Liz Earle Naturally Active Skincare blog

I cannot believe it’s been 3 years since Liz and Kim asked me to help develop the first Liz Earle fragrance. Our friendship goes back many years to when I was the Beauty Buyer at Harrods and we would chat ‘beauty’ for hours. After leaving Harrods I set up the Liberty Beauty department before joining QVC as their first Beauty Buyer, 15 years ago. It was at this point that Liz and Kim approached me to ask my opinion of their new brand ‘Liz Earle Naturally Active Skincare’ and I’ve followed the development of the brand ever since.

Liz and Kim know I am passionate about perfume and have always been on a mission to share my passion, particularly as the perfume world can be incredibly confusing with so many new fragrances launched each year. So you can imagine my excitement when we first spoke about a Liz Earle fragrance. My first question was ‘are we looking at a fine fragrance?’ This was very important to me as I think there are far too many average smells on the market. Knowing Liz and Kim so well, I knew we could produce something that customers would love and that the industry could respect.

My first task was to find great people to create a wonderful smell that both Liz and Kim would like – this created a huge potential problem for me as their taste in fragrance was quite different, just like their skin types. How could I find a “Cleanse and Polish fragrance” which would appeal to Liz, Kim and all their customers? We knew the fragrance had to have the very best quality ingredients and from customer feedback, the same uplifting feeling that you get from the skincare range.

We worked with a brilliant perfumer Jean Charles Niel in Grasse – the perfume capital of the world. Jean Charles really enjoyed meeting Liz and Kim during the development of the perfume, describing Liz as ‘the perfect English rose’. As I live near Grasse in the South of France, I was lucky to be able to work very closely with him and liaise frequently with Liz and Kim so we could create this fabulous fragrance. The task was big, the demands were great but I have to say it was extremely exhilarating to be involved in this fabulous project.

We had such fun and I am sure we have smelled thousands of variations to arrive at this truly unique smell. My colleagues in the industry are so pleased as their customers often complain that they like fresh florals but these usually do not last. Hopefully with Liz Earle Botanical Essence No. 1 (UK & IE) we have solved the search for many people.

Over the past few weeks I have been travelling around the UK to ensure that the whole Liz Earle team at the Green House, Union, the London flagship store and in John Lewis know about the fragrance. I have had so many messages on my phone asking what the team thought, so I was very pleased to tell Liz and Kim the response was overwhelming and the excitement tangible. I had a great time meeting the customer advisors and travelling with Nikki, Cristie and Leighton from Liz Earle. We were all so excited to share information about fragrance, the story of our perfume and of course, to spray it around liberally!

Thank you Liz and Kim for allowing me to indulge myself in the creative side of the perfumery world – I’m not sure if my husband and daughter agree as the whole house is now filled with even more bottles and books but I can honestly say I’ve enjoyed every minute!