Wear your childhood on your sleeve

If, like me, you spent your childhood eating guavas and green gage plums and feijoas straight off your garden trees, you'll love the fruity earthiness of Jo Malone's latest fragrance.


Blackberry & Bay launches in New Zealand in September and although picking wild blackberries is more a British than kiwi sensibility, there is something universally appealing about its warm, crushed fruit notes. 


At first spritz I wasn't sure about wearing something so simple and fruity (I like my perfume heady, floral and bordering on animalic) but once it dried and warmed on my skin it became much more complex and woody. 


One of my favourite things about Jo Malone fragrances is that their simplicity and quality mean that they smell different on everyone. Rather than evaporating off with the alcohol content like so many commercial fragrances do, the rich raw ingredients embed themselves into your skin and make magic. 


When you find your signature Jo Malone, it somehow makes you smell just like you, only better. Isn't that what perfume should do?


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Waxing Lyrical about Jo Malone

The beautiful 'tasting bar' at Jo Malone

I've been sitting on this post for a month now because every time I re-read it I sounded gushy, but I can't help it! I have taken out as many superlatives as I can, I hope you'll forgive me the rest.

Just before Christmas I spent an hour with the ladies at Jo Malone in the new Britomart flagship store. From the moment I arrived, on a ridiculously soggy, windy Auckland day, I felt like I could stay for days.

The minimalistic, apothecary-style layout is a little daunting at first, especially when you realise that the rows upon rows of candles and fragrances and body products are not, as they first appear, all the same. There are literally dozens of scent combinations, and each can be layered again with other combinations...cue squeal of delight from this self-professed fragrance fanatic - oh the possibilities!

Thankfully my expert Anne had the patience of a saint as I literally opened and smelled every bottle. The interesting thing I noted, was that even though each fragrance smells unique, there is definitely a signature undercurrent that ties the Jo Malone collection together. My nose isn't refined enough to recognise exactly what it is, but you can be sure of one thing, the ingredients that make up these scents (and the candles and body products) are absolute, premium quality. They go on fresh and vibrant and true, then dry down (nestle in over the next hour or so) warm and deep so that they seem to emanate from your skin. If you want to smell expensive, this is your brand.

I'll be completely honest, though I adored a couple of the fragrances I tried on the day, I haven't been swayed from my 10year love affair with Lalique de Lalique (we are truly scented soulmates). But I've been burning Jo Malone candles at home (their limited edition Chestnut is heavenly), and cannot recommend a (complimentary) Jo Malone fragrance consultation highly enough if you are looking for your own signature smell.

You can just turn up on the day, or phone them to book an appointment. How fun would it be to bring a hen party here before heading out for the night?

What about you, Beaunz belles, do you have a signature scent? Or a 'wardrobe' of fragrances that you wear on a whim?

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In a World of their own

World Beauty Store on Ponsonby Road

(excuse the poor image, they have a no-photography policy)

A few years ago, I had the pleasure of working on the launch of the Roja Dove Haute Parfumerie in Harrods. Roja was the Parfumeur at Guerlain for over two decades before deciding to go his own way, and within days of opening, the Roja Dove Haute Parfumerie was proclaimed the most influential Parfumerie in the world. 

To call Roja's Parfumerie a sensory wonderland is woefully inadequate. Every nook and cranny has something beautiful and unique tucked into it, from hand blown Lalique crystal fragrance fountains, to Nina Ricci's four 'sleeping beauties' to a Clive Christian behemeth wearing a 5carat diamond. Roja's one requisite was that it had to be the best, cost was irrelevant, and so began my own love affair with fine fragrance.

It was with a heavy heart that I walked away from the Parfumerie to come home to New Zealand, until I discovered the two WORLD Beauty Stores in Auckland. 

Somehow, WORLD have snagged treasures such as Amouage (Autumn warmth in a bottle), The Different Company (beautiful, simplistic scents), Mitsouko by Guerlain (unique and unforgettable) and of course, the Cire Trudon candles they have become known for. Curating this collection of beauty delights has been done with such a deft touch, it's a wonder they ever have any stock. 

If only I could get them to bring in my Lalique scent, I could kiss Roja Dove goodbye forever.

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