Jo Malone felt "slightly schizophrenic" when she sold her eponymous company to Estée Lauder.
Jo Malone at The Mayfair Collective
The British perfumer founded her namesake label in 1983 but when the entrepreneur agreed to sell the business to the cosmetics giant in 1999 she felt all out of sorts.
When asked how she felt when she decided to pass over all rights to her company, she said: "Slightly schizophrenic. I live just round the corner from Sloane Street but at the same time I sold that business - it belongs to them."
However, the mogul has tried to not dwell on her decision, and she has considered it as "part and parcel" of having a business.
The entrepreneur explained: "There's no point sitting in crying and moaning about something that changed my life and saved my life, so it's part and parcel of the whole thing."
Although Jo has no involvement with Jo Malone products she still loves the company and has credited the brand as her long-term "best friend".
She said: "I don't create for the brand any longer and I'm not a consumer of the brand but it doesn't stop me loving it because it was my best friend for a very long time."
Jo has since moved on to launch her new line Jo Loves, with the signature fragrance being Pomelo scent, but she "refuses" to "compete against" her former company.
Speaking at The Mayfair Collective event, which was attended by BANG Showbiz, she said: "I am not, I refuse to, compete against Jo Malone. I don't compete, I am a mother of both, I created both but one was my life 20 years ago and Jo Loves is who I am today. It's a completely natural thing and I'm proud.
"So I don't have any animosity at all."
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