Armani Beauty is shaking up the fragrance world with the release of its new eco-conscious scent, My Way, and a firm focus on sustainability.
Actress Adria Arjona was so inspired by her mother’s fragrance collection as a youngster that she set her sights on a career in perfumery. “When I was young, my biggest dream before becoming an actress was to create the world’s most expensive perfume, and not tell anybody that all the proceeds would go to a foundation of my choice,” she recollects. “I would mix my mother’s perfumes or I would mix my perfumes with my father’s. I never arrived at a good scent because you can only imagine how terrible they all smelled.”
While Arjona’s perfumery aspirations never transpired, given the philanthropic philosophy at the heart of her fragrance dreams, it’s fitting that the actress – who you’ll recognise from Good Omens and True Detective– is the face of Armani Beauty’s latest blockbuster fragrance, My Way. The scent – a bewitching combination of radiant floral notes, hints of zesty citrus, vanilla and cedarwood – marks a dramatic departure from the fragrance world as we know it.
“When it comes to climate change, a lot of companies are seeing that where they can have the biggest impact is in terms of their carbon footprint. Armani Beauty is trying to offset its carbon footprint with My Way, and I find that really motivating, not just for this fragrance, but for the fragrance world,” says Arjona.
Get to know Adria Arjona
Which emotions does fragrance evoke for you?
I smell everything and I love to smell everything. Sometimes it’s a virtue but it’s a curse also because it just reminds me of the good times and the bad times. I use it a lot in acting as well. Every character that I’ve ever played has a different scent. Finding the character’s scent is the most beautiful journey in creating a character. Someone else’s scent tells you a lot about who they are.
You are half Guatemalan and half Puerto Rican – does having roots in two different cultures influence the way you see the world?
A lot! Coming from Guatemala, I can live in a place like Los Angeles and still understand that I am in a bubble. I live in a bubble and I’m aware of it. I understand what’s going on with the politics around our world and what is happening with the environment. I go to Guatemala three times a year. I see how people live, what they suffer, the differences in terms of economic wealth, and that’s the same in Puerto Rico. The weather has affected us and destroyed our island, but with good spirit, patience, laughter and great salsa music, we brought that island back together. Being both Guatemalan and Puerto Rican has helped me to see the world and to remind me that we’re not all in this tiny little bubble.
What is your vision of beauty?
Beauty is a little tricky for me in some ways, because here I am, being the face of a fragrance, and I look the way I look, but I did nothing for it. I just have two parents who met and created me, and I just came out the way that I came out. Beauty goes way beyond the physical. It is whatever you portray from the inside. That’s why I’m so in love with people’s eyes. Relying only on physical beauty is a huge mistake, but having something a little bit more and having that little sparkle in your eye, that’s beautiful. Beauty is a woman or a man who is secure, comfortable with being unique, with being herself or himself, and who is unapologetic. I love seeing someone who doesn’t apologise for who she or he is. To me, it’s not only beautiful, but it also takes a lot of courage to just be yourself, so I guess the beauty I like is the courageous kind.
What made you the woman you are today?
Experiences have made me who I am today, both positive and negative. My failures and my struggles have made me. I feel stronger and more secure in myself each time I overcome an obstacle in my life. It has helped me accept and be proud of who I am
