An entrepreneurial young man named Jonathan Yardley obtained a royal warrant for the provision of all the soap to the City of London, in the mid-seventeenth century, during the reign of King Charles 1. As you could imagine, the soap would have been harsh back then so he used Lavender to mask the harsh soaps. Centuries later, Yardley London is now one of the world’s oldest fragrance businesses, still providing scents and soaps for the Queen – and now, you too.
We had tea withQuentin Higham, Managing Director at Yardley London, at The Windsor Arms hotel, as he shed some light on how the brand has evolved.
“When you look to relaunch a brand like this, you have to do a lot of research so that when you make the change, you don’t destroy the brand,” Quinton explains. “ In the past, Yardley was known for single note fragrances. Research has shown that this was done 30, 40, 50 years ago. Now, most consumers want to have a very different top note, to the heart, to the base. But if you change a fragrance, and there’s certainly some who have been using the fragrance for many years, you don’t want to get it wrong for that woman. You want to get it right for the old consumers and eventually the newer users too.”
Working closely with consumer needs, Yardley London evolved. The decision was made to move from single note fragrances to bouquet fragrances. And within each fragrance–English Lavender, English Rose and Lily o the Valley–there was a redesign in packaging that reflects some of the key three ingredients for each fragrance.
The top three selling fragrance of Yardley London is currently available at Shoppers Drug Mart in Canada. The range–consisting of English Lavender, English Rose and Lily of the Valley–contains even more natural extracts for added benefits. All products are free from Parabens and Mineral Oils, and contains over 80% naturally derived ingredients.
The Canadian collection features an eau-de-toilet, body mist, luxury soap, perfumed talc, moisturizing body wash and lotion. Something I really appreciate about this line is that the Yardley bath and body products not only smell great with lavender, rose water and lily’s, but the products actually contain these ingredients, making them good for you too.
For example, the English Lavender body wash and body lotion both contain soothing lavender extract, moisturizing shea butter, borage oil and rosehip oil, essential fatty acids that are rich in vitamins A, C and E. They all work together combat the signs of ageing and leave your skin feeling soft and smooth. Another example is English Rose luxury soap. It contains revitalising Rose Water extract and moisturizing shea butter that is triple milled for a luxurious lather that leaves your skin feeling clean, soft, smooth and delicately fragranced. Even their new line of Body Mists contains natural ingredients, antioxidant vitamin E and nourishing sweet almond oil extracts.
As mentioned earlier, Yardley got it’s start by obtaining a royal warrant in the 17th century and still receives royal endorsements.“The Queen is 90 so this doesn’t necessarily mean that this is her fragrance. She chooses different ranges for different palaces so the Windsor castle, which is where we are based, they will provide the rooms for visiting guests with Yardley,” Quinton explains. “So, we’ve always had that sort of tradition and heritage, but the whole vision is to try to capture the whole delicate fragrance of spring flowers.” Pamper yourself today with the royal treatment of Yardley London.
A breakdown of the three fragrances:
English Lavender: A beautifully, fresh, light elegant fragrance with top notes of bergamot and clary sage and a heart of calming English lavender subtly combining notes of eucalyptus, geranium, jasmine, chamomile and violet, enhanced with deeper, warm base notes of wood, vanilla and patchouli.
English Rose: A refreshing, light floral fragrance with sparkling citrus and rose top notes with a heart that subtly combines rose bud, magnolia, violet and cassis with warm woody notes, whilst patchouli and musk’s add velvety tones to the base. (This one is my personal favourite!)
Lilly of the Valley: A light, feminine white floral fragrance with fruity pear accords in the top note and a beautiful floral bouquet heart that blends lily of the valley and freesia, enhanced with a pretty, musk base.
