Letterick aims to build fragrances that are ‘well-structured, balanced and true to the feelings they were meant to capture.’Carolina Andrade/The Globe and Mail
Everything that the fragrance house Madison’s Vanity creates is meant to make you slow down. That creative impulse reflects founder Ariel Letterick’s recent move to the Nova Scotia coast, where she runs her studio in the picturesque waterfront town of Mahone Bay. She calls her workspace “the Estuary” and her brand’s ethos is equally considered with a deliberately understated presence. For the former policy adviser, it feels like a big reset. “Politics can be very loud. The nonprofit sector can feel performative. I wanted to go back to the quiet where I could think,” she says. “And that’s exactly what I’ve now translated into scent.”
To create a fragrance collection that isn’t “another coastal cliché but something quieter and more refined,” Letterick, who grew up in Upper Hammonds Plains, N.S., sought out Calgary perfumer Irene Schnell. The European-trained cosmetic chemist has an interest in natural perfumery. “The goal wasn’t necessarily to be clever or overly conceptual,” Letterick says. “Just to build fragrances that were well structured, balanced and true to the feelings they were meant to capture.”
Ranging from succulent fruity-floral bestseller Azure Ambrosia (lychee, peach and musk) to an airy citrus marine (Aqua Veil), the debut Notes from the Coast collection quartet is intended to be experiential. “Like stepping out on the wharf and experiencing morning mist,” Letterick says. Her next grouping will be more transportive, and the third more architectural in nature, each inspired by the history of Letterick’s other regular haunts, Newport and Tampa Bay, respectively.
Each vial is hand labelled, packed and shipped from the Mahone Bay studio.Carolina Andrade/The Globe and Mail
The 31-year-old has worked with fragrance before, but more as a social entrepreneur through projects like Bailly (a scent brand that supported girls’ education in Uganda, started in 2018 with a friend in Halifax) and Shower Jelly Shop, a playful pandemic project with her husband. She learned a lot of lessons along the way. Bailly scaled quickly, eventually selling more than 500 units a month including through a national e-tailer. The jellies wholesaled at Walmart and Urban Outfitters. But in both cases the founders didn’t have control over formulas, quality or the supply chain.
Oil-based scents were chosen because they unfold slowly with the warming of your skin.Carolina Andrade/The Globe and Mail
Madison’s Vanity marks a sea change, its online business growing through storytelling and a focus on craftsmanship. “It was very important from the beginning to own our own formulations,” Letterick says. Her hands touch everything from the fragrance brief and ingredients in the perfume (which are compounded in Canada using organic jojoba oil) to each vial hand labelled, packed and shipped from the Mahone Bay studio.
With its rollerball format, Madison’s Vanity is in the company of a growing cohort of indie Canadian fragrance brands like Blooming Wild Botanicals from Belleville, New Brunswick, and Montreal-based La Tombée that are focused on fragranced oils. In Letterick’s case, using oil was as much a personal decision (her mother is very sensitive to alcohol-based fragrances) as a philosophical one. Applying an oil-based scent feels more like a ritual and wears differently. “It doesn’t project,” she says. “It stays close and unfolds slowly with the warming of your skin.”
