Who: Nancy Meiland, perfumer and owner of Nancy Meiland Parfums. The articulate and seriously knowledgeable Nancy trained in London and after years matching customers to their perfect scent and studying under (among others) Lyn Harris, launched her micro brand of three, artfully constructed fragrances in 2015. They are fast becoming popular with women jettisoning their Chanel for something more unique and modern. We love the elegantly crafted perfumes for their freshness and gentle, elegant clarity. Definitely a star in the making.
Today I’m Wearing my own fragrance, Aquilaria, it’s an ode to oudh and about going back to the origins of the Aquilaria tree itself, where the darkly precious resin comes from.
When I wear perfume, it feels like I’m put together. like my aura is complete, it it defines my space and I feel in the present moment.
I will always apply it just before I leave the house, so I leave in a cloud of scent. I apply it to any pulse points and I will often spritz into the air and walk into it too. In the summer I’ll spray any silk scarf I’m wearing and if it’s winter I’ll spray it on the inside of my coat, for that enveloping warming feeling
My children notice my scent all the time, If I’m blending at home and my young son comes in, he’ll come out with exactly what he thinks, so the other day he came in when I was blending a vanilla note and said ‘pancakes!”. I love that they will immediately cut through and say exactly what they smell.
I’m always trying to encourage them not to say ‘that stinks’ because we’re so ready to make snap judgements about smell, then there’s no more investigation. I always say within the bad smells there are good smells.
If I’ve been working in the lab I wont wear anything on my skin and I make sure I come and hug my kids so they smell skin smells because sometimes they need that natural skin scent of their mother to come through.
