Grooming -- 2 days ago
Words: Violet
When the news that one of our all time favourite actor/screenwriter/directors had created a unisex fragrance, we were slightly confused – intrigued might be a better word, but still a little confused. Who knew that the legendary Richard E. Grant had such a nose for fragrance? It turns out that this isn’t just another celebrity knocking out a perfume to boost their media coverage, but rather a serious endeavour and one that Grant has been interested in for decades.
As a child, growing up in sub-tropical Swaziland, the young Richard tried bottling gardenia and rose petals in jars of boiling sugar water, and after burying them in the garden, he mistakenly believed that some osmosis would magically transform them into perfume…
Almost 50 years later, having broken into the world of acting, directing and writing, the iconic British thespian decided it was time to fulfil his childhood dream and create his own perfume. Prompted by his great friend, Anya Hindmarch, who having seen him with his head thrust into a gardenia bush while on holiday in the Caribbean, sensed it would be a smart idea to produce a fragrance.
He says of the initial project that when he first met “professional ‘Nose’ Alienor Massenet, I un-pocketed my favourite ingredients onto a restaurant table which included lime, marijuana leaves, mandarin, vetiver grass, pepper, and gardenia petals, which gave her a very clear idea of the earthy, citrusy scent I had dreamt of combining.”
The result of this unique endeavour is JACK – For Her and For Him. With top notes of lime, marijuana and mandarin, heart notes of clove, pepper and nutmeg and a base of oud, vetiver, white musk, tobacco absolute and olibanum resin, this really is a very pleasant surprise in the world of fragrance.
Grant says in reaction to the question of who will wear this scent? “I know that people generally remain loyal to a brand from a very young age, and I am no exception. The scent you choose when you’re a teenager or twenty-something is so bound up with your burgeoning sexuality and need to establish your own identity, that I hope my unisex scent finds favour with the exceptionally brand savvy young generation who aren’t bound by the traditional divisions between what is perceived as masculine or feminine.” Hear Hear to that!
JACK will be launched exclusively at Liberty this month and the store will have 5 windows designed by Richard E. Grant, evoking the quintessential British creativity of Op-artist Bridget Riley and comedy icons, Monty Python.
Available exclusively fromliberty.co.uk. For more information visit jackperfume.co.uk,
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