FIELD NOTES 001
CACTUS, A SLIGHT FIXATION
DEODORANT, OVERTHOUGHT PROPERLY.
THE PROBLEM WITH NOTICING THINGS
I’m a graphic designer, so naturally I turned deodorant into a much bigger project than it probably needed to be.
I kept seeing little things I wanted to change.
The texture.
The scent.
The packaging.
The way it looked on a shelf.
Not because everything else was wrong.
I just wanted to make something with more personality, more thought behind it, and more of a reason to exist.
I’ve never been very good at minimalism.
I like colour. Character. Strange details. Things that feel like someone cared enough to push them a little further.
And once I started, I kept asking the same question:
Can this be better for the person actually using it?
That has meant a lot of conversations with manufacturers, chemists, fragrance houses and packaging suppliers.
Can it glide better?
Can it feel better on skin?
Can this ingredient do more?
Can the scent have more depth?
Can the packaging feel less generic?
Can we try it another way?
At this point, I’m fairly sure a few manufacturers have me on a blocked list.
Some probably see my number and let it ring.
Others may be turning the lights off when I pull up.
Fair enough.
But that’s basically the job.
We do the asking, testing, sampling and overthinking so you end up with a deodorant that works, feels good on skin, smells genuinely interesting and has a little more thought behind it.
THE SCENT HAD TO SMELL LIKE SOMETHING
A lot of deodorants smell “fresh”, but it can be hard to tell what you’re actually smelling.
Everything gets blended together until it becomes one big idea of clean.
I wanted CACTUS to be clearer than that.
Lavender should smell like lavender.
Cedar should smell woody, green and familiar.
Eucalyptus should actually smell fresh and botanical.
Pear should smell like pear.
Simple idea. Surprisingly hard to get right.
The scents still have layers and depth, but they’re grounded in things you already know.
Botanical. Familiar. Easy to recognise.
And that’s become one of my favourite parts of using them.
At night, I’ll have a shower and put on Lavender Nocturne or Sandalwood & Chamomile. It’s become part of my routine.
In the morning, I’ll reach for Cedar Botanical or Wild Pear.
I genuinely like putting them on.
That was always the goal.
Not just deodorant you tolerate because you need it.
Something you actually enjoy using.
THE FORMULA HAD TO FEEL GOOD TOO
I wanted a deodorant that glided on easily, felt comfortable on skin and didn’t drag or feel rock-hard.
The application mattered just as much as the formula.
It needed to cover the whole underarm properly, go on smoothly and evenly, and not clump, crumble or break apart halfway through.
That’s also why we went hard on the skin-comfort side of the formula.
Squalane. Cactus-derived ingredients. Panthenol.
Three ingredients chosen because I wanted the deodorant to feel soothing and comfortable on skin, not just sit there and do a job.
Skin comfort mattered.
Odour control mattered.
How it felt going on mattered.
Because there’s something genuinely nice about applying deodorant and having it actually feel good on your skin.
THEN CAME THE PACKAGING
This is where things got slightly out of hand.
I didn’t want standard packaging with a logo dropped on top.
I wanted colour. Big type. Western graphics. Retro sci-fi. Motel signs. Weird little details. Things that felt fun, noticeable and a little unexpected.
And then there was the deodorant tube.
You might actually have one in your hand while you’re reading this and think nothing of it.
It’s just a tube.
It exists.
But that tube took about 10 months, eight manufacturers and three rounds of samples before I got something I thought was acceptable.
The artwork isn’t a label wrapped around the outside.
It’s printed directly onto the tube using UV printing, so the artwork sits directly on the packaging rather than being added as a sticker afterwards.
Finding someone who could actually make it the way I wanted was another story entirely.
A lot of suppliers wanted me to use the standard option.
Standard tube.
Standard print.
Standard finish.
Which would have been much easier.
Unfortunately, easy and I don’t seem to get along particularly well.
Three samples later, I finally got to the version I was happy enough with.
And if you’re thinking that means the tube is finished forever—
it probably isn’t.
IT DIDN’T STOP AT DEODORANT
Once CACTUS started taking shape, it became obvious the idea could go further.
The scrub bar came from the same place: make something useful, tactile and a little more interesting to use.
The fragrance came because scent was already such a big part of the brand.
If we were going to put this much thought into the way CACTUS smells, it made sense to let some of those scents live on their own too.
And there are more things we want to make.
Not because we need more products for the sake of it.
Because there are still plenty of everyday things we look at and think:
Surely this could be more interesting.
CACTUS MIGHT LOOK DIFFERENT NEXT TIME
You might see one version of CACTUS today and something completely different a few months later.
A new box.
A different campaign.
A website that suddenly looks nothing like the last one.
An ad that barely looks like it came from the same brand.
That usually means one of two things:
I got bored.
Or I got inspired.
I’ve never really understood the idea that every brand has to look exactly the same across every product, every drop and every campaign forever.
That sounds tidy.
It also sounds a bit boring.
CACTUS will always be design-first.
If something feels fun, interesting, weird or worth trying, I want to try it.
The colours might move around.
The graphics might change.
The tone might shift.
The packaging might get reworked.
But the point of view stays the same.
Curious.
A little strange.
Always trying something.
That’s the part I care about keeping consistent.
NOTHING IS REALLY FINISHED
We’re constantly sampling.
Constantly tweaking.
Constantly asking if the formula could feel better, if an ingredient could add more benefit, if a scent could have more depth, if a tube could be nicer to use, if a box could be smarter, or if the whole thing could feel a little more CACTUS.
Right now, while you’re reading this, there’s a decent chance I’m mocking up another packaging idea, testing another ingredient, or sending someone an email they were probably hoping not to receive.
It never really ends.
And that’s kind of the point.
WE’RE STILL TRYING TO GET TO SPACE
CACTUS isn’t about launching something once and calling it done.
Better formula.
Better scent.
Better packaging.
Better experience.
More personality.
More weirdness.
More CACTUS.
