Yesterday, we had the pleasure of meeting and chatting with actress Drew Barrymore about the latest launch from her FLOWER Beauty line and one of our favorite topics — fragrance. The newly-released collection includes three perfumes, Cherished, Radiant and Sultry ($24.97 each), for the “modern day ‘every’ woman that juggles work, family and friends” and is available now at Walmart stores nationwide and Walmart.com.
Drew developed the fragrances with perfumer Stephen Nilsen of Givaudan and was truly passionate about the experience. “I did this incredible test with Stephen called Kaleidoscope where you blind smell like 200 scents over the course of hours and it is the most emotional, amazing thing. You can smell something and just be like, ‘Ugh, I hate it!’ or you can burst into tears because it brings back a childhood memory that is so lost and gone and yet it’s as if it’s right there in front of you,” said the actress regarding developing the fragrances and how it gave her a sense of nostalgia.
She suddenly paused and waved her arms in the air with excitement before she went on to explain what she learned on the job. “This is the coolest thing I learned! It’s called ambergris and I became voracious when I smelled it. I kept grabbing it and smelling it like a little piglet and then I found out it was whale vomit! These days it’s a molecular copy of that smell to avoid hurting whales. This smell, too is in some of the best perfumes out there. That was cool to learn, I love me some ambergris.”
Certain smells can make a moment that is long gone relevant and vivid in your mind. Drew told us her own personal anecdote. “We actually had a night-blooming jasmine bush outside our dingy duplex in West Hollywood growing up and it was a nice moment of beauty and nature that made me know that there was good things in the world,” she explained of her favorite note, which can be found in the Sultry fragrance.
When describing her favorite and signature scent, she explained, “I have been a patchouli girl my whole life — like dirty hippie oil patchouli. And it was amazing to learn that so much patchouli is in the most successful scents.” But how does a woman go about finding her signature fragrance? When asked about this, she was adamant about staying true to oneself. “Being honest with yourself and not wearing something you think you’re supposed to be wearing, but wearing something that you really, truly think smells good to you — and then don’t spray too much on. I would also start by figuring out what your favorite flower is and getting a scent that is representative of that flower.”
Keeping in theme with nostalgia, Drew went on to talk about the smell of the 70s that ruled her world. “Vitabath! Vitabath messes me up,” she said as she put her hands on her head and let out a huge laugh. “That was like the smell of the 70s to me! Every home you went in, it was like women had just gotten out of the Vitabath!” Other notables in her mind included Jean Nate, Anais Anais and Joy by Jean Patou.
Not only are we excited to try out the trio of FLOWER Beauty scents, but we’re thinking of paying a local perfumer a visit to experiment with some smells and find our signature scent. Perhaps one of Drew’s will become the new regular for us! We’ll keep you posted.
