“There's a real emotional authenticity for this generation” – Givaudan perfumer behind Florence by mills scent

Florence by mills, the clean, vegan, and cruelty-free beauty brand from actress Millie Bobby Brown has just launched its first fragrance, Wildly Me.

Of the launch Brown herself said: "I launched Florence by mills beauty in 2019 due to the lack of clean, high-quality products available for myself and my friends, As the brand has evolved with me, I really wanted to find a fragrance that represented made my journey to adulthood.”​

All shades of purple​

To create the scent, the actress-turned-beauty-entrepreneur worked with Givaudan Senior Perfumer Stephen Nilsen and Givaudan Perfumer Christine Hassan.

“We tried to embody what Millie stands for,” ​shared Nilsen. “Being light-hearted, quirky, expressive, open. We looked for notes that could really deliver that and support all of it through the storytelling.”​

The scent features bergamot, sage, purple iris, blooming wisteria, violet flowers, and fresh lavender combined with sandalwood and upcycled cedarwood. It also includes some more unusual ingredients like carbon oil and clary sage.

According to the perfumers, it stands for friendship and ‘giving your friend a warm embrace.’

“We used warm, soft musk in the back to give that feel of being amongst friends,” ​shared Nilsen. “Millie’s also independent, so we used floral notes of tuberose and jasmine, which are distinctly feminine and old, but they're wrapped in a way that they're still very solid. We also did some interesting notes; things that you might not expect, but that make it super unique for her.”​

Colour was also important in the creation process for Wildly Me.

“We really wanted to bring this idea of purple to the picture and given all shades of purple and represent everyone who loves her brand,” ​explained Hassan. “With the lavender, pink peppercorn, cassis, iris and even in the way we structured our woods – even our ambers and our musk have a ‘purple hue’ to them.”​

A global creation​

Brown loved the idea that the ingredients came from all over the world. The scent features amyris oil from the Dominican Republic, bergamot from Italy, cardamom from India and French lavender to name a few.  

The perfumers also used some upcycled ingredients, including one made from Moroccan cedarwood sawdust. “It gives that cashmere blanket accord,” ​said Nilsen. “We’ve extracted the last remaining smell from that material. And it adds a wonderful warmth over that. We rescued it from the bin, and it's absolutely beautiful.”​

Wildly Me's formula includes Givaudan’s Orpur® classified ingredients – which is a unique label awarded to only the finest qualities of natural, raw materials from the palette.
“Orpur is our highest quality natural raw materials, we call it ‘pure gold’,” ​explained Nilsen. “You can think of it like a wine sourced from a specific region. We go around the world to find the very best quality plants and every year our perfumers get together to make sure we are choosing the best quality in the palette.” ​

Representing Gen Z consumers​

It could be said that this launch is the embodiment of the younger generation, who, judging by recent category’s sales figures, have noticeably developed a love for fragrance.

“It really embodies a generation that is the world,” ​said Hassan. “This is a very connected generation, and what beautiful way to bring everything together in a fragrance.”​

According to Nilsen, fragrance is all about emotions. “When you smell, the olfactory bulb goes to the emotional part of the brain first and the great thing about Gen Z is they really understand their emotions. There's a real emotional authenticity for this generation,” ​he said.  

“And I think that was what Millie wanted to convey with this scent; she wanted to be encouraging, uplifting, positive and so she created this fragrance to really make that connection with the brand.”​

Nilsen believes that this emotional understanding is part of the reason why the younger generation has fallen so madly in love with the fragrance category.

“They’re coming in touch with their memories, their emotions, the uplift in how we create bonds with friends. And so, I really think that there's something special – after people were locked down temporarily for three years – in having this emotional connection. Millie knows it's hard for kids in this generation and she wanted to create a fragrance that was emotionally awesome.”​

And it seems that Wildly Me is likely to be the tip of the iceberg for the Florence by mills brand in the world of scent – as the company’s VP for marketing Sam Fiock shared that there will be more to come in the future.