Sensual cosmetics and body products are creating their own special sector of the pleasure industry. Formerly relegated to a minuscule amount of shelf space next to the lubricants or a sparse “bath and body” section of a retailer’s website, intimate creams, oils and edibles have grown from side niche to well-rounded product category.
Intimate cosmetics are popular because they transcend the sex toy space, easily moving into the mainstream with options like pheromone perfumes and kissable, buzzing lip balms.
Such offerings have become the cornerstones of Orgie Company, a brand that’s best known for flagship products like Sexy Vibe! liquid vibrator, Vol+Up Lifting Effect Cream for tightening breasts and buttocks, and Orgasm Drops clitoral arousal gels.
Though based in Portugal, Orgie Company was founded by a Brazilian couple using original cosmetic formulas that were developed and sold with great success in Brazil. Before bringing the Orgie brand to Europe, co-founders Raquel and Marcello Hespanhol captured more than a million Brazilian customers with their proprietary blends of plant-based ingredients collected from the Amazon rainforest.
Later, the Hespanhols focused the majority of their sales efforts on Europe with the aim of improving and growing their brand. The business has now achieved the highest of European quality standards by partnering with a major Portuguese cosmetic industry factory equipped with the most modern technology and production machinery.
“Orgie Company started from the idea that the Brazilian experience in our sector had something to offer to the European markets, and extensive market research through Europe proved that it could be done,” says export manager Massimo Artioli. “Orgie was launched in October 2017 and today is present in more than 30 countries and soon in Canada.”
Artioli handles export communications and logistics for Europe, Africa, Oceania and North America, though the Orgie brand is just now working its way into the U.S., which he calls “a priority market that we are ready to serve,” adding that he has been seeking out and talking with U.S. distributors.
Artioli and the team are currently focused on recent new releases from winter 2021 and spring 2022, including Sensfeel Seduction Elixir 10-in-1, a pheromone lotion that smooths hair and body from head to toe; Wow! Strawberry Ice, a mouth spray for kissing and oral sex that delivers a pleasant icy sensation; and Sensfeel pheromone perfumes and colognes.
“Requests and suggestions from our customers, especially in connection with existing products, is part of our R&D planning and process,” says Artiloli. “That was the case with our new strawberry-flavored Wow! oral sex spray. The same goes for the Sensfeel eau de toilette, now available in travel-size 10 ml, as widely requested soon after the release of the perfumes in 50 ml size.”
Perhaps most innovative is Acqua Croccante, a moisturizing, effervescent foam made for massage and available in several scents like Sakura flower, Monoi, scented with Tahitian gardenias, and Passion Fruit.
As the container promises, this unique “crunchy mousse” massage product is somewhat like a foamy hair mousse, but with more of a “crunch” when pressed between the fingers or onto the body.
“Acqua Croccante is more than a moisturizing massage mousse,” explains Artioli. “Its effervescent effect combined with gentle pressure during massage explains the name we gave to this line. It is surprising, fun and pleasant.”
Though the brand is still fairly young, the company has put pedal to metal since its inception. The Orgie team hasn’t slowed new product debuts for a single year, even during COVID.
“Orgie will celebrate its fifth anniversary this year, and we are proud to say that there wasn’t a year that we failed to release new products,” says Artioli. “The more markets a brand earns, the more [there are] challenges and responsibilities to serve them well. And that’s what we work for.”
As travel restrictions loosen, Orgie sales reps are returning to the road to get retailers set for maximum sales. Though online video trainings took priority during the worst of the pandemic, the team plans to return to visiting distributors, retailers and trade events throughout the year.
“Orgie offers product trainings at customers’ locations, a courtesy complimentary service that we had to halt in February 2020 because of the pandemic outbreak and all its side effects,” says Artioli. “In the past two years we have been doing the trainings online, which has been very helpful, but it is not the same as live trainings.” As travel restrictions are lifted, Artioli added, Orgie is glad to be resuming in-person training presentations and eager to get back to live trade shows. Orgie Company has maintained its early success by acting as a “well-oiled machine,” as Artioli describes. The business takes pride in employing skilled cosmetics engineers who are passionate about R&D and creating interesting new formulations for Orgie’s bestselling products, but attention to detail doesn’t end at the laboratory.
“The Orgie team works connected to the ideal scenario: quality products, well-assembled orders, post-sales assistance and continuous support to our customers are as important as sales,” says Artioli.
Orgie’s founders, Raquel and Marcello Hespanhol, give credit where it’s due. The pair wish to acknowledge Massimo Artioli and the export management team for where Orgie stands on a global level today. The Hespanhols say they’ve placed well-earned trust in their team members who serve on the market front lines and work to make the right impression when entering new spaces.
While Orgie Company has achieved a lot in five years, the founders and their team remain humble among their pleasure industry peers.
“It would be too pretentious of us to see ourselves as a world leader in the adult sensual products category,” remarks Artioli. “Orgie is a young brand with some great award nominations and winner of four important awards. It matters and means a whole lot to us, our customers and consumers. These achievements are valuable recognitions that Orgie is on the right path to reach the level of the greater brands of our sector — and to become one of them.”
Simply put, Orgie Company seeks to make a name for its brand in the U.S. in the coming years, while remaining grateful for the brands that have come before, helping to elevate the entire category of intimate body products to something more than a niche.
“We believe that Orgie stands out for its Brazilian know-how, for the exquisite active ingredients from plants of the Amazon rainforest applied in many of our formulas, for seeking innovative active ingredients, for the effectiveness and features of our products, and for its beautiful branding,” concludes Artiloli. “None of these would work well without the efforts to provide good service and support to our customers. However, we don’t underestimate many other incredible brands standing out thanks to their own merits, so we believe that positive competition is all about each brand standing out as a good purchase option to the consumers.
