THE SCENT OF SUCCESS
Jo Malone London’s Poppy & Barley Cologne has been added to their permanent collection of fragrances. With its warm, comforting notes, it’s the perfect option for everyday wear.
“It’s always nice to know that so many people love and can wear the fragrance you’ve created.”
MATHILDE BIJAOUI
When Jo Malone London launched their limited-edition English Fields collection last year, while all enchanting, there was one fragrance from the range that really stood out from the rest. And now, thanks to its overwhelming success and popularity, the mesmerising Poppy & Barley Cologne has been added to Jo Malone London’s permanent collection of fragrances.
Mathilde Bijaoui, the perfumer behind the much-loved fragrance – as well as a handful of other Jo Malone London favourites, including the heady Myrrh & Tonka and Jasmine Sambac & Marigold – says she was very excited when she found out the news.
“The fragrance itself was quite an achievement,” she explains. “And it’s always nice to know that so many people love and can wear the fragrance you’ve created.”
With its warm notes of barley, vibrant poppies and a contrasting hint of blackcurrant, it’s easy to understand why the fragrance has become such a hit. Just one spritz of Poppy & Barley Cologne is enough to transport you to a sun-drenched English field where grains and flowers mingle. “It was an exciting creative challenge and new territory for me – exploring the potential of the ingredients and their combination,” Bijaoui says. “Poppy & Barley has that slight element of the unexpected and unusual – a contrast between the vibrant poppies and the nourishing grains, rounded by hints of violet and fig.”
Bijaoui – who says she owes her career to her father, who introduced her to the olfactory world through his passion for gastronomy – is well aware of the powerful impact fragrance can have on each and every one of us.
It was in her early childhood that Bijaoui first discovered the power of fragrance, and at the tender age of 13 during a trip to the Osmothèque – the world’s largest fragrance archive – in Versailles, she decided that perfume would become her future vocation.
When Bijaoui isn’t busy concocting captivating fragrances, she spends her spare time running olfactory hospital workshops for women suffering from cancer.
Bijaoui believes that scent has the ability to help us reconnect with our wellbeing, which could explain why so many people have experienced a deep affinity with Poppy & Barley Cologne. Bijauoi says she believes that Poppy & Barley Cologne has resonated with so many as there is something incredibly uplifting about the scent of barley.
“There’s something about barley that has a bit of a reassuring effect,” she says. She believes that the modern world we live in can sometimes be an assault on the senses, and in our hectic lives we need something that can help us find those moments of serenity.
For Bijaoui, her Poppy & Barley creation does just that. When asked what feelings the scent conjures up for her personally, she says it’s most likely the same feelings that lovers of the fragrance have when they wear it – a sense of reassurance, almost like a security blanket. “People need something comforting in their lives,” she says.
Jo Malone London Poppy & Barley Cologne is available now (30ml for $120 and 100ml for $240).