beauty call

Nothing says fem power like a fragrance inspired by an ancient queen-turned-warrior.

Boudicca‘s new scent was inspired by the myth of their namesake muse, Queen Boudicca and explores the multisensorial experience of love and loss in the times of the Ancient Roman Empire.  Legend has is that in order to prepare themselves for battle, the Queen and her tribe wore a cobalt blue paint to appear mythical – like Mel Gibson in Braveheart but without all that plaid.  Despite her brave attempt to fight off the Romans (and incidental burning of London to the ground in the process), she was overpowered by the Empire.   In the end, devastated by the loss of her queendom,  Queen Boudicca killed herself by swallowing hemlock.

To celebrate this tragic tale, Boudicca ingeniously created a perfume that, when first sprayed, leaves a cobalt blue trail behind, before disappearing completely.  In honor of her tragic loss of both country and self, various elements of the story have been incorporated into the name, scent and our favorite part–the packaging.

The Name: Wode is taken from the word “Woad”, a deep blue plant extract, which was used in paste form by the ancient Britons as a tribal marking.

The Scent: juniper berry, cardamon, nutmeg absolute, clary sage, coriander seed, angelica root, hesperidic, black hemlock extract, the smell of raw opium,saffron, tuberose absolute, tonka bean, styrax resin, synthetic castoreum and cistus labdanum create a lingering impression of warm and radiant flesh.

The Packaging: Spray paint can. Graffiti is the modern war paint, the most public of all art forms, while steeped in rebellion and anti establishment values. Wrapped around the can is an engraved steel label tied with black braided ribbon tipped in metal.

We love love love how the spray can ties seamlessly into the idea of temperal misbehavior, allowing us for just an instant to feel the same rush of adrenaline that Queen B must have felt while covering ourselves in cobalt.  We also love how refined the packaging is for such a purposely messy product–the perfect ying to a perfect yang.  Watch out world, we smell good and we’re on a rampage.