's a time of being verdant and manifesting. The Moon Ring fragrance smells like tomato leaf, green fig, you even almost notice sea salt. It's a very fresh, vibrant, energizing scent.'
The clean fragrances are sold both individually and as a pair and are meant to be worn during the moon cycle that it was created for to deliver spiritual protection and energetic support. By harnessing the energy of the full moon, Luna Absolute bolsters meditation and reflection, with top notes of Italian bergamot, pink pepper, cardamon and juniper berry; a heart of Bulgarian rose and hinoki; and a base of amber, palo santo, oud, tobacco leaf, sandalwood and Brazilian vetiver. Made under a new moon, Moon Ring is meant to be grounding and help manifestations take root, with top notes of green fig, tomato leaf, lemon and saffron; middle notes of stargazer lily, orange blossom and jasmine sambac; and base notes of nag champa, olibanum, sandalwood, vanilla orchid and tobacco leaf. The fragrances can be layered (if you're not embracing the witchiness) or worn individually.
Corbin Chamberlin, Founder of Sage & Salt
Orlando Pelagio
But that's not all the magic inside. Chamberlain oversaw the spiritual and energetic cleansing of each fragrance during a final ceremonial step. 'Imagine you're staring at a beautiful, large glass vessel of oil, and it's sitting surrounded by certain crystals,' he says. 'Each of these crystals have a specific energy in correlation to the scent or the intention. We also do sound baths for the oil, and then prayers or intentions over the oil. But the biggest thing is bottling these under specific moon cycles. Everyone has heard of charging your crystals under a full moon; the same can be done with liquids and that's what we're doing with the fragrance oils.'
Even though that authenticity was of the utmost importance to Chamberlain, the perfumes still needed to smell good. 'Unfortunately, a lot of these woo woo products don't smell great,' he says. 'From the beginning, I wanted Sage & Salt to be this over-the-top, kind of hippie-dippie witchy shop. But I didn't want things that smell like weed and patchouli. I'm a recovering luxury reporter and I know what the consumer likes at this price point. And I wanted to take those two worlds and fuse it.'
Each fragrance comes with what looks like a tarot card, but it has a mantra. 'When you put the fragrance on, you say the mantra, and any ideas get into this mode of manifesting or clearing things in your life when you apply it,' Chamberlain says. 'Eventually we are going to be doing more fragrances throughout the years, and when you have all of these cards together, it'll almost look like a tarot deck.'
Sage & Salt Lunale collection
Sage & Salt
Sage & Salt launched about a decade ago with their Smokeless Smudge. 'We started from a place of need and wanting to change energy right away,' Chamberlain says. 'Smokeless Smudge is a room spray meant to change energy throughout the day. So, if you have a bad meeting at work or you're in a hotel room where the vibes are off, you can alter energy in your atmosphere right away. The idea we grew from that is I wanted to make all types of things, from ethically sourced crystals to jewelry made with said crystals. Everything is made with intention, made under certain moon cycles, made by someone that actually does this for a living.'
In addition to the retail component of his business, Chamberlain is known for working with executives and other power players as an energy practitioner, such as through tarot card and astrology readings. Celebrity makeup artist Pati Dubroff has been working with Chamberlain for years.
'During the pandemic, I gave him a call because I was having an issue I needed a reading about,' Dubroff says. 'He said to me, 'I don't know why you're asking me to do this reading. You've got this. You need to look in the mirror.' He basically was telling me you have abilities that you're not paying attention to. He showed me a door, and he cracked it open, and I am forever grateful to him for pointing me in that direction and being a mentor in many ways. He is someone I could ask what does this mean if I've had this feeling or this dream? And he's taught me a lot about crystals. I've always enjoyed them just as objects, but until I met him, I never took the time to understand them from a deeper place energetically.'
That's why Dubroff immediately pre-ordered the fragrances, even without smelling them first. 'Scent has the ability to help us connect, reflect as well as protect,' she says. 'Corbin understands this so deeply and wants to give this magical tool to all who resonate.'
Corbin Chamberlin
Sage & Salt
Since all of Sage & Salt's products are cleared with smoke and sound, it was crucial for Chamberlain to partner with the right person who understood his brand. 'There's a whole ritual aspect behind it that no other retailer is doing at the level we do,' he says. 'We try to cover every aspect of someone's life, and now getting into fragrance, this is the first product that's actually meant to go on the skin and work with your aura.'
Chamberlain teamed up with custom fragrance designer Sarah Horowitz, who has a background as an energy practitioner herself and has an intuitive approach to perfumery. The fragrances were created in Los Angeles with notes that were chosen for their historic and mythological significance. 'She understands the power and magic of scent and so we speak the same language, even though we come from different places in our practices,' Chamberlain says. 'From the beginning, we talked about certain notes that are associated with certain phases of the moon, and in energy work, certain scents attract specific energies. We took our time as we developed these scents, thinking about that. This was not something that I just handed over. I was involved in every step. It felt like birthing this thing together, if you will, but I couldn't do it on my own—I needed someone who was an actual nose with an understanding of the chemistry.'
In addition to their own site, Lunale will launch globally exclusive to Australian retailer Mecca. During the first week of pre-sale, Sage & Salt sold 400 bottles, a tremendous amount for an indie company.
But it's the authenticity that counts the most to Chamberlain. 'Fragrance is such a powerful thing when it comes to energy, and I'm seeing way too many brands on the market that aren't actually made by energy practitioners, and that's a huge beef for me,' he says. 'Authenticity is the most luxurious thing that one can provide as a brand and I'm excited to hold space in this sector. But at the end of the day, if you subscribe to the woo or not, this stuff smells amazing. That's what's most important to me. We can be as over the top practical magic about it or not, but the fragrance is beautiful, and people are going to love it.'