Jo Malone (brand) has done it again – launched another quirky limited edition, the Brit Veggie Collection, that consists of three fragrances – Carrot Blossom, Velvety Butternut and Scarlet Beetroot – in unique, colorful bottles.
Saturday Question #301:
Jo Malone Brit Veggie Collection – Should We Even Bother?
Did you try these perfumes? Do you want to? Will you? What about the next new collection from the brand?
My Answer
Jo Malone was my “starter brand” (back when it still could be considered a niche brand). I still own and wear many of their creations. At least three of them will easily make it into my top 25 (and several more would not be far behind). Some of my favorites behave amazingly on my skin. Others are more fleeting, but I don’t mind reapplying them throughout the day. Every time I read about a new limited edition collection, my immediate reaction is: I should try it before it’s gone!
The last time I liked a new perfume from the brand was two years ago, when I briefly contemplated buying one (or three) bottles from their Mementos Collection. I didn’t buy any of the bottles (I haven’t even finished the set of samples yet!), and I don’t think I’ve ever regretted it. But still, it was a positive experience.
Since then, I’ve tried everything new I came across in stores, and I can barely remember even that I did, let alone the details of how those perfumes smelled (other than that I wasn’t impressed).
Today, the main goal of venturing into the local mall was to check out this new Brit Veggie Collection: even though I found the inspiration behind that collection odd, I thought it could be interesting and unusual. It wasn’t. The bottles were quite cute. The perfumes were so uninspiring, even on the first spray, that I wasn’t tempted to try any of them on my skin.
I am officially annoyed: there is no justification for releasing such boring perfumes in a line with 40+ current fragrances. $90 for 30 ml isn’t the highest price out there, but at that quality level, the lineup of brands available at Sephora beats these hands down. It could have been so much more interesting! Those bottles are new and unique; it’s not as though they needed to reuse an existing bottle size. They could have done smaller bottles for the same price with better ingredients and more interesting compositions – and they would sell out anyway. But they chose mediocrity. And I think that I shouldn’t even bother checking out this brand any longer. It’s sad.
Undina's Looking Glass 
I will not bother, because I don’t believe in vegetable perfumes. It just seems like weirdness for its own sake, plus L’Artisan already did it.
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I wish they were weird! At least it would have been interesting to try! (But yes, beets are nowhere close to the… any part of my list of notes expected in perfumes).
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Well, I won’t be running to the nearest department store to try them then. Geosmin (the main note in petrichor) can smell like earthy beets, so from that angle it’s not such an unexpected note to me.
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OH NO! I was going to go sniff these Undina. We have been talking Jo Malone on the Perfume Posse this week and they came up. What a crying shame.
Portia xx
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You should test them when you get a chance: who knows, you might find them more interesting than I did. Just don’t spend money on samples, try to check them out at a store.
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Yeah, I will this week.
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Yes, very sad indeed. I wore Jo Malone from its beginning and loved the fragrances I chose then (Vetyver was outstanding, and Grapefruit wonderful). I suppose I was concerned after Jo left, wondering if it would remain as good without her and her creative input and enthusiasm, and then I became more so as the number of launches increased; it was hard to keep track of them all – they disappeared rapidly and more arrived. Prices began to soar. My only surviving favourite became a ghost of its former self. I feel that the standard is not as high – maybe it’s quantity over quality? And profits. Perhaps it was all inevitable once the company was bought by a huge conglomerate, we’ve seen this happen many times. So, farewell, Jo Malone, I will miss you but won’t be coming back.
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It seems inevitable that both quality and creativity goes down over time after a large soulless company buys a niche brand. But it seems to work for those behemoths, people keep buying their products. So, what do we know?
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I’ve been on a no buy / lo buy scenario because I simply have too many (of many lines) in my collection. I decided to try this set because it sounded fascinating to me and the discovery set was very tempting. In any case, I enjoyed this!
(… and waving hello because I had been slacking off other than NST …)
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Hajusuuri! You like them? Well, that’s interesting.
Thanks,
Portia xx
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(waiving back) I’m happy to see you!
It’s great that you enjoyed the set you bought. I was grumpy about it as well: $20 for 4.5 ml of samples that they used to pass on for free at some point seemed like another money grab. I know that they never had samples for their limited editions. But I could always get a handmade one at Nordstrom (not anymore:( ). I would have paid though for a miniature collection of this (and several previous) limited sets if done with bottles replicas.
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I like the colored bottles but JM doesn’t last on my skin, so no thanks. Honestly, I don’t get excited about anything new these days. So much in my closet.
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I liked the bottles. But the bottles themselves don’t warrant the price – they should have been much more interesting for that… and even then I would have probably passed.
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I’m boycotting all ELC owned companies. I won’t even be doing a drive by sniff of these.
Veggie scents have already been done by L’Artisan as PJ said above.
Do I really want to smell like stem cells, soup, salad or market stalls? Nah
*stem cell transplant preservative smells of rotting beetroot
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I would hope the beetroot note used for perfumes don’t smell like rotting beets… what is it in the preservative that smells like that?
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I think it’s Dimethyl sulfoxide or it was when I was involved with assisting the Specialist Nurses.
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When you put it this way… 🤣 Yeah, I wouldn’t want that smell either. But even perfectly nice beets appeal to me only as food.
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I believe that everything, regardless of how absurd it may seem, deserves a chance. I’m curious to sample the collection.
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Fair take. I used to smell everything I came across. Not anymore.
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I curious to why, Undina.
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Most modern perfumes smell too generic and artificial (in a bad way), so I’m bored even before I spray it on a paper strip.
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I will not be trying them. Everything Jo Malone has done in the last 3 or so years has been a yawner.
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I know that I will be disappointed again, but I suspect I will still give it a sniff the next time I see a new JM release at a store.
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Funny-i just bought two JM fragrances from a FB buying group. I chose Verbenas of Provence and Black Vetiver Cafe. I love both of them-it was such an innovative line. I sued to have a beautiful print catalogue, too, and it showed a whole lifestyle. I remember cream and black luggage strapped to the back of a vintage car. My mom wore some of these scents so well-including 154 which Portia reviewed recently:)
I’d try these in person if I could but I can’t from where I live. I also sold a couple of fragrances this week and I’ll sell some more because at this rate my collection will outlive me. I can send them off to homes where they’ll actually be worn.
I miss the days of free samples. I used to buy more because I had a chance to wear it for a week and really decided whether or not it would suit me. I know that the Estee Lauder companies are having financial difficulties right now and I think they’re really milking their acquisitions. I don’t like the lawsuit they filed against Jo Malone for her work with Zara. To me this makes the EL people look bad, but this is just my opinion.
I love the Saturday Questions, Undina. They always make me think. Hope you’re having a great summer.
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BVC is one of my favorites also.
I thought it was really stupid for EL to have that lawsuit: I think they attracted more attention to those perfumes than they would have received otherwise. But EL was always extremely touchy about that name.
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