About a year ago, my friend Delilah called to tell me she’d begun working with this amazing woman named Magatte Wade, on her new lifestyle brand, Tiossān. I was immediately intrigued, as I’d never met anyone named Magatte, and rather enjoyed the way “Tiossān” sounded to my ear; and that was good enough for me.

Then I found-out that Magatte was a young Senegal-born entrepreneur, who’d been raised and educated in France, and had moved to San Francisco where she launched a successful line of juices, coffees and teas, called Adina World Beat Beverages, that uses organic materials sourced in Asia and Africa. As the brand started moving away from its original roots and mission, she’d stepped-down as President, moved to New York, and launched Tiossān – a luxury skin-care brand based on the recipes used for generations by Senegalese herbalists and healers.

She took an apprenticeship with a well-respected practitioner of these traditions, and then went to California, recipes in hand; where she met with one of the state’s most highly regarded green chemists, in order to ensure that the products would have a decent shelf-life (which was necessary for the US market). The next step in Magatte’s Tiossān journey found her flying to France, where she worked nose-to-nose with an artisanal perfumer in Grasse, to create the four customized fragrances used to create the quartet of identities that make-up the Tiossān line.

A vegan line made from 100% natural whole foods, Tiossān products are packed full of botanicals indigenous to Senegal (black seed oil, aloe vera, Shea butter, and baobab fruit), Omega 3s, antioxidants, anti-inflammatories, and anti-carcinogens. The line is Paraben-free, Phthalate-free, cruelty-free, and gluten-free. There are no chemical additives, petrochemicals, propylene glycol, dyes, silicones, or sulfates. And with all that going for it, Tiossān still manages to come-in at a price-point that is very agreeable, for a line that is decidedly aimed at the luxury/all-natural market.

As Chief Executive Tiossāna, Magatte feels that she – like all people – is imbued with a number of micro-personalities, and each emerges in different situations. Says Magatte, “I first encountered Terranga – the diplomat, home maker, giver and muse. She was the part of me who strives to excel, to fulfill and realize potential. Later on it was my Flamboyant; my soaring spirit – lively, vivacious and whimsical. In time I encountered Fatale; the sensual, romantic temptress infused with the power of charm and unbridled sexuality. Finally it was my Femme; the intuitive healer within me who nurtures and loves with every fiber of her being.” Thus the four Tiossān identities were discovered, and after Magatte’s time in Grasse, imbued with olfactory identities of their own.

It’s probably no surprise, but the Tiossān identity that called-out to me was Flamboyant. The Awakening Body Wash has become a steady member of my shower ritual; and if I’m feeling especially peppy, a spritz of the perfume with its happy, citrus notes over hints of musk and amber, puts a little hop in my step as I walk out the door.

With which Tiossāna will you most closely identify? Scent is one of the strongest of our senses, and is the most strongly associated with triggering memory; so it is a very personal thing. There’s a bit of each of them in all of us, and perhaps that’s the coolest thing of all.

TIOSSĀN
by Magatte Wade
Click HERE for info and store

Get into it!