Why Victoria Beckham Never Wakes Up in a Bad Mood

Beckham, 49, has been mining her past for a personal project too: a collection of scents she made with David in mind. There’s Portofino 97, inspired by her first trip with him: a 48-hour stay at the hotel Splendido. “I remember the crisp white sheets. I remember the light," she said. Another scent, Suite 302, draws on the one-night honeymoon they had at the Ritz Paris following their vow renewal.

“We were—well, still are—quite obsessed with each other," she said.

She and David have four children—Brooklyn, 24, Romeo, 21, Cruz, 18, and Harper, 12—and homes in London, the Cotswolds and Miami. Beckham launched her fashion line in 2008 and beauty in 2019; she is the creative director of both brands.. Here she talks about her Spice Girls group chat and why she hates remote work.

What time do you get up on Mondays, and what’s the first thing you do after waking up?

7 a.m. If my daughter has sport early in the morning, we get up at 6. I never wake up in a bad mood. I don’t allow myself to do that. I think that my family think I’m a bit, like, traveling circus in the morning. I must drive them crazy because they are less joyous in the morning. I’m a bit of a cheerleader: rally everybody together and get Harper out the door ready for school and tell her she’s going to have the best day. We put music on. Music plays a huge part in the Beckham household. Unless my husband has the football on. Which is a whole other conversation.

What does your morning workout look like?

Working out in the morning is really important to me. It’s the one time of day where no one comes into the gym and disturbs me. Unless you’re one of my children or my husband, back out. No one is allowed. I normally do 15, 20 minutes on the stair climber. Then my trainer comes and I do about an hour and a half with him, doing weightlifting, heavy weights.

How do you like your coffee and breakfast?

I don’t eat breakfast. I don’t tend to eat anything until lunchtime. I’ll have a protein shake. So I’ll do my workout—I work out with my husband, then he makes the protein shake and then I’ll eat lunch when I’m at work.

I read an old interview where you said you eat salmon every day. How do you prepare it?

Sometimes I like it poached, sometimes I’ll have smoked salmon. If I have it at night, I like it plain grilled. I have a very strict diet, so I don’t like anything too complicated. I eat a lot of avocados, lots of seeds, lots of nuts—very, very clean.

You’ve described yourself as a beauty obsessive. Why did you want to start making fragrances?

I started creating these fragrances eight years ago. I worked very closely with Jérôme [Epinette], who is the most incredible nose in the industry. [The collection] is about me and my husband, and I’m telling stories that I’ve never told before. It’s never felt right to tell these stories before.

What has it been like to revisit your memories with David?

People remember me being in the Spice Girls, him being with Manchester United. They remember us getting married, having the children. But they don’t know these details. I’ve never told these stories before, and I think that leaves you feeling a little vulnerable, emotional, excited at the same time.

When we first met, we were trying to keep our relationship under wraps. There was a restaurant local to where I lived called City Limits, and we used to just meet in the car park. We would just sit in David’s car and talk for hours and hours. It was great that by the time we were ready to tell everybody about our relationship, we really knew each other.

What do you look for when you’re hiring for your team?

I know what I can do and I know what I’m good at, but then I also know what I don’t know. And I’m very transparent about that. So I have to surround myself with people that know what I don’t know. I want smart people, I want kind people. I think that’s very important across both beauty and fashion.

Your team mentioned you go into the office everyday—what’s the importance of going in vs. remote work?

I hate working remotely. It’s a creative process, and I think that there’s a level of that that you lose when you’re working remotely. Sometimes it can’t be helped, because I am based in London, and the beauty team is based in New York.

Is there a Beckham-family group chat? If so, who is the most active?

We do have a group chat. Harper is the most active. Every night before we go to bed, we all like to know where each other is. I can’t go to sleep at night if I don’t know where all the kids are. If they’re out, I can’t go to sleep until I know they’re all home, they’re all in bed and they’re all safe.

What about the Spice Girls? How do you keep in touch?

We have a group chat actually. I started it in the summer, so I still speak to the other girls. I saw Geri [Halliwell-Horner] last weekend. She came over to my house and we had a really good catch up.

I know you get asked all the time about a reunion or comeback.

No, we’re not going to be doing a reunion. There aren’t going to be any performances at the moment, but who knows in the future.

Your son Brooklyn has an online series “Cookin’ With Brooklyn." Do you ever make his recipes?

I like watching his videos. I’m not really good in the kitchen. I’m not interested at all. David is the one that does the cooking, not me. I think the thing about his videos, it’s probably what people like about my makeup tutorials. I’m not a makeup artist. I’m sharing tips that I’ve learned from the best makeup artists. It’s similar with Brooklyn’s cooking videos. He’s not claiming to be a Michelin-star chef.

Have you read anything good lately?

I get a lot of my recommendations from Reese Witherspoon’s book club, so I’ve recently read all of Matt Haig’s books. I like him. I did “Sorrow and Bliss" by Meg Mason.

What do you splurge on?

I think the best money that you can spend [is] on holidays with family and friends. And partying, we quite like to throw good parties. Get great DJs in, great music, good wine, good food, good people.

On the flip side, is there anywhere you try to pinch pennies?

Not really. I can’t think of anything. I wouldn’t say that we’re particularly extravagant. I think that we’re in a position where we’re comfortable so we can make life easier for ourselves. Getting a little bit of help at home and with the children—I think that that’s a real luxury.

What’s a piece of advice you’ve gotten that’s been important to you?

My mum would always say, “Treat other people how you wanted to be treated yourself." I think being kind is really important. Nothing better than a mum’s advice. When I used to go to school and I was way too young to be wearing makeup, I remember my mum literally put some of her lipstick on my cheeks and told me I looked a little peaky, so needed a little help. In the winter I can have quite sallow skin. So my mom was putting makeup on me to go to school. That was quite good advice actually. The honesty of your mum.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Write to Lane Florsheim at lane.florsheim@wsj.com