Boadicea the Victorious
Perfumers & Creative Guidance
Perfumes launched per year
Often used fragrance notes
Michael Boadi (born 1969 in London) is a prominent hairdresser who has worked for famous fashion houses and stars. An assignment for Vogue magazine in 1994 marked the beginning of his international reputation, and since then he has been counted among the most influential fashion influencers of the present day. In 2003 he founded a perfume brand. He came to perfumery as self-taught as he was to hairdressing, and is obviously just as talented at it. The perfumers who assist him in the creation of the fragrances are not made public, since it is all about the realization of his personal ideas and fragrance visions. The luxurious and high-priced brand Boadicea the Victorious is respected and very successful on the market.
The choice of name for Boadicea the Victorious is a reference to the name of the founder Michael Boadi. Yet the brand quite explicitly invokes the figure of Boudicca (also Boadicea, Bodvica, Bonduca) and her British national romantic myth: Boudicca was a Celtic tribal princess who rebelled against Roman occupation and led the (ultimately unsuccessful) Boadicea Revolt in 60/61 AD. Celtic cultural heritage, pride, belligerence and determination are associated with the female army commander. She is a symbolic figure of courage and British stubbornness.
British craftsmanship and tradition as well as the high-quality, noble flacons in Celtic style, in addition to the similarity of the name, connect the perfumes of the brand with the historical figure, even though the fragrances do not smell quite as typically "British" as, for example, those of Floris or Penhaligon's.
After the outstanding success of Boadicea the Victorious, Michael Boadi developed his second perfume brand in 2011: "Illuminum".