What I’ve learned from scaling a luxury brand internationally 

I always set out to build an international brand, but I was planning on that being years down the line. Like many founders, I started much closer to home – with a frustration I couldn’t ignore. I was working as an interior designer – a business I still run now – creating high-end spaces for clients who cared deeply about how their homes looked and felt. But there was always a disconnect when it came to scent. To me, fragrance is the invisible layer that brings everything in a space together as a collective. I approach it in the same way as textures or colour – very intentionally. However, the products available didn’t match the level of the interiors. They didn’t last, they didn’t make a statement, underperformed and they often felt like an afterthought. That gap became the starting point for Lifestyle Home Collection – my luxury home fragrance brand, best recognised for its statement XXL reed diffusers and candles. What began as an attempt to solve a very specific problem – creating a home fragrance product that actually lived up to its surroundings – quickly evolved into something much bigger.

Building a strong brand identity that translates
Before anything else, I focused on building a strong brand identity and clear value proposition for the UK market. The proposition was simple but deliberate: statement, oversized, long-lasting, luxury fragrance products that doubled as part of the interior. That clarity shaped everything from product development to pricing to design. And, looking back, it’s the reason international growth became possible at all – getting this right first made international expansion more natural and credible. 

Following demand, not assumptions
For me, the first signs of international growth came through customers – messages and enquiries from places I hadn’t actively targeted. The UAE is a good example. Demand was building organically, and that made sense – scent plays a central role in the home over there. It’s not seen as a finishing touch, but something as essential as Wi-Fi. That alignment mattered. It meant I wasn’t trying to force the brand into a new market; I was responding to a market that already valued what we offered.

The same principle applied when the US came into the picture, although in a very different way. An introduction led to a Zoom conversation with a retail buyer for Homesense US and they loved the product and my story as a female business owner from the UK. Within three months we had secured space in two flagship stores. On paper, it wasn’t the most commercially attractive deal – we took no margin on that initial order – but it gave us a presence in the US market.  That’s one of the less talked-about realities of international growth. Not every decision is about immediate return. Sometimes, it’s about credibility and creating a moment that signals your brand belongs in that space.

Adapting as you scale, without losing your identity
What those early experiences taught me is that expansion works best when it’s customer-led, not ego-led. It’s easy to be drawn to certain markets because of their size or status. But without genuine demand, growth becomes expensive and difficult to sustain. At the same time, entering a new market doesn’t mean losing your identity – although you will be told, repeatedly, to adapt.

When we expanded into the UAE, there was a strong expectation that we would change our aesthetic. Brighter colours, different finishes, a more traditional interpretation of luxury for that region. It was well-intentioned advice, and commercially it probably would have worked.  But it didn’t feel right for the brand. I had built something with a very specific look and feel, and I believed that consistency was part of its strength. So, while we ensured the scents themselves resonated with the market, the visual identity stayed the same. The balance of knowing what to adapt and what to protect becomes more important the further your scale. If you change too much, you compromise your brand identity. If you change nothing, you risk missing the mark. There isn’t a formula for it so you need to learn to trust your instinct. 

Creating opportunities, not waiting for them – even when things don’t go to plan
From the outside, growth can look quick when it starts to compound. I built a six-figure business in my first year and am now working towards seven figures, with multiple international markets in play. But none of that has come from standing still and waiting for opportunities to land. A lot of it has come from simply being proactive. Some of our biggest breakthroughs have started with small, deliberate actions – introducing myself in a store, following up with a message, reaching out to someone I didn’t know. It sounds simple but one of our key retail partnerships in Dubai began exactly that way. I had a conversation on the shop floor with the manager and showed him my products. I then messaged the head buyer on LinkedIn and mentioned how I had met his floor manager, which then turned into a meeting invite in Lebanon, where he was based. 

Of course, even when doors do open, there’s no guarantee the timing will be right. External events threatened to derail things entirely. The meeting never happened due to the Israel conflict breaking out the very next day and travel becoming unsafe. I thought that meant my chance was gone. But instead, I decided to ship my product – which was a risk given the intermittent deliveries that were taking place – and fast forward four months we launched in Dubai in Galeries Lafayette.  With international growth comes a level of uncertainty you can’t fully prepare for. Plans change, markets shift, logistics become unpredictable.  You’ll never be able to control things like that, but you can focus on how you respond. My persistence paid off, but more importantly, it reinforced something I’ve come to rely on: that you can’t wait for perfect conditions to build momentum. 

The power of the right partnerships and digital possibilities
Another factor that has made a significant difference is the role of partnerships. Expanding into new regions without local insight can be more challenging. Working with people who understand the market – whether that’s through retail, distribution, or influence – accelerates everything. It also adds a layer of credibility that’s hard to build from the outside. At the same time, digital has changed what’s possible. Being able to build demand through e-commerce, test markets through platforms like Amazon, and fulfill locally through third-party logistics, has allowed us to scale in a way that would have been far more complex even a few years ago. It doesn’t remove the challenges, but it does make expansion more accessible – and more agile.

Maintaining sustainable growth
That agility is important, because international business is rarely stable. Regulations shift, costs fluctuate, and external factors – from politics to supply chains – can change quickly. You have to be comfortable operating in that environment, even when it feels uncertain. Looking ahead, my focus isn’t just on entering more markets. It’s on strengthening the ones we’re already in, continuing to innovate, and making sure the growth we’re achieving is sustainable.