Santal: Native to Southern India, sandalwood is a tree whose main varieties in perfumery now come from Australia, New Caledonia, Sri Lanka and Tanzania. Known as the "King of the Woods", sandalwood plays an important role in Hindu rituals where it is used for burials, temple construction and incense sticks. Alpha-Santalol, one of its main molecules, is responsible for the therapeutic virtues attributed to it in traditional Chinese, Tibetan and Ayurvedic medicine, while Beta Santalol, a milky molecule reminiscent of madeleines and amaretto, has made it useful in perfumes. It is a Sandalwood Album from Australia that gives our Santal its slightly creamy facet.
Mate: Mate is the traditional beverage of the Tupi-Guarani Indians made from the leaves of the ilex paraguariensis tree. Called mate by the conquistadors, from the Quechua name of the calabash used to prepare it (mati), mate has been known in Central America for thousands of years. Used for its purifying and energising properties but also by shamans for divination rituals, mate was severely condemned by the Church in the 17th century, which did not curb its use. Its arrival in perfumery is quite recent and classifies it in the herbaceous notes alongside hay and tea, which is why we’ve lifted it with a touch of aquatic mint and a green fig accord.
Neroli: Neroli essence is an essential oil produced from the flowers of the Citrus aurantium bigarade orange tree, 3 to 5 m tall, with glossy green foliage and abundant flowering.
It originated on the southern slopes of the Himalayas, was
brought to the Middle East by Arab sailors, and was introduced and planted throughout Mediterranean Europe in the 9th century.
Its white, fleshy, highly fragrant flowers in early spring are highly prized in perfumery and cosmetics. The skin of the fruit is rough and tinted green or yellow. In Neroli, a variety from the Khémisset Province in Morocco has been selected. It has characteristic notes of fresh petal, floral, citrus, green and honey.
Rose: Cultivated for almost 5000 years, the rose is the most mythical of flowers. Cultivated for almost 5000 years, it became the attribute of the goddesses Inanna, Ishtar, Astarte, Aphrodite, Venus and Lakshmi, each time being a symbol of femininity, beauty and eternal love. It is an essential ingredient in perfumery, but it is also rare because it takes about 4 tons of petals to obtain 1 kilo of essence – she’s not the Queen of Flowers for nothing. The Turkish rose absolute we used in our Rose adds its sickly waxy and honeyed facet to an otherwise dewy bouquet.
Tuberéuse: Originally from Mexico, the tuberose is nowadays mainly cultivated in India where it is woven into bridal necklaces. Brought into Europe in the 16th century, its heady, narcotic scent earned it a sulphurous reputation, to the point where young women of the court were forbidden to stroll in gardens at dusk, as the power of these "narcotic flowers" could lure them into temptation. Without it, our Tubéreuse would surely not be so carnal, so lustful...
Ambrette: Native to Asia, the Insulinde and the Pacific ambrette is a plant related to the hibiscus whose leaves contain fragrant seeds. Its use is very old, as it is mentioned in treaties of Ayurvedic medicine where it was incorporated into remedies for all sorts of ailments while some South American indigenous tribes substituted it for coffee. In the 18th century, its musky smell was used to powder and scent gloves and wigs. It is that very scent that gives our Ambrette its lift and sheen.
Iris: The iris is a plant that is very common in the northern hemisphere. Formerly grown in in the vineyards of Florence, it is now cultivated in Central Europe and Morocco. Its flowers are fair but unscented so it is from their rhizomes that the famous “orris butter” is extracted. It can take from 6 to 12 years of ageing for them to develop their characteristic metallic, floral or chocolate scent, which is what makes the iris so valuable in perfumery and turns our Iris into a creamy, cosmetic and powdery composition.
Vanille: Vanilla has a long history... Revered by the Totonac, an Amerindian people, as a sign of invincible love, its name comes from a deformation of the Latin vagina (we don’t need to translate that) by means of vaina as the conquistadors who brought it back to Europe thought it resembled the “sheath” of a sword… which has nothing to do, of course, with the supposed aphrodisiac virtues vanilla was said to have. If its smell is more reminiscent of beige and custard than of 17th century romps, it is because the vanilla we know in aromas and perfumes is in fact vanillin, its main odorant compound. For our Vanille, we opted for a Bourbon vanilla absolute, with woody and smoky undertones more faithful to the smell of the "sheath".
Sacra: Olibanum is the resin obtained from the incision of trees of the Boswellia genus, present from the south of the Arabian Peninsula to Kenya and India. Of all these, the Sacra variety, endemic to the Sultanate of Oman, is historically the most renowned, both for its mineral, lemony and minty fragrance and for its therapeutic virtues. It is this resin that spurred the creation of the Incense Routes. It has also been used for millennia in Vedic, Sumerian, Egyptian, Roman, Hebrew and Christian religious rituals. It is therefore not by chance that our "totem perfume" is called Sacra.
Santal: Native to Southern India, sandalwood is a tree whose main varieties in perfumery now come from Australia, New Caledonia, Sri Lanka and Tanzania. Known as the "King of the Woods", sandalwood plays an important role in Hindu rituals where it is used for burials, temple construction and incense sticks. Alpha-Santalol, one of its main molecules, is responsible for the therapeutic virtues attributed to it in traditional Chinese, Tibetan and Ayurvedic medicine, while Beta Santalol, a milky molecule reminiscent of madeleines and amaretto, has made it useful in perfumes. It is a Sandalwood Album from Australia that gives our Santal its slightly creamy facet.
Mate: Mate is the traditional beverage of the Tupi-Guarani Indians made from the leaves of the ilex paraguariensis tree. Called mate by the conquistadors, from the Quechua name of the calabash used to prepare it (mati), mate has been known in Central America for thousands of years. Used for its purifying and energising properties but also by shamans for divination rituals, mate was severely condemned by the Church in the 17th century, which did not curb its use. Its arrival in perfumery is quite recent and classifies it in the herbaceous notes alongside hay and tea, which is why we’ve lifted it with a touch of aquatic mint and a green fig accord.
Neroli: Neroli essence is an essential oil produced from the flowers of the Citrus aurantium bigarade orange tree, 3 to 5 m tall, with glossy green foliage and abundant flowering.
It originated on the southern slopes of the Himalayas, was
brought to the Middle East by Arab sailors, and was introduced and planted throughout Mediterranean Europe in the 9th century.
Its white, fleshy, highly fragrant flowers in early spring are highly prized in perfumery and cosmetics. The skin of the fruit is rough and tinted green or yellow. In Neroli, a variety from the Khémisset Province in Morocco has been selected. It has characteristic notes of fresh petal, floral, citrus, green and honey.
Rose: Cultivated for almost 5000 years, the rose is the most mythical of flowers. Cultivated for almost 5000 years, it became the attribute of the goddesses Inanna, Ishtar, Astarte, Aphrodite, Venus and Lakshmi, each time being a symbol of femininity, beauty and eternal love. It is an essential ingredient in perfumery, but it is also rare because it takes about 4 tons of petals to obtain 1 kilo of essence – she’s not the Queen of Flowers for nothing. The Turkish rose absolute we used in our Rose adds its sickly waxy and honeyed facet to an otherwise dewy bouquet.
Tuberéuse: Originally from Mexico, the tuberose is nowadays mainly cultivated in India where it is woven into bridal necklaces. Brought into Europe in the 16th century, its heady, narcotic scent earned it a sulphurous reputation, to the point where young women of the court were forbidden to stroll in gardens at dusk, as the power of these "narcotic flowers" could lure them into temptation. Without it, our Tubéreuse would surely not be so carnal, so lustful...
Ambrette: Native to Asia, the Insulinde and the Pacific ambrette is a plant related to the hibiscus whose leaves contain fragrant seeds. Its use is very old, as it is mentioned in treaties of Ayurvedic medicine where it was incorporated into remedies for all sorts of ailments while some South American indigenous tribes substituted it for coffee. In the 18th century, its musky smell was used to powder and scent gloves and wigs. It is that very scent that gives our Ambrette its lift and sheen.
Iris: The iris is a plant that is very common in the northern hemisphere. Formerly grown in in the vineyards of Florence, it is now cultivated in Central Europe and Morocco. Its flowers are fair but unscented so it is from their rhizomes that the famous “orris butter” is extracted. It can take from 6 to 12 years of ageing for them to develop their characteristic metallic, floral or chocolate scent, which is what makes the iris so valuable in perfumery and turns our Iris into a creamy, cosmetic and powdery composition.
Vanille: Vanilla has a long history... Revered by the Totonac, an Amerindian people, as a sign of invincible love, its name comes from a deformation of the Latin vagina (we don’t need to translate that) by means of vaina as the conquistadors who brought it back to Europe thought it resembled the “sheath” of a sword… which has nothing to do, of course, with the supposed aphrodisiac virtues vanilla was said to have. If its smell is more reminiscent of beige and custard than of 17th century romps, it is because the vanilla we know in aromas and perfumes is in fact vanillin, its main odorant compound. For our Vanille, we opted for a Bourbon vanilla absolute, with woody and smoky undertones more faithful to the smell of the "sheath".
Sacra: Olibanum is the resin obtained from the incision of trees of the Boswellia genus, present from the south of the Arabian Peninsula to Kenya and India. Of all these, the Sacra variety, endemic to the Sultanate of Oman, is historically the most renowned, both for its mineral, lemony and minty fragrance and for its therapeutic virtues. It is this resin that spurred the creation of the Incense Routes. It has also been used for millennia in Vedic, Sumerian, Egyptian, Roman, Hebrew and Christian religious rituals. It is therefore not by chance that our "totem perfume" is called Sacra.