About Us

I didn't intend to start my own perfume brand. 

I started from fear, the fear of being a disappointment to my family.

 

In Vietnam, then here

I was born in Vietnam and came to the United States around the age of 13. I thought this new land would be beautiful, easy, and full of promise. It wasn't. Things were not as wonderful as I had imagined when I first arrived.

Growing up, I was often put down by relatives. I was told I was not good enough. I was spoken about as if my future had already been decided for me, as if I would become nothing, or worse. I did not come from a comfortable middle-class life. I came from a struggle, where money meant everything and survival was always louder than dreams.

 

The first perfume I remember

One of my earliest memories of perfume was my mother's Chanel No.5. She wore it often, and somehow that scent stayed with me. Even when life felt unhappy, perfume became something I could hold onto.

 

Perfume gave me somewhere to go

As a kid, I would go to stores like Ross and TJ Maxx just to smell perfume. I didn't need to buy anything. I just wanted to smell something beautiful. 

For a few minutes, the fragrance made me calm. It made me happy. It helped me forget where I was and what people said about me.

I loved perfume so much that I spent over ten years learning perfumery through books, online resources, and practice. I wanted to understand how scent could hold memory. I wanted to put my feelings inside a bottle. The sadness, the anger, the tenderness, the shame, the love, and the part of myself I did not know how to explain. 

 

September 28th is my birthday

 

But for me, my birthday has never been only a celebration. 

Every year, that day becomes a flashback, a reminder of the unhappy memories I carry, the things I wish I had done better, the version of myself I thought I should have become, and the life I am still trying to make right.

I named this brand September 28th because I wanted to turn that date into something else. Not just regret. Not just pressure. Not just another year of feeling like I failed.

I wanted it to become a place where memory could be transformed into something honest, cold, beautiful, and alive. 

 

I started for my family, too

My family never fully supported this dream, and that hurt.

A part of me still feels like I started this brand because I disappointed them. Another part of me started it because I wanted to help save my dad, to raise money for the wound he has carried for years, and to do something, anything that could move my family forward.

I didn't know what it takes. I only know that I am trying.

 

Flea markets became my first classroom

 

I started by selling at flea markets.

I know some people may hear that and judge it, as if selling perfume in those spaces makes the work less serious. But I am grateful for where I started.

Flea markets became my first real classroom. Customers tested my perfumes in person, on paper, on skin, in heat, in cold weather, under tents, and in the middle of everyday life. 

They told me what worked, what lasted, what needed to improve, and which scents made them come back.

Their critique helped shape this brand. Their support gave me the courage to go to different events, promote my craft, and meet people from many different backgrounds and social statuses who still chose to believe in what I was making. 

Without those customers, September 28th would not be here.

They taught me that perfume does not become meaningful because it looks expensive from far away. It becomes meaningful when someone wears it, remembers something, and decides to take it home.

 

Why does everything smell so clean

Most of my perfumes may smell fresh to other people. Clean. Airy. Cold. Easy to wear.

But to me, they are not just fresh. 

They are my way of trying to feel clean from the shame of being seen as a disappointment. Maybe I can make clean perfume because I want to believe I can still be honest. Maybe I make cold perfume because cold air feels like freedom. 

Maybe every bottle is my way of telling myself that I am not dirty, not ruined, not hopeless. 

 

Still searching. Still trying

I am still searching for the meaning of this b rand. 

Some days, I think it is about perfume. Some days, I think it is about survival. Some days, I think it is about building a bridge between my family and me.

I am trying to make it right for them. I am trying to live for them, even when I do not always know how.

This brand is one of the ways I keep going, not because I became the perfect child, but because I still want to give my family something honest, something beautiful, and something that proves I did not give up. 

 

A bridge back home

September 28th is a perfume house buit from everything I could not say out loud.

It is a letter to myself.

A letter to my family.

A bridge back home.

A memory archive.

A place where pain, anger, tenderness, and survival can become a scent. 

Not to prove that I am perfect.

Not to erase what hurt.

Not to pretend I was never angry.

But to say: 

I am okay.