Just in time for her alluring new winter scent, Runaway, to hit stores we asked New Zealand icon Karen Walker to let us in on the inspiration behind the perfume.
Define what perfume is to you?
It’s an expression of my mood. I designed my ABC range to fit with different moods. A is my happiness potion; it lifts my spirits and makes any tension drop away. B is for my mental energy and for evening I can’t go past C as it’s rich and feminine. Lately I’ve have been wearing my new fragrance, Runaway, most days. I love its woodiness, complexity and masculinity.
What does your Runaway fragrance express?
A sense of adventure. Runaway is a midnight journey deep into the forest; you can sense the pine needles crushing underfoot, a smoky bonfire, jasmine blooming as the moon rises. It’s a dangerous adventure where anything could happen.
Do you switch up your perfume between day and night?
It depends what I’m doing. If I’m going out I will sometimes switch to my ‘B’ or ‘C’ fragrances for the evening after wearing ‘A’ or ‘Hi There’ during the day. While I love the crispness of citrus, especially in summer, I find the warmer richer fragrances more suited for an evening out.
Can this fragrance be layered with any of your other perfumes?
It’s not been created with that in mind but I’m sure our fans will experiment and play around with mixing it with our other scents and will, no doubt, come up with some great combinations. We love it when people are playful and try new ideas with our products. For example we’ve heard from Harvey Nichols Knightsbridge that some customers are layering ‘b’ and ‘c’ together; I’ve tried the combination and it creates an amazing twist on those fragrances.
What are your favourite ingredients in Runaway?
Runaway introduces several new ingredients for us including cardamom, elemi, black pepper, cinnamon leaf, and bourbon vetiver. I love the guaiac wood which is a stand-out note in many of our favourite men’s fragrances and has been used as a cure by indigenous Americans since the 16th century; traditionally it’s called the tree of life. Elemi is considered sacred, like frankincense and is reminiscent of pine needles and incense which transports me to that forest adventure.
What were some hurdles you faced in perfecting this scent?
Creating fragrance, as with anything we do, is complex and requires a lot of time to perfect. Our perfumer is based between Paris and Grasse, which requires lots of late night facetime meetings to create the fragrance we both wanted. We wanted the perfume bottle to be a nod towards an ink bottle but with a hint of magic added to it. The green of the bottle is at once both foresty’ and jewel-like; with the bottle company being in France it took time to create the exact glass colour.
How is this completely different from your other fragrances?
My A, B, C and Hi There fragrances share a mood of pure optimism and a building block concept to the packaging. Runaway stands alone, with a totally new mood, completely different ingredients and a new direction to the bottle design.
