Some scents have an intrinsic strength.
They sign a societal moment T or presage history, to question us or propel us into a new impetus... Flashback on the trends of the last two decades before diving into those to come.
From the beginning of the third millennium, at the time of the euro, happy olfactory events were born, niche or mainstream.
Mugler's Cologne and its famous S molecule with its disturbing sensuality, Magnificent Secretions of the Free State of Orange, where all the fluids merge into an iodized juice, Dior Homme and its approach to gender fluid or Mugler's Alien to voluptuousness extraordinary.
The second decade, under the influence of crisis will be wiser but very demonstrative, as if to ward it off!
Evidenced by a farandole of delicacies with high distribution potential, such as Guerlain's Petite Robe Noire, via the self-proclaimed La Vie est Belle by Lancôme and its signature praline, the peak of the register initiated by Angel de Mugler.
A fruity floriental in a ruby bottle, Eau de Parfum La Nuit Trésor Intense, Lancôme;
a good wave, Revitalizing Perfumed Water N° 1 l'Eau Rouge, Chanel;
the magic of Africa, Eau de Parfum Magenta Tanzanite, Giorgio Armani.
Directed by Julie Gillet.
Fabrice Cormy
Since then, a force 8 wind has blown over the industry, reviving or inaugurating multiple models, of which “5 fruits and vegetables per juice” could be the adage of the moment.
“The long tunnel of the pandemic has taught us one fundamental thing: to feel is to live.
On Maslow's pyramid (which ranks needs in order of importance), perfume has long been statutory.
This building is transformed into a diamond!, says Lana Glazman, vice-president of science and marketing at Firmenich, a fragrance creation house.
Emancipating oneself from gender, wearing perfume for oneself, learning about the culture of perfume and understanding all the environmental issues are its facets.
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A perfume must make you salivate without falling into the bag of sweetsÉlisabeth Vidal-Diaz at Puig
fifty shades of young
At the time of the third sex, the Indochina hit and its elegant electro version, 3SEX, with Christine and The Queens always speaks to the new generation.
And if this air were a perfume, it could be a neofloral, the N° 1 of Chanel L'Eau Rouge, imagined as a skincare water, capable of reinventing the perfumed gesture.
It rests like a caress on impatient bodies, all delighted to rub shoulders with a jasmine-orange-rosy heart interpreted by Olivier Polge, the in-house perfumer.
And the gluttony in all this?
"A perfume must make you salivate without falling into the candy bag", specifies Élisabeth Vidal-Diaz at Puig.
Thus, we overdose less ethyl-maltol with caramel praline flavors.
And the flavors are deglazed with new natural extractions of fruit essences such as apple and pear.
For a juicy, crunchy and luminous trail like Nina Ricci's Nina Soleil, where citrus fruits melt into whipped whipped cream.
As polymorphic as love in 2022, perfume is also reinventing its format.
“I observe a form of weariness of the large bottle and a joyful infidelity in the air, observes Jeanne Doré, the founder of the site Au parfum and Nez, the olfactory magazine.
Hence the emergence of small nomadic and interchangeable 30 ml calibres.
Young brands like Versatile offer them in an oil roll-on version and fit perfectly into this trend.
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The white marriage of vegetal musk and orange blossom, Eau de Parfum Musc Outreblanc, Collection L'Art et La Matière, Guerlain;
meditation in fresh water, Eau de Parfum L'Eau d'Issey, Issey Miyake;
a floral amber with mirabelle plum and dates, Eau de Parfum Naturelle Nomade, Chloé.
Directed by Julie Gillet.
Fabrice Cormy
Because I feel good
The pandemic has given way to a very special enjoyment: wearing perfume in hedonistic mode.
“We need reassurance, olfactory pleasures that are not parade perfumes but express themselves in moderato on the skin without losing their presence, like Dominique Ropion's Cologne Indélébile,” says designer Frédéric Malle.
A vision shared by Arnaud Guggenbuhl, Fine Fragrance Marketing Director at Givaudan: “These volatile bodies are perfumes of extimacy, a Lacanian concept that aims to share its most authentic intimacy.
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In video: Léa Seydoux in the ad Spell On You, the new fragrance from Louis Vuitton
In response ?
Juices where the head is delicate and where the volume is put in the right place by making the materials resonate with each other in an emotional way, explains the specialist.
Spell On You, imagined by Jacques Cavallier-Belletrud for Louis Vuitton, succeeds brilliantly when the fluffy iris goes tit for tat with the cloudy musks.
Same thing with Musc Outreblanc signed by Delphine Jeck in the L'Art et La Matière de Guerlain collection, an immaculate musky monolith crossed by iris, amber and sandalwood, in every way delightful.
Perfume is also an imaginary journey for oneself.
Under the breath of Aqua Mahana at Couvent, created by Jean-Claude Ellena, with its spray of vanilla frangipani flowers.
Or the spirit of elsewhere in Nomade Eau de Parfum Naturelle by Chloé and its free jasmine stopover, candied with a date accord.
A perfume is not just a simple convenience, before buying it, you have to know how to live with it!
The ideal?
The sample rather than the mouilletteJacques Cavallier-Belletrud, perfumer at Louis Vuitton
High emancipation juice
A sign of the times, perfume frees itself from codes and rekindles the flame of carelessness.
Luc Gabriel, who created The Different Company in 2000, revives the Cherigan brand, a sleeping beauty of the Roaring Twenties: "By avoiding the vintage pitfall and imagining very contemporary formulas", he summarizes.
take the time to feel
For Jacques Cavallier-Belletrud, perfumer at Louis Vuitton, intellectual curiosity goes hand in hand with aesthetic shock: it's all about encounters.
The public will spend more time feeling, feeling.
“A perfume is not just a simple commodity, before buying it, you have to know how to live with it!
The ideal?
The sample rather than the quick smear... At home, you can be enthusiastic at the first sniff and then realize over the course of the pschitts that you were wrong.
Or, on the contrary, be skeptical and then let yourself be seduced.
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To be sniffed without moderation, Fleurs de Tabac releases delicious rose-benzoin-vetiver swirls.
The intoxication of the season also passes through Damier des Bains Guerbois, which takes up on its cover the chessboard floor created by Philippe Starck in 1978. In homage to the club where we met Prince or Joy Division without any VIP barrier, the juice is in black and white in a peppery duo reinforced by a milky sandalwood.
Finally, prohibition-style, YSL's Black Opium Illicite Green mixes two talents for a hit cocktail, nose Nathalie Lorson and bartender Margot Lecarpentier, in a very successful shot of black coffee infused with refreshing green mandarin.
Burlesque stripping is expressed in all its flesh with Viktor & Rolf's Flowerbomb Ruby Orchid in a dash of peach, jasmine and vanilla.
Finally, because a cult perfume has the gift of emancipation, Gris Dior by Christian Dior, with its multichromatic chypre trail, intoxicates the mind.
And nestled in a limited edition houndstooth bottle and case, as cool as they are timeless.
A sensual and ultra-honey chypre, Eau de Parfum Scandal, Jean Paul Gaultier;
a breath of freshness and delicacy, Un Jardin sur la Lagune, Hermès;
the vertigo of glamour, Eau de Parfum Desirial pour Elle, Vivacy;
the essence of elegance, Eau de Parfum Gris Dior, Dior Limited Edition New Look.
Directed by Julie Gillet.
Fabrice Cormy
The rose draws its thorn from the game
On the big chessboard of raw materials, the Queen Rose does not intend to miss her turn!
Closely scrutinized during the confinements by the composition houses, it still delivered treasures.
“We took the time to smell differently, to watch a flower come out of the ground, bloom, wither.
It evokes life, fragility too, says Marie Salamagne at Firmenich.
This parenthesis put forward the slow technique of infusions, via an upcycled rose made from the distillation water usually discarded.
The perfumer used it in Jo Malone's Rose Blush, a juice reddened by lychee and enlivened by basil.
This different patina can also be appreciated in the marvelous Eau Rose by Diptyque initiated by Fabrice Pellegrin, where artichoke, chamomile and lychee each reveal an unknown facet of the queen of flowers.
Another petal asset, vitaminized with rose berry for Eau de Toilette Fraîche Irrésistible by Givenchy.
What if we dream of freedom?
Coach's Wild Rose offers a western wild rose, the one that grows in the great American plains.
The delights of “nowstalgia”
1992 was a blessed year for perfumery. A real olfactory revolution that has given birth to a few icons: Angel by Thierry Mugler, Eau Parfumée au thé vert by Bulgari, but also L'Eau d'Issey, which will offer a new Eau & Magnolia variation in March. At the time, fashion designer Issey Miyake dreamed of "the smell of a drop of water on a woman's skin". The Jacques Cavallier-Belletrud nose has made it a mythical aquatic floral, a "river where flowers and musky woods float" with a hint of melon. As for the bottle, this sublime design cone, it would have been inspired by the moon shining above the Eiffel Tower.
Another 30-year-old wonder, Féminité du Bois by Serge Lutens.
A shock with its overdose of cedar wood, a gourmet and honeyed variety from the souks of Marrakech, its notes of plum and flower, a juice of character that initiates an emotional, radical and demanding perfumery.
This “wooden pastry shop” is celebrating its anniversary with a collector's bottle, adorned with a silhouette designed by Serge Lutens himself.
An olfactory smoking that defies time.
Marie-Bénédicte Gauthier is co-author with Dominique Ropion of "Aphorisms of a perfumer", published by Nez Éditions.
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