Mikayla Nogueira on Scent, Scandal, and Her Mystery Man

THURSDAY 6:05 PM MARCH 12, 2026 DUMBO

I’m in an Uber running late to meet Mikayla Nogueira, and my thoughts are firing in opposite directions. By the time I arrive I’ll probably have more questions for the biggest beauty influencer of our time than I do for god himself. At 27, she sits on top of an empire of 17 million TikTok followers. To say she’s mastered the art of engineering controversy and getting it to stick barely scratches the surface. What’s the latest in Mikayla’s world? She’s fresh off another cancellation cycle, this one ignited by going public with a new man just weeks after announcing her divorce from Cody Hawkin. Bold timing, deliberate or not. She’s also launching her first scent, a collaboration with fragrance brand Snif. It’s a tropical storm of a perfume that’s high-voltage, candy-sweet, and a tad abrasive. Sound familiar? I arrive at the launch party at the 1Hotel in Dumbo. It’s pouring outside and the fragrance is being pumped into the event room via diffusers. I spot Mikayla in a blur of sunset-themed dresses. She’s 4’9″ but her presence is unmissable. We get a few minutes in the hallway to talk. First topic? Dunkin’ Donuts.

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EMILY SANDSTROM: First thing I want to know is your Dunkin’ order.

MIKAYLA NOGUEIRA: Oh, my gosh. Food and drink?

SANDSTROM: Yes.

NOGUEIRA: I get Dunkin’ every day. I get a medium iced latte with almond milk, and three pumps of butter pecan. And I always get the loaded hash browns. They have cheese and bacon, it’s fire.

SANDSTROM: Nice.

NOGUEIRA: And then–underrated item–the stuffed bagel minis. They’re stuffed with cream cheese. No one ever thinks to get them, but they’re so good. 

SANDSTROM: And a donut? If there has to be one.

NOGUEIRA: This one is wild, but it’s a french cruller.

SANDSTROM: That is wild.

NOGUEIRA: I know. I do a lot of DoorDash, and they don’t have French cruller as an option. It’s the worst.

SANDSTROM: So if it’s not a French cruller, it’s a—?

NOGUEIRA: Well, my favorite Dunkin’ Donut of all time is the brownie battered donut, but it’s seasonal. So I would say a coffee roll. As long as it’s fresh. 

SANDSTROM: Thank you. Can you describe your new scent in three words?

NOGUEIRA: When I first smelled it I felt that it was intoxicating in a romantic way. I personally think it’s quite sensual. And tropical. I really wanted there to be a romance element to it.

SANDSTROM: I know you’ve said that you went through so many samples before you landed on this scent. How did you trust that you did land on the right one?

NOGUEIRA: The one I landed on was the most unique. I felt personally that I hadn’t smelt a fragrance like that before. Tropical scents, solar scents, and aquatic scents are my personal favorites. I have so many. As I was creating it, I was like, “How can I make this different from every other one I have?” So many solar and tropical fragrances have coconut, or they have that SPF kind of smell to them.

SANDSTROM: Right.

NOGUEIRA: I did not want this to have that SPF, and I didn’t want it to smell like straight ocean either. I wanted it to tell a story, which is why we landed on the solar thing.

SANDSTROM: Are fragrances nostalgic for you? 

NOGUEIRA: Well, I grew up not being able to afford them. I didn’t even own a fragrance until maybe high school. I just had one, and it was Marc Jacobs Daisy.

SANDSTROM: Nice.

NOGUEIRA: So now I collect them. My whole bottom shelf of fragrance is full with every single Daisy. I’ll never get rid of it knowing that it was the first perfume I could ever afford. And then I really got into it in 2020 when, transparently, I could start to afford it. That’s when I started learning about the different scent profiles and everything.

SANDSTROM: Amazing. You’ve remained one of the most watched influencers for quite a stretch of time now. Why do you think people are drawn to you in such high volumes?

NOGUEIRA: I think people just think I’m wild.

SANDSTROM: Are you?

NOGUEIRA: Well, people never know what to expect from me. Whenever they click on a video, they don’t know what I’m going to say. I spend a lot of time crafting my intros in all my videos, knowing that it’s going to draw them in a way that keeps them watching. I think it’s just a mix of my personality. I’m loud. And I’m not afraid to be myself in the sense that what you see in my videos is who I really am. I’m a little obnoxious. I’ve always said this since my high school days, that I’m an acquired taste. But I’m the type of acquired taste that you pay attention to, whether you love me or hate me.

SANDSTROM: So the perfect fit for social media. 

NOGUEIRA: Period.

SANDSTROM: I like that people always comment “Please buy me a bag” on your videos. 

NOGUEIRA: Oh, you’ve seen that? That girl’s name is Peyton. I told her, “If you comment, ‘buy me a bag’ for 365 days, I’ll fly you to Boston, take you to whatever designer store you want and I’ll buy you a bag.” It’s probably been about 90 days.

SANDSTROM: Oh, wow. She’s just like a crazy fan?

NOGUEIRA: Not crazy, but definitely dedicated. 60 days in I messaged her and I said, “You keep doing that and I’ll do it.”

SANDSTROM:  What bag do you think she wants? What if she wants a Birkin? What’s going to happen then?

NOGUEIRA: I don’t know.

SANDSTROM: That’s really funny.

NOGUEIRA: I can pivot.

SANDSTROM: I’ll keep my fingers crossed for her. But lots of other people comment that too. 

NOGUEIRA: Really? Well, I give away a lot of bags because I know that people really want bags.

SANDSTROM: Do you read all of your comments?

NOGUEIRA: I read comments after the first hour of posting a video, and then I read them again 24 hours later. Because the first hour is just your community, the people who are checking your page and love to follow you. Then if the video gains traction, within 24 hours you’ll get comments from people that don’t follow you and it just pops up on their “for you” page. The comments can look totally different in the first hour than 24 hours later.

SANDSTROM: Does it make you feel insane? 

NOGUEIRA: No. I’m not the type of person to just sit there and read comments. After that one hour and then my 24-hour check, I don’t look ever again.

SANDSTROM: Would you say you have a healthy relationship with that?

NOGUEIRA: Yeah. I actually have my name blocked on TikTok, so I don’t get videos about me. I don’t see anything negative about me. I’ve never looked at my Reddit page. 

SANDSTROM: Nice. Well, there’s a whole parallel content economy dedicated to you.

NOGUEIRA: Oh.

SANDSTROM: People keep themselves really busy with that.

NOGUEIRA: I never know what people say unless someone tells me. I always say, there’s probably a really interesting reality show about me to be made.

SANDSTROM: Let’s call the Bravo team in here. You’re obviously entering a new chapter of your life right now after your divorce. How are you doing? I know you’ve said in a lot of your videos that you feel really light and happy.

NOGUEIRA: I absolutely do feel very light. I’ve been putting a lot of time into myself. A lot of people I’ve talked to in the last few months all say the same thing, “Mikayla, right now with everything you’re going through, you need to be selfish. You need to put yourself first because this period is so critical to how you heal and how you overcome.” So I’ve been doing a lot of exercising and trying to take care of my eating habits. I’ve also gotten really into  journaling and reading. But the thing that has helped me the most, and it’s probably why I feel so happy, is I have constantly surrounded myself with people. Like, zero isolation.

SANDSTROM: It really does help.

NOGUEIRA: Because that can be where people overthink. I think the worst times for me in the day are when I lay my head on the pillow at night. That’s when people have their worst thoughts usually. I’ve just been constantly around my friends and my family, and going on trips to Vegas, and trying to keep my mind active in a way that helps.

SANDSTROM: Are you going to tell me who the mystery man was?

NOGUEIRA: Oh, god.

SANDSTROM: How could I not ask?

NOGUEIRA: What I’ll say is, it seems people have already figured it out.

SANDSTROM: People definitely have theories.

NOGUEIRA: What have you seen?

SANDSTROM: A lot of people think it’s Cody. Or a lot of people think it’s Manny MUA.

NOGUEIRA: [Laughs] I saw Manny’s video. That was funny. He texted me and said, “Are we dating?”

SANDSTROM: But you’re not able to confirm anything? 

NOGUEIRA: No. 

SANDSTROM: What is dating like in Boston?

NOGUEIRA: Well personally, I’m Masshole through and through, so I love a Masshole man. I’m not afraid of that asshole, construction worker who’s got mojo. That’s very Boston. I will say, I’m an acquired taste. If a man were to see my videos, I wouldn’t blame him if he ran the other way. 

SANDSTROM: Sounds like you have a really good attitude about it.

NOGUEIRA: Yeah. I’m only in my 20s. I shouldn’t have it all figured out. Hell no.

SANDSTROM: Not at all. People have been saying that you’re jumping into dating too soon. How do you feel about that? 

NOGUEIRA: People need to understand that they don’t know the timeline. I’m the only one who does. So is it too soon? 

SANDSTROM: How do you feel about tonight? 

NOGUEIRA: I’m so excited. I love this kind of stuff, especially when I get to see other influencers. Because I live in Boston, I don’t get to go to influencer events all the time. It’s once in a blue moon for me.

SANDSTROM: When do you get nervous?

NOGUEIRA: Never. You could put me on stage in Gillette Stadium and tell me to talk and I would not be nervous. In college, I loved public speaking classes. It was one of my favorite things to do. I wanted to work in radio. I wanted to do things that involved me being out there and talking and known. 

SANDSTROM: Amazing. Are you moving to New York? 

NOGUEIRA: Oh god, no. I think I will die in Boston.

SANDSTROM: Well, congratulations on tonight. Do you think there’s more perfume to be made for you?

NOGUEIRA: I have asked Bryan [Edwards, founder of Snif] so many times if I can do another one. I said, “Bryan, I’m going to prove to you that this will be successful. And let’s make a deal. If it is, you let me do another one.”

SANDSTROM: What’s the next one going to be like, do you think?

NOGUEIRA: I want to do a gourmand, something with vanilla and maybe caramel, pistachio. 

SANDSTROM: The gourmand fragrance is such a thing right now.

NOGUEIRA: I love them in the winter. I don’t know if you’ve heard of Ginger Biscuit by Jo Malone?

SANDSTROM: I’ve seen it on TikTok.

NOGUEIRA: It literally smells like a Biscoff ginger cookie. That’s one of my favorite fragrances in the winter. We’ll see.