MFO Gift Guide: Jo Malone

You want a no-fail gift idea? Trust Jo Malone to take the guesswork out of the equation.

I've been into Jo Malone for 2 decades now, back when I was still a student in college and the scent that I shared with my sister was only an in-house cologne Jo Malone made for French Connection. 20 years later, her scents still have never lost their appeal, even now that I'm a wife and mom with three kids. It is just one of those classics that stand the test of time and will continue to do so for decades ahead. It also reminds us that whatever our role in life may be, we are women, and we deserve to enjoy everyday luxuries.

While the classic scents in their signature bottles are always a welcome treat, the special Limited Edition collections like Cologne Intense, The Bloomsbury Set and the newly launched Rare Teas Collection will please anyone from the everyday scent enthusiast to the hardcore Jo Malone collector.

Dark Amber & Ginger Lily is my favorite scent from the Cologne Intense Collection. Calm and relaxing, it is also heady and intoxicating. It's a perfect evening scent, and I associate this with dressing up in fancy dresses and heels.

These do not look like your typical Jo Malone bottles, and that's the point. The Bloomsbury Collection is inspired by the free-spirited artists who lived in their legendary country house in Sussex England.

We love our teas, to drink and not to wear us a scent. So imagine giving this to your tea-loving aunt or mother-in-law, cousin or best friend. She'll be thrilled that you thought of something personal without being too predictable.

The Star Magnolia Collection has got to be my most favorite limited edition collection and it is SOLD OUT in other countries. It is so light and fresh and best of all? It comes with a Hair Mist. I always feel so special when I spray it on my hair not only before I head out, but throughout the day. Who's afraid of poorly ventilated restaurants? Not me. Totally pang-donya hacks.

You can take that love for scents further with Jo Malone candles for the home. Last Christmas, I received a Pine & Eucalyptus scented candle from Erika Reyes and Camille Flores Soloan, the lovely ladies at Jo Malone Philippines and I loved it! Lighting it up not only set the mood but also made our living room smell like Christmas indeed.

It would be interesting for you to know though that Jo Malone actually started out her business not with colognes or candles, but with bath oils. Her first creation was a Nutmeg & Ginger Bath Oil that she gave to her clients as a thank you gift for their business (she was a facialist known for her skillful hands and amazing fragrance combinations). One client ordered an extra 100 bottles to give to friends, 86 of whom called to place further orders of their own. 

It's that level of good. When you're open to trying out something different from the store, go for the Jo Malone bath and body line consisting of shower oils, body scrubs, shampoo & conditioner, soaps and lotions.

Just imagine my surprise when I got home from Pilates and this big box of bath treats was just waiting for me. It felt like Christmas in August. That's the kind of reaction you want from the recipients of your largesse.

Worth checking out as well are the diffusers plus room and linen sprays for the home. These make excellent hostess gifts and housewarming presents and is just something different to give to someone who loves to make her home hygge.

In the Philippines, visit the Jo Malone pop-ups at malls, and stand alone boutiques at

Jo Malone Greenbelt 
Ground Level, Greenbelt 5
Legazpi St., Ayala Center
Makati City
Tel: +632 729 9491

Jo Malone SM Aura
Upper Ground Floor
SM Aura Premier
26th Street Corner McKinley Parkway
Taguig City

Limited Edition Jo Malone Kohdo Wood Collection

Fragrance fanatics take note! There's a new scent in town!



The World of Jo Malone™ introduces the Kohdo Wood Collection, two captivating fragrances created as a modern interpretation of an ancient Asian tradition. These two new Eastern scents are inspired by the ancient Japanese incense ceremony of Kohdo, where emotions are influenced according to the different nature of scents.

The invigorating fragrance of Lotus Blossom & Water Lily – Kohdo Wood Day, is designed to wake the senses and energise the soul, while Dark Amber & Ginger Lily – Kohdo Wood Night, is a sensual and calming blend that encourages tranquillity.

Scentsational

I normally try to post a little something new everyday to share with you, but lately, as some of you may have noticed, I've had intermittent postings the past two weeks! So, sorry for that! I just came back from a 2 week vacation in Richmond, BC with my fiance and my future in-laws and it was nothing short of sensational! It was a fun filled two weeks, never mind that the weather was hovering on the range of 3 to 5 degrees! But as my friend Nina once told me, there's no such thing as bad weather conditions, only badly dressed people. So to beat the cold, I bundled up when we went out, and took a slot beside Princess the cat in front of the fireplace while indoors! (That is, when not snuggling next to my dear fiance, haha!)

There's plenty of good food on that side of the coast, the freshest salmon sushis, the sweetest, plumpest shrimps (you should try the hakaws in this dimsum place in front of the Richmond Centre! super yummy!), the biggest crabs (Alaskan King crabs hello!), the best go-to place for cheap and generous portions of Chinese food (Richmond Public Market), the widest variety of curries (Indian, Singaporean, Malaysian, etc), and the best Korean cuisine (try Jang Mo Jib! That restaurant is always in my dreams darn it!) We ate out a lot that's for sure! So in between bonding with family, eating out and crossing the border to do some outlet shopping (Yeah!) that leaves little time for surfing the net, teehee!

Anyway, after a sensational holiday, I was inspired to write about a scentsational person, Jo Malone! I first heard about her from my sister Trina who had a bottle of French Connection's signature scent, back in 1995 (At the time, French Connection still wasn't known as the controversial FCUK, and the scent was packaged in the simple, yet distinctly Jo Malone clear bottle with black and cream accents). Still relatively unknown in other shores, except for those in the know, Ms. Malone created the fragrance exclusively for French Connection. And was it a hit with the London crowd as it was with us! My sister found herself sharing the bottle with me, and most of our friends who couldn't resist spritzing the scent on ourselves before leaving the house! (You know who you are! Haha!)

According to Vogue UK, Jo Malone's fascination with fragrance started early: roses in the garden, the Eau Sauvage on her father's shirts and the sun-warmed fur of the family Labrador. Jo mixed her own creations even then, using rose petals, leaves, lemon and orange skins and grated Camay soap. "I'd put them in the fridge and my sister would get sick because she'd think they were something to eat," she admits. Jo grew up in Bexleyheath in Kent with her mother, Eileen, a beautician and her artist father.

At 17, Jo headed to London and took a job at Pulbrook and Gould, florist to the Royal Family. To supplement her £29-a-week pay packet she worked as a gardener in the evenings but still got up at 4am to go to the flower market. Within a couple of years though she was back in the beauty business, giving facials to wealthy women by day and mixing face creams in her kitchen at night.

Jo was 19 and husband-to-be Gary was 23 when they met. "I fell head-over-heels in love," she says. They married two years to the day after they first met and later joined forces in the business, putting their savings into renting a one-bedroom flat in Chelsea, where Jo used the bedroom to give beauty treatments. She soon became known as 'the girl who does faces'.

At a time when others in the business were relying on new-fangled electronic facial equipment to impress clients, Jo relied simply on her hands. Her attention to clients' individual needs and her obvious creative talent for fragrance combining and product invention meant that an initial client list of just 12 soon swelled to thousands.

Ever the canny businesswoman, one inspired idea Jo had in the early days was to give her very first clients her first creation - Nutmeg & Ginger Bath Oil - as a thank you gift for their business. One client ordered an extra 100 bottles to give to friends, 86 of whom called to place further orders of their own for the delicious scent.

Having spotted a gap in the market for unique fragrances created by combining unexpected elements, Jo set off to France to work with perfume specialists in the city of Grasse.

Jo's sense of smell is so acute that she is able to sniff out her husband from, if not a hundred paces, certainly from considerably further away than most people could manage. "I know when my husband's around. He's got a very earthy, quite manly smell," she says. Once, alone in New York on business, she was sure she recognised her husband's scent in the hotel lobby. She was right; he had flown over to surprise her.

Having once created a lemon fragrance for the scented hand wipes in McDonald's, Jo admits to being business savvy. "I'm a merchant at heart," she says. However, it's her husband who acts as the company's managing director today, having given up his job as a building surveyor years ago to work alongside her.

A self-confessed control freak, when Jo goes on holiday she takes her own white linen sheets with her and likes them changed and starched every two days. She also takes her scent-making kit and a dictaphone to keep by the bed - just in case. She insists her bed linen is treated with her own Linen Sprays. "I'm a real perfectionist," she says. "I like things really ordered. There's a little bit of the Howard Hughes in me."

Jo opened her first store at 154 Walton Street in London in 1994. In 1999, she launched her flagship store in London's Sloane Street. That same year her company was purchased by Estée Lauder with Jo still at its UK helm as chairwoman and creative director. Post-sale the Jo Malone brand expanded still further, thanks to the new research, financial, marketing and distribution opportunities offered by being part of the Estée Lauder family. "It's a security blanket," she says. "I've always said I wanted 50 to 60 years in this business. I want to be doing this when I'm an old lady. Now I know that the business is safe. I remember at one meeting saying to my managers: 'We'll be the best in the world in five years,' and they thought I was mad. Today, with the help of Estée Lauder, I can see it happening."

Jo's passion for scent and skin care remains as intense today as it was when it all began. In March 2002, Jo Malone launched a skin care collection, followed in 2003 by a Facial Finishers Collection, a Coffee Fragrances & Tasting Bar concept and a Basil Outdoor Living Collection in 2004. Found in the world's most fashionable bathrooms, Jo counts Yasmin Le Bon, Jodie Kidd and Kate Moss among her legion of famous fans.

Today, the company has ten stores in the UK and Ireland, one in New York's Flatiron Building, over 300 concessions in department stores across the US and a shop in Sydney, Australia.

Check out her site at jomalone.com and find out for yourself the treasures she has in store for you!


So, with a sweet scent to set the mood for 2007, I greet you all a HAPPY AND BLESSED NEW YEAR! May all your goals be achieved, and your aspirations be realized this year!

(Photos courtesy of Vogue UK and jomalone.com)