Natural perfumes: the Nez selection
After reading the perfumers’ opinions on the subject, let’s get down to business: here for your delectation is a selection (not exhaustive, of course) of brands and a few creations that have caught our attention.
Perfume
Mandy Aftel: “Mixing a bunch of natural ingredients in a bottle does not produce a perfume”
American perfumer Mandy Aftel has been creating natural fragrances for 30 years and has founded her own brand, Aftelier Perfumes. This passionate pioneer tells us how she discovered natural fragrances, how she works, and what she thinks about the current natural craze.
Irène Farmachidi : “In 100% natural perfumery, we formulate by using paraphrases, it’s like a game”
A graduate of ISIPCA, Irène Farmachidi learned the perfume business alongside Dominique Ropion and Maurice Roucel, and then Charabot. In 2011, she moved to Technicoflor. She has recently created natural perfumes for the brand Ormaie.
Serge de Oliveira : “Most clients want natural perfumes that are just like conventional fragrances”
When he first began working at Robertet in Grasse eight years ago, Serge De Oliveira quickly began to compose natural perfumes. Today he creates fragrances for 100Bon, Ormaie and Nolença as well as Ultra Doux shampoos.
Isabelle Doyen and Camille Goutal: “For us, 100% natural is a perfumer’s challenge rather than a marketing position”
The two perfumers and creators of the brand Voyages imaginaires, who stay true to an unfailingly bold and unpretentious creativity, an intentionally poetic feel, and a shared taste for natural ingredients.
Delphine Thierry: “To formulate 100% natural perfumes, I set aside almost everything I’ve learned so far”
Independent perfumer since 2007, Delphine Thierry has a real love for natural ingredients, and did not wait for them to be in vogue to become interested in this perfumery. She has collaborated with the brands Eve and Daphnée, Floratropia, and Richard Lüscher Britos.
Caroline Dumur: “Without synthetics, you have to learn to formulate differently”
When they work for several brands, perfumers have to deal with different accepted definitions of what is natural as well as various specifications. How do they cope? And how does the formulating process differ between natural and traditional perfumes? We asked Caroline Dumur, a perfumer at IFF.
Hiram Green: “If people want to buy my perfumes, it should be because they like their smell”
Hiram Green is alone at the head of his own brand since 2013. He dedicates his 100% natural palette to making artisanal perfumery and his perfumes, astounding with creativity and skill, belie many clichés associated with natural perfumery.
Natural perfumers
Natural perfumes: everyone talks about them, but nobody really knows what they are made of. Nez offers you a special report that gives the floor to the perfumers who compose them, in order to get a real sense of their practices, their experiences and their opinions on the question.
Green Motion and the actual Impact of Perfumes on the Planet
To obtain an objective and quantified response on the raw materials have the most impact on our environmental resources, Mane has developed a test based on the principles of green chemistry.
How Mane reinvented enfleurage with its E-Pure Jungle Essence extracts
Mane is bringing together the historic technique of enfleurage and supercritical fluid extraction to introduce original notes to perfumers’ palette, with minimal impact on the environment.
Calice Becker: “The ultimate goal would be to see perfume design recognised as an intellectual work”
Calice Becker, President of the International Society of Perfumer-Creators, answered Nez’s questions.
Firmenich, a 125-year legacy in perfumery
“To do well you must do good and to do good you must do well”: The motto reflects the legacy of Firmenich company that just celebrated its 125th anniversary in November 2020.
Silvio Levi : « Essencional aims to support the international development of Beauty and Artistic Perfumery distribution »
A true jack of all trades and hyperactive, Silvio Levi is a key figure in the so-called niche perfumery (in Italy, one might say more artistic).At the head of a perfume brand, a distribution company, and the organiser of the Esxence show in Milan, he created, before the summer, Essencional, an information website dedicated to independent perfumery.
The Symrise Perfumery School: A Gateway to the World
Since 2007, Symrise’s in-house school of perfumery has aimed to accompany, train and develop up-and-coming perfumers.
Sustainable chemistry and perfumery
Sustainable chemistry and its spectacular impact on the flavor, fragrance and cosmetic industry. Focus.
Democratising olfactory culture – Saskia Wilson-Brown, Institute for Art and Olfaction
When you are a perfume lover, or simply curious to know more, how do you acquire olfactory culture? How can you satisfy your thirst for knowledge?
The Osmothèque – Patricia de Nicolaï, perfumer and former president of the Osmothèque
The Osmothèque is home to perfumes that are part and parcel of people’s lives and memories. Whether they are still on store shelves or long gone, they are all fragments of a collective consciousness.
Reformulating a perfume – Alexandra Kosinski (CPL Aromas)
During a perfume’s life cycle, the formula may change. Alexandra Kosinski (CPL Aromas), explains how perfumers go about it.
Taking the plunge into independant perfumery – Ludovic Bonneton (Bon Parfumeur)
In his quest to emphasise the artistic dimension of perfume as an experience that expands and intensifies life, Ludovic Bonneton has created an approachable and joyous brand.
