Heaven Scent

A leap of faith by beauty insider Miranda Waple saw her collaborate with iconic Kiwi designer, Karen Walker, to create her line of perfumes

- Sarah Catherall

Five years ago, Miranda Waple was taking a career break when she had a light- bulb moment. The Auckland beauty entrepreneur had not long finished an 18-year career with L’Oréal – a job which saw her launch perfumes like Armani and Diesel in Auckland, and visit perfume houses in Paris.

With a marketing and management background and fluent in French, Miranda had decided to take a break to spend more time with her sons – Luca (now 13) and Zac (now nine) – and see where her career might take her. A few days into her new life, Miranda recalls, “I thought, ‘I wonder if Karen Walker is going to launch a fragrance?’”

MEET THE MAKER

It was thanks to L’Oréal that Miranda first met and worked with Karen back in 2005, when the beauty brand launched Viktor & Rolf’s perfume, Flowerbomb. Karen stocked Viktor & Rolf clothing so Miranda asked if they could hold the press launch in her Newmarket store, and get the perfume stocked exclusively in her boutiques. Since then, they had also become friendly acquaintances, moving in similar circles.

As easy as that lightbulb moment was, it was far more difficult for Miranda to persuade the global designer to add fragrances to her fashion and homewares line. Miranda first sent an email asking if Karen was launching a fragrance. Karen replied they would like to but it would probably be too hard. Then, through 2013, Miranda met with Karen and her board about 10 times, in an effort to persuade them to launch a fragrance line. Each time, the board – including Karen’s husband, Mikhail Gherman, the brand’s creative director – gave her a new challenge to answer.