Margot Elena // Insider Look

no. 031426 INSIDER LOOK /

Margot Elena Brand Library

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MAKING BEAUTY

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“” I’m Margot Elena, Founder and Chief Creative Officer of Margot Elena Companies and Collections.

I’m Brand Author of several cult classic, independent beauty brands including The Cottage Greenhouse, Lollia, TokyoMilk, Library of Flowers, and Love & Toast. I suppose I am best known for my attention to the smallest details from the feel of the paper, to hidden messaging to be discovered by the buyer, and for creating brand worlds that “tell stories”.

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I’d been creating brands and retailing products with my designs from a very early age, literally starting in about 3rd grade. All through high school, I would create, make, and sell products, including an underground newspaper, hand-painted apparel, and shoes in independent stores. It was how I made money to go out to clubs on the weekend. (hey, it was the ’80s!)

Now looking back on it, designing, creating, and starting my own company was a completely natural progression; it seems in retrospect there has never been a time that I have not been moving towards owning my own fashion or beauty company.

IN T R O N O . 1

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INTERVIEW: URBAN OUTFITTERS

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URBAN OUTFIT TERS 08 | 16

What are some of your early scent or fragrance memories?

Some of my earliest scent memories were in the garden. As a little one, maybe two or three, I would shadow my mother as she would garden. I have strong memories of the smell of raspberries, the soil, tomato plants, and greens. I think this is particularly an expressive memory because what I also recall are the surroundings— with the memories of the scent I remember how the wind in the trees sounded, I can remember the clouds in the sky. I honestly think this is why fragrance to me is so conceptual and contextual.

Fragrances are about creating experiences rather than just being a scent alone.

How do you continue fragrance self-education?

My favorite go-to resources are antique perfume books. To me, nothing still speaks to the language and artistry of perfumes like very old industry texts. Also, I am always talking with other perfumers and noses in the industry. It is an inspiring creative space to work in as the ideas and concepts are so limitless and personal.

The simplest answer for my own continual self-education is to just be “scent aware.”

I make a conscious effort to be present to fragrance — to not only be cataloging them in my head, but also to be aware of how fragrance influences us...to observe how people wear fragrance, and how it makes them feel.

Can you tell us about the ingredients you use and what goes into making the perfume itself?

Our perfumes have always been amazingly complex. I believe this gives them a sophistication that is sensual, easy to wear, and long-lasting. Our fragrance oils are blends of flower and plant oils that are extracted and distilled. Each perfume can literally be comprised of hundreds of fragrance oils to create the perfect balance. I always compare creating a perfume to music. It is about creating a fragrance composition that has harmony, structure, and tells a story. So you push and pull the notes as you are creating: mixing top crisp notes with bottom woody or earthy notes to finally create a fragrance that creates a little mini-world in a bottle. I’m always chasing this vision of trying to bring to life the concept and capture it in a bottle. The most beautiful moment is when someone tries it on for themselves and becomes a character in this story of sorts—and the story changes with each person, and changes yet again with their mood and intention.

Ultimately, and philosophically, a perfume is incomplete without its individual wearer.

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I N T E RVIE W:

The SEPHORA Glossy 01 | 15

Do you have a first beauty memory?

I have many memories about being influenced by the beauty industry early on, but my mother likes to tell the story of when everything seemed to “click and turn on” for my brain regarding fashion and beauty. I was in seventh grade and there was either a cover or an ad in a magazine of a girl dressed in an all blue, very “80s”, “cool” layered outfit blowing a gigantic, pink, bubblegum bubble.

Something about the styling, accessories, and photography must have captured my imagination because I made my mom take me to the mall. I bought all new clothes and converted my bedroom into a mini retail store complete with hanging rods, shelving, and displays for merchandising.

It was the beginning of me being really conscious of fashion and beauty with a 360-degree awareness, specifically with regard to branding and presentation.

What do you find to be powerful about fragrance in general?

Fragrance is alive and the most intimate “accessory” we can select. It is never the same scent on any two people, and it is never the same exact fragrance from day to day based on the interaction with one’s body chemistry. Is there any art that is more intimate and beautiful than that?

What led you to start your own beauty company?

I had been creating little brands and retailing products with my designs from a very early age, literally starting in about 3rd grade. All through junior high and high school, I would create, make, and sell products, including an underground newspaper and even hand-painted apparel and shoes in retail stores! It was how I made money to go out to clubs on the weekend (it was the ’80s!). So, now looking back on it, designing, creating, and starting my own entrepreneurial beauty company was a completely natural progression; it seems in retrospect there has never been a time that I have not been designing and branding for my own fashion or beauty company!

Unlike many beauty company founders, you stay out of the public eye. Why is that?

To me, perfume, perhaps more than any other fashion and beauty product, is about the wearer. Once a person puts on a perfume, it becomes a part of them and their chemistry. Because of this intensely personal relationship between perfume and wearer, I have felt that when I become more public, the focus shifts. I prefer to step aside to allow the wearer to draw their own conclusions and associations, to find themselves in their own perfume story.

When I step out of the picture, it lets the wearer be the only character in the story. I kind of love that.

INTERVIEW: THE SEPHORA GLOSSY

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INTERVIEW: FROM THE DESK OF

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FROM THE DESK OF 04 | 14

Do you have a personal creative motto?

“Fight for good design.”

Good design is often a struggle of pushing and pulling the tiniest of details; have patience, keep at it. The right design will emerge and tell you it’s there…when it feels harmonious. It will “feel right.” There’s always a tension that is unresolved–you have to be sensitive and have discipline to see design all the way through.

Do you see packaging trends by other brands you helped create?

We notice when we’re influencing trends in packaging and concept development in the bath and beauty world. I love this question, and yet it’s a hard one to answer. We love these brands like kids. One of the things I love most about developing beautiful products, is the evolution of design, developing new brands and observing competition. Competition challenges us to stay ahead. We do everything we can to stay ahead of the wave.

When you aren’t in the office, what are you doing out in the world?

When I’m imploring my dogs to not bark at birds during business conversations, after work hours I am lovin’ on my husband, Travis.

I still have a crush on him and we don’t get enough time together because I’m always working. Books, books and books. I eat, drink and sleep design, so it’s pretty hard to catch me not doing that in some way or another!

Your nose must be completely trained. Do you have a set list of favorite scents?

My father was a professional musician and my mom is a professional artist. The language of perfume is exactly the same– it’s just working in a different dimension. It is about composition, top, middle, bottom notes, balance, harmony, dramatic pauses and rests–surprises, staccato–capturing the moment imagination through scent.

Favorites fragrances are like music to me…I love it all. What lead me down the TokyoMilk Dark path was my sudden obsession and craving for a straight, unmixed, Cedarwood fragrance (now you just made me go on a 10 minute search in my house for the lotion–the obsession begins again…) which evolved into our TokyoMilk “Bulletproof” perfume. I smell so many different notes and compositions and wander towards the unusual. I find my whole being can just settle into this TokyoMilk Marine Sel and I never tire of it. It’s different, yet familiar like wet pavement after the rain. I love, love, love our new Lollia Poetic License candle “Wind in the Trees”-–it is the straight, wonderous Cedar. So relaxing.

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REAL TA LK CUSTOMER REVIEWS

“It is the fragrance I was wearing when I met my husband. The fragrance memory for me is that of romance, mystery, intrigue, and fairytales. It is my heart and soul in a fragrance time stamp. Thank you for that.”

Tammy - Sep / 2016 - Lollia

“Lovely fragrance! It was a gift for my daughter, who really enjoys your products. After she shared the line with me , I now enjoy the line myself.”

Kerry - Aug / 2016 - Lollia

“Perfect, lively, joyful, and true to the name. It’s a perfect day fragrance, great for work and weekends. Love it, my new favorite. It just smells like happiness.”

LS - Jan / 2017 - TokyoMilk

“I smell amazing, I feel amazing, I’m amazing! It’s all thanks to you guys!!!!”

Erin - Feb / 2017 - Library of Flowers

“Oprah’s favorite line right now. The most spectacular scents. ” Adam Glassman - Creative Director of O, The Oprah Magazine

No. 6 / Dead Sexy

Grapefruit & Blood Orange

No. 62 / Tainted Love

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No. 22

/ Wish

Soul

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12 True Vanilla

Margot Elena Brand Library

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