FLORAL STREET is an award-winning fragrance brand inspired by vibrant London culture and powered by flowers. They have modernised traditional floral perfumes and have a flagship store in the heart of Covent Garden. It’s a fitting setting; once a bustling flower market, this area has since become the epicentre for cutting-edge beauty. FLORAL STREET is about bunches, not bouquets; ingredients, not notes. It’s about ease, modernity and joy and beauty that doesn’t cost the Earth.
Floral Street is a revolutionary ‘up-start’ brand. It might be a start-up, but they are also doing everything differently. That includes making recyclability and sustainability the core of their brand, a first in fragrance. They are changing the conversation around selling scents, and are against the use of using sexuality to sell their products.
At Floral Street they have got some pretty strong beliefs. They believe they’re vital, not just for delivering a brilliant product to their customers, but as their company ethos. So, when someone is buying one of their award-winning Floral Street Fragrances, here’s what else they’re buying into.
At Floral Street they don’t use animal-derived ingredients. The fragrances don’t have real musk (from scent glands of animals), they use synthetic ones instead. They also don’t use beeswax in the candles, instead they use a wax blend with plant triglycerides and they do not test on animals. They have chosen to partner with perfume house, Robertet, because they are experts in sustainable raw, natural materials that give back to communities in a socially responsible way.
The packaging is printed with vegetable and soy-based inks, and the card and glass fragrance bottles are widely recyclable. The pulp cartons (which house our scents) are unique in the fragrance world being reusable, recyclable, and compostable. Created in under a minute they use less energy, with waste water being cleaned and recycled and any waste pulp composted at local farms. There is also a refill fragrance station in our Covent Garden store.
The Floral Street customers often comment on just how long our unforgettable scents last on the skin. That’s because most perfumes contain 5-15% perfume oil, but theirs is at a huge 20%. This means our Eau de Parfums really last. They also pride ourselves on getting the best quality ingredients at affordable prices, opening the door to fine fragrances for everyone.
They’re proud to be a brand that aligns itself with equality. And though they have plenty of men who work with them, they core team is female, and we’re founded by a woman too. That’s actually quite rare in the world of perfume.
Michelle Feeney, Floral Street founder is something of a beauty powerhouse. She started PR, before moving to New York and being rapidly headhunted by Estée Lauder Companies to work on Prescriptives and Crème de la Mer before being promoted to Vice President, Global Communications of MAC Cosmetics following their acquisition by Estée Lauder Companies. She led MAC to become the world’s biggest make-up brand, spearheading the legendary MAC AIDS Fund and Viva Glam initiatives, realising that beauty could create broader social awareness and change. After moving back to the UK, went on to become CEO of St Tropez (pioneering their Princes Trust collaboration) CEO of PZ Cussons Beauty Division, before taking a career sabbatical. Michelle is now back with Floral Street, a modern British fragrance brand with sustainability and eco-responsibility at its very core.
“My mission is to bring fine fragrance to the modern woman – so that she might build an entire fragrance wardrobe which can express the many facets of who she is. Since the age of three, when I first smelt the gardenias in my great grandmother’s cottage in Ireland, I’ve been captivated by the power of scent and how it links to your personality. I find urban, British women so inspiring: they are strong, confident and inquisitive, so I decided that Floral Street would be a collection of incredible fragrances built with them in mind and created by one of the best noses in the world. And, it was important to me that it should be accessible and affordable, too.I think of Floral Street as an ‘up-start’ brand. Yes, we’re a start-up, but we’re also doing everything differently, from making recyclability and sustainability the core of our brand, a first in fragrance. I’m also against the use of using sexuality to sell scents – it’s degrading and old fashioned- we want to change the conversation around that.”
Why is being a sustainable beauty brand so important to you?
There’s too much beauty packaging in the world already, particularly from fragrance brands. I get so frustrated with the amount of cellophane wraps and bottles that are not recyclable.
When I decided to create Floral Street, I was never in any doubt that it would be a sustainable beauty brand. I thought it was an opportunity to make a statement and do things differently in fragrance. I want to do good for the planet.
Tell us how Floral Street is a sustainable beauty brand?
We are sustainable every step of the way, from the ingredients right the way through to the packaging. With ingredients, I care about our suppliers and growers being treated ethically. I know that I can ring Robertet (the perfume house that we partner with) and ask exactly where an ingredient is from and how it was farmed. They are experts in sustainable raw, natural materials
What about Floral Street’s vegan credentials?
It’s incredibly important to me that we’re vegan and cruelty free, and accredited by PETA. Our fragrances don’t have real musk (which is from scent glands of animals), we don’t use beeswax in our candles and we absolutely do not test on animals. Our office golden-doodle, Jackson is very happy about this!
So it’s all about considered consumption?
Importantly, we’re part of the slow beauty movement. You won’t find us churning out scent after scent designed to make you buy more. We take the time to truly craft each of our signature Floral Street perfumes with our master perfumer Jerome Epinette at Robertet.
Each floral street fragrance comes tucked inside a groundbreaking pulp carton with an embossed lid, made from recyclable paper packaging and held together with a re-usable brightly coloured band. We’re proud that we can off er a totally recyclable and biodegradable box – a first for the world of fragrance.
Each Floral Street fragrance comes tucked inside a ground-breaking pulp carton with an embossed lid, made from recyclable paper packaging and held together with a re-usable brightly-coloured band. We’re proud that we can offer a totally recyclable and biodegradable box, a world first in the fragrance market. Our box can also be re-purposed to store jewellery, crystals, herbal teas, as a seed tray for plants and herbs – and just about anything else that you want to do with it. We factor the ‘end of life’ into all of our products at Floral Street.
Here in YASS we tried Ylang Ylang Espresso eau de parfum and we indulged in the smell of Midnight Tulip candle. We were happily surprised and impressed with how dense, fresh and long-lasting the scents were. The perfume lasted for a long time making our presence noticeable wherever we were, not just in the office but also outside! Even some passers-by noticed our smell and shared some unexpected and shy smiles with us. The candle, after burning for just for 10 mins in the office, created such a beautiful and invigorating atmosphere that made everyone in the office not wanting to leave.
Ylang Ylang Espresso:
- A powerfully, creamy, gourmand perfume. A strikingly modern blend of red rose, ylang ylang, and jasmine crossed with a soothing cloud of just-brewed coffee, fresh cream, and Sichuan pepper – sustainably harvested from the foothills of the Himalayas.
- All ingredients: tangerine, Sichuan pepper, fresh rose, jasmine, tiramisu accord, patchouli, ylang ylang, espresso beans, cocoa beans, guaicwood.
Midnight Tulip candle:
- The iconic black tulip forms the centrepiece of this scent, a darkly brooding blend to while away the night to. Amber, incense and patchouli are elevated with lemon, saffron and powdery damask rose.
- All ingredients: lemon zest, saffron, cassis, nutmeg, Turkish rose absolute, jasmine sambac, black amber, incense, patchouli.
More in https://floralstreet.com/
YASS Magazine 