In cosmetics the brand name is part of the product. The purchase runs on look and feel more than on formulation data, which means a name that sounds like an established line saves an enormous amount of early credibility building. Blended is the operative word in the category. It’s what you do with the product, it’s how formulations get described, and it’s the language of custom and made-to-order beauty, which is where a lot of the growth has been.

The best result a coined word can get is sounding like it might already be in the dictionary. Orchideous manages that, built off the orchid the way English builds hideous and melodious. Orchids are the largest plant family on earth and among the most commercially significant in horticulture: growers, collectors, shows, and a retail trade spanning supermarket phalaenopsis to five-figure rarities. A name gesturing at that world without being literally “orchid” gives a brand room to be more than a nursery.