ESTÉE LALONDE: Vetiver was always going to be the first note in the blend because it’s my favourite essential oil. I first heard of it because a man I used to know wore a vetiver cologne... And that’s why our blend is called sun through trees, because there’s a good proportion of earthy, woody notes, but there’s a warmth and brightness that follows from the citrus of the bergamot, which we imagined like the sun poking through a canopy of trees!
MIRROR WATER: How did you know that you’d found the final final blend?
ESTÉE LALONDE: Well, even once we knew what the main notes would be, it took quite a while to perfect the signature blend in terms of the ratios of each note... My friend Rebecca [Munroe, who is Visual Director of MIRROR WATER] said it smelled like me, like my flat and that surprised me because that hadn’t been my intention, but I thought that was a really interesting observation and it helped me to realise that we’d got it right.
MIRROR WATER: Do all of the products have the same scent?
ESTÉE LALONDE: They all have the same notes but they’re in different proportions within each product depending on the base formulation... So RUB for example, our solid balm, is formulated with a lot of shea butter and that adds nutty, almost creamy notes and we didn’t want to eliminate that because it came out really comforting, whereas SOAK our bath salts have an extra fresh, salty (obviously) quality that I thought was refreshing and a good combination with our blend.
MIRROR WATER: If you had to describe "Sun Through Trees" using just one word, what would it be?
ESTÉE LALONDE: Reassuring. I know it sounds a little odd that a scent can be reassuring, but I think anyone who has smelled it will know what I mean. It’s grounding because of the vetiver, the black spruce, and the cedar, but it’s uplifting as well because of the bergamot. And I think that’s a great mix because it’s soothing and relaxing but it also perks me up and makes me feel ready to face the day.
