Monday 22 April 2019

STEPHAN'S SIX - AMANDA BEADLE


A career in accountancy was not what Amanda Beadle originally envisaged for herself. A dream of going to art school was put to one side and a “sensible” job was encouraged instead. Many years later Amanda returned to her artistic roots, both as a painter and a perfumer, and went on to win the 2018 Art and Olfaction Artisan Award for her debut fragrance, Chienoir. So, after creating for others, it’s time to discover her own fragrance memories during “Stephan’s Six”.

What is the first smell that you can remember?
When I was very young we lived with my grandparents and I spent many happy hours in their workroom. He was an architect and my grandmother an actress. They shared a love of theatre and together wrote books about theatre design and history. I would always find him at his giant wooden drawing board working on an illustration, the smell of paint and pencil shavings mingling with the scent of ink, Tippex and old manuscripts from where she sat at her Olivetti typewriter, the ting of the carriage return sounding out the end of each paragraph.

What was the first perfume you remember your mum or dad wearing?
My mother was a single mum working long hours to provide for two young children. She didn’t have many luxuries, but she did have a bottle of Diorissmo, a large spray bottle decked in black and white houndstooth. It brings back memories of my mum’s sparsely adorned dressing table: a glass bottle of softly scented pink Oil of Ulay, a battered old rose scented rouge in a circular cardboard package, a stale waxy lipstick and a block mascara that she would spit on to moisten, that’s gross.

What was the perfume of your twenties?
It’s very hard to choose one perfume because that’s when my fascination with fragrance began. When Calvin Klein launched Obsession in 1985 it teased me away from YSL Opium, the perfume of my wild child teenage days. A spicy amber powerhouse, Obsession was designed for a big night out, but I wore it to work every day and it became my signature scent. I was working in finance, training to be an accountant, and a chap from the tax department said he could always tell if I had been working on a case because the file would smell of me. Those were also the days when you could smoke at your desk, so perhaps I was drawn to a strong perfume to cover the smell of cigarettes. I quit smoking, started collecting perfumes, and ended the decade favouring Aromatics Elixir from Clinique. It’s the fragrance I was wearing when I met my husband.

What was your biggest perfume mistake?
To quote artist Bob Ross, “There are no mistakes, just happy accidents.” Now that my family are grown, I’ve been lucky enough to return to my creative dreams and my passion for perfume. Painting and perfume are intertwined for me, I see materials in colour and I blend like I’m mixing colours. I create and learn through experimentation and many formulas just don’t work, but I think of them as knowledge rather than mistakes. Taking notes while you make perfume is really important, I’ve learnt the hard way, because finding a beautiful accord with no note of its composition is very frustrating.

You can only choose one perfume?
It would have to be Chienoir. I was surprised enough to be nominated for an Art and Olfaction Artisan Award, let alone win. At the awards ceremony my whole family nearly fell off our chairs! It is the first perfume I made for someone else, I was commissioned by the Nolan family at Black Dog Hill Vineyard to make a scent that would represent the essence of their English vineyard. It’s mossy woodland, green vines, white flowers, and chalky terroir. A perfume with a soul.

What perfume should I try?
Harvey Nichols had a signature scent called HN which is now discontinued, and you should smell it because it will soon be gone forever. It’s a delicious sexy suede with heliotrope and vanilla, both powerful and soft, and it is my all-time favourite. I think there were two versions, one for men and one for women, but anyone can wear this. I believe anyone can wear any perfume - if you like it wear it - I love that my perfumes are enjoyed by men and women alike.

For more information about Amanda Beadle and the BedeauX collection of perfumes you can visit her website at Bedeaux.co.uk

6 comments:

  1. Excellent. Crikey, it brought back memories when she mentioned the HN scent, I had the men's version. It came out not long after M7, and it contained oud, this was before oud because the 'trendy' ingredient of course. I bought a bottle of it because I loved M7. I don't think that the rest of the UK was ready for oud at the time. Now that the UK, and elsewhere is obsessed with it, I have moved on and don't really get on with it any more.

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    1. Hello Barry, is there ANYTHING that you didn't try? Why don't you have a blog? Best, Stephan

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    2. Thanks Stephan. I've tried quite a lot of stuff in my time. I would rather read blogs like your's, written by more talented people than myself. Having said that, I was one of the regular contributors on POL, many years ago, and introduced some interesting perfume houses to perfume lovers.....Andy Tauer, I was responsible for coming up with the name for his Lonestar Memories, Ormonde Jayne, Victoire Gobin-Daude (remember her?), more recently, I got Oriza L Legrand to be a bit better known when Hugo first re-launched the company. Sorry, I have rambled :)

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    3. I don’t use Basenotes for a lot anymore but I do enjoy Prince Barry’s numerous fragrance reviews and his contributions to the forums, particularly vintage men’s powerhouses. Love the blog, Stephan!

      Cheeio

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    4. Thanks Fredricktoo. I remember you :)

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