When we think about Katia, we think of all the small traders in the Marais who fight every day to keep their business alive but also the soul of the neighborhood.
Former actress turned naturopath, Katia Bielli created Fairy Scents in 1993 in the Marais, a cosmetics brand whose products she formulated herself – terribly effective creations, even miraculous like her rose oil which beautifies the skin, gets rid of acne spots and whose magical scents wake up the early mornings.
At Marais Mood we met Katia in 2019, a sensitive person, always joyful, full of this emotional intelligence which illuminates the relationships between beings.
Since then, we regularly went to see her, in her shop on rue des Haudriettes, to chat or buy one of her oils with rich, intoxicating formulas packed with powerful active ingredients. High-end products at affordable prices.
Katia had loyal followers, including many actresses, singers, and makeup artists. In short, a demanding professional audience who know how to recognize the best and also enlightened consumers. Her ointments, you tried them once and… you became “addicted”.
Many people passed her shop hurriedly and – as often happens in this city where time is short – did not see her. They did not know what they were missing.
Despite his apparent good humor, there were times when we felt difficulties looming – the kind that many shopkeepers and small business owners experience who wait for the customers they deserve and yet… don’t come.
Why? Because these potential customers, you, we do not take, no longer take, the time to listen, to look, to try, to let ourselves be surprised, to give a chance to something new that is not talked about on social networks, in the media.
Katia didn't have a press officer, didn't know how to play with "SEO" (Search Engine Optimization) to attract, on the same day, a line of customers in front of her store, suddenly eager to discover her oils, her creams with magical powers.
Katia didn't really know how to use Instagram. Her Instagram was her smile, her kindness, her wisdom, her demands, her creativity and her simplicity in the art of human contact. Deep down, she knew what had to be done (Instagram, advertising) but she had neither the economic nor the human resources. Katia was in a hurry.
It was always a race to rework her oils, creams and perfumes, to make her turnover and to collect at least enough to pay for her raw materials and her rent. Every day, she left her shop at 19 p.m. sharp to run to the bedside of her mother who suffered from Alzheimer's.
On November 2nd, Katia's heart stopped beating. And, it must be said again, Katia's heart was this big. Struck down in the street, she could not be resuscitated.
When we think of her and the weariness that sometimes enveloped her, we think of the small shopkeepers of the Marais and elsewhere. We think of our responsibility, of you, of us when we prefer to go and get a gift, a book, a perfume, from the other side of the world on Amazon rather than discover what is right next to us, on the street corner, in our neighborhood, where we live, where we work.
We remember that in 2020, when we were locked up at home during Covid-19, we collectively promised ourselves that when things returned to normal, we would consume better, locally, and that after the pandemic we would support small businesses.
We think about our responsibility, to you, to us, when we enrich companies that do not need us and which are sometimes – but not always – a little cheaper than the traders in the economic fabric of our own neighborhood.
May the year 2025 give us the opportunity to take the time to appreciate what and who surrounds us and give local merchants the attention they deserve. And thus repair, a little, the injustice done to Katia and her "fairy scents".
There is talk that Hugues, Katia's partner, will take over, but nothing is certain. If you pass by Senteurs de fée, don't be shy... come in!
Katia Bielli shortly after opening her cosmetics store on rue des Haudriettes
Text: Katia Barillot
29.11.24
