Reinventing the Classics with To My Ships
Meet the brand on a mission to redefine deodorant, via The Iliad.
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Reinventing the Classics with To My Ships
Meet the brand on a mission to redefine deodorant, via The Iliad.
For most of us, Greek classics are not, perhaps, the first things that come to mind during early morning ablutions. However, that looks set to change, thank to To My Ships, a personal care brand on a self-proclaimed mission to “redefine deodorant”, which takes thematic inspiration from non-other than The Iliad.
With their mission to combine poetry with the technical mastery behind scent and personal care products, To My Ships is bringing something very different, and very exciting, to our everyday routines.
To find out more about the collection, which launched exclusively at Liberty earlier in 2025, Liberty headed to the brand’s London base, a space as poetic as the brand itself with a courtyard lush with tropical verdancy and a tiered, walled garden brimming with ingredients featuring in the scents: from polygonum to lavender.
In these surrounds, founder Daniel Bense explained how ancient verse and rituals intwine in To My Ships’s curated, highly researched products – ready to make everyday rituals something special.
Tell us about To My Ships, your ethos and what you're about?
To My Ships is about doing more with less and trying to do it better. At its heart, we're setting out to redefine deodorants, something that's very intimate, often overlooked, unloved, but to elevate it and to make it interesting. I think that's so much of what we aspire to be: to take everyday items that you have and probably don't think twice about, and to create a beautiful moment in the morning. Something that really feels like it elevates your morning, your everyday, your routines, and sets you up to walk out that door with the most confidence you can have.
The brand is inspired by The Iliad, which is perhaps not the typical inspiration for a personal care brand. Tell us about that?
The name of the brand, each of our ranges, are quotes from The Iliad, and we thought it was very important to create something with depth and meaning. What better way than to focus on something that is really about chaos, but amidst the chaos, there is life and beauty.
In any Greek tragedy or story, there’s much to learn and take from. For us, it was really important to begin something new and fresh with depth and substance, and to look at this piece of text that’s been passed down by orators through the ages as a constant inspiration. It is inherently beautiful. There are beautiful scenes in it of people bathing and perfuming themselves before going into their daily lives, and there’s much to learn and take from it.
Are there any moments within The Iliad you find particularly resonant?
One of the translations we looked at was the Emily Wilson translation, but we have a few that we reference. In her introduction, she talks about how, through the bards and the arts, this message was translated through the ages. It is probably the oldest piece of Western literature we have, but it has been passed down more than written. There were certain intonations that were used, or the way the rhyme was built, which allowed people to remember.
There is a particular scene where Hera is cleansing and bathing herself to seduce Zeus, and they use the same method to describe her bathing and perfuming herself before going into battle with him. I think it is a lovely sentiment to carry through. For us, we all have these moments every day before we go out the door, so it felt like it really resonated.
Your products focus on elevating the everyday experience. Why and how do your products go about doing this?
These are dark, smelly functions we’re talking about, often overlooked and underappreciated. To take something you didn’t think twice about and really elevate it was something we had at our core. We did that in two ways.
First, could we create something that was more than a deodorant but less than a fine fragrance? To have all the elements of haute parfumerie put into a deodorant is completely unheard of, at least in my experience.
Then, in the development of the active ingredients themselves, we started from scratch. That was really important to us. We used what science has given us to unlock nature and create a safe and efficacious product. We treated it as you would skincare, with the same diligence. The customer may never feel or see these things, but just by using it, I think they can feel it. The product texture, the feel, and then the actual scent is something that is going to be with you for the whole day.
Can you tell us about the Of the Gods scent tablet that features in the Liberty Men’s Advent Calendar for 2025?
Our Of the Gods fragrance was built around one single scent, which is polygonum. It is this bright, green, elevated note that you don’t find often or isn’t really used in perfumery. It usually sits as a trace element to mimic other scents.
It feels reminiscent of a scent you know, but it is not something you can put your finger on. I think that is what people attach themselves to. Then it is rounded out with petitgrain and petunia, so you have the bitter citrus and the light wood.
We found a beautiful supplier in France who makes ceramic tablets. This is something you could use in your car, or put in your gym bag, your drawer, anywhere you like. It provides a beautiful diffusion of scent that is discreet and understated, but still there. You could even put it on your keyboard if you wanted.
What process do you go through when creating a new product?
We are more like an orchestra or conductor than musicians playing the individual instruments, and it is about bringing all those elements together. Our products sit on two axes. One is the scent itself, creating a beautiful scent that fits within the range. The other is briefing a formulator with what we would like to create and what we want to achieve with the active ingredients.
You go through many iterations of both fragrance and base, and then bring them together. We begin with product texture and skin feel, layer in our actives. This is why we sit more in the world of skincare.
The most interesting thing about the range is that the eau de parfum was a complete by-product. We were not intending to make it, but while we were testing and using the product we kept experiencing the scent over and over again and eventually felt it would be a bit of a crime not to create the eau de parfum!
Do you have any personal favourite products in the collection? Ones that you use day to day?
They are designed as a single scent collection, and maybe I am lucky because I have all of them, but I use all of them every day. The roll-on deodorant is something I would not leave without if I was travelling. I always carry a small amount of the eau de parfum with me too.
To My Ships
Of The Gods Polygonum Roll-On Deodorant 75ml
Free UK Standard delivery within 5 working days on all orders over £100
Free UK Standard delivery within 5 working days on all orders over £100
To My Ships
Of The Gods Polygonum Hand and Body Wash 375ml
Free UK Standard delivery within 5 working days on all orders over £100
Free UK Standard delivery within 5 working days on all orders over £100
To My Ships
Stand Up Bravely Marjoram Roll-On Deodorant 75ml
Free UK Standard delivery within 5 working days on all orders over £100
Free UK Standard delivery within 5 working days on all orders over £100
To My Ships
Of The Gods Polygonum Eau de Parfum 100ml
Free UK Standard delivery within 5 working days on all orders over £100
Free UK Standard delivery within 5 working days on all orders over £100
To My Ships
Stand Up Bravely Marjoram Spray-On Deodorant 75ml
Free UK Standard delivery within 5 working days on all orders over £100
Free UK Standard delivery within 5 working days on all orders over £100
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