Terranova
Natural fragrance from the California coast.
Terranova was founded in Berkeley, California in 1970 by Jane Saunders, originally as The Body Shop before renaming to TerraNova — meaning new earth — in 1987. Emerging from Berkeley's counterculture and the natural ingredients movement, the house pioneered the use of vitamins, aloe vera, jojoba, and shea in personal care products at a time when mainstream cosmetics still favoured petrochemical bases. The fragrance range became central to the brand's identity: Rain, a fantasy floral musk, launched in the 1970s and remained a top seller for decades, alongside China Rain, China Musk, and China Lily — layerable compositions that introduced an Eastern inflection unusual for California natural fragrance at the time. The house operated for over fifty years before closing in 2021, its final decade marked by the same direct-to-consumer model its founder had pioneered before the term existed. TerraNova remains a beloved reference point in American natural fragrance history.
Releases
DNA over time
Each column is an era. Each colored band shows that family’s share of accord weight across every perfume the house released in that window. Bigger band = the house leaned harder on that family.
