According to cosmetics and fragrance entrepreneur Amanda Connock, she started learning of little-known beauty ingredients in her home of Hampshire, England, roughly when many of us were learning the complexities of tying shoelaces. Several decades later, Connock currently runs a fast-growing skincare and fragrance brand called Connock London, selling with Fortnum and Mason while developing a perfume exclusively for Jumeirah, the hotel chain. With so much on her plate, it’s surprising how someone can so effectively do it all, but Connock has done it brilliantly, and she opted to share some of her story recently with the public.
As stated on Connock London’s website, Connock’s love for fragrances and beauty was instigated in large part due to her parents, who started their own fragrance company, A&E Connock, in 1972. Connock says, “Both my parents had a passion for fragrance and nature, and in the early days they were distributing fragrance ingredients—essential oils, perfume compounds—but as time went on, they saw there was more room for creativity and innovation in toiletries and cosmetics.” Natural ingredients had been growing in popularity, so Connock’s father began travelling globally to find out about various oils as well as how those oils were used, and the business’s range grew from there.
After she joined her family’s business, and after her father passed away in 2004, Connock continued helping to source ingredients from around the world, with her siblings still doing so to this very day and selling to cosmetic businesses. “But my main passion has always been for finished products, and I saw an opportunity to use my heritage and all those stories I’d heard from Dad, all those ingredients he found, to create a range of my own.” This is when Connock launched her own brand back in 2010.
Since her business began, Connock’s range has been widening each year, launching first with Fortnum and Mason, who is still her most essential partner in retail. “Our first range was the Kukui Oil Collection. Kukui is the ingredient I have the most history and experience with, because my father was one of the first to bring the oil over here [to Europe],” Connock said.
They started exclusively with their kukui oil collection, but Connock always planned on launching different ones from all over the world. “Last year, we launched two new fragrance collections, Manuka and Andiroba,” Connock said. “Manuka is a honey-based fragrance inspired by the flora of Australia, and Andiroba is a fresh, green fragrance inspired by the Amazonian Rainforest…They’ve both been incredibly popular.”
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Photo Courtesy of Connock London Website
