Meeting the maker of my favourite lip balm ever and therefore the reason for the Baume de Rose shaped dent in my bank balance, Terry de Gunzburg a.k.a) By Terry, was pretty darn awesome. Here’s why. Number one: she is beautiful. Number two: she is so passionate about beauty. Number three: she smelt incredible. Which leads me to the reason for our meeting; the launch of her fragrance range into John Lewis. Five perfumes each constructed from basic French materials, using an artistic approach from Terry’s nose herself.
The lineup starts with Ombre Mercure, an intense but light-to-wear rich oritental violet, then there’s Lumière d’Epices a natural citrus scent with vibrant and sparkling notes. Partis Pris is named aptly as Terry explained, ‘because that means statement, and it’s a statement as I’ve only used white flowers with a high concentration of natural tuberose’. Rêve Opulent, or ‘opulent dream’ is again a white flower-centric fragrance, but I’ve saved the best till last.  Flagrant Délice, a rich fig mixed with almond milk and white rose – you know me and fig fragrances and this is no different. Terry’s favourites are the Flagrant Délice and Ombre Mercure, ‘I actually layer them together’, she told us, ‘it works because of the natural ingredients and after a few minutes it just melts into the skin – the skin chooses what it wants to warm up, turn down and erase, I love that’.
Sidenote: the bottles are beautiful too. All Terry’s design of course. ‘Solid and timeless’ was the brief she said, ‘and the lids are actually the same shape as the compacts in my beauty line – that’s my signature’.
And of course I had to sneak in the question of what is Terry’s favourite piece from her beauty line. ‘Definitely Baume de Rose, it’s 10 years old next year’ was her response, a girl after my own heart. Though she did mention that Touché Expert Advanced and Light Expert were up there in her top picks too. What’s next to come? More makeup and more perfume apparently – better start saving now.
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