(4) The Quest for a Signature Scent
Written by Arthur Magnin
Photo credit: Bureau du Parfum
We, as sartorial enthusiasts, always thrive in pushing our personal style forward, testing new combinations, curate unique garments and of course, more than anything maybe, enjoy creating bespoke pieces helped by a talentful craftsman in order to achieve not only personal, but also unique style to our own.
Once you’re in this mindset, it’s over : you’re hooked. And soon enough, you find yourself extending this way of consumption into every aspect of your life, or rather whenever you feel expending the insides of your wallet, and what was usually a suffering (who likes to part with hard-earned money?) becomes a dangerous addiction.
Fortunately, even if I plead guilty too on this matter, I’m also the nerd type usually taking weeks if not months decrypting and analyzing what’s on the market for a specific need, or desire should I say.
And for a while I’ve been on an arduous quest: find a signature scent.
Cracking the Code to a Signature Scent
Needless to say that this is a tough nut to crack open, because even so I’m curious about things in life, this is by no shape or form an expertise of mine. Moreover the stakes are high, because the perfume you wear is usually how you are remembered, and for most people some scents have an everlasting impact on our memory, even from childhood.
We are lucky enough to have a strong suit with fragrances in France, especially in Provence, where you can find a myriad of flowers and aromatics basking in the mild weather of the South, just above the French Riviera.
To the point that we are proud to count what is considered by many as the capital of fragrance, Grasse, which grew its distillation expertise for centuries. It was the city supplying the french royalty at its time, and it is nowadays where many luxury houses based their perfume development centers, despite being still a rather small city perched in the hills of the region.
The only thing I have under my belt to take upon this task is a little understanding of top, heart and base notes and the type of fragrance I am looking for: a leathery, warm and welcoming type of scent, almost like a late evening by the fire of a chimney.
But I found myself in a sort of predicament. Nowadays you’re either stuck between retail stores with countless references and usually under trained staff to help you (bless them nonetheless) or refined niche brands that can only offer you their own range of products, which is understandable but drastically restrains your options.
A Secret Door to Paris’s Fragrance Masters
Luckily for me, on September 14th I got to explore the best of both worlds with the Club behind closed doors rue du Chateau d’Eau. This is where Bureau de Parfum operates, overlooking a typical parisian discrete courtyard between buildings and operates in order to bring the ideal solution to my issue.
The concept is simple: a curated selection of high-end fragrances transcending brands, where you can be supported in your choice by experts in this field.
“Experts” is nowhere near an overrated term to define them here, as Bureau de Parfum was founded by the perfect tag team, with Jérôme Herrgott who has a over a decade of experience in curating indie fragrances brands and Aurélie Dematons who is, let simply put it, a Nez. For 15 years, she has been consulted by brands to create their collections, teaching at L’École Supérieure du Parfum and writing in most of the major magazines about fragrance. This is an absurdly rare skill, which requires innate talent and a lifelong dedication to build upon it is what it takes to become a Nez.
Aurélie of Bureau du Parfum explains how the sense of smell works
Jérôme guides a member to choose his favoriate parfume based on the “smell test” results
So between the unique expertise of Aurélie and Jérôme’s tremendous portfolio, there is nothing more you could expect to help you choose your fragrance.
But before that, there is not a chance they would leave you clueless on the matter. We had the pleasure to spend a good part of the afternoon in a workshop with Aurélie in order to understand how a fragrance is made and developed, and even tried to identify some components that end up in a perfume.
Sam focuses on experiencing the mysterious scent, offered by Aurélie
And this game of guessing was oh so frustrating. We all had one time when you can’t remember something and can’t articulate it ? That was it ! When you know the scent you’re presented and can’t place the word on it. But funnily enough, amongst ourselves we would brainstorm and tip us off, sometimes with wild assumptions that couldn’t be farther from the truth, other times we would have it almost on the tip of our tongue, until someone would suddenly get it while others were fuming.
What was the craziest for us was synthetic formulas that are able to replicate with an unnatural accuracy real life scents. But what I’ve found the most interesting is usually left off during most fragrance introductions. Where the notes are placed in the fragrance pyramid, what impacts does it have on the development with time on the skin, the effects of certain pairings or even the components that acts as links between the different stages or notes.
The olfactive pyramid is the golden base on how to build a great parfume
The Art and Alchemy of Finding the Perfect One
Did you know for instance that the very same extract used as a top note, a heart note or as a link could smell wildly different, even to the point you wouldn’t be able to even identify it ? Like a fine wine, a fragrance is an intricate balance where each single presence or concentration has an impact. In addition, that balance shifts and changes minute by minute during the day.
Without this explanation, I would not have been able to guess how difficult it is to craft a fragrance, and I still cannot assess how many trial and errors are necessary in order to find a refined formula, and I think they gave up trying to keep account too.
After the theory and the practice, with some language and the ability to somewhat put words on what we seek and smell, it was time for us to find a fragrance that would fit us under the suggestions of Jérôme.
I would have enjoyed narrating to you the long and inextricable search and hard choice I had to make to give a final answer, but none of that sort happened : Jérôme nailed it on the very first attempt, even if he made me try other references for good measure.
Ksenia (left) and Nazim (right) sort out their favorite combinations
My final selection ? REVOLUCIÓN by Carner Barcelona, with top notes of thyme, orange blossom and an oxygen accord which gives it a fresh aspect to it, along with saffron, mate tea and violet leaf as mid notes and finally a base composed of texas cedarwood, somalian incense and the leather accord I was looking for that balances out the top notes with a deep, warm and masculine scent.
Once sprayed on skin, it is time to prepare for the Sartorial Club black tie dinner in a very special restaurant. Hidden rue de l’École de Médecine in the cave of the restaurant now turned into any cigar enthusiast’s paradise, this is where France motto’s “Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité” was signed by Robespierre…For now, I hope you enjoy reading this coverage, and see you soon next time in Paris!