JO MALONE

The perfumer on the food and travel moments worth bottling, moving to Dubai, and her return to the fragrance world.

- ANNA MCCOOE

The thought of never creating another fragrance was one of the worst thoughts for me emotionally. It was making me anxious, not creating. Now I’m back in the market [with new fragrance brand Jo Loves] and at a point in my life where I’m seeing this business grow. Creating fragrance was never just a business or a career. When I create fragrance, I’m the best person I can possibly be. I’m happy, I’m fulfilled. I’m being creative, telling stories of life. And it makes people smile.

Everywhere I go I’m looking at ingredients. I was in Thailand at Amanpuri and we had two amazing women cooking for us. Everyday when we were by the pool, they would bring out carpaccio of mango with grated lime over the top. It was so sweet and so fresh and the lime cut through. That moment came into fruition as a fragrance when I was at the Four Seasons in New York, of all places. That’s where all the memories started flooding back.