Ingredients

Les fleurs sont des « notes de cœur » ou « secondaires » créant la forme et le volume d'un parfum. Ils agissent également comme des notes de transition pour arrondir, équilibrer un parfum et apporter de la densité. Leur coût est prohibitif (1 à 2 tonnes pour 1 kilo d'huile essentielle). La plupart ne sont pas commercialement viables en raison du faible rendement.

Nous n'utilisons que des notes florales issues de vraies fleurs (ylang ylang, géranium, néroli, fleur d'oranger, rose, tubéreuse, tiaré, tagètes, lotus, iris,...). La plupart des fleurs sont des absolus ou des concrètes (formes les plus concentrées).

Ces notes vertes d'herbes (romarin, thym), de graminées (citronnelle), de feuilles (thé, eucalyptus, menthe) ont donné naissance à toute une famille olfactive, Fougère. Ces senteurs « aromatiques » (odeur d'après-rasage) mêlées d'épices, de bois et de fleurs, considérées comme « masculines », sont désormais utilisées par tous.

Curieusement, il y a très peu d'ingrédients avec des notes vertes assez fortes, à l'exception du galbanum, une centrale électrisante résine verte amère. Les parfumeurs y parviennent avec l'utilisation d'isolats. Nous n'utilisons que des produits à base de plantes.

Les parfums fruités ont gagné en popularité. Cependant, il n'est pas possible de faire des parfums avec des fruits car les fruits contiennent de l'eau et ne libèrent pas d'huiles essentielles. Les huiles essentielles d'agrumes sont extraites de l'écorce et non de la pulpe, et ne font pas partie de la famille des parfums Fruité, de toute façon, mais Citrus ou Frais. Les notes fruitées sont recréées synthétiquement ou avec des isolats naturels.

Nous ajoutons des notes fruitées à nos parfums, en utilisant d'autres plantes aux facettes fruitées ou des accords élaborés avec des isolats naturels.

Spices are extensively used in perfumery in almost all fragrance families but it's the Ambery and Woody families that use the most.

Our main supplier is Madagascar, of course, for cinannmon, clove, peppercorns, and premium Bourbon vanilla. Our vanilla absolute is processed in France due to the lack of facilities in Malagasy production areas.

Our secondary spices (anise, cardamom, saffron, nutmeg,...) come from other countries.

Our woody notes are composed with essential oils, isolates from essential oils or leafy or rooty plants such as patchouli and vetiver, or accords made of both.

We do not use woods from endangered species such as Madagascar rosewood or Mysore sandalwood. Our rosewood comes from government-regulated sustainable forests in Brazil.

Woods are the base of a composition and enhance the other components. But some with a higher content of volatile notes can serve as a top note or middle notes such as rosewood.

Mosses are the reason why we felt in love with perfumery and wanted to become a perfumer. The main moss used in perfumery is oakmoss, essential part of chypré fragrances and fougère fragrances.

Oakmoss is a lichen growing on oak trees in Europe (mainly in the Balkans). However, due to allergens, its concentration in a perfume is limited today. There are other mosses with a fragrant profile such as treemoss. The notes are greener than oakmoss but with a more powerful drydown and tenacity.

Resins and balsams are the most ancient perfume ingredients, used to make incense in traditional cultures, then, in "Oriental" or Amber perfumes. Today, they mainly serve as bases notes, to complement vanilla or to add an impression of mystery to a fragrance.

They are extracted from trees, in the format of solidified "tears" (resins) such as frankincense and myrrh, or thick liquid essential oils (balsams), with a sweeter and softer scent profile. South America has a very rich varietes of resin and balsam tress (Peru balsam, copal, styrax), whereas elemi is more found in the Philippines and Madagascar.

We are natural but not vegan, so we do use animal ingredients but only cruely-free such as beeswax absolute, ambergris and hyraceum.

The term "animalic" in perfumery refers to ingredients of animal origins, to aromachemicals replacing banned animal ingredients for ethical reasons or to reduced costs, or to vegan ingredients with an animalic leathery or musky scent profile (labdanum, blackcurrant, cumin, musk ambrette, osmanthus).

"Earthy" is an all-encompassing term for woody, dirty musty, rooty, grassy, herbal, mossy, breezy, watery, and the fragrances with these notes generally belong to the Woody family.

Earthy ingredients are vetiver, patchouli, orris, carrot seeds, some grases and sipces, cedarwood, as well as dirt and soil accords made with aromachemicals and isolates. We only use essential oils and natural isolates to add a natural, grounded and rustic effect.

Each essential oil is a complex material made of hundreds of chemical constituents. For example, rose contains 450 molecules. Natural isolates are natural chemicals in the form of single molecules that have been separated (“isolated”) from their natural sources (plants) using "fractional distillation" or CO2 extraction, without any chemical transformation or bio-tech. For example, geraniol. So, they are not lab-made aromachemicals.

Some purist natural perfumers do not use them. We find them very interesting to create modern perfumes, but only use them at a trace amount (1-3%), just to enhance, add character, depth and longevity.