How Egyptian Musk Changed Everything

The first time I met Belle Starr, it did not go well. It was 1978, and Stephanie and I were walking through a shopping mall in Riverside, California—what I believe was Tyler Mall. Belle was there demonstrating perfume oils. She carried a long glass tube filled with fragrant oils and used a slender glass wand to offer samples to passersby. As we walked past, she reached out and touched my wrist with a wand dipped in Egyptian Musk. At twenty-seven, I was protective of my personal space and not especially interested in wearing perfume. I owned a bookstore that sold incense and related products, so I appreciated fragrance from a business perspective, but I was not someone who wore it myself. I immediately objected and told Belle exactly what I thought about receiving a sample without being asked.

Then Stephanie and I continued through the mall. About forty-five minutes later, Stephanie looked at me and asked, “What are you doing?” Without realizing it, I had been rubbing my wrists together and repeatedly smelling the fragrance. “Do you think that lady will ever talk to me again after the way I behaved?” I asked. Stephanie laughed. “That lady will talk to you no matter what.” As it turned out, she was right. We returned, introduced ourselves properly, and began a friendship and business relationship that would last for decades. Belle had started her fragrance business several years earlier and had been involved with the Renaissance Pleasure Faire in Southern California long before she began supplying the perfume oils we eventually sold through the bookstore.

Over the years, I came to realize that Belle was one of the most gifted fragrance creators I had ever met. On one occasion, a customer came to us searching for a fragrance she had been unable to find anywhere. I handed her the telephone and let her describe it directly to Belle. Belle listened carefully, asked a few questions, and confidently said she could create it. The fragrance arrived with my next order. When the customer returned and smelled it, she immediately smiled and said, “Perfect.” That was Belle. She possessed an extraordinary ability to understand fragrance, remember it, and create exactly what people were seeking.

Around 1998, Belle transferred ownership of the company to her son, James. Along with the business, he inherited an extraordinary fragrance library of approximately 2,400 formulas developed over many years. James proved to be every bit as talented and dedicated as his mother. Building on Belle’s foundation, he began creating fragrances of his own. One of those original creations was Pirate’s Rum, which became one of the most beloved fragrances associated with The Anandaline. James later developed the Pure Incense line, including the fragrances, products, and packaging that would make it one of The Anandaline’s most successful collections. Looking back, it is remarkable how much grew from a single moment. A friendship, a business relationship, decades of collaboration, thousands of fragrances, and countless customers all began because, one day in 1978, Belle Starr tapped a stubborn young bookseller on the wrist with a little Egyptian Musk on a glass wand.