Basil fresh

MANILA, Philippines - Quintessential British brand Jo Malone London is built on a bespoke approach to fragrances. Each and every house scent is designed to be mixed, to be paired, to be layered, to be made your own — for its newest addition to the expanding roster of scent lines, master perfume Anne Flipo takes Jo Malone London on a lark: London at its most fashionably young and fun with its new scent, Basil & Neroli.

Inspired by the leafy green spaces and the gardens of London, fresh, fun, and full of adventure, Jo Malone London welcomes its newest scent to local shores, Basil & Neroli, a flirty oh-so-floral neroli with a delicious wink of basil. With top notes of basil, a heart of neroli, and a heady base of white musk, the scent is a woodsy, earthy burst of playful energy. Quintessentially British in essence, “a fresh, sophisticated, sensual floral with green accents,” shares Anne Flipo, “Basil & Neroli is stunning in its simplicity.”

The Basil & Neroli collection comes to the Philippines with a complete line of colognes, body and hand washes, body crèmes and home candles. On the philosophies that drive the storied label and what drives the lifestyle around its products, YStyle sits down with Debbie Wild, Jo Malone London’s lifestyle director and brand ambassador, and talks shop.

Debbie Wild, lifestyle director for Jo Malone London, acts as the brand ambassador for all global events for the brand.

YSTYLE: Hello, Debbie! Very briefly, how would you describe your role as lifestyle director for Jo Malone London?

DEBBIE WILD: I’m a global ambassador for the brand, and my role is to launch the brand to the press, to the consumers as well. In a way, I’ve sort of helped evangelize Jo Malone London around the world. I’m part of the big team in Jo Malone London Global. We’re based at 52 Gloucester Place, our creative studio, and it’s a team effort to produce a wonderful launch just like this, for our newest scent Basil & Neroli here in the Philippines.

How many countries is Jo Malone London currently in?

We’ve done 41, and our 41st was just in Tel Aviv. Israel is our 41st country, and I’ve launched every single one.

This is the second time you’ve come to the Philippines.

Yes, it is. The Philippines actually was our biggest success for our first day opening, globally, ever ever. It made Jo Malone London history. We’ve never had a day like it.

I think Jo Malone London already had a lot of fans in the country.

I could tell by the party we held. We had a tastemaker party at the end of the press day and it was absolutely packed. It was wonderful, and everybody was, “Oh, we can’t believe it’s in the Philippines, this is fantastic.” I knew it’d be successful, but I didn’t predict the country would make a record for us. It’s fantastic!

To the uninitiated, how would you differentiate Jo Malone London from other scent labels?

It begins with Fragrance Combining and Scent Surround, two trademark philosophies at the core of Jo Malone London. Since the very beginning, we’ve designed and made our fragrances to combine together. So you have Basil & Neroli, our newest scent launching today, which is a beautiful, lively, carefree, spirit fragrance. You can mix it with Nectarine Blossom & Honey and have a real fruity twist.

You can have a signature scent but it’s totally bespoke, it’s up to you, for both men and women. Fragrance Combining is so unique because there are 21 fragrances in the Jo Malone London scent line, from light floral, green floral, spicy to woody, from different families. And you can mix and match different combination of fragrances, to make something truly individual.

And Scent Surround?

Just as we scent our bodies with Fragrance Combine, we can do the same thing to your home as well. Scent Surround is a lifestyle that speaks very importantly to us, and we love that. In your home, in your apartment, you could have Lime Basil & Mandarin mixed with Basil & Neroli. You could have — if you’re serving beautiful dinners or entertaining at home, be it a small tea party or a large dinner set-up — perhaps Basil & Neroli with Grapefruit. If you really think about it, you can decorate your world with scent.

Can you tell us about the philosophy behind the Art of Gift Giving for Jo Malone London?

Gifts are a huge part of our business — that is, it’s one of the points of difference that sets us apart. The joy of gift giving is as beautiful as receiving a gift. So to us, from the very beginning with the brand, the real seducer is the iconic Jo Malone London box, the scented tissue, the nestled product, the grosgrain ribbon, the beautiful iconic bag — it will never change, our packaging stands as a strong, beautiful image for us.

How would you describe the Jo Malone London customer?

It’s a timeless brand. It’s ageless, genderless, timeless. If you’re looking for three words that can be used, perhaps, for our brand, I would say: elegant, classic, but with a whimsical twist. You could be any age with that — you’ll have something that could be a lovely signature scent, but you’ll always have that quirky twist to it. I think that’s lovely about Jo Malone London and our customers; there’s always something that can surprise you, or delight you.

Can you describe the lifestyle that surrounds Jo Malone London?

I think it’s very rare to have a brand that has that timeless appeal. You can easily say it, but fragrance can be stuck in a lot of eras. You can smell a fragrance and think, “I remember that from the ‘90s. I remember that from the early 2000s.” But for us, you can mix and match each scent and you can never pin it down.

There’s quite a power in that, because what I want to do, what our brand wants to do, is create memories for you. If you have a lovely holiday on one of your beautiful islands and you want to try a new scent, why not make a lovely memory for that? That feeling is what I want to create, a scent to a feeling.

How much of British culture would you say informs the brand and your scent lines? 

A huge amount. We’ve always celebrated our British heritage. We are a British brand. Our heritage is something that is in our veins, it’s in our creativity and it comes out in many different ways — most especially with our fragrance. Like a great piece of Brit music, or Brit art, we’ll always have something in there.

If you had to introduce Jo Malone London to someone who isn’t familiar with the brand, what product would you choose?

I think it’s always nice to give them our newest thing. I do. A lot of people join us by having been gifted with beautiful home candles — it’s relatable, it brings joy to have a scented home, it makes you feel different. I think a home candle is one of those gifts that anyone could resonate with.

Where do you see Jo Malone London evolving next?

Our brand always evolves through our consumers. They come and see us, and they see our fantastic product, and then they sort of act like magnets for other clients. “Tell me more about this scent, I don’t know about it.”

We don’t advertise, it’s all word of mouth. When I started with the brand, it had three doors and there were only 10 of us who worked there. And to see it now in 41 countries is an absolute phenomenon, to see it having grown by word of mouth. And in those early days, it grew without social media — so you could imagine, it really is men and women talking to men and women about smelling great.

I think that says a lot for the product and how good you smell.